Marion Mahony Griffin and the Magic of America

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Marion Mahony Griffin and the Magic of America Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Retrospective Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 2000 Marion Mahony Griffinnd a The aM gic of America: recovery, reaction and re-entrenchment in the discourse of architectural studies Elizabeth Joy Birmingham Iowa State University Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd Part of the Architecture Commons, Classical Archaeology and Art History Commons, Women's History Commons, and the Women's Studies Commons Recommended Citation Birmingham, Elizabeth Joy, "Marion Mahony Griffinnd a The aM gic of America: recovery, reaction and re-entrenchment in the discourse of architectural studies " (2000). Retrospective Theses and Dissertations. 12310. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd/12310 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Retrospective Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in fypewriterface, while others may t>e from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author dkl not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unautiiortzed copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand comer and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overiaps. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in ttiis copy. Higher quality 6' x 9" black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing fn this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. Bell & Howell Infbnnation and Learning 300 North Z^b Road, Ann Arbor. Ml 48106-1346 USA 800-521-0600 Marion Mahony Griffin and The Magic of America: Recovery, reaction and re-entrenchment in the discourse of architectural studies By Elizabeth Joy Birmingham A dissertation submitted to the graduate faculty in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Majon Rhetoric and Professional Communication Major E'rofesson Margaret Baker Graham Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 2000 Copyright ® Elizabeth Joy Birmingham, 2000. All rights reserved. UMI Number 9990434 Copynght2000 by Birmingham, Bi^beth Joy Alt rights reserved. UMI' UMI Microform9990434 Copyright 2001 by Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. Bell & Howeli Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. 80x1346 Ann Arbor, Mt 48106-1346 ii Graduate College Iowa State University This is to certify that the Doctoral dissertation of Elizabeth Joy Birmingham has met the dissertation requirements of Iowa State University Signature was redacted for privacy. Major Professor Signature was redacted for privacy. For the Major Program Signature was redacted for privacy. For the Graduate College iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACBCNOWLEDGMENTS iv ABSTRACT vi A FEW NOTES ON NAMES, DEFINITIONS, SOURCES, CHOICES, AND ABBREYLATIONS vii PREFACE: A STORY xiii CHAPTER L INTRODUCTION: WHY ARE THERE NO GREAT WOMEN ARCHITECTS?: THAT INNOCENT QUESTION AND THE DISCOURSE OF ARCHITECTURE I CHAPTER!. ERASING A WOMAN: THE CANON, ABSENCE, AND GENDER 26 CHAPTER 3. ERASING AN ARCHITECT: THE PROBLEM OF COLLABORATION AND THE POLITICS OF ATTRIBUTION 68 CHAPTER 4. SILENCING A VOICE: THE DISCIPLINE AS THE REAL BATTLEFRONT 97 CHAPTER 5- POLICE LINES: GENDER AND THE POLITICS OF SPECULATIVE SCHOLARSHIP 126 CHAPTER 6. WHY ARE THERE NO GREAT WOMEN ARCHITECTS? 151 APPENDIX A. TREACHEROUS SPACES: THE LIMITS OF CRITiaSM, FEMINISM, AND RHETORiaSM 155 APPENDIX B- LOUIS SULLIVAN AND RALPH WALDO EMERSON: A DISCUSSION OF TRANSCENDENTALIST INFLUENCE 185 APPENDIX C. A BIBUOGRAPHY OF SOURCES ABOUT THE GRIFFINS 195 NOTES 212 SOURCES CITED 233 iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS My warmest and most sincere thanks to Marty Graham, who put the notion of this degree into my head in the first place, and who has consistently assured me that I do want to undertake research. Without your gentle pushing and generous support this would not have happened; it is a goal I would not have had for myself before knowing you. Likewise, I thank my conmiittee, Charie Thralls, David Roberts, Loring Silet, and Clare Cardinal Pett for superhuman patience, as well