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Good Old-Fashioned Modernism

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Good Old-Fashioned Modernism blueprintsVolume XXVI, No. 1 NATIONAL BUILDING MUSEUM Good in this issue: Old-Fashioned The New Face of Preservation An Interview with Richard Moe Modernism Federal Modern Assessing and Preserving a Legacy Renewing Urban Renewal Silo Point: An Industrial-Strength Renovation Winter 2007–08 in this issue 2 6 10 14 18 20 25 Is Modern the New Victorian? Good Old-Fashioned Modernism British novelist L.P. Hartley wrote: “The past is a foreign Currently on view at the National Building The New Face of Preservation country; they do things differently there.” If we accept this Museum is maxim, we might assume that proximity matters—in other words, Marcel Breuer: Design and 2 Richard Moe, president of the National Trust for Historic , an exhibition organized by Preservation and recipient of the ninth Vincent Scully Prize, that the recent past is likely to be less foreign than the distant past, Architecture reflects on the evolution of the American preservation movement. in much the same way that Canada is more familiar to the typical the Vitra Design Museum that explores American than, say, Cambodia. When it comes to history, however, the diverse career of one of the modern Federal Modern that assumption may be illusory. director 6 The nation’s biggest landlord celebrates the jewels in its portfolio movement’s most influential figures. while freshening up the ugly ducklings. We all remember the recent past—or at least we think we do—and having lived through This is the first component of a broad it, we have inevitably formed biases and emotional associations that color our perceptions Museum initiative intended to encourage Renewing Urban Renewal of that history. With respect to our built heritage, it is often difficult for us to appreciate 10 In Southwest Washington, D.C., an icon of the “urban renewal” the true significance of relatively recent works of architecture—buildings that we may have reconsideration of the legacy of 20th- revolution in the 1950s and ’60s is now undergoing a seen under construction; buildings that may have replaced earlier ones that we remember century modernism, which is all too easily transformation of its own. fondly; buildings that are, perhaps, all too familiar. So how do we assess the aesthetic, taken for granted by virtue of its ubiquity. cultural, and material value of structures that have not been around very long? Silo Point: As part of the initiative, this issue of An Industrial-Strength Renovation In architecture, the term “modern” tends to evoke images of rational, unornamented Blueprints focuses on the preservation 14 A seemingly obsolete industrial facility finds a new career as hip structures fabricated of human-made materials such as steel or concrete—in short, the and reuse of aging modernist structures. urban housing. antithesis of “historic” architecture. Nonetheless, there are numerous indisputably modern buildings that are now 50, 75, or even—by some people’s reckoning—100 years old. Many Museum News of those buildings are unquestionably significant, whether aesthetically, technologically, 18 • For the Greener Good Part II or historically. They are now as much a part of our cultural heritage as log cabins, corner • Breuer exhibition member opening stores, and brownstones. • 2007 Turner Prize recognizes Gehry and colleagues • Furniture designer lends expertise to Museum outreach program • Festival of the Building Arts draws thousands Preservation groups are taking notice of the growing body of “historic modern” from the executive • Hardy headlines Builders event architecture, and there is increasing public debate about which buildings from the • Spotlight on DeGarmo (relatively) recent past are worthy of keeping. Meanwhile, design and building professionals • Raffle winners enjoy Chihuly sculpture are grappling with the technical challenges of preserving or reusing modern structures, • NBM/Kreeger Museum tour of Bauhaus architecture which often employed experimental materials and construction methods. The preservation of modernism is also becoming central to the sustainability movement, as proponents shop NBM! Contributors of green development argue that even very mundane structures should be at least partially Paris on the Potomac: 24 • Donor Profile: U.S. Department of Energy preserved in order to reduce waste. The French Influence on the • Grateful applause to our recent donors Architecture and Art of Washington, D.C. It seems, then, that our fundamental assumptions about the purpose, practice, and Mystery Building politics of preservation are likely to change dramatically in the near future. Is Modern Edited by Cynthia R. Field, Isabelle Gournay, and Thomas P. Somma 25 “Step Right Up!” the new Victorian? Perhaps not, but it clearly represents a rich and varied legacy that Released in November 2007, Paris on the Potomac is a compilation of we are just beginning to