Jackson House, Dover, MA

From Barns to Domesticity: Material Flexibility and Innovation in the Walter and Ruby Behlen House

Tucked away in a 1960s residential area in Columbus, Nebraska, is a unique modern house, built for Walter and Ruby Behlen. Constructed in 1958, the house is reflective of Walter Behlen’s manufacturing career and his desire to be a modern man of the atomic age. Walt Behlen was an innovator, self-taught in science, technology, and engineering. He established the Behlen Manufacturing Company in 1936; his most notable innovation was a new method of corrugating 16-gauge steel panels which, when assembled with a corrugated roof, acted as a monolithic unit that provided great strength and stability to the structure as a whole, need- ing no beams or load-bearing columns. Behlen buildings Behlen House, Columbus, NE, 1958 were soon given the most extreme of stress tests—and a great (photo: David Murphy, image courtesy Nebraska State Historical Society) advertising scheme—by surviving a nuclear weapons effects blast at Yucca Flats, Nevada, in 1955. Although the buildings were marketed primarily for grain bins and machine sheds, their actual applications included industrial buildings, high schools, churches—and this grand house. Walt Behlen had advertised that his panels were so adaptable that anything could be built with them. To lend validation to this statement, he hired the world-renowned architectural and engineering firm Leo A. Daly of Omaha to design his showpiece. Jack Savage, (cont’d on pg.8) NATIONAL NEWS | summer 2006 ARTICLES 7 A Newly-Discovered Noyes House: 9 Two S.O.M. Buildings in the Jackson House, Dover, MA Balance: The Hostess House and 1 From Barns to Domesticity: by John Harwood the Gunner’s Mates School at Material Flexibility and Innovation Great Lakes Naval Station in the Walter and Ruby Behlen 12 A Modernist House for an by Hyun-Tae Jung House American Red: William Lescaze’s by Jill Dolberg Field House 10 The Future of Mies van der Rohe’s by Dietrich Neumann Only Library, and His Only Work 2 Revitalization Plans Endanger in Washington, D.C. New Deal Planned Community 13 Portland, Oregon, Preserved by Alexander M. Padro by Diane De Fazio Modern Houses Tour by Christine Baldricia 11 The End of Bell Laboratories? 3 New England Modernism, b.g.: by Susanna Santala The Wells House, Southbridge, MA by David Fixler DOCOMOMO NEWS BOOK REVIEW 4 Sarasota School on the Space 2 Welcome Coast for Sale: Rudolph and 14 The Van Nelle Factory Saved Twitchell’s Kerr House 4 Chapter News by Andrew Roman New York/Tri-State Georgia 15 CONFERENCES & EVENTS 5 Paul Rudolph’s Endangered Chicago/Midwest Legacy Western Washington 15 EXHIBITS by Gabriel Field and Diane De Fazio ANNOUNCEMENTS 6 A Modern House’s Happy Fate: DOCOMOMO-US Thaddeus Longstreth’s Kuhn 9 IXth International DOCOMOMO House, Princeton, NJ Conference Email: [email protected] by Richard Longstreth by Diane De Fazio Mail: PO Box 230977 New York, NY 10023 6 Easy Living by Sarah Whiting www.docomomo-us.org

Welcome Revitalization Plans Endanger New Deal Planned Community Starting with this summer 2006 newsletter, we will occasionally which came from a bond issue voted on by dedicate an issue to a particular he village of Greenhills, Ohio, conceived during Greenhills residents) in 2005 to purchase clusters T of the original two-story flat-roof apartment build- subject or building type. This the Depression as one of twenty proposed hous- ings for rehabilitation. Some buildings, determined issue is devoted largely to the ing initiatives under the auspices of Franklin Roosevelt’s Resettlement Administration, remains too deteriorated for repair, were demolished and preservation of single-family one of only three such developments built. While the land was turned over to a manufactured residences, a building type that building these “greenbelt” communities was homes company in order to erect “traditional” remains in danger in many intended mainly to create jobs as well as middle- single-family housing. Because Greenhills has no preservation ordinance, and federal funds are not places. Considered cutting-edge and low-income housing, the New Deal progres- being used for the project, no preservation review when first built, the clean lines sive planners and social housing advocates also incorporated modern town planning and architec- is required. and flat roofs of modern homes tural design inspired by the Garden City move- In the meantime, Greenhills’ National Register are still often regarded as atypi- ment, pursuing a socialist agenda that included Historic District status may be potentially endan- cal domestic architecture. open space and community amenities. gered, as major construction in this area centers Added to the changing taste, on the project’s namesake, DeWitt Street, a small road in the heart of the district. Several historic today’s standards for larger liv- rowhouses also have been demolished to make able space and the economic way for larger, more expensive new houses, but, pressure to develop fully on to date, sale of the new dwellings remains slow. existing lots threaten to over- In contrast to Greenbelt (on the outskirts of whelm many mid-twentieth-cen- Washington, D.C.), where residents formed a co- operative of homeowners after the federal gov- tury modern houses, especially ernment sold the homes (and eventually estab- as the original generations of lished guidelines for preservation), Greenhills resi- owners give way to their heirs dents retained individual ownership, a move that and others with an increasingly has resulted in less community appreciation for Typical duplex, Greenhills, OH village history and a dwindling argument for minimal connection to the past. (photo: Theo Prudon) preservation, particularly with deteriorated struc- This is true both for individual tures in an economically struggling community. houses built for specific clients Completed in 1938 with 676 units, Greenhills (approximately twenty miles outside of Cincinnati) While the village leaders hope to retain a mix of as well as those in suburban was laid out with a central core consisting of a income and housing consistent with its history, developments. The advocacy swimming pool, business center, community the financial reality facing Greenhills places sub- and education provided by building, and open play areas and lawns accessi- stantial pressure not only on the survival of the historic district but also on the village itself. DOCOMOMO and its members ble by pedestrian paths. Homes were a mix of The Greenhills Historical Society has, with the can only help to create and sup- single-family, semi-detached, rowhouses, and low-rise apartments lining curving streets. The backing of the Cincinnati Preservation Association port more sympathetic owners. loosely International Style wood-frame buildings, and the National New Deal Preservation This issue is also different some with flat roofs, some pitched, are small and Association, requested a moratorium on demoli- because in the future all minimally detailed by today’s standards. Chief tion in the village, and asked for an open planning newsletters and news commu- architect at Greenhills was European-born, process to guide future development. However, some townspeople welcome the redevelopment, niqués will only be available socially-minded Roland Wank, previously chief electronically, although during architect for the Tennessee the transition we will make a Valley Authority (TVA) and limited number of printed later partner in the New York copies available when request- architecture firm Wank ed. This will make the newslet- Adams Slavin Associates (WASA). ter more easily available and Unlike its sister cities, more current. At the same time Greenbelt in Maryland, and it will achieve a significant Greendale in Wisconsin, reduction in cost, always a con- Greenhills has not fared as cern for an all-volunteer organi- well in regard to the preser- zation like DOCOMOMO-US. We vation of its built fabric. The village is undergoing a sub- Rowhouses in Greenhills, OH (photo: Theo Prudon) have also updated the content stantial redevelopment plan and graphics of our website called DeWitt Landing, which has introduced remarking that the traditional aesthetics of the (www.docomomo-us.org) to inconsistent architectural forms and massing to new homes are a “big improvement” over the dilapidated rectilinear rowhouses that preceded be able to support different the area. Facing a declining and aging population, them. At present, the village government and the preservation efforts taking place Greenhills’ village government sought to revitalize the community (and the tax base) through new developer have not met (individually or collective- across the country with more housing construction, hoping to attract a younger, ly) with the Greenhills Historical Society to discuss current information. more affluent population. In an unusual move, the possibility of sensitive development in the The interest in preserving though, the village government became its own area. developer, spending $3.6 million ($1 million of —Diane De Fazio DOCOMOMO-US/SUMMER 2006 2 Welcome New England Modernism, b.g.: The Wells House, Southbridge, MA modern architecture has grown and the importance of DOCO- MOMO-US is evident from the fact that we have more than a half dozen new chapters in formation across the US. New chapters, like the existing chapters, will have sections on the new site or links to chapter sites that will allow us to provide a broader and more informed platform for knowledge about and help with preserving modern architecture. Finally, every two years a chapter of DOCOMOMO International—DOCOMOMO-US was the host in 2004—organizes the international conference, the one event where represen- tatives from all the different member countries come together. This year, DOCOMO- MO Turkey will host the first half of the IXth International Conference in Istanbul and the Rear façade, Wells House, Southbridge, MA, 1933 second half in Ankara in (photo: David Fixler) September. We hope that many DOCOMOMO-US/New England was contact- US members will be able to In 1933, George Wells, the president of the ed in 2000 (shortly after the house was acquired) attend. American Optical company, commissioned a by the current owner, and has since provided house in Southbridge, MA, from Paul Wood, a guidance about the finishes and the windows. —Theodore Prudon young associate at Coolidge, Shepley, Bulfinch The Wells house is listed as an historic structure and Abbott. Like the well-known Rachel Raymond President with the Massachusetts Historical Commission House in Belmont, MA (Eleanor Raymond, 1931), DOCOMOMO-US (MHC) and is also listed with the local historical and the previously unknown Richard and Caroline commission in Southbridge, MA. (It is a property Field House in Weston, MA (Edwin ‘Ned’ Goodell, “tracked” by DOCOMOMO, but it is not presently 1931-34), which was saved with the help of on the Register.) The home and 56-acre estate is DOCOMOMO-US/New England (see DOCOMO- on the market again, and although both the MO Newsletter, Spring 2001), the Wells House is Southbridge and the Massachusetts Historical proof of the diversity and richness of the history Commissions are aware of the house’s signifi- of modernism in New England, before the Gropius cance, there is nonetheless reason to be con- house of 1938 supposedly brought modernism cerned. Much as it has for other houses in the there, or “b.g.,” as they say in the chapter. past, DOCOMOMO-US/NE is doing everything Built of whitewashed brick with flat roofs and possible to foster a happy outcome. steel framed window walls, the house is a substantial structure of over 9,000 square feet. It —David Fixler remains largely in original condition. The structure bears strong resemblance to Mies van der Rohe- designed homes in Germany—Wolf House in Gubin (1925-1927) and Lange House in Krefeld (1928)—especially now that the original white- wash has disappeared and the house appears as a natural finish brick structure. How Wells, who eventually developed Old Sturbridge Village (a living museum where visitors experience 1830s New England), came to hire a young unknown to design a house easily considered avant-garde for its time and place has yet to be fully explained.