as insight, intelligence, and occasional willing suspension of disbelief. I have been lucky to learn fix)m you all. I thank all those women who helped me claim an education—Dr. Frances Steiner, who first introduced me to the Griffins in architectural history class—my love affair with beautiful buildings is thanks to you; the many sisters in the English department at Rosary College who introduced me to the moderately guilty pleasures of an intellectual life: Sr. Jeanne Crapo, Sr. Clemente Davlin, Sr. Carolyn McGinty, Sr. Mary Paynter, and Sr. Melissa Waters. And, of course, my thanks to Mary Scott Simpson and Rosalind Hays who regularly made me work harder than I wanted to and helped me achieve more than I was capable of. I am lucky to call you all fnends. To Lee Hadley, whose absence I feel deeply and often, and to Brenda Daly and Jennifer Bloomer, both of whom, through their works of stunning intricacy and honesty, inspire me to be a scholar when I grow up. Many thanks to all those organizations who provided me with financial support during this expensive joumey: the Haggard dissertation fellowship from Iowa State University, the Society of Architectural Historians, and the Fulbright Foundation, fii V addition, I thank those scholars who generously shared their time and their work with me, Anna Rubbo, Aja Preliasco, and Mary Woolever. Last, though most importantly, I thank my family, whose support on this long, strange trip has been unwavering and occasionally unnerving and unwarrante± Jim and Connie Birmingham; Mike, Margaret, Matt, Carole, Mark, Sarah, and beautiful baby Duncan. My aunt and uncle, Joy and Don Donahue, who, with my parents, insisted on I begin an undergraduate education and supported me both emotionally and financially. My Caity, who has been helping me through college for most of her life, and who has been my inspiration since her three-year-old self told me she wanted to be a waitress like mama when she grew up. My Griffin, who will remember his mama as neither a waitress nor a student, and who has been the most lovely distraction a procrastinator like me could ever wish for. Rnally, Kevin, without whom. Without whom. vi ABSTRACT The discourse that defines and supports the discipline of architectural studies has historically focused its attention on the study and veneration of great men and great monuments, a focus that has erased the contributions of many women in the field. By examining the secondary scholarship surrounding one such woman, architect and theorist Marion Mahony Griffin (1871-1961), this paper argues that women are invisible in the history of architecture because they are described in ways that dismiss their contributions, characterize them as essentially different from male architects, and undermine their status as "real" architects. A long and complex involvement of women in architectural practice has been written out of history because habits of scholarship accept and reassert the culturally received notion that men build while women decorate. This case study reveals the cultural assumptions that inform and reinforce practices of scholarship that habitually ignores women, and their architectural and theoretical work, suggesting this is not a problem that disappeared with the introduction of feminist scholarship to the discipline. In fact, after a decade of scholarly recovery of women's architectural contributions, a strong backlash has swept into the area of GrifBn studies, confronting not just the historical figure of Mahony Griffin, but "disciplining" the scholars whose speculation has attempted to open the field to a wider range of research questions. vii A FEW NOTES ON NAMES, DEFINITIONS, SOURCES, CHOICES, AND ABBREVIATIONS Because this text is, in part, an attempt to re-tell the story of a woman whose Ufe and contribudons have been clouded in earlier histories, and because this story is for an audience whose knowledge of architectural history may be varied, the purpose of this section is to provide some insight into the names, terms, and texts I have used and why I have chosen them, as well as to offer insight in the authorial choices I have made. Names Marion Lucy Mahony* was bom in 1871; in 1911 she married and took the last name of her husband, Walter Hurley Griffin, becoming Marion Mahony Griffin. Most early texts that include her work refer to her as Marion, even when they refer to Frank Lloyd Wright as Wright, or Walter Burley Griffin
