ORAL HISTORY of ROGER NICHOLAS RADFORD Interviewed
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ORAL HISTORY OF ROGER NICHOLAS RADFORD Interviewed by Sharon Zane Compiled under the auspices of the Ryerson and Burnham Libraries The Art Institute of Chicago Copyright © 2008 This manuscript is hereby made available for research purposes only. All literary rights in the manuscript, including the right to publication, are reserved to the Ryerson and Burnham Libraries of The Art Institute of Chicago. No part of the manuscript may be quoted for publication without the written permission of The Art Institute of Chicago. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface iv Outline of Topics vi Oral History 1 Selected References 160 Biographical Profile 226 Index of Names and Buildings 227 List of SOM Projects 165 iii PREFACE My interviews with Skidmore Owings and Merrill architect Roger Radford took place at his home in Hamden, Connecticut, on three separate days – October 30, 2007; November 19, 2007 and January 4, 2008. Mr. Radford was a welcoming, open and enthusiastic interviewee. He had a prodigious memory and was eager to show me drawings, diagrams and photos that related to the buildings and site plans he was describing. In all three instances, I conducted a morning session. We then broke for lunch, and resumed for a somewhat shorter session in the afternoon. Both Mr. Radford and I have reviewed this transcript to add or correct missing details or to correct inaccurate spellings. This oral history is available for study in the Ryerson and Burnham Libraries at The Art Institute of Chicago, as well as in a downloadable version from the Chicago Architects Oral History Project web page, <http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/dept- architecture/oralhistory.html>. In addition to reading materials sent to me by SOM, I found relevant articles on the Internet, reviewed materials I had in my possession concerning Lincoln Center, and some pieces Mr. Radford himself provided. I also drew on my experience and background in architecture and urban planning, having interviewed over the course of nearly thirty years many prominent architects who have been involved in a wide variety of projects. iv I have greatly appreciated the dedication of Susan Crapo, the transcriber for this and several other SOM interviews. To those at SOM who generously supported Radford's oral history, we are grateful, especially to Craig Hartman, who has been our liaison throughout this undertaking. Essential to processing this document in its many phases has been the cooperation of Donna Forrest and Michel Schwartz in the Copy Center at The Art Institute of Chicago, for which we are appreciative. Sharon Zane April, 2008 v OUTLINE OF TOPICS Childhood 2 Cambridge University 7 World War II 8 Student travels in Europe 19 Army years 23 Religious training and beliefs 25 Harvard University, Graduate School of Design 26 Begins employment at SOM 34 Works for Gordon Bunshaft 35 Organization of SOM New York office 37 Working relationship between Chicago and New York SOM offices 41 Connecticut General Life Insurance Company 43 Return to England for visa 48 Reynolds Metals Company Office Building 49 Idlewild Airport (John F. Kennedy Airport) 50 Challenges of designing airports 52 Chase Manhattan Bank 54 Davis Allen 44 Chase Manhattan Bank 56 Economic downturn early 1960s 57 John Hancock Building, New Orleans 57 Banque Lambert 59 Use of computers in SOM 59 John Hancock Building, Kansas City 61 Seagram's Building, New York City 63 Marriage and children 64 Guardian Life Insurance Company 66 Noxell Corporation, Noxzema Warehouse 67 vi Family life 68 University of Massachusetts, McGuirk Stadium 70 Radford's parents 72 Lincoln Center 74 Importance of sculpture in SOM buildings 84 Marine Midland Bank Building (140 Broadway) 86 United States Steel Building (One Liberty Plaza) 90 American Republic Insurance Company 92 American Can Company 96 Noxell Corporation, Noxzema Warehouse 103 Design development with Gordon Bunshaft 105 Federal Aviation Agency, National Aviation Facilities Experimental Center 106 Working for government clients 110 Importance of the client 112 New York Stock Exchange (unbuilt) 114 919 Third Avenue Building 117 Joint Banking Centre 119 No SOM "style" of building 123 Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, projects 125 Temporary retirement 126 Canary Wharf 127 Engineering in-house versus use of outside engineers 132 Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, projects 133 Retirement 139 Design distinctions among various SOM offices 140 Bunshaft's influence 142 Working for a large firm 144 Development of the "modern" in Western architecture 146 Successfully designed modern