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Architect George Ranalli found Chatham, his second home, twelve years ago. Photo by Sofia Ranalli Our countryside reminds him of lands in Torrice, south of Rome, Italy. And our village architecture here influenced his design of a community building in that critics are hailing as one-of-its-kind architecture – in the best tradition.

George

3 Saratoga photos by Paul Warchol By Rich Kraham

Architect George Ranalli lives on Hudson gems like the train station are even stronger.” fifteen teaching and critic positions at eleven an enriched and more deeply referenced RanalliAvenue in Chatham for a few understandable Even if you’re not a student of architecture, educational institutions including Columbia, style. The building [Saratoga] does what so reasons. A Bronx native who also lives in Man- you can see some of the details of these build- , Harvard, School much postmodernism of the 1980s failed to hattan, Ranalli “needed to be near the traffic ings in the Saratoga project pictures on the of Design, Yale, and his current position at do – it reinterprets and transforms history noise,” and one would assume the sirens of the next page. City College of New York. into something completely and satisfyingly rescue squad here on Moore Avenue not far It was through their daughter’s acquain- Now mind you, all these credentials could contemporary.” away, “so he could sleep at night.” tances at grammar school that they found not keep Ranalli, a real down-to-earth guy, Ranalli has taken this fresh approach to That said, he – with wife Anne, son Rocco, families that had a connection to Chatham. and son Rocco, from the rides and Midway decoration to create a line of hardware and and daughter Sofia – also found our country- They were invited for a visit, and Ranalli and of the Chatham Fair where we caught up furniture, which reveals a synthesis of the side a respite from his busy schedule as Dean company fell in love with the area. with him in September. It was there where we highly decorative and the cleanly modern. of the Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of “I have a trace of memory of Torrice, a began a dialogue about his work. And it is, in These functional objects have become part Architecture, City College of New York, and town in Italy 60 kilometers south of Rome, our estimation, that earthiness that probably of the permanent collections of The Metro- his noted architecture firm – a practice that that bears an incredible similarity to Chatham gave him the insight to create such a seminal politan Museum of Art, the Denver Art has been singled out for its sui generis, one- in the quality of its people, their warmth and public building that serves a much deserved Museum, and the Indianapolis Museum of of-a-kind, designs. generosity, and the physical character of a one population. Sure, it makes for a great portfolio Art. , the architecture critic, street hilltown. The general landscape and piece, news generator, and a valuable mono- He has received press mention for works writing in the Wall Street Journal in May of beauty of the valley right off the Taconic on graph, but this building works in the area as small as family bathrooms, but is equally this year, said of Ranalli: Route 203, is reminiscent,” said Ranalli. that architecture works best. And it makes no facile designing large projects, such as the “Obviously, not all architects have been “I love the patchwork of farms and the apologies for some of its superb decorative Master Plan for the City College of New York, building condos and skyscrapers; some have community buildings, the masonry, the special workmanship. or the Student Union Addition at Queens been working quietly under the celebrity physical beauty of Chatham.” College. radar in ways and in places where it matters.” “We come up here as often as we can, work- Middle ground Press coverage and critical pieces regarding She was writing about a public building, ing around our kids’ complex schedules. We “I try to find a middle ground between mod- Ranalli’s works are voluminous, including the Saratoga Avenue Community Center in come virtually every weekend,” he remarked. ern architecture’s inability to age – the lack of pieces in , Casas Inter- Above: Brooklyn, that defied all the odds. Most public warmth in its material palette – and a broader nacional, Architectural Record, Architecture, A design for a buildings she wrote, are done under “tight The work architectural language.” A+U (Architecture + Urbanism), Domus, The home in the Huxtable wrote: “The Saratoga Avenue Com- Chatham area – budgets, Byzantine bureaucracies, and low bid Ranalli said his buildings and design work New Republic and an ORO Single Building unbuilt. Below, a contracts guaranteeing bad design.” munity Center manages to break just about throughout the world are based on both the Series book. His work has also appeared on section of the every deadly rule of conventional public build- client’s program and the existing site. Home and Garden Television. pool house. The The influence of Chatham ing design . . . he created a building with a According to published information, archi- According to published reports, while plunge pool Ranalli was able to buck that trend and create distinctive and elegant presence of its own. tecture critic has high- teaching at Yale, Ranalli also held the room is done in a building that she called “postmodern with- This is, in sum, real architecture.” lighted Ranalli’s “display of affection for forms prestigious William Henry Bishop Chair a green plaster out the bad jokes or superficial historical High praise indeed for the man the New outside the modern traditions.” of Architecture. with pearwood. allusions.” York Times called “a New York architect’s “His ability to convert a school house into Of his own design ethos, Ranalli said: And believe it or not, Ranalli claims that architect.” They were referring more to his much praised condos or design a brick New “I have always searched for a way to translate Chatham’s Cady Hall on Main Street with its status among fellow architects for his crafts- York City Public Housing community center history into a contemporary idiom. To create configuration of big windows and two story manship and blending of modern and histori- into a mahogany trimmed, highly detailed work that blended with rather than opposed hall was influential in this design. He also liked cal traditions than to his roots in the city. acclaimed work shows a facility with transfor- its environment.” the Masonic Building at Park Row and Main Ranalli received his Bachelors of Archi- mation that is still of a piece with the world Through his designs, furniture, and com- Street [west side], “the big red brick box with tecture from in Brooklyn around it.” pleted buildings, this blend seems apparent. the brick corbel cornice at the top. It is so and earned his Masters of Architecture from According to Huxtable, “Mr. Ranalli adheres It is nice to know such unpretentious genius massive, bulky and strong looking. I also like the Graduate School of Design at Harvard to the logic of modernist practice, integrating is around us in Chatham. Hopefully, looking the little red brick building on the corner of University. After graduation Ranalli studied its mechanical, material and structural realities at the integration of forms and the precise School and Hudson Avenue because of all the architecture in Europe, focusing on Italy. with details drawn from earlier sources to lines in this one Brooklyn building, Chatham- masonry detail. The town itself is a beautiful Ranalli’s career includes his own practice, create an integral ornament of abstract linear ites will take a fresh look at the spaces and collection of vernacular, masonry, strong George Ranalli, Architect, his architectural geometry.” forms around them that in a small way buildings. Of course some of the architectural hardware line at George Ranalli Designs, and “His purpose is to move into contributed to this great design. 

The Chatham Press November 2009 Page 16 The Chatham Press November 2009 Page 17