DOCOMOMO-US/SUMMER 2006 3 Chapter News Sarasota School on the Space Coast for Sale: Rudolph and Twitchell’s Kerr House NEW YORK/TRI-STATE

New York/Tri-State Holds Paul Rudolph and Ralph Twitchell’s W. W. Kerr Jr. Residence (1951) near Cape Canaveral on the DOCOMOMO’s First Register Atlantic Ocean in Melbourne Beach, Florida, was Training Session unknown until its recent mention in Christopher Domin and Joseph King‘s Paul Rudolph: The On Tuesday, April 25, the New Florida Houses (Princeton Architectural Press, York/Tri-State Chapter presented 2003). A strong version of regional modernism, DOCOMOMO’s first ever it illustrates the post-World War II theories of the Sarasota School of Architecture. It is one of only a Register training session. few surviving modern movement buildings on the Hosted by Knoll, Inc., at its “Space Coast,” and, thus, a rare witness to the Manhattan showroom amidst modernism that was once a prevalent expression quintessential modern furniture of the region’s historical grounding in the by Saarinen, Mies, Aalto, and “forward-thinking” experimentation and explo- ration of the early space program. Bertoia, members and newcom- Originally a four bedroom multi-level structure, ers learned the ins-and-outs of the 2,900-square foot Kerr House is a composition modern architecture documen- of orthogonal elements organized around a central tation, fiche forms, and the double-height living area. Flanking split-level wings soon-to-be launched online accommodate other functions, with the whole complex possessing the spatial efficiency of a Register. Front perspective with detail of clerestory windows. trailer home, one of the South’s most mundane (photo: Andrew Roman) The DOCOMOMO Register is icons (and a ‘building typology’ Rudolph loved to an open list of significant modern movement architectural heritage that has several purposes: it can help assure or reinforce the protection and proper conservation of modern buildings; it can be used as a tool in regional/national heritage designation campaigns; and it has educational and strategic purposes. Moreover, it has a quali- tative aim—to assemble a comprehensive survey of modern buildings, sites, neighborhoods, gardens, and landscapes in a region or country.

Rear façade, Kerr House, Melbourne Beach, FL, 1951 (photo: Andrew Roman)

explore). It does not possess the Sarasota air conditioning of cross-ventilation and cooling. houses’ overtly expressive elements. Instead, Before the 1988 purchase by the Petrone experimenting with regional typologies, Family, the Kerr House was subjected to unsym- building/site relationships, the environment, and pathetic owners and alterations, including Wright- indigenous materials, the architects took the more inspired etching on the upper clerestory windows, subtle approach of setting the building into its a move that fueled the local folklore that it was site, a 150-foot expanse of sea grapes and sand Wright’s. Upon learning of the Rudolph connec- dunes, while strengthening the overall massing. tion, Joseph and Hope Petrone (and, today, Joyce With a backdrop of the New York Physically and intellectually, the architects Petrone) undertook the restoration of the remain- skyline and a selection of classics embraced their site by framing views that dissolve ing elements. Today, the house is listed for sale from the KnollStudio® line, Hansel the boundary between inside and out, thereby and although a small part was marred during the Hernandez-Navarro gives his Register past two years’ hurricanes, it is quite livable and Presentation orienting inhabitants so they are always connect- (photo: NY/Tri-State) ed with the ocean. As in their other houses, the its devoted owner is seeking a sympathetic buyer. Kerr was built to breathe, using a modularized grid The Register is part of the of solid cypress posts and beams and infill of —Andrew Roman overall effort by DOCOMOMO Ocala lime-block, giant sliding glass doors, and International and its regional wood jalousie walls to provide the perfect natural

