An Architectural legacy Lingers

EDITOR'S NOTE: The addition of the celebrated pursue a private practice in Bartles- University of Kentucky . Sixteen of young architect Bruce Goff to the ville and Kansas City, then worked in the 22 are OU alumni: MacDonald; University of faculty was Japan and several European and Henderson; Californians Valentino considered quite an academic coup in South American countries . To the dis- Agnoli of Stinson Beach, Violeta Au- 1947. A disciple of Frank Lloyd tress of many of his former students, tumn and John Davis of Sausalito, Wright and , Goff the Goff influence has faded at the George K. Muennig of Big Sur, played a major role in the so-called School of Architecture over the years Robert K. Overstreet of San Francisco ,'modern" architectural revolution in as the broader-based College of En- and William R. Stover of San Rafael; America . Locally, he was a classroom vironmental Design emerged at OU Colorodans Robert A. Bowlby and W. celebrity, using his creative and (Page 11) . But his legacy lingers in Arley Rinehart of Denver and Varouj teaching genius to attract gifted stu- the work of the architects he trained Z. Hairabedian of Aspen; Robert L. dents to OU and his promotional who are just now coming into their Faust of Auburn, Alabama; James A. abilities to make certain everyone own as a definable group (Page 9). Gresham ofTucson, Arizona; William knew they were there . No ivory tower One of this group, Donald Mac- Murphy ofNew York City, New York; for Goff, he believed in going public. Donald of San Francisco, paid tribute Rex Slack of Manhattan, Kansas; and He used the location of his School of to the Oklahoma-born, uniquely Takenobu Mohri of Tokyo, Japan . Architecture in the Oklahoma American architectural tradition as Many of these same architects, in- Memorial Stadium to full advantage. guest editor of the special issue cluding OU's Henderson, also were Football fans attempting to avoid (November 1981) of A+U, Architec- featured in a similar article in the traffic snarls by arriving early or ture and Urbanism, an international June 1982 issue of the Italian leaving late were encouraged by Goff professional magazine published in magazine, L'Architettura . During the to fill the time with a visit to exhibi- Japan. Portions of that issue are re- past year exhibitions of their work, tions of student and faculty designs . printed on the following pages of emphasizing Goffs influence, have No Sunday afternoon drive around Sooner Magazine, notably Bruce been held at Kansas State and Au- Norman was complete without a slow Goffs memories of his years at OU, burn universities . swing down Timberdell Road with its written at MacDonald's request, In the midst of the heightened in- cul de sacs lined with avant-garde which appear on Page 5. terest in his contributions to architec- houses by Goff, his students and col- Featured in A+U were works of 22 ture, Bruce Goff returned to the OU leagues. Meanwhile, just east of the Goff-influenced architects, including campus as a distinguished visiting city, a dollar would buy the visitor a Professor professor for the 1981-82 academic guided tour of Goffs controversial Arn Henderson and former OU ar- year, a visit cut short by the illness , for many years a chitecture faculty member Herb which eventually claimed his life on staple of OU's Mom's Day . Greene, who is living in Berkeley, August 4, 1982, in Tyler, Texas, his Goff left OU in December 1955 to California, while on leave from the home for the last 12 years . He was 78. 4 SOONER MAGAZINE

"The idea that anyone might think he had something to develop as an individual was `heresy' and `dangerous' and forbidden."