Recommended publications
  • VILLAGE WIDE ARCHITECTURAL + HISTORICAL SURVEY Final
    VILLAGE WIDE ARCHITECTURAL + HISTORICAL SURVEY Final Survey Report August 9, 2013 Village of River Forest Historic Preservation Commission CONTENTS INTRODUCTION P. 6 Survey Mission p. 6 Historic Preservation in River Forest p. 8 Survey Process p. 10 Evaluation Methodology p. 13 RIVER FOREST ARCHITECTURE P. 18 Architectural Styles p. 19 Vernacular Building Forms p. 34 HISTORIC CONTEXT P. 40 Nineteenth Century Residential Development p. 40 Twentieth Century Development: 1900 to 1940 p. 44 Twentieth Century Development: 1940 to 2000 p. 51 River Forest Commercial Development p. 52 Religious and Educational Buildings p. 57 Public Schools and Library p. 60 Campuses of Higher Education p. 61 Recreational Buildings and Parks p. 62 Significant Architects and Builders p. 64 Other Architects and Builders of Note p. 72 Buildings by Significant Architect and Builders p. 73 SURVEY FINDINGS P. 78 Significant Properties p. 79 Contributing Properties to the National Register District p. 81 Non-Contributing Properties to the National Register District p. 81 Potentially Contributing Properties to a National Register District p. 81 Potentially Non-Contributing Properties to a National Register District p. 81 Noteworthy Buildings Less than 50 Years Old p. 82 Districts p. 82 Recommendations p. 83 INVENTORY P. 94 Significant Properties p. 94 Contributing Properties to the National Register District p. 97 Non-Contributing Properties to the National Register District p. 103 Potentially Contributing Properties to a National Register District p. 104 Potentially Non-Contributing Properties to a National Register District p. 121 Notable Buildings Less than 50 Years Old p. 125 BIBLIOGRAPHY P. 128 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS RIVER FOREST HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION David Franek, Chair Laurel McMahon Paul Harding, FAIA Cindy Mastbrook Judy Deogracias David Raino-Ogden Tom Zurowski, AIA PROJECT COMMITTEE Laurel McMahon Tom Zurowski, AIA Michael Braiman, Assistant Village Administrator SURVEY TEAM Nicholas P.
    [Show full text]
  • Reciprocal Sites Membership Program
    2015–2016 Frank Lloyd Wright National Reciprocal Sites Membership Program The Frank Lloyd Wright National Reciprocal Sites Program includes 30 historic sites across the United States. FLWR on your membership card indicates that you enjoy the National Reciprocal sites benefit. Benefits vary from site to site. Please check websites listed in this brochure for detailed information on each site. ALABAMA ARIZONA CALIFORNIA FLORIDA 1 Rosenbaum House 2 Taliesin West 3 Hollyhock House 4 Florida Southern College 601 RIVERVIEW DRIVE 12621 N. FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT BLVD BARNSDALL PARK 750 FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT WAY FLORENCE, AL 35630 SCOTTSDALE, AZ 85261-4430 4800 HOLLYWOOD BLVD LAKELAND, FL 33801 256.718.5050 480.860.2700 LOS ANGELES, CA 90027 863.680.4597 ROSENBAUMHOUSE.COM FRANKLLOYDWRIGHT.ORG 323.644.6269 FLSOUTHERN.EDU/FLW WRIGHTINALABAMA.COM FOR UP-TO-DATE INFORMATION BARNSDALL.ORG FOR UP-TO-DATE INFORMATION FOR UP-TO-DATE INFORMATION TOUR HOURS: 9AM–4PM FOR UP-TO-DATE INFORMATION TOUR HOURS: TOUR HOURS: BOOKSHOP HOURS: 8:30AM–6PM TOUR HOURS: THURS–SUN, 11AM–4PM OPEN ALL YEAR, EXCEPT OPEN ALL YEAR, EXCEPT TOUR TICKETS AVAILABLE AT THE THANKSGIVING, CHRISTMAS AND NEW Experience firsthand Frank Lloyd MAJOR HOLIDAYS. HOLLYHOCK HOUSE VISITOR’S CENTER YEAR’S DAY. 10AM–4PM Wright’s brilliant ability to integrate TUES–SAT, 10AM–4PM IN BARNSDALL PARK. VISITOR CENTER & GIFT SHOP HOURS: SUN, 1PM–4PM indoor and outdoor spaces at Taliesin Hollyhock House is Wright’s first 9:30AM–4:30PM West—Wright’s winter home, school The Rosenbaum House is the only Los Angeles project. Built between and studio from 1937-1959, located Discover the largest collection of Frank Lloyd Wright-designed 1919 and 1923, it represents his on 600 acres of dramatic desert.