DOCOMOMO-US/SUMMER 2006 4

Chapter News Paul Rudolph’s Endangered Legacy working groups to fulfill one of the organization’s primary aims: Riverview High School, Sarasota, FL, 1958 “To document significant exam- L ike the Kerr House (see Sarasota School on Despite its exceptional historical value, Florida’s the Space Coast for Sale: Rudolph and Twitchell’s ples of the modern movement Sarasota County school board has recently voted Kerr House, this issue), a few of Paul Rudolph’s to raze Paul Rudolph’s first major public project, and to share knowledge world- other commissions currently face uncertain Riverview High School (1958). Never nominated wide by creating a collective futures. The three sites listed below have caught for National Register designation, Riverview High register.” The International DOCOMOMO’s attention. School was the largest of ten school projects built Register effort was started in during the tenure of Philip Hiss, former chair of Cerrito Residence, Watch Hill, RI, 1956 1992 and is headed by the the local school board. Riverview High School represents the genesis International Specialist Built for Dr. and Mrs. Louis Cerrito in 1956 as their summer residence, the house in Watch Hill, RI, of a major turning point in American educational Committee on Registers (ISC/R). has remained under family supervision until fairly architecture history: a change to newer styles and Presently, the Register is com- recently. The building, set on a substantial lot, materials (in this case, the so-called “Sarasota prised of documentation forms remains in relatively good physical condition, but School of Architecture”) and a departure from (known as fiches) in “full” or it is reported that the new owners plan to demol- more traditional forms. The school’s forward- thinking design, predicated on natural ventilation, “minimum” format. Hard copies ish the house and build a new, presumably much larger, structure. Since this is a prime piece of real has since been altered, though its architectural of all completed fiches are estate in an area of large but undistinguished descendants are easily recognized in contempo- archived at the Netherlands houses, this is no surprise. To date, local efforts to rary “green” building strategies that emphasize Architecture Institute in save the house have been unsuccessful. light and air. Over time, many of the school’s dis- Rotterdam in a collection num- From the road, the Cerrito Residence appears tinctive features were destroyed or otherwise bering more than 800 entries as a long single-story volume at the top of a replaced: concrete sunshades were replaced with canvas awnings, and a new metal hip roof from over 35 countries. DOCO- slope, its broad face oriented south looking tow- ards the expansive views of the ocean. The drive- replaced the original flat roof. Local architect MOMO International has also way reaches the top of the slope and encounters Martin Daoust noted, “It is noteworthy to empha- initiated a pilot project for the opposite side of the house where the rectan- size that...only Neo-Renaissance- and Gothic archiving fiches online in data- gular volume rests on a stone base. This lower Revival-styled schools have been preserved by base format (DOCOMOMO portion contains the garage and other services; [the Sarasota County school board] so far.” As indicated by the school board’s decision, the Journal, March 2005). an exterior stair gives access to the living areas above. On the south side the stone base appears major issues of concern about preservation of New York/Tri-State initiated as short transversal walls supporting the main Riverview were maintenance, function, and secu- the idea to have training ses- rity, though no “cost-to-renovate” vs. “cost-to- sions as a comprehensive way rebuild” comparison study was ever commis- to present the newly-invigorated sioned. The board intends to replace the school with a parking facility. Register efforts. The purpose of the session was to generate Orange County Government Center, interest among members, Goshen, NY, 1963 encourage them to volunteer for Paul Rudolph’s Orange County Government fiche authoring, and to reach a Center in Goshen, NY (1963), highlights a different wider group of people rather side of the late architect’s career, though than training people individual- Rudolph’s architectural skill is evident in the build- Cerrito Residence from the street, Watch Hill, RI ing’s imaginative use of light, space, and material. ly—all with the larger goal of (photo: Mary McLeod) The building’s Brutalist style has garnered its keeping the U. S. Register share of champions and detractors since its incep- active. We created a simple volume that seems to hover above the ground; tion in the pre-Revolutionary village of Goshen “how to” PowerPoint session, some of the stone walls extend into the land- (approximately 50 miles northwest of New York tailored to our members by scape as the edge of a lawn terrace in front of the City). However, the Center is not without opera- living room. The main volume of the house has a showcasing local buildings as tional issues: several of its many roofs leak, interi- flat roof, floor-to-ceiling openings and clapboard or spaces (designed to capitalize on available light) examples and including local siding painted light gray with white trim. The front are dim, and heating costs, while not an issue at resources such as libraries, and back are dominated by projecting overhangs the time of design, have become increasingly archives, and research centers. —the most characteristic elements of the project prohibitive. County Executive Edward Diana pro- Screen images of the Register —freestanding planes delicately framed and posed structural demolition in 2004, but plans supported by a structure of diagonal members web site prepared by the DOCO- were dismissed due to financial constrictions. extending beyond the footprint of the building. Another call for demolition was raised in 2005, MOMO-US National Registers In its articulation of surface and structure, config- but the county has taken no further action. Committee showed the site’s uration of volume, choice of materials and, partic- Potential for thorough building conservation future potential. Our presenta- ularly its tension between weight and lightness, is uncertain. Last year, the Paul Rudolph tion can be easily adapted by the Cerrito Residence can be seen as a happy Foundation and a small committee of architects, marriage between Rudolph’s architectural explo- each of the chapters with area- preservationists, and architectural historians visit- rations of his Florida houses from the 1940s and ed the Center, seeking to explore alternative uses appropriate information. 1950s and the New England residential tradition. for the building. The New York metro area —Diane De Fazio —Gabriel Field DOCOMOMO-US/SUMMER 2006 5

