Irving Gill from His Personal Collection, Com• Piled Throughout the Past 50 Years
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SOCIETY OF ARCHITECTURAL HISTORIANS U.S. Postage SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA CHAPTER FIRST CLASS MAIL PAID Pasadena, CA Permit No. 740 I 1 P.O. Box 56478, Sherman Oaks. CA 91413, 800.9SAHSCC, www.sahscc.org Reed will present rare Kodachrome slides on the work of Irving Gill from his personal collection, com• piled throughout the past 50 years. This event offers an opportunity to see rare images of buildings as they once were and buildings that have been lost, accompanied by the reflections of one of Southern California's most authoritative voices on modern architecture. Bishop's School, La Jolla, Irving Gill (1909), John Reed grew up in San Photo: Marvin Rand Diego and attended the School of Architecture at USC. After college, he worked for three years in the office of Lloyd Wright, where he Irving Gill often visited Lloyd Wright's famous father, Frank Lloyd Wright. A pioneer in the preservation of modern architecture in Los Irving Gill: Angeles, as well an accomplished architect in his own right, John Reed was the preservation officer for the Southern California chapter CaliFornid of the AIA. He was also president of the "Save The Dodge House" foundation. This attempt to save the universally lauded Irving Gill Dodge House, Irving Gill (1916, destroyed). mpressions masterpiece was the first effort to Photo: Marvin Rand preserve a contemporary build• ing—one fewer than 50 years old. SAH/SCC Lecture with Reed also helped Esther McCoy Architect John Reed with her book. Five California Architects (Reinhold Publishing Sunday, July 24th Corporation, 1960), acting on his interest in Gill and R.M. Schindler. The Clarke Estate in Santa Fe oin SAH/SCC Sunday, July 24th, 2-4PM, for a very Springs is located just 35 minutes pecial presentation by architect and SAH/SCC from the Westside, near the inter• section of the 5 and 605 Freeways. ounding Member, John Reed. The event will be Commissioned by Chaucey and eld at the Irving Gill-designed Clarke Estate (1919) Marie Ranking Clarke, Gill organ• b Santa Fe Springs. The $15 cost includes the lec- ized the house around a central ure, admission to the Clarke Estate, and light courtyard or "outdoor room." The lush garden and reflecting pool add Horatio West Court, Santa Monica, Irving Gill (1919). efreshments. Reservations are required and to this enchanting site's allure. See Photo: Marvin Rand pace is limited. See order form on the back page. for yourself on July 24th. july august Tour and Event InFormation: 1.800.9SAHSCC: [email protected] SAH/SCC SAH/SCC NEWS is published bi-monthly by the Society of Architectural Historians / Southt California Chapter Subscription is a benefit of membership and provides members with one of President s Letter most comprehensive calendars of architectural events in Southern California and advance notice exclusive SAH/SCC architectural events and tours. Preservation is in the eye of the beholder. Editor: Julie D. Taylor So says Steve Scauzillo, the editorial page editor of the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Assistant Editor: Anne Dickhoff who recently argued that the embattled Azusa Drive-In does not desen/e to be saved. It Internet Editor: Brent Eckerman was an excellent article that highlighted some of the larger issues facing the Art Director: Svetlana Petrovic architectural history and preservation communities today Administration: Arline Chambers This is a classic case of competing interests between a property owner and a small but powerful band of enthusiasts. And it raises compellmg questions about what Information and ads for the newsletter should be sent three weeks before the issue daj kinds of places are significant and worth saving. Issue Deadline: September/October 2005 August 10, 2005 The Azusa Drive-ln is on the California Register of Historic Places because it is one Please send all ad materials, notices of events, exhibitions and news to the attention of the edi of the few remaining drive-ins off Route 66, recallmg the romance of 1950s car culture. When the site was first listed as historic. Ken Bernstein of the LA Conservancy asked. Julie D. Taylor Editor SAH/SCC News Newsletter telephone: 310.247.1099 "What if we had never preserved the ornate theaters of the 1920s? All kids today would PO. Box 56478 Newsletter fax: 310.247.8147 know are the giant 10-screen theater complexes." Sherman Oaks, Newsletter e-mail: [email protected] The problem is that the structure's original purpose is essentially obsolete, and CA 91413 difficult to adapt to a viable new purpose. As Scauzillo writes, our movie-watching SAH/SCC Executive Board habits have changed dramatically since the heyday of the drive-in. Other types of Cara Mullio structures are more adaptable: a homestead can become the office of a non-profit Merry Ovnick (I nterim President) Jean Clare Baaden group, or a historic