    [Show full text]
  • Gestural Abstraction in Australian Art 1947 – 1963: Repositioning the Work of Albert Tucker
    Gestural Abstraction in Australian Art 1947 – 1963: Repositioning the Work of Albert Tucker Volume One Carol Ann Gilchrist A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Art History School of Humanities Faculty of Arts University of Adelaide South Australia October 2015 Thesis Declaration I certify that this work contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in my name, in any university or other tertiary institution and, to the best of my knowledge and belief, contains no material previously published or written by another person, except where due reference has been made in the text. In addition, I certify that no part of this work will, in the future, be used for any other degree or diploma in any university or other tertiary institution without the prior approval of the University of Adelaide and where applicable, any partner institution responsible for the joint-award of this degree. I give consent to this copy of my thesis, when deposited in the University Library, being made available for loan and photocopying, subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. I also give permission for the digital version of my thesis to be made available on the web, via the University‟s digital research repository, the Library Search and also through web search engines, unless permission has been granted by the University to restrict access for a period of time. __________________________ __________________________ Abstract Gestural abstraction in the work of Australian painters was little understood and often ignored or misconstrued in the local Australian context during the tendency‟s international high point from 1947-1963.
    [Show full text]
  • Harry Collison, MA – Kingston University Working Paper ______
    Harry Collison, MA – Kingston University Working Paper __________________________________________________________________________________________ HARRY COLLISON, MA (1868-1945): Soldier, Barrister, Artist, Freemason, Liveryman, Translator and Anthroposophist Sir James Stubbs, when answering a question in 1995 about Harry Collison, whom he had known personally, described him as a dilettante. By this he did not mean someone who took a casual interest in subjects, the modern usage of the term, but someone who enjoys the arts and takes them seriously, its more traditional use. This was certainly true of Collison, who studied art professionally and was an accomplished portraitist and painter of landscapes, but he never had to rely on art for his livelihood. Moreover, he had come to art after periods in the militia and as a barrister and he had once had ambitions of becoming a diplomat. This is his story.1 Collisons in Norfolk, London and South Africa Originally from the area around Tittleshall in Norfolk, where they had evangelical leanings, the Collison family had a pedigree dating back to at least the fourteenth century. They had been merchants in the City of London since the later years of the eighteenth century, latterly as linen drapers. Nicholas Cobb Collison (1758-1841), Harry’s grandfather, appeared as a witness in a case at the Old Bailey in 1800, after the theft of material from his shop at 57 Gracechurch Street. Francis (1795-1876) and John (1790-1863), two of the children of Nicholas and his wife, Elizabeth, née Stoughton (1764-1847), went to the Cape Colony in 1815 and became noted wine producers.2 Francis Collison received the prize for the best brandy at the first Cape of Good Hope Agricultural Society competition in 1833 and, for many years afterwards, Collison was a well- known name in the brandy industry.
    [Show full text]
  • The Anthroposophic Art of Ernesto Genoni, Goetheanum, 1924
    The Anthroposophic Art of Ernesto Genoni, Goetheanum, 1924 John Paull The images 1-16 were first exhibited at the exhibition, Angels of the First Class: The Anthroposophic Art of Ernesto Genoni, Goetheanum, 1924 held at: VITAL YEARS CONFERENCE 2016 – CRADLE OF A HEALTHY LIFE Date: Jul 5 2016 - Jul 9 2016 Venue: Tarremah Steiner School, Hobart, Tasmania Cover image: Image 1. Angels of the Cradle “In painting, too, Dr Steiner showed the way to a new ideal. He trained his pupils to experience the inner life of colour - out of the language of colours themselves - to give birth to form, without ever drawing in the forms beforehand. This was a difficult ideal to fulfil and it required the development of a new technique. But in the course of years a considerable number of artists, each in his individual way, have produced beautiful works in this direction Looking at some of these pictures, whether of human forms and groups, or sceneries of Nature, or more purely spiritual Imaginations, one experiences a kind of liberation; one feels one never realised before what the pure world of colour can convey. It is as though a new world were being opened” George Adams Kaufmann, 1933, p.46. Journal of Organics INTERNATIONAL, OPEN ACCESS, PEER REVIEWED, FREE A Special Issue devoted to an account of the Anthroposophic art of Ernesto Genoni, Australia’s pioneer of biodynamic and organic farming. Volume 3 Number 2, September 2016 jOrganics.org ISSN 2204-1060 eISSN 2204-1532 !2 Journal of Organics 3(2) 2016 !2 The Anthroposophic Art of Ernesto Genoni, Goetheanum, 1924 John Paull School of Land & Food, University of Tasmania [email protected] [email protected] Abstract Ernesto Genoni (1885-1975) was a pioneer of biodynamic and organic farming in Australia.