Chapter News training session was also an opportunity to introduce members to the potential of the online database. The database will be accessed through www.docomomo-us.org, and will have three components: contributors, where interested individuals can set up accounts and work on fiches independently; administrative, for Registers’ Committee review and management purposes; and search/access, an interactive database for viewing and printing fiches. At the end of the presentation, attendees were given copies of the chapter’s “Wish List” of buildings that await documentation (a work-in- Interior, Kuhn House, Princeton, NJ, 1960-61 progress, also the base for the (photo: Richard Longstreth) Manhattan Modern Map), as well as completed fiche sam- ples. While the online database Easy Living is being finalized, Register con- A Modern House’s tributors can prepare fiches on Happy Fate: the standard MSWord form and Thaddeus Longstreth’s f I had any misgivings about buying our 1960 send them to the local Register I Longstreth house in Princeton, it was a slight nag- chair. The chair will review the Kuhn House, ging fear in the back of my head over the risk of fiche, add it to the appropriate Princeton, NJ becoming a Dwell, Wallpaper, Nest retro-modern “paper” archive and transfer the cliché. Would we be buying into an entire lifestyle content to the online database package, down to the drinks we’d have to know when it launches in the near how to serve on just the right trays at just the future. After a good round of The fate of the Harold and Estelle Kuhn House right hour before just the right dinner? questions and answers, partici- (1960-61) in Princeton, New Jersey, has been It turns out that we did buy an entire lifestyle package: for a nominal fee, the original owners pants continued conversations happier than that of many modernist dwellings of ended up leaving us a surprising number of the on the “Wish List” and all the postwar era. Designed by the Princeton-based Thaddeus Longstreth, who also maintained an house’s contents, from the Saarinen Womb chair things modern as they ogled association with Richard Neutra, the house had and Louise Nevelson print to the espresso their favorite mid-twentieth-cen- been meticulously maintained in its original condi- machine, the vase of pussy willows in the bath- tury furniture designs. tion by the Kuhns (he a Princeton math professor, room, and the fiction on the shelves that the for- she a community activist). Their stewardship was mer owner built into the main hallway (we were —Hansel Hernandez-Navarro, matched by their concern that the house be sold happy to find that their exquisite taste extended to their choice of reading). They were moving into a New York/Tri-State Register to a party that would continue that respect, a Manhattan apartment that they’d owned for years Committee Chair commitment which led them to accept a bid (lower than the asking price) from the husband- already so they were all equipped, and their three wife team of architecture professors, Ron Witte sons had already taken what they wanted, leaving If you would like more informa- and Sarah Whiting, who had recently been hired us the rest. Given that we owned very little furni- tion about how to prepare a by the School of Architecture at Princeton ture aside from computers, desks, and various fiche, get a copy of the NY/Tri- University. surplus-property finds from the universities where State “Wish List,” or to sign up The New York Times (February 26, 2006) we’d previously taught, this generosity on the part of the previous owners was especially extraordi- to document a particular build- recently described the house as “tread[ing] lightly nary. ing contact, the Register on its wooded 2.2-acre site.” On the main level, it has a large living room with floor-to-ceiling glass, a But even with such perfect accoutrements, Committee Chair via kitchen with a bubble skylight, a dining room big we’ve somehow managed to steer clear of the [email protected]. enough for two large tables and a 160-square foot cliché that fills contemporary magazines. Maybe

(cont’d on pg. 15) (cont’d on pg. 15) DOCOMOMO-US/SUMMER 2006 6

Chapter News A Newly-Discovered Noyes House: Jackson House, Dover, MA GEORGIA Noyes took up this project himself, synthesizing Advocacy Report: Until recently, the Jackson House in Dover, New England traditions with a modern aesthetic MA (1940-41), the first house designed by Eliot absorbed from his teachers. The composition of 615 Peachtree Street Fette Noyes (1910-1977), was unknown to the house is quite obviously inspired by Gropius Building students of mid-twentieth-century modernism. and Breuer’s 1938 Gropius House in nearby Noyes is famed as one of the ‘Harvard Five’ who Lincoln, MA, but it also retains the traditional hall- Preparation for demolition of built so many modernist houses in New Canaan, ways, materials, and something of the accordion- the 615 Peachtree Street build- CT (see New York/Tri-state Newsletter XXVI, like shape of the traditional New England farm- 2006). He is also renowned for the influential house. ing began in April 2006 to make corporate design programs that he managed for Such syntheses are to be found throughout way for a new condominium IBM from the 1950s -1970s, together with many the house: plywood walls have a walnut stain and development. As of May 1, the of the century’s most famous architects and the massive, open plan living-dining area is com- developer’s plans for the site designers: Paul Rand, Charles Eames, Ivan bined with a full basement below and tautly have not been officially Chermayeff, Marcel Breuer, and Eero Saarinen, closed bedrooms above. The lintels of the fire- among others. The discovery of the Jackson places—which are all situated in a massive field- announced.

615 Peachtree Street, Atlanta, GA, 1959 (photo: Thomas F. Little) Jackson House, Dover, MA, 1940-41 Originally commissioned by (photo: John Harwood) First National Bank of Atlanta House opens a new chapter in our knowledge stone wall at the core of the house—offer the (later occupied by Wachovia), of Noyes’ career. The Jackson Family is currently most dramatic example. At the edges, the lintel 615 Peachtree Street was considering the possibility of searching for a stones are laid flush at either side without resting sympathetic new owner, and has graciously on the stones below in a modernizing, atectonic designed by Smith & Smith agreed to allow the house to be published by gesture. Nonetheless, all of the lintels feature Architects of Atlanta in 1959. DOCOMOMO-US. centrally-placed keystones. Francis P. Smith, a student of The Jackson House was the first fruit of the noted American architect Noyes’ training in the architecture program at Paul Cret (1876-1945), moved to Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design Atlanta in 1909 to become the under the direction of the Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius. Gropius had assumed control of the first chairman of Georgia Tech’s school in 1937, bringing along his fellow former newly-established architecture Bauhauser, Marcel Breuer. Noyes, who already department. He worked in that had a steady hand at the drafting board, was capacity until 1922, when he energized by the new approach and became a returned to private practice. star Gropius-Breuer pupil. He went to work for them soon after graduating in 1938. In their office, The next year he formed a Noyes became immersed in Gropius’s project of partnership with established adapting European modernism’s formal innova- Atlanta architect R. S. Pringle. tions to the New England context. In Scope of Detail: Fieldstone wall and fireplace with distinctive lintel. (photo: John Harwood) The partnership lasted until Total Architecture (1943), Gropius had described 1934, during which time Pringle the office’s work as an attempt “to face the prob- Looking at the Jackson House, with its lem [of house design] in much the same way as provocative melding of new and old, one begins & Smith designed several the early builders of the region had faced it when, to understand what Noyes meant when he para- important buildings in Atlanta. with the best technical means at their disposal, doxically characterized his and his circle’s designs Pringle retired in the 1930s, but they built unostentatious, clearly-defined buildings as being “on the conservative side of the avant- Smith continued to practice that were able to withstand the rigors of the cli- garde.” independently. Smith’s son, mate and that expressed the social attitude of —John Harwood their inhabitants.” DOCOMOMO-US/SUMMER 2006 7

Chapter News The Walter and Ruby Behlen House (cont’d from cover page)