he School of Architecture at the and Endacott knew it and advised me styles these schools admired were, University of Oklahoma in to continue in the firm. My parents originally, of so shallow a nature. Norman invited me to join the thought I was a fool if I refused the They were not. They were modern in Tfaculty as professor of architecture in gift, so I needed more "authority ." their own time, healthy and vital. But 1947. 1 had just completed my three- The only two architects I knew I these academic schools seemed totally year enlistment in the U.S.N. "Sea- could trust to see it my way were ignorant or unaware of architectures bees" (World War II) and had decided Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd of the past besides those they so to remain in the San Francisco area Wright, so I wrote to them, explain- blindly followed. To wit: Egypt, India, to continue my own architectural ing my predicament and asking them China, Japan, Central America, and practice . Many clients were asking what they thought I should do. Sulli- wonderful ethnic constructions by me to work with them, but it was al- van answered promptly : "I have had non-architect builders all over the most impossible to secure labor and precisely that same education you world. I believe we should know a materials . Therefore, the invitation speak of, in Boston and in Paris, and great deal about all of them and learn from Oklahoma University was most have spent my entire lifetime trying what we can from all of them, but propitious. to live it down; I can't see what any- forget it all when we need to create Although I had had no formal one would want with it!" Wright re- architecture of'our own. Do not try to academic education since high school, plied: "If you want to lose Bruce Goff, remember! I had previously taught design in the go to school." This gave me the I informed the University that I Academy of Fine Arts. As needed "authority" and left me free to had no academic degrees for such a head of the design department (for continue with my own education. position on the faculty. . . . Then Libbey-Owens-Ford), in Chicago and Most architectural schools of that George Cross, president of the Uni- Toledo, my work continued to be of a time were either directly or indirectly versity of Oklahoma, said, "We are teaching nature, as was my work (teaching) according to Beaux Arts after men with ideas, not just de- with apprentices in my own architec- methods and programs, imitative of grees ." I joined the faculty in Feb- tural office, first in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the historic past, and preached that ruary 1947. and then in Chicago. art died with the Greeks. Other There was no "head" of the School The question arises, "why did I not schools thought art died with the Ro- of Architecture then, nor was it have a formal academic education in mans, the Romanesque, the Renais- accredited. The budget was one of the architecture?" I was apprenticed at sance, the Gothic, the Baroque, etc., lowest of any school of architecture in the age of 12 to the firm of Rush, En- etc . Anyway, they all seem to agree the U.S.A . "Basic Design" was a ser- dacott & Rush, architects in Tulsa, that art had died and that the proper, vice course offered by the Art School. Oklahoma, in 1916. From 1922 to gentleman-architect should follow The School of Architecture was a part 1929 I spent full time in their office, one or mix several of these historical of the College of Engineering, and doing most of their planning and de- styles with "taste" and "respect" into "Structural Design" was furnished by sign . In 1929 I passed the license ex- a watered-down kind of eclecticism that college. "Architectural History" amination and became a registered quite apart from our own times. followed Sir Bannister Fletcher's architect and partner in the firm The idea that anyone might think "bible" and Space, Time and Every- Rush, Endacott & Goff and, upon Mr. he had something within himself to thing was to show up later. There Rush's retirement, a partner in En- develop, as an individual, was was, however, some mention of Sulli- dacott & Goff. "heresy" and "dangerous" and forbid- van and Wright. A wealthy Tulsan and his wife, for den. These schools regarded struc- Design assignments were attempt- whom I had done some work, kindly ture, mechanical engineering and ing to be up-to-date including such offered to finance an architectural new unusual materials as "necessary problems as shopping centers, ticket education for me by proposing I evils" which had to be covered over booths at a county fair, etc . Some of should go to M.I.T . and then be with architectural "facials" and the teachers would give their classes "finished off" by attending the Ecole "makeups ." The word "facade" never a clue as to what they wanted by re- des Beaux Arts in Paris . I knew such got much below the surface. ferring their students to pages so and an education was not for me; Rush I do not mean to imply that the so in one of the current architectural WINTER 1983 5

e . .r_ "We had many transfer students of the best from other schools but they gained none of ours ."