and contemporary buildings 148 Current architectural design 151 vii Current SOM projects 153 Morality and politics in contemporary architecture 154 Philip Johnson 156 viii Roger Radford Zane: Okay, for the record: This is an interview with Roger Radford for the SOM Oral History. It’s October 30th, 2007; and we are in New Haven, Connecticut. And if you could say something for me, please. Just say hello. Radford: Hello. Zane: Perfect. Radford: We’re actually in Hamden, Connecticut. Zane: What did I say? Radford: New Haven. But New Haven is five hundred yards down the road. Zane: Hamden, H-A-M-D-E-N. Radford: Correct. Zane: And, Roger—I’ll call you Roger. I hope that’s okay. Radford: Please. Zane: I wanted to ask you, for the record, to state and spell your full name so the transcriber gets it correct. 1 Radford: Roger Nicholas Radford, R-O-G-E-R, N-I-C-H-O-L-A-S, Radford, R-A-D-F- O-R-D. Zane: I’ll start, as I always do, and ask you to tell me please where and when you were born, and a little bit about your family background. Radford: I was born in Nottingham, England on the 15th of December 1926. My father was an academic economist at the end; when I was born, he was in the middle of his career, but at the end, he was a professor of social administration in the University of Nottingham. My mother… Zane: I’m curious: social administration. Was that a new discipline? Radford: Well, as I said, he was an economist, and that was his profession. In the middle thirties, the move began—I used to explain to people that it was the academic underpinning of the welfare state. And people like [William] Beveridge were his friends and colleagues. My father, as a young man, had been Fabian. He went to LSE [London School of Economics], and then went into the First World War. Then he got this job. My mother was a mathematics teacher, but she died when I was four. And then, a couple of years later, my father married the widow of one of his wartime colleagues who had been killed beside him—that was the story. And she really became my real mother, you know, she brought me up. Zane: From the time you were four? Radford: From the time I was four or five, yes. And they lived in Nottingham until they retired to Cornwall. My father died in 1963, and my mother died in 1972, I think. So, now, they’re all gone. Zane: And Nottingham is where, and known for what? 2 Radford: Well, it’s traditionally known for lace, and is the center of the lace industry in England. But more relevant to this conversation, one of the big industries there is Boots. And Boots used to be called Boots Cash Chemists. And the founders of Boots were Mr. Jesse Boot, who eventually became a peer as Lord Trent, and he was a big benefactor of the university. But, more interesting to us at the moment: in the thirties, Boots built a wonderful modern factory in Beeston, which is outside Nottingham, and, in fact, very near where we lived. And this was a building designed by Sir Owen Williams. It was a factory building for processing of pharmaceuticals, and it was made of poured concrete with cantilevers, and the outside was glass. It was finished just before the war. Zane: It was like nothing you could see in Nottingham? Is that what you’re saying? Radford: Well, it was a very important building. And ironically, it was finished just before the war, and because of blackouts, nearly the whole of the glass had to be painted out. [laughter] And I remember going to school in the train, and passing this building. Then, eventually, all the paint was removed. But the thing that’s interesting is, many years later, the Chicago office [of SOM] built a building for Boots, adjacent to this building. There were several buildings. [Sir] Owen Williams did this one, and it was called a Wets [Weightless Environment Test System] building, because in it, the processes to make all this stuff were done on several floors, and then they were moved by conveyors to a big central hall, where they were assembled and shipped out. They then built a dry building, also [designed] by Sir Owen Williams, but it was a much more conventional building. Now, the building that the office did was a straightforward office building. It was a very low building. Zane: So these are things that you saw as a child? 3 Radford: Well, I saw the original building go up as a child. And we had friends, one of whom was the medical officer there, and I used to go to see the building when he was in it. Zane: Back up a bit. You were born in 1926. There must have been some of the after-effects of World War I, but you were probably too young to really register any of those; but I’m thinking now, in particular, of the Depression, and what you saw of that? Radford: Well, even at that age, one was conscious of that.