Preservation Matters Fall 2010 Panewsletterfall10.Qxd:Winter 09 8/20/10 10:29 AM Page 3
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PANewsletterFall10.qxd:Winter 09 8/20/10 10:29 AM Page 1 PRESERVATION Preservation Alliance for greater philadelphia MATTERS THE NEWSLETTER OF THE PRESERVATION ALLIANCE FOR GREATER PHILADELPHIA FALL 2010 This issue of Preservation Matters highlights work by the Preservation Alliance on buildings of the recent past and offers the opportunity for the public to help define what is important to preserve and protect. A Complicated Modernity: Philadelphia EXECUTIVE Architectural Design 1945-1980 DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE lthough the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places does not require Aa building to be of a specific age to be listed and protected, the National Register generally includes only buildings 50 years or older. Preservation organizations around the country have started to realize that buildings completed in 1960 are now 50 years old and eligible to be considered as “historic.” And, as time passes, an increasing number of build- ings from the mid-20th century will fall into that category. Preservationists interested in this period refer to it as “the recent past” and many organizations, including the National Trust for Historic Preservation, have started Gift of R.C. Smith University of Pennsylvania Cooperman Emily T. to add consideration of buildings from this The unexpected dramatic atrium of Hill Hall (Eero Saarinen & Associates, 1960), an under- The Richards Medical Research Laboratory, UPenn (Louis Kahn, 1961), one of the era to their preservation agenda. graduate dormitory at the University of Pennsylvania and Philadelphia’s sole Saarinen building. most architecturally influential buildings of the twentieth century. In Philadelphia, a number of individuals and organizations have begun to think about By Malcolm Clendenin, PhD and Emily T. Cooperman, PhD which buildings from the mid-20th century ike most large, prosperous cities in the United States, architecture in and nations in the ensuing decades. Giurgola are significant and noteworthy. The Society became the architecture head at Columbia of Architectural Historians, led by Bill the period after World War II in Philadelphia was, to a great extent, Whitaker of the University of Pennsylvania’s University, and his most ambitious project was Architectural Archives, has been organizing marked by two national trends. The first of these was the spread of the new national government building in tours and lectures about the recent past for Canberra, Australia. Geddes went to Princeton the International Style and subsequent popular modernist styles, several years. Realtor Craig Wakefield has L University to head its architecture department. including Brutalism and later variations on the International Style. created a wonderful website of Modern With the notable exception of the Richards houses (modernhomesphiladelphia.com). The practitioners who relied on these design One of the key factors in shaping post-war Building at Penn and the Esherick House in The late architect Charles Evers produced a modes were the most successful in the region by architecture in Philadelphia was the role of the Chestnut Hill, most of Kahn’s great works are list of notable buildings in the late 1990s. the measures of size and numbers of commis- faculty at the University of Pennsylvania’s not just outside of Philadelphia but indeed And, of course, authors of architectural sions, and their projects are significant for the School of Fine Arts (today known as the School flung across the world, and can be found in guidebooks have had to make their selection changes they wrought to life in the Philadelphia of Design). The hiring of G. Holmes Perkins New York, Connecticut, Texas, California, of notable buildings of this period. region at the local level. (1904-2004) as dean at Penn in 1951 had a sig- India, and Bangladesh. The Preservation Alliance began to explore The second national architecture trend was a nificant impact as he brought on a new, ener- It was the very presence of history, of an the architecture of this period in 2009 by trend that had preceded International getic faculty, many of whom would become extensive built fabric in which the threads of commissioning an historic context statement Modernism, one that is often described as leading lights in the Philadelphia School. 