O.U. He was structural engineer for several of my own buildings which I did while at OU, such as the Ledbetter-Taylor house in Norman, the Bavinger house near Norman, Hopewell Church in the oil field near Edmond, Oklahoma, the Julius Cox House at Boise City, Oklahoma, and the Ford house in Aurora, Illi- nois. He was especially interested in the structural principles of elasticity . These three structure teachers - all different from each other, and all harmonious as creative individuals, helped the students to realize more freedom, structurally, in their in- creasingly imaginative designs. The creation of a course in the nature of materials also extended their knowl- edge of materials and their suitabil-

" f.S}.Y" . ." . .f75. ." . . "{.° ity, or unsuitability for various pur- poses . architect; Norman, Oklahoma. BAVINGER HOUSE: Bruce o , The importance of textures, colors, costs, labor problems, and psychologi- cal associations and orchestration, as magazines. Then the class made a times. It ceased to be just a "morgue." integral with design concepts, were rush for the library to see what the Better coordination was necessary studied. Interior furnishings and teacher liked so they could please him to relate working drawings, profes- materials also were investigated, as and get a good grade . This practice sional practice, etc., in all possible well as landscape and planting ma- existed in almost all of the schools ways, to the concept of a building be- terials . All of these helped the stu- then. No one seemed to be concerned coming a complete whole in all its dents to realize that all such matters about the student being a creative in- parts for the desires and needs ofpeo- could and should be part of their de- dividual with a potential for growth ple. sign concepts. dedicated to the art of architecture! We were able to interest Mendel The classes in interior furnishings Soon after my arrival, I was elected Glickman, 's and materials were first taught by "chairman" by the faculty. This was structural engineer for such works as Bill Oglesby, who had much experi- approved by Dean William Carson of the Johnson Wax administration ence in this direction. Architectural the College of Engineering and also building, Falling Water house, the design classes were taught by Joe by George Cross. Guggenheim Museum, The Syna- Smay, Richard Kuhlman, William It was obvious to me that we needed gogue in Philadelphia and the Burgett, Henry Kamphoefner, Jim to teach our own beginning design Greek Orthodox Church in Mil- Fitzgibbons, John Rawlings, Norman courses and have our own architec- waukee and the in Bart- Byrd and others. tural structures teachers . We also lesville . Being such a low-budget school, we needed a course in architectural ma- We also invited J. Palmer Boggs, often had to ask the faculty to teach terials and our history of architecture structural engineer and architect who several kinds of classes. Professor courses needed to be revamped to in- was well known for his constructions Richard Kuhlman, for instance, of- clude the other great architecture of oframmed earth in Colorado and who fered courses on the elements oftown the past and present. had great interest in the creative as- planning, taught design and served The architectural library had to be- pects of design and structure as as campus planner for the University come a place for study and a more "One ." He had been teaching in of Oklahoma. Professor Burgett vital place for research under the Florida. taught design and medieval and ren- guidance ofcompetent librarians who The third, and youngest structural aissance architectural history. Pro- could inspire the student's growing man was, and still is, William Wilson, fessor Joe Smay taught sanitation of curiosity about the individual crea- a brilliant and clear structural buildings, wiring and illumination tive drive in all architectures of all thinker who was a former student at and specifications and contracts. He 6 SOONER MAGAZINE

was also the secretary and past presi- book sponsored by the New York work! So after much checking and dent of the Oklahoma Chapter of Museum of Modern Art on "Bridges ." verifying, they reluctantly (?) accre- A .I.A. and was on the board of gover- She remarked about her experience dited OU. nors for licensing architects . at OU: "This is one case where we More and more students came from Among the instructors, during this have not ruined individuality of stu- Hawaii and from Japan, Turkey, time, special note should be made of dents, but have developed it." Norway, England, Bolivia, Ven- Philip B . Welch, architect and skilled Our school was so unlike most ezuela, Greece and other countries. In photographer who came to us from Il- academic institutions that it was 1956, when I resigned to carry on my linois. Joseph Wythe, architect, was looked upon with suspicion by many own practice, I felt grateful for my an excellent design teacher. Eunie of the other schools . Not long after I own time as a student, and I still Fay Jones came from Arkansas and came, it was time for an accreditation think ofmyselfas having been more a taught working drawings . He later visit. When we met the accreditation student than the chairman . I was became head of the School of Ar- team at the airport, they warned me happy to be "B.G." instead of "Profes- chitecture at Arkansas University in that they considered the trip useless sor" or "Chairman" to the students. Fayetteville and is also doing fine ar- as they were certain they would not Frank Lloyd Wright visited our chitectural work. Professor Anatol be able to accredit our school. They school several times. He was never Hellman came from Poland and was a valuable addition to our design staff. Besides my duties as chairman of the school during my entire tenure, I taught beginning design in the first and second semesters and advanced design principles in the beginning of the fourth year. I also taught ancient