    [Show full text]
  • Waldorf Education & Anthroposophy 2
    WALDORF EDUCATION AND ANTHROPOSOPHY 2 [XIV] FOU NDAT IONS OF WALDORF EDUCAT ION R U D O L F S T E I N E R Waldorf Education and Anthroposophy 2 Twelve Public Lectures NOVEMBER 19,1922 – AUGUST 30,1924 Anthroposophic Press The publisher wishes to acknowledge the inspiration and support of Connie and Robert Dulaney ❖ ❖ ❖ Introduction © René Querido 1996 Text © Anthroposophic Press 1996 The first two lectures of this edition are translated by Nancy Parsons Whittaker and Robert F. Lathe from Geistige Zusammenhänge in der Gestaltung des Menschlichen Organismus, vol. 218 of the Complete Works of Rudolf Steiner, published by Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach, Switzerland, 1976. The ten remaining lectures are a translation by Roland Everett of Anthroposophische Menschenkunde und Pädagogik, vol. 304a of the Complete Works of Rudolf Steiner, published by Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach, Switzerland, 1979. Published by Anthroposophic Press RR 4, Box 94 A-1, Hudson, N.Y. 12534 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Steiner, Rudolf, 1861–1925. [Anthroposophische Menschenkunde und Pädagogik. English] Waldorf education and anthroposophy 2 : twelve public lectures. November 19, 1922–August 30, 1924 / Rudolf Steiner. p. cm. — (Foundations of Waldorf education ;14) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-88010-388-4 (pbk.) 1. Waldorf method of education. 2. Anthroposophy. I. Title. II. Series. LB1029.W34S7213 1996 96-2364 371.3'9— dc20 CIP 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without the written permission of the publisher, except for brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and articles.
    [Show full text]
  • Academic and Social Effects of Waldorf Education on Elementary School Students
    California State University, Monterey Bay Digital Commons @ CSUMB Capstone Projects and Master's Theses Capstone Projects and Master's Theses 5-2018 Academic and Social Effects of Waldorf Education on Elementary School Students Christian Zepeda California State University, Monterey Bay Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.csumb.edu/caps_thes_all Part of the Curriculum and Instruction Commons, Curriculum and Social Inquiry Commons, Early Childhood Education Commons, Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons, Educational Methods Commons, Educational Psychology Commons, Elementary Education Commons, Elementary Education and Teaching Commons, International and Comparative Education Commons, Liberal Studies Commons, and the Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education Commons Recommended Citation Zepeda, Christian, "Academic and Social Effects of Waldorf Education on Elementary School Students" (2018). Capstone Projects and Master's Theses. 272. https://digitalcommons.csumb.edu/caps_thes_all/272 This Capstone Project (Open Access) is brought to you for free and open access by the Capstone Projects and Master's Theses at Digital Commons @ CSUMB. It has been accepted for inclusion in Capstone Projects and Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ CSUMB. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Running Head: EFFECTS OF WALDORF EDUCATION 1 Academic and Social Effects of Waldorf Education on Elementary School Students Christian Zepeda Liberal Studies Department College of Education California State University Monterey Bay EFFECTS OF WALDORF EDUCATION 2 Abstract As society becomes more critical of public education, alternative education systems are becoming more popular. The Waldorf education system, based on the philosophy of Rudolf Steiner, has increased in popularity and commonality each decade. Currently, 23 Waldorf institutions exist in California.