250 years of evolution were woven, that made for Modern architecture in Philadelphia “regional modernism.” It might, however, be Perkins also had a role in shaping redevelop- context and contextuality a keynote of the from 1945 to 1980. Prepared by Malcolm better be termed “American modernism,” since ment within the city as Chairman of the City Philadelphia School—the city’s most famous Clendenin and Emily Cooperman, this state- it encompasses the works of such eminent prac- Planning Commission (of which Edmund contribution to international design in the ment outlines the major themes and primary titioners as Frank Lloyd Wright. Philadelphia Bacon was Executive Director). In the massive postwar period. Evident in their work was a architects of the period. (It can be viewed at PreservePhiladelphia.org/wp-content/ had a significant history of both American postwar development program in West desire to knit architectural projects into their uploads/HCSModernism.pdf). This past modernist and International Style architecture Philadelphia, Perkins was at least partly respon- surroundings. The return of a concern for con- summer, thanks to a summer intern grant before World War II, and the Beaux Arts meth- sible not only for engaging internationally-sig- text and history was nothing less than a sea- from the Samuel S. Fels Fund, the Alliance ods and approaches that shaped much of nificant architect Eero Saarinen for Hill Hall on change in architecture. Philadelphia’s built was able to add an initial inventory of mid- this architecture continued to influence the Penn campus but also probably secured the works of the 1960s and 1970s, and its firms 20th century buildings to support the context Philadelphia-area designs after the war. commission of the Richards Medical Research (both world-famous and those less well- statement. (See PreservationAlliance. com/ In distinct contrast to other cities, however, Laboratories—an internationally significant known) form a remarkable case study of one of programs/modern.php). These are the first Philadelphia in the postwar period spawned an design—for Louis Kahn at roughly the same the most significant periods in twentieth-cen- steps in what we hope will be a new area of internationally significant group of designers time. tury architecture, and remain one of the most interest for historic preservation in that together have been called the “Philadelphia Joining Kahn in teaching at Penn under Dean significant aspects of its built environment. It is Philadelphia. School.” They produced far fewer, and general- Perkins were Robert Geddes (b. 1923; who a postmodern irony that what was new in the If you have information about or photos ly far smaller, projects than those who followed formed Geddes, Brecher, Qualls and 1960s and 1970s is now important history. of notable mid-century buildings not yet in international style trends, but many of their Cunningham in 1960), Romaldo Giurgola (b. Philadelphia’s architectural modernity was our Modern Buildings Inventory, we invite works in Philadelphia are nationally, if not 1920; of Mitchell/Giurgola Associates), Ian weaned on history, and is itself now historic. you to share them with Preservation Alliance internationally, significant. The best known McHarg (1920-2001; landscape architect and This essay was adapted from an historic con- Advocacy Director Ben Leech at ben@ among this group of important designers are theorist), Denise Scott Brown, Anne Tyng (b. text statement produced for the Preservation preservationalliance.com. arguably Louis I. Kahn (1901-1974) and Robert 1920; who played a key role in Kahn’s firm), and Alliance in 2009. It is available in full at JOHN ANDREW GALLERY Venturi (b. 1925) and his wife and professional Robert Venturi. Each of them would spread www.PreservePhiladelphia.org/wp-con- Executive Director partner, Denise Scott Brown (b. 1931). ideas fostered in Philadelphia to other states tent/uploads/HCSModernism.pdf. WWW.PRESERVATIONALLIANCE.COM PANewsletterFall10.qxd:Winter 09 8/20/10 10:29 AM Page 2 Modernism Initiative to Shed Light on Philadelphia’s Youngest Historic Buildings Modern October October 9 2:00 pm Modernism in America’s Oldest Neighborhood Meeting place to be announced. $20 general public; $10 Preservation Alliance members. Advance registration required: www.PreservationAlliance.com/walkingtours or 215.546.1146 x3 A special guided walking tour, with visits inside several private residences, of the great modern architecture that co-exists alongside restored 18th and 19th-century buildings in Society Hill Philadelphia. Learn how mod- Kristin Hagar Greg LaVardera ernism and historic preservation were In the Old Pine Community Center (Friday Architects/Planners, 1977), post-Modern The N. William Winkelman, Jr. House (Montgomery and Bishop, 1959), on Apalogen thoughtfully integrated in one of the greatest historicism melds into the Society Hill Historic District. Road in East Falls, suits its environment in a different way. examples of mid-century urban renewal. Presented by the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia in conjunction with By Kristin Hagar, MS candidate in Historic Preservation, University of Pennsylvania DOCOMOMO North America Tour Day, highlighting modern architecture through- his past