Frank Lloyd Wright, never well-known for liking architecture schools, had a special fondness for OU .

and modern architecture history classes . . . Besides my school work, I carried on my own architectural prac- tice . Sometimes students volunteered to do drawings for me outside of class on their own time, without school credit. Our school participated in "round- robin exchange exhibitions" with most mid-western schools of architec- ture . As a result, we had many trans- DACE HOUSE: Bruce Goff ~> > , fer students of the best from other architect; schools, but they gained none of ours . Therefore some of the other schools were astonished that we had such well-known for liking schools of ar- stopped showing our exhibits, but we good relations with the president's of- chitecture, but he had a special fond- always displayed theirs! fice and at the square footage we had ness for OU. After visiting OU in Ben Alan Parks was a fine li- use of under the football stadium, and 1953, he said: "I, myself, once upon a brarian for our school. He was not the square footage of exhibition time, believed the function of a uni- fond of what he had previously space, where work by all of the stu- versity to be to awaken sleepers, and learned was supposed to be "modern dents was always showing. the School of Architecture of the Uni- architecture ." But the students' en- They were amazed at our cur- versity of Oklahoma has encouraged thusiasm for architecture became riculum and could not believe that that belief by its teachings . This al- contagious, and he was caught up in first-year work was done by first-year ready is well established by its own it and became equally enthused and students . They quizzed the students young architects' work, which has was often of great assistance to them. about that and asked them to admit if done more to put Oklahoma in the Elizabeth Mock was also part-time the faculty had "touched up their de- front rank of cultural pursuits than librarian. Later she spent some time signs for them." The students denied anything else it can show ." with Taliesin and wrote an excellent that our faculty ever touched their Eric Mendelsohn, during one of his WINTER 1983 7

':.::}.Jl..:.r':'y,.i: .r. . 1948 Sooner Magazine with plans he and i venue Methodist Goff poses fbr a Boston Church in Tulsa, publicly at- an apartment house to be built in Norman . tributed to another Wilson designed for architect, was designed by Goff at22.

We tried to give the school direction and discipline in freedom.

photographs of his sculpture on the Midway Gardens and with Barry Byrne, George Elmslie and others. What made the School of Architec- ture ofthe University of Oklahoma so "Different?" First we all agreed that education should be a matter ofbring-ingsomethingcreativeandindi- vidual out of a student instead of packing his head full of a pre- fabricated education which would make him, at best, only a follower or ":.SSSSSSS 42 imitative. We believed, with Thomas Carlyle : "The ideal is, within yourself. SHINENKAN: Bruce Goff, architect; location withheld . Your condition is but the stuffyou are to shape that same ideal out of." Gus- several visits to the school told the also visited the school and gave a fine tav Klimt, the great Viennese paint- students: "I congratulate you your- impromptu talk on "How to tell the er, said: "There is only sense in being selves that you can work in this real thing." Harry Partch, one of our a teacher and that is if you can lib- school. Because I have been, in my most individual music composers, erate the genius in others ." That is long life, in many schools of architec- also talked with us and won many what we tried to do at OU and it gave ture, not only in this country but all friends . Lloyd Wright, oldest son of the School of Architecture direction over the world, I think it is very for- FLLW, gave a fine lecture and show and discipline in freedom . tunate for you to be studying in this of many of his outstanding works . Al- From A + U, Architecture and school of Urbanism architecture ." fonso Annelli was also a visitor and A+ U Publishing Co ., Ltd. 1981 My lifelong friend, Duke Ellington, showed many of his posters and Tokyo, Japan 8 SOONER MAGAZINE