understand. essays that explores aspects of the French influence on the artistic and architectural environment of Washington, D.C. which continued long Marcel Breuer: Design and Architecture is made possible after the well known contributions of Pierre (Peter) Charles L’Enfant, the transplanted French military officer who designed the city’s plan. by the National Endowment for the Arts; Vitra, Inc.; Cynthia R. Field, one of the book’s editors, is a founding trustee of the and other generous contributors. National Building Museum and is an architectural historian who recently retired from the Smithsonian Institution. Chase W. Rynd Executive Director Available in the Museum Shop. opposite right and cover: Church of St. Francis de Sales, Muskegon, MI, by Marcel Breuer, 964–6. $44.96 Members / $49.95 Public Photo by Hedrich Blessing. Courtesy of Chicago Historical Society / Hedrich Blessing left: Cover of Paris on the Potomac by Cynthia R. Field, Isabelle Gournay, and Thomas P. Somma. Courtesy of Ohio University Press and Swallow Press. Winter 2007–08 blueprints An Interview with Richard Moe ONLINE VIDEO! Martin Moeller: In 1949, the same year that the National We are going to take steps in the very near future to set up To see a video Trust was established, Philip Johnson completed his a Recent Past Initiative in our Western Office in California of the interview with famous Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut. Do you and a Center for Modernism based at the Glass House in Richard Moe, visit think any of the Trust’s founders could have imagined a New Canaan, to give specific focus to these styles of www.nbm.org. day when such a quintessentially modern building would architecture. In terms of the recent past, something need The New Face be designated a National Trust Historic Site? not be historic to have value and to be worthy of being preserved. So we are breaking the mold a little bit here. Richard Moe: It’s interesting to think back on what the Some of our predecessors in the preservation movement leaders of the then-new Trust would have thought of a didn’t think that we should preserve anything before its time modernist structure like that being historic. I think the more came. Well, unfortunately, we lose a lot in the first 50 years, of Preservation far-reaching and visionary of those men and women would and sometimes we have to intervene and save the best of have foreseen that perhaps this iconic structure would the recent past, which is what we are trying to do. someday be historic—many others would not. Moeller: A burgeoning interest in modernism is just by Martin Moeller But the answer, I think, really lies in the history of the one aspect of what the Trust calls “the new face of preservation movement. Different styles of architecture have preservation in America.” Another is the growing become historic at different periods, and usually over some participation of diverse ethnic groups and communities. bottom: In June 007, the On December 13, 2007, the National Building Museum presented the ninth public resistance. For example, Victorian architecture was What is the Trust doing to reach new constituencies? National Trust opened very unpopular with a lot of people—nobody could imagine Philip Johnson’s iconic Vincent Scully Prize to Richard Moe, president of the National Trust for Historic Glass House in New saving that stuff. Now, of course, we prize it. Same thing with Moe: We have really tried hard in recent years to expand Preservation. The award recognized Moe’s leadership in moving preserva- Canaan, Connecticut Art Deco. Well, the time of modernism has arrived, and the the constituency for preservation and to make it clear to the public. tion into the mainstream of American society and expanding the public’s iconic Glass House, of course, just represents the very best that preservation is relevant to everyone in this country Photo by Paul Warchol. of modernism, and it is historic, even in a literal and legal regardless of where they are, or what they do, or what understanding of the significance of our built heritage. In accepting bottom right: Richard the prize, he joined a prestigious roster of past recipients sense—it’s [more than] 50 years old. their income level is. I think we have to concede candidly Moe, president of the that 50 years ago preservation appealed to very few National Trust for Historic including Jane Jacobs, Phyllis Lambert, His Highness the Moeller: Have the Trust’s forays into the preservation people—it was mostly people who cared about great old Preservation, speaking houses, and that was fine and still a lot of us do that. But at the organization’s 007 Aga Khan, and His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales. of modernism led to any general changes in the annual conference in organization’s strategies or policies? preservation’s evolved enormously over the last 50 years, St. Paul, Minnesota. and it really has become relevant to more and more people.
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