Henry H., followed his father’s the principal architect, designed an irregularly- house, but in order to prevent the lights from footsteps to the University of shaped building with an extremely large footprint buzzing, the ballasts were placed in the furnace Pennsylvania, and after ending of 8,500 square feet. On a corner, its public room. façades are dominated by a three-car-wide solid Walter Behlen and his particular combination his military service in the 1950s, redwood garage door on the south and, on the of scientific knowledge and creativity personify joined his father in practice. west, a set of thirteen full-height windows featur- this house. No one else could have built it. It per- Prior to 615 Peachtree Street, ing motorized vertical louvers that operate by a fectly symbolizes his life’s work and his ingenuity. Smith had served as an archi- household switch. The distinctive, sculptural tect to First National on numer- —Jill Dolberg ous projects. The city’s widen- ing of North Avenue, and subse- quent narrowing of the bank’s property at the adjacent inter- section prompted the new commission. The client decided to raze an existing branch bank on site and develop the property for commercial office space. According to Henry H. Smith, the design proposed by him and his father attempted to maxi- mize rental space on the narrow site. Their concept also utilized Family room with natatorium visible through glass Detail: corrugated 16-in steel panels doors at right (photo: David Murphy, image courtesy Nebraska State a passive solar design. The slab- (photo: David Murphy, image courtesy Nebraska State Historical Society) like building’s monumental east Historical Society) and west elevations noticeably curves of the corrugated panels create an excep- Editor’s Note: Control of the home was recently lack windows. This design tional play of light and shadow. returned to the Behlen family after the state avoided the intense solar heat On the interior, the family room and natatori- Attorney General ruled that the title had not been gain at those exposures, and um were designed to be large and open, naturally properly transferred from the family to the instead provided glazing at only flowing into one another. Even the swimming pool Nebraska State Historical Society (NSHS). was built of the structural steel panels. The Furthermore, Nebraska state officials declined to the south and north elevations. Behlen house is beautifully trimmed in elegant approve acceptance of the home for use as a The majority of the office and rich materials. The foyer features Burmese state-operated historic site, despite its listing on spaces were ideally configured teak paneling, closet doors, and for southern exposure. boxed beams. The foyer floor The curtain wall for the south and the mantel in the formal living room are travertine. Maria elevation was a natural choice Kipp, a prominent artist who in satisfying the space demands created textiles for the Beverly of the office market. Henry trav- Hills Hotel and Mormon Temple eled to Canada to tour new in Salt Lake City, designed the installations of the still-experi- drapery for the living room. mental building system. During Custom-made carpets were woven by V’Soske. Several this trip he witnessed the use of modern pieces of furniture decorative metal panels within accentuate the house, including curtain wall designs. Following two Dunbar benches, a Herman the determination of a weather- Miller desk, and chairs by both resistant finish, Henry specified Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen. The kitchen and laun- red panels within the building’s dry room are outfitted in St. facade design to contrast the Charles cabinetry in peach and Natatorium, with steel paneled ceiling uniform white marble panels on seafoam green. (photo: David Murphy, image courtesy Nebraska State Historical Society) east and west elevations (the Structurally, the Behlen panels are currently painted house was overbuilt, almost as if it had been con- the National Register of Historic Places and a six- structed for industrial purposes—or an engineer’s figure monetary donation by the Behlen family for grey). At the building’s base, dream. The house utilizes over sixteen miles of continual maintenance of the house. At present, non-domestic blue-grey granite single-conductor wire and three-phase 220 cir- the NSHS board has “given up whatever inten- was used in conjunction with an cuits, the same as was used on the battleship tions it might have had in developing this home as elaborate installation of decora- Missouri. The house was built on a concrete slab, a state historical site.” Although the future of the tive metal sunscreens. with only 1/4” inch variance from end to end. Behlen House remains uncertain, it is speculated Fluorescent lights were used throughout the that the house will most likely be offered for sale. DOCOMOMO-US/SUMMER 2006 8 Chapter News Announcements

The ground floor banking hall and Sustainability of Modern Heritage,” will focus was finished with travertine on Ataköy, Istanbul’s early suburban mass housing development. Participants will study and evaluate floors accented with red grout. this settlement area in relation to documentation The building also included a and conservation issues. radiant heat and cooling sys- A two-day program of tours in Istanbul on tem, a novelty for the time. September 24-25 will highlight individual buildings Today, Henry Smith regards such as Karaköy Harbor Passenger Terminal (R. Gorbon, 1937), Turkish Monopoly Liquor the building as the most signifi- Factory (R. Mallet-Stevens, 1931), and incorporate cant in his career. It was the last a half-day boat tour along the Bosphorus (Istanbul) major project designed with his Strait focusing on modern residential architecture. father before his death in 1970. An evening welcome party is scheduled for September 25 at the Istanbul Modern Museum, while the International Specialist Committee (ISC) —Jon Buono meetings are scheduled for September 26 at Istanbul Technical University. For updates, registration, and other informa- On The Beltline: tion, visit the conference website at A Survey of Historic www.docomomo.org.tr. —Diane De Fazio Resources

At the February Georgia Chapter meeting, Doug Young, Two S.O.M. Buildings in the Principal Planner with the Balance: The Hostess House and Atlanta Urban Design the Gunner’s Mates School at Commission (AUDC) and IXth International Great Lakes Naval Station Brandy Morrison, Thurston DOCOMOMO Conference Fellow for the AUDC, presented Istanbul/Ankara, Turkey findings from a survey of his- The IXth International DOCOMOMO Conference, toric resources along the pro- “Other” Modernisms, will be hosted by DOCO- posed route of the Beltline, a MOMO Turkey National Working Party at Middle 22-mile loop of historic railroad East Technical University (METU) in Ankara, right-of-way connecting 45 in- Turkey on September 27-29, 2006, with pre-con- town neighborhoods with parks, ference workshops and tours in Istanbul on September 18-26 and post-conference events in transit and trails for commuters, Ankara on September 30-October 1. The confer- bicyclists, and pedestrians. ence will feature a dynamic set of papers that Among resources identified in addresses the “other” modernisms—those that the survey, conducted by are not typically categorized along with the more Georgia State University stu- recognizable paradigms of the modern move- Hostess House, Great Lakes Naval Station, IL dents, are numerous modern ment—in their full diversity, including sub-themes that explore the borderless and timeless qualities (photo: Cody Wright) sites, the majority of identified of the “other,” the relationship between modern resources dating from the early- architecture and the making of both individual and The Great Lakes Naval Station project in Great to mid-twentieth century. Many collective identities, and how modern interven- Lakes, Illinois, was the first military project of tions shape large-scale urban environments, rural Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill (SOM). The residential and commercial Hostess House (Building 42) was designed by developments have been hinterlands, as well as entire settlements and habitats. Sub-themes are: Definitions, Boundaries, Gordon Bunshaft and completed around 1942. announced along the route, Paradigms; Mobilization and Exchange; Identities It remains the only extant building designed by most coming after creation of a and Subjectivities; Technologies, Processes, Bunshaft from the pre-war years. This building is Tax Allocation District - raising Practices; Urbanism, Development, Landscape; an exceptional testament to the development of both the firm and modern American architecture. concerns over possible loss of and Everyday Modernism(s) and Popular Culture. The rectangular building sits on a long narrow site, historic resources (more about Papers will be presented in two parallel sessions September 27- 29. Posters will be displayed encompassing diverse programs including a read- this plan at www.beltline.org). throughout the conference and discussed in-depth ing and writing room, reception room, lounge, The AUDC is using survey find- at two sessions. The general council meeting will terrace, and offices. The roof consists of a series ings to help inform planning be held on September 28 at METU, and a closing of laminated wood frames, which are supported at both ends by steel columns. The exposed efforts related to the Beltline. party will conclude the conference on September wood trusses project through both façades, With over fifty attendees, the 29. Post-conference events will be held in Ankara, including tours of modern residential areas, uniting inside and outside, creating a dynamic presentation and following dis- administrative quarters, and individual buildings. atmosphere. cussion demonstrated the local The pre-conference workshop, “How to (cont’d on next page) Preserve a Housing Utopia: the Documentation DOCOMOMO-US/SUMMER 2006 9 Chapter News Announcements interest in historic preservation, Two S.O.M. Buildings in the listed on the National Register, but IHPA believes that both sites are potentially eligible, despite including modern resources, as Balance (cont’d from previous page) the Navy’s characterization of Building 42 as part of Beltline planning. The “nondescript and unlikely to possess...cultural event was hosted by a local significance.” Under federal law, the Navy is developer, J.C. Knight required to first prove there is no feasible or Properties, in a mid-twentieth- prudent alternative use for the sites before government funds can be allocated for razing the century warehouse adjacent to structures. The Navy will review public comment the Beltline, recently adapted for received by Tuesday, June 20, 2006. residential use.