church can be preserved as a small museum. Or sometimes, as in Sian Winship (Vice President) John Ellis Craig Walker the case of Bob's Big Boy in Toluca Lake, the original function can be rehabilitated with Merry Ovnick (Membership) Hal Meltzer Adam Wheeler great success. But a new use that preserves and honors the drive-in has not been John Berley (Treasurer) discovered. This one is used as a low-rent flea market from time to time. Brent Eckerman (Internet) Another aspect of the problem is that the structure is not architecturally significant itself nor particularly beautiful. Of course this makes it hard to arouse a lot SAH/SCC Advisory Board of passion within our community. Ted Wells, Ted Bosley, Ken Breisch, Stephen Harby, Elizabeth McMillian. Rochelle Mills. A final part of the problem, according to Scauzillo. is that the preservation of the Claire Rogger Richard C.Rowe, Nancy Smith, Robert Winter drive-in would compromise the potential quality of future architecture. The land is owned by Azusa Pacific University (APU). which is rapidly growing and wants to build new dormitories on the site. By adding stunning buildings, Scauzillo says, the university SAH/SCC members could become the most architecturally beautiful university in the area. I'm not quite so convinced that APU is building a real architectural legacy but you LiFe Members: LE ROY MISURACA Patron Members: see the larger question. By preserving a mediocre work of the past, we might be SUSAN W MONTEITH DOUGLAS M MORELftND DONALD H BENSEN preventing architects from creating buildings that might really be worth preserving GRANT BARNES SARA G MULLER CHERNOFF VERABENSEN KYLE C. BARNES someday DANIEL T MUNOZ CLAUS BEST KATHLEEN BIXLER RONALD NESTOR, AIA CRAIG & LORNA CORDREY JOHN BLANTON MARK NICHOLS RUTH DeNAULT MARY DUnON BOEHM PETER A NIMMER LESLIE ERGANIAN After more than three years, this is my final President's Letter I am opening a new MARIE BOTNICK JOHN M NISLEY JOHN FLORANCE BILL BOWLING chapter in my own life, and I am happy to pass the torch to Merry Ovnick. who is PETER NORTON GARY & ENID FREUND RUTH BOWMAN currently our membership coordinator Merry's credentials are impeccable. She has a REGINA O'BRIEN LISA GIMMY KEN BREISCH THOMAS O'CONNOR GWYNNE GLOEGE Ph.D. in architectural history from UCLA, she is a professor at CSU Northridge, and she LYNN MARIE BRYANT POLLY OSBORNE, AIA ELLEN HOFFMAN BENTE & GERALD E BUCK is the author of the excellent Los Angeles: The End of the Rainbow (Balcony Press, ANNE OHERSON TERRI HUGHES BONNIE BURTON 1994). I think we've done some good work in the past few years, and I expect that it will FRANCIS PACKER MARY JACK PAMELA BURTON ROBERT & J JUSTMAN only get better under Merry's leadership. Farewell. HELEN PALMER MIRIAM & SAM CAMPBELl C, E, PARKER DOUG KNOTT JOHN & RHONDA CANO GEORGE PENNER MARK KRASNE WENDY CARSON PAUL & SAMARA LARSON Tony Denzer STANDISH K PENTON ROBERT JAY CHATTEL AUDREE PENTON ALVIN Y LEE STEVE CONNER MARK PIAIA RICHARD J LEVY, AIA. APA ELIZABETH COURTIER JOHN AUGUST REED RAHLA HALL LINDSEY BILL DAMASCHKE STEVE & SARI ROOEN ARTHUR V LIU CROSBY DE CARTERET DOE CLAIRE ROGGER LAURA MASSING LINDA SOLLIMA DOE ROB ROTHBLAH VITUS MATARE STEVE EILENBERG RICHARD CAYIA ROWE CHRIS MENRAD HEINZ E ELLERSIECK JEFFREY B SAMUOlO MARK PINKERTON J RICHARD FARE, AIA. CCS. CSI STEVEN SAUTE LAWRENCE & CAROL PLATT Cido CAROL FENELON L4WRENCE SCARPA RON RADZINER DONALD R FERGUSON ELEANOR SCHAPA TOM & PEGGY REAVEY GILBERT GARCETTI ANN SCHEID EDWARD REILLY SUKEY GARCEHI JAMES M SCHWENTKER III JANET SAGER DR & MRS KENNETH GEIGER Los Anqeles! PATRICIA SIMPSON ALAN SIEROTY ROBERT GELINAS JOHN C. TERELL GORDON & JOY GILLIAM CECILIA SINGER MARK SLOTKIN SARAH FLYNN TUDOR RAYMOND GIRVIGIAN. FAIA WOLFGANG WAGENER The SAH/SCC Board is sad to PROF PAUL GLEYE GIBBS M SMITH NANCY & KYLE SMITH CYNTHIA WARD announce the recent "retirement" of GEORGE GORSE DONALD ZIEMER ANDY & LISA HACKMAN JANANN STRAND its long-time treasurer, Rina BETH HALLEH CAROLYN STRAUSS Rubenstein, as she leaves the BRUCE HALLEH VERN SWANSEN New Members: MARIE TARTAR organization and Los Angeles to live STEPHEN HARBY ELIZABETH HARRIS REGINALD THATCHER Vera Bensen and work in Manhattan for a year EUGENE & SHIRLEY HOGGAH RAUN THORP The John Lautner Foundation M BRIAN TICHENOR, AIA For the past many years, Rina JAMES & ANNELIESE HORECKA Marvanne Levine ELAINE K SEWELL JONES A. TISCHLER Missy Pawlecki & Btian Caviness has tirelessly and efficiently han• GUSTAV H. ULLNER JONATHAN S JUSTMAN Beth Tate BETTY M ULLNER dled the less-than-glamorous duties REBECCA KAHN Tiona Wierman MAGGIE VALENTINE DIANE KANE of keeping the organization's books, DANIEL VISNICH STEPHEN A KANTER, MD New Patron Members: preparing its tax returns, and paying VIRGINIA ERNST KAZOR ROBERT D WALLACE QUINCY WARGO the bills. The many of you who came JUDY KELLER Claus Best MARILYN KELLOGG JOHN WARNKF Craig & Lorna Cordrey to know Rina through SAH/SCC also know that she was intimately involved in LAMAR KERLEY LORIWARNKE DR.