    [Show full text]
  • Corroboree Ground and Aboriginal Cultural Area, Queanbeyan River
    November 2017 ACT Heritage Council BACKGROUND INFORMATION Corroboree Ground and Aboriginal Cultural Area, Queanbeyan River Block 700 MAJURA Part Blocks 662, 663, 699, 680, 701, 702, 703, 704 MAJURA Part Blocks 2002, 2091, 2117 JERRABOMBERRA OAKS ESTATE Block 22, Section 2; Block 13, Section 3; Block 4, Section 13; Block 6, Section 13, Block 5, Section 14; Part Block 15, Section 2; Part Block 19, Section 2; Part Block 20, Section 2; Part Block 21, Section 2; Part Block 5, Section 13; Part Block 1, Section 14; Part Block 4, Section 14; Part Block 1, Section 17 At its meeting of 16 November 2017 the ACT Heritage Council decided that the Corroboree Ground and Aboriginal Cultural Area, Queanbeyan River was eligible for registration. The information contained in this report was considered by the ACT Heritage Council in assessing the nomination for the Corroboree Ground and Aboriginal Cultural Area, Queanbeyan River against the heritage significance criteria outlined in s 10 of the Heritage Act 2004. HISTORY The Ngunnawal people are traditionally affiliated with the lands within the Canberra region. In this citation, ‘Aboriginal community’ refers to the Ngunnawal people and other Aboriginal groups within the ACT who draw significance from the place. Whilst the term ‘Aboriginal community’ acknowledges these groups in the ACT, it is recognised that their traditional territories extend outside contemporary borders. These places attest to a rich history of Aboriginal connection to the area. Traditional Aboriginal society in Canberra during the nineteenth century suffered from dramatic depopulation and alienation from traditional land based resources, although some important social institutions like intertribal gatherings and corroborees were retained to a degree at least until the 1860s.
    [Show full text]
  • Cross-Section
    UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE CROSS-SECTION Issue No. 205 December 1, 1969 complex will give us a second chance. Let us hope it is not wasted on talking solely about function. Archi- tects: Bates, Smart & McCutcheon with Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. Builders: E. A. Watts Pty. Ltd. Engineers: Bates, Smart & McCutcheon. Cost: $20,000,000. ¶ Commonwealth architects a-plenty are expected to enter a competition to design a new U.K. parliamentary building sited near the Palace of Westminster, London. The competition is being conducted by the Ministry of Public Building and Works in association with the R.I.B.A. The Australian representative on the panel of assessors is Robin Boyd. The 2-stage competition and its draft conditions have been discussed by the panel for release by the end of '69. Ala -INN"10 lUtlU{U10 +y. ülifllf6lt{ifl( NI IH UUOtllkir, ■ 6. Photo: Adrian Crothers The 26-storey A.M.P. Tower and its adjacent 6-storey St. James building, Melbourne, is now being occupied. Unwittingly or not, the complex introduces delicious mannerist effects that altogether distract one from the simple aesthetic of the clean and the efficient. From William Street the Tower appears to be a monolithic peg that has been driven too far into the ground. The massive piers and the near eye level plinth of the tower facade combine to give this instantaneous thrill. The infamous facade of the St. James building has moved architecture into the territory of op-art sensa- tion. From some angles it creates a bewilderment that can generate nausea.
    [Show full text]
  • Frank Lloyd Wright in Iowa Daniel J
    Architecture Publications Architecture Winter 2008 Frank Lloyd Wright in Iowa Daniel J. Naegele Iowa State University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/arch_pubs Part of the Architectural History and Criticism Commons The ompc lete bibliographic information for this item can be found at http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/ arch_pubs/54. For information on how to cite this item, please visit http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/ howtocite.html. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Architecture at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Architecture Publications by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Frank Lloyd Wright in Iowa Abstract Why "Wright in Iowa?" Are there ways that Wright's Iowa works are distinguished from his built works elsewhere? Iowa is a typical Midwest state, exceptional in neither general geography nor landscape. The ts ate's urban areas are minor, and Iowa has never been known for its subscription to avant-garde architecture. Its most renowned artist, Grant Wood, painted Iowa's rolling hills and pie-faced people in cartoon-like images that simultaneously champion and question the coalescence of people and place. Indeed, the state's most convincing buildings are found on its farms with their unpretentious, vernacular, agricultural buildings. Disciplines Architectural History and Criticism Comments This article is from Frank Lloyd Wright Quarterly 19 (2008): 4–9. Posted with permission. This article is available at Iowa State University Digital Repository: http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/arch_pubs/54 a (Photos above and opposite page, top right) The Lowell and Agnes Walter hy "Wright in Iowa?" Are House, "Cedar Rock," Quasqueton, W there ways that Wright's Iowa.