—Thomas F. Little The Future of Mies van der Rohe’s Only Library Building, and His Only Work in Washington, D.C. Beyond the Perimeter: Modern Architecture in Washington, D.C.’s mayor is planning to lease out Rural Georgia Gunner’s Mates School, Great Lakes Naval Station, IL the Mies van der Rohe-designed Martin Luther (photo: Cody Wright) King, Jr. Memorial Library for 99 years, in order to In March, Steven Moffson, pay for construction of a new central library on a redevelopment site one block to the north. If The Gunner’s Mates School (Building 521), Architectural Historian with the approved by the DC Council, these plans will take designed by William Priestly and Bruce Graham of Historic Preservation Division of the most publicly-accessible building in Mies’ SOM, was completed in 1954. The school building the Georgia Department of oeuvre in the U.S. out of public hands, and could is a large blue-green glass box with slim steel result in the building’s alteration or demolition. Natural Resources, discussed mullions. Whereas the firm’s previous curtain The 420,000 s.f. black metal and bronze-tinted work that the Division has done walls were designed by the New York office, glass building was designed by famed modern to identify modern buildings in Gunner’s Mates was the first by the Chicago architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe to be capable office. The approach seen here, where the build- Georgia’s small towns and Fall of serving, with the addition of a fifth story, as the ing appears more technological and practical than Line cities. Drawing upon the city’s central library for 150 years. aesthetic, became a tradition in the Chicago office department’s growing archive of thereafter. images, Moffson’s presentation The function of Building 521 was to train the demonstrated the wealth of Navy’s gunners, so the building incorporated mid-twentieth-century and mod- classrooms and large open space in which various types of large and heavy weaponry could be oper- ern sites found through ated for educational drills. The designers came up Georgia, ranging from a 1950’s- with an ingenious solution: a building within a era bomb shelter to innovative building, in this case, a concrete building (for mill buildings. classrooms and service facilities) located within The presentation touched on the glass “shell.” It divides the whole volume into several issues related to preser- two large interior open spaces used for the simu- lations. Balconies projected from the core serve vation of mid-twentieth-century as circulation paths and observation platforms for resources, including a specific demonstrations. While the interior space produces look at one significant store- an airy atmosphere of dual spaces, from outside, front’s “modernization” removal the glass shell presents itself as one large vol- Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Library, by an owner, prior to HPD ume, concealing its supporting framework behind Washington, D.C. the wall. (photo: Alexander M. Padro) involvement. The presentation —Hyun-Tae Jung was followed by informal dis- The structure, named for Dr. Martin Luther cussion and a question-and- King, Jr., following a petition and letter writing campaign urging the designation, opened in 1972 answer session. Editor’s Note: The viability of Buildings 42 and 521 is currently in question. Great Lakes’ base and was celebrated by critics as the best public presently operates with more than 180,000 building in Washington. —Thomas F. Little s square feet of excess administrative space and As a result of the District of Columbia’ y woes, and spending less than a more than 300,000 square feet of extra training chronic budgetar space, and two or three buildings are demolished third of the national average on library building each year. On May 18, 2006, the Department of maintenance for over three decades, the MLK - the Navy issued its first notice of Environmental Library has deteriorated. Among the signs of neg Assessment (EA) for the two structures, a move lect are stained and threadbare carpeting, inopera- which is usually a precursor to demolition. At tive drinking fountains, long-abandoned dumbwait- one present, DOCOMOMO-Chicago/Midwest, the er and pneumatic tube stations, and trouble-pr Illinois Historic Preservation Agency (IHPA), the air conditioning and elevators. Much of the s valuable Mies-designed furniture has National Trust, and other advocacy groups are library’ working to save the buildings. Neither building is been discarded. (cont’d on next page) DOCOMOMO-US/SUMMER 2006 10 Chapter News Announcements

CHICAGO/MIDWEST In 2000, AIA local chapter volunteers prepared laboratories, central common facilities, minimal a renovation proposal in the Miesian idiom that foot traffic, central air-conditioning, short walking Winter Lecture and Tour would create a new skylit atrium in the center of distances from parking lots to building, roadways the building, a large reading room on the second free of outside traffic and low construction and floor, a new theatre-style auditorium, art galleries operating costs were major concerns and achieve- and meeting rooms, and an additional, fifth floor ments of the design. Among the building’s more with space for public events. At the time, Mayor innovative components is the use of mirrored Anthony A. Williams supported the plan. The city glass, intended to reflect the landscape, minimize could completely renovate the MLK Library for the building’s enormity, and reduce heat gain. At about half of what a new, smaller library a block time of construction, the manufacturer could not away would cost. produce enough glass for the entire exterior, but Most frustrating to preservationists is the the success of its heat gain capacity (admits 25% refusal on the part of the city’s Historic of light, deflects 70% of heat) led to covering the Preservation Review Board to schedule a hearing entire building resulting in the popularity of the on the nomination filed in 2005 for the MLK form for office and research buildings. Seventeenth Church of Christ, Library to be listed on the DC Inventory of Historic The innovative materials and structure of the Scientist, Chicago, IL, 1968 Sites, which would grant the building the highest building demonstrate a pioneering example of (photo: Flora Chou) level of legal protection available, and require office design and organization of working space significant review of any proposed alterations. that would later become the norm. Bell Labs is Our March 6 event was a sold- The MLK Library is currently on the DC thus a significant part of the history of corporate out tour and lecture on Harry Preservation League’s most recent list of the America. In these laboratories, Bell scientists have 10 Most Endangered Places in Washington. played a pivotal role in inventing future communi- Weese and Associates’ 1968 Preservationists and activists with the local chap- cation technologies, communication satellites, design of the Seventeenth ter of the Recent Past Preservation Network, the optical communication systems, digital signal Church of Christ, Scientist in DC Library Renaissance Project, and other groups processors, Unix operating system, touch-tone Chicago. Miles Galfer, a parish- have been promoting the renovation of the cur- dialing, and cellular telephone technology. Thus, ioner, escorted us through the rent central library building. Activities have includ- the building is an important monument of not only building and into the auditori- ed an exhibition at the library, presentations at the history of modern architecture but also the annual historical studies and architectural history histories of science and post-war America. um—the building’s primary conferences, and by testifying before the DC Therefore, it is important not only to preserve the worship space. He explained the Council. façade but also the building as an organizational significance of the sanctuary’s The DC Council is expected to vote on the complex. semicircular plan, its tent-like MLK Library lease legislation in July 2006. —Susanna Santala ceiling, and clerestory windows For more information, visit: in relation to the Christian www.recentpast.org and Editor’s Note: The former Bell Labs facility (now Science faith. Architectural his- www.savedclibraries.org. home to Lucent Technologies) has been acquired torian (and long-time member) by a developer and will be demolished some time Rolf Achilles’ lecture was held at —Alexander M. Padro, DC Representative, in 2007. Renovation was considered for the site, the offices of Perkins + Will in Recent Past Preservation Network but it was determined to be “absolutely and utter- ly unusable” for current office space purposes, Mies van der Rohe’s IBM according to an official at the development corpo- Building (1971), overlooking the ration. Introduction of new housing, however, is church. In his talk, Mr. Achilles The End of Bell Laboratories? not supported by either the community or the placed the design of developer, who has affirmed that any new con- Preservation of the Bell Laboratories facility in struction on site will have commercial applica- Seventeenth Church within the Holmdel, NJ (1962), representative of the archi- tions. Saarinen’s water tower, designed to resem- context of ancient and contem- tectural oeuvre of the modernist Eero Saarinen ble a transistor invented by Nobel Prize-winning (1910-61), is of utmost importance. As prime porary houses of worship, rang- scientists at Bell Labs, will remain. The six-story, example of a post-war corporate campus, Bell ing from the Pantheon in Rome two-million-square-foot structure may be open to Labs integrates modern office space into the land- (ca. 125 AD) to Eero Saarinen’s the public for tours before it closes (date to be scape and approaches novel building materials determined), and an open meeting about the North Church in Columbus, and office planning innovatively. Its rectangular property will be held on site during the last week Indiana (1964). building mass, clad in a mirror-glazed curtain wall, of June 2006. A stunning combination of reflects the pastoral landscape designed around it and provides a serene and functional working travertine, glass, and plaster, the Bell Labs is a developing story. Please check our space for scientists. Bell Labs chose the site in Seventeenth Church of Christ, website, www.docomomo-us.org for more the 1930s because it was free of man-made static information. Scientist sits at the corner of noise that had become problematic at its other Wacker Drive and Wabash locations. Eero Saarinen, known for his TWA ter- Avenue in the heart of the minal and St. Louis’ Gateway Arch, designed not Chicago’s “Loop.” The two- only the main facility, but also the site’s distinctive story height and rounded façade water tower and landscaping elements. Carefully considered partitions organize the interior into an stands in stark contrast to the effective communicational network of quiet labo- towering rectilinear skyscrapers ratories and linking pathways. Flexibility, adaptable

DOCOMOMO-US/SUMMER 2006 113 Chapter News A Modernist House for an American Red: William Lescaze’s Field House that surround it. Given the AIA Chicago 25 Year Award in 1996, the building was praised not only for the exterior, but also for its auditorium. The event was very timely, as local newspapers were printing reports of the building’s potential sale. The rumors were quickly dashed by church board members, who denied any future possibilities of sales.

Traditional Building Exhibit and Preservation Roundtable

Our participation in the Traditional Building Conference and Exhibit held in Chicago April 5-8 was a great success! Most visitors to our booth were Field House, New Hartford, CT not immediately familiar with (photo: Dietrich Neumann) DOCOMOMO, but (once given an introduction to its mission and activities) quickly signed up William Lescaze’s Field House in New Hartford, to receive our local e-newsletter. Connecticut (1930) was built for millionaire Frederick Vanderbilt Field. They became friends in Numerous visitors from neigh- the late 1920s, having met in leftist intellectual boring states, including circles in New York. In his autobiography, From Minnesota, Missouri, Indiana, Right to Left, Vanderbilt recalled how he told Michigan, and Wisconsin, were Lescaze that he and his wife wanted to live very excited about our presence without servants, have easy transitions between inside and out, and have plenty of space for books and about coordinating activi- and undisturbed study. The house, Field wrote, ties with our chapter. “had as part of the living-dining area two cubicles, During the conference, just like the carrels of a research library, the walls DOCOMOMO-US board mem- were lined with books and desks were built into ber Laura Culberson Knapp them...The house received so much publicity that on weekends during the first year, busloads of (recently relocated from Detail, Field House, New Hartford, CT architectural students would burst in upon us with (photo: Dietrich Neumann) Northern California to Chicago) sketchbooks in hand.” Field, who owned the participated in the AIA’s Historic house for 47 years, was visited there by H. G. Resources Committee Wells, Lillian Hellman, and by many others who Lally columns [that] they really are.” In his book, shared his progressive political views. The house On Being an Architect (1941), Lescaze had simi- Preservation Roundtable. Laura larly claimed a commitment to the kind of direct, described the mission and activ- survives in fairly good condition. The first floor features a living room, a kitchen, and bedrooms pragmatic functionalism that he recognized in the ities of DOCOMOMO at both the with access to a large terrace; a later addition was simple barns of Connecticut. There, one often national and international level. constructed in the back. encountered “a free-standing wooden post There was quite a bit of interest The architectural historian William H. Jordy (ancestor of the Lally column) holding up the second floor,” creating thus, with simple means, in our organization with many noted the pragmatism of Lescaze’s modernism, a practical, dry, and sheltered space. Like Richard attendees and presenters from admiring the house’s “austerity and simplicity, the directness of the plan....The directness of the Neutra and many other American architects of the local, regional, and national expression of what is most essential to the pro- time, Lescaze stressed a modern regionalism and organizations expressing con- gram.” Lescaze’s nonchalance in the application a more practical and less formal approach to cern regarding the future of our of the Lally columns made Jordy’s point: “in their architecture than those put forth at the 1932 MoMA exhibition. The Field House serves as a modern-era resources. scatter, their varied heights, their toothpick lack of presence, their prosaic and localized functions... telling example. they revert to the vernacular and appear as the —Dietrich Neumann