    [Show full text]
  • Canberra & District Historical Society Inc
    Canberra & District Historical Society Inc. Founded 10 December 1953 PO Box 315, Curtin ACT 2605 ISSN 1839-4612 Edition No. 467 June 2018 Canberra History News – Edition No. 467 – June 2018 1 Canberra & District Historical Society Inc. Council President: Nick Swain Vice-President: Esther Davies; Richard Reid Immediate Past President: Julia Ryan Hon. Treasurer: Vacant, Julia Ryan A/g Hon. Secretary: Vacant Councillors: Patricia Clarke; Tony Corp; Peter Dowling; Allen Mawer; Marilyn Truscott; Ann Tündern-Smith, two vacancies Honorary Executive Officer: Helen Digan CDHS CanBerra Historical Journal Editors: David Wardle and Kay Walsh (Published two times each year) CDHS CanBerra History News Editors: Ann Tündern-Smith, Sylvia Marchant and Karen Moore (Published four times each year) Location Curtin Shopping Centre, Curtin ACT (Entrance from Strangways Street car park, opposite the service station) Postal Address Phone PO Box 315, Curtin ACT 2605 (02) 6281 2929 Email Website [email protected] www.canberrahistory.org.au Facebook page CanBerra & District History https://www.facebook.com/groups/829568883839247/ Office Hours Tuesdays & most Wednesdays: 11.00 a.m. to 2.00 p.m. Most Saturdays: 10.00 a.m. to 12.00 noon Monthly Meetings Conference Room, Telopea Park School, New South Wales Crescent, Barton Held from February to December on the 2nd Tuesday of each month Be sure to arrive between 5.00 and 5.30 pm, as the entrance then is locked until the meeting finishes, between 6.30 and 7 pm Front Cover: Annie Mercy Fallick, née Gale, one of the Pioneer Women of QueanBeyan descriBed By Nichole Overall in her presentation to the Society’s Monthly Meeting on 8 April.
    [Show full text]
  • Robin Boyd's the Australian Ugliness, Ugliness
    RMIT DESIGN ARCHIVES JOURNAL | VOL 9 Nº 2 | | VOL JOURNAL RMIT DESIGN ARCHIVES 9 Nº 2 RMIT DESIGN ARCHIVES JOURNAL VOL 9 Nº 2 | 2019 ROBIN BOYD REDUX ROBIN BOYD REDUX BOYD ROBIN RDA_Journal_21_9.2_Cover.indd 1 27/11/19 4:58 pm Robin Boyd’s The Australian Ugliness, ugliness, peer reviewed and liberal education essay John Macarthur Robin Boyd’s graphic style in The Australian Ugliness owes much to the British journal The Architectural Review (ar) and in particular to Osbert Lancaster and Gordon Cullen in their critical and frequently humorous depictions of the vernacular built environment and the fancies of popular taste.1 On this basis it is reasonable to assume that Boyd’s account of ugliness also has sources in the ar’s discussion of architecture and ugliness, which Boyd references. But this is not the case; or, rather, there is an ambiguity here. Boyd writes with a quite patrician distain for popular but Australian featurism is particularly repulsive because it misunderstandings and ignorance of architecture, and this is cheerful, hygienic and taken to signify modernity when it is at odds with a certain condescending fondness for the is its exact opposite. The idiom of Australian featurism plays Opposite foolishness of bad building that we see in his drawings, out in a sequence of attractive novelty of form, materials Robin Boyd, which are closer to the AR. Boyd’s ambivalent ugliness and ornaments, each making their own plea for attention, The Australian Ugliness, (Melbourne: F.W. shares with the AR a strategy of deploying ugliness to ask one after the other, feature columns, supporting feature Cheshire, 1960), what role architectural expertise ought to have in a liberal porches, with plasticised silky-oak front door alongside RMIT Design Archives, society where all have a right to express their taste.
    [Show full text]