DOCOMOMO-US/SUMMER 2006 12 Chapter News Portland, Oregon, Preserved Modern Houses Tour Recent Past Resources Seminar cladding and relatively low roofline are evocative For Oregon’s preservationists, the sellout suc- of the Northwest Regional Style, but the overall DOCOMOMO-Chicago/Midwest cess of the recent Street of Eames tour in April, effect is one of expanse and presence. 2006, is a hopeful sign for the survival of mid-cen- Van Evera Bailey’s Dixon House (1952) is a members participated in a two- tury modern houses. 600 people joined the tour fine example of this regional style. Perched on day “Survey and Safeguarding and its affiliated events, demonstrating the grow- steel posts (including its circular driveway), the the Recent Past” seminar during ing appreciation for this important architectural house is a dramatic solution to the site conditions the first weekend in April. legacy. The visit to six houses provided a unique and a marvel of modern engineering. The public Sponsored by the Illinois opportunity to see quintessential examples of spaces are focused on the outdoors with floor-to- Historic Preservation Agency many modern styles and to follow their evolution ceiling windows overlooking a beautiful woodland (IHPA) and the Village of Oak from 1942 until today. Several were in the setting. The damp climate has caused problems Northwest Style, a regional reaction to European for the house’s wood siding and construction; Park, attendees came from local modernism that emphasized detailed wood struc- although houses like it can suffer from irreparable governments and preservation tures and connections to the area’s unique light damage from moss, dry rot, and moisture, the commissions to learn more and landscapes. Dixon House is beautifully preserved. about modern architecture in Rummer GB-276 (today, the Miller/Cho their communities and the House, 1967), was built by the developer Robert survey activities of the Illinois Rummer in Oak Hills, Portland’s first planned sub- Initiative on Recent Past division. It follows the Eichler style of suburban housing developments. Derivative in style, yet Architecture (IIRPA). IIRPA, a innovative for the region, the houses sold quickly. partnership of multiple organi- They just as quickly fell victim to the weather: zations spearheaded by the roofs and doors leaked, sub-floor heating failed, Landmarks Preservation Council and the residences became virtually impossible to of Illinois (LPCI) and DOCOMO- insure. Remodeled and updated with sensitivity to MO-Chicago/ Midwest, was the original design, the Miller/Cho House illus- formed in July 2005 to organize trates the livability of the Eichler-derived model. Today’s architects continue to look to these and conduct a survey of recent modernist structures as they reinvigorate past buildings and sites located Portland’s architectural landscape with contempo- throughout Illinois. rary buildings. Some of these structures were included in the tour. By reaching back into the DOCOMOMO Register Activity mid-twentieth-century’s modern legacy, the local architectural community can learn from these suc- Our register committee is hard cesses and failures to create a style of comple- mentary modernism that is perfectly suited to the at work on fiche development lush environment of the Pacific Northwest. for entry into the new online A second tour is planned for next April. DOCOMOMO register. We are Exterior, Joss House, Portland, OR Visit www.streetofeames.org. (photo: Andrew Phillips) also planning site visits this —Christine Baldricia year to include our members and friends in the process. The tour visited an early project by As part of the Chicago/ Pietro Belluschi, which showed how Portland’s master architect incorporat- Midwest chapter’s efforts to ed new forms into traditional architec- initiate DOCOMOMO activities ture, developing a complex understand- in bordering Midwest states, a ing of the environment of the partnership with the Historic Northwest and creating a style unique Landmarks Foundation of to it. In the Joss House (1940), Indiana (HLFI) has been formed. Belluschi worked with a committed HLFI created its Landmarks of client on a small budget. Avoiding the peak of a hill, he sited the house at the the Recent Past committee base of a small ridge where its low (LORP) and is initiating a survey roofline seamlessly blends into the of modern buildings located landscape creating intimate interior throughout Indiana. Many scenes. potential additions to In the Power House (1946), DOCOMOMO’s Register have Herman Brookman, a renowned already been identified and we designer of traditional estates, faced a challenge when he designed a modern will be participating in LORP’s house to be sited among traditional Dixon House, Portland, OR July meeting in Indianapolis. mansions in the Tudor and Colonial (photo: Mark Senffner) —Julie McKeon and styles. The front façade can be viewed Lynette Stuhlmacher as a compromise. The Roman brick

DOCOMOMO-US/SUMMER 2006 13

Chapter News The Van Nelle Factory Saved WESTERN WASHINGTON

DOCOMOMO WEWA officially Upon its completion in 1930, the Van Nelle Factory, designed by Brinkman and Van der Vlugt, launched its new website on was recognized internationally as one of the most May 23rd during a reception at remarkable examples of modern architecture in the Design Within Reach studio The Netherlands. Developed not only as a state- in downtown Seattle. The new ment of modern production efficiency and archi- site, designed by Wolken tectural design, the building also represented the economic, technical, social, and cultural ideas of Communica, was made possi- the time. It is this unique combination of technical ble by generous contributions advances and social responsibility that makes the from the National Trust, building such an important monument today. In Washington State Department the recent restoration and adaptive re-use, some of Archeology and Historic of that original sprit has been maintained by trans- forming this coffee, tea, and tobacco factory into Preservation, and King County’s a ‘design factory’ where different design disci- 4Culture. (See www. docomo- plines and industries work together and share mo-wewa.org.) Van Nelle: Monument in Progress facilities. The use and design have visually and (Coen Sligting Book Import) Many tours are scheduled intellectually recaptured some of the inspiration for 2006, including a thin shell that made the Van Nelle Factory unique at the general, details the design and restoration process. Mariël Polman describes the importance concrete office building time. The success story of this restoration and and selection of color in great detail: because designed by NBBJ and homes adaptive re-use has been captured in the book color was such an important consideration in the designed by Norm Johnston Van Nelle: Monument in Progress published in original design, extensive on-site and laboratory and Paul Kirk. In September of 2005 by the publisher Van Hef in Rotterdam. Not research was conducted. 2006, DOCOMOMO WEWA will only is the renovation and restoration described in Finally, the successful completion was also in large part the result of an unique cooperation in a host a “Tacoma Modernism” great detail but so also is the original design and construction. The instrumental role of Kees van private-public partnership in which both the Sara tour. The tour will include many der Leeuw, who was the director at the time and Lee Corporation, the private developer, and the residential and commercial whose family founded Van Nelle at the end of the various regulatory agencies participated. The build- properties including the head- eighteenth century, is explained. Van der Leeuw, ing was ultimately turned over by Sara Lee to a quarters of Concrete the same one who commissioned Richard Neutra new partnership, which is responsible for the operation, leasing, and continued restoration and Technology Corporation. This to design the VDL house, was a remarkable man and his ideas about manufacturing—developed sympathetic development of the site. The title of company has been responsible during his various visits to the U.S.—his theosoph- the book, Van Nelle: Monument in Progress, for the construction of many ical beliefs, and social views set the tone for indicates that much work still remains to be done. innovative concrete structures many of the original design decisions. Van Nelle: Monument in Progress is an in the Northwest. important book. It gives, for the first time, a An on-going effort by detailed history of the development of the original design and construction of a building that is, by all DOCOMOMO WEWA volunteers standards, important. The book is also significant will result in the nomination of because it provides a detailed description of the the Omar Mithun-designed design and real estate development process that Wegner-Luce House in may serve if not as an example then certainly as Issaquah. an inspiration. Too often, the buildings of the recent past are dismissed as temporal or out of DOCOMOMO WEWA meets date. However, here is an example of a building each month, typically on the and its restoration that both architecturally and last Wednesday of the month at philosophically proves that premise wrong. It is different locations in Seattle appropriate that the building has been nominated and the surrounding region. for the UNESCO World Heritage List. —Theodore Prudon Please contact Coffee roasting hall remodeled as a conference center (photo courtesy of Faz Keuzenkamp) [email protected] Van Nelle: Monument in Progress for additional information. The book is a compilation of chapters written Rotterdam, Uitgeverij De Hef, 2005 by various authors including several DOCOMOMO ISBN 90-6906-038-8 —Andrew Phillips members. For instance, Marieke Kuipers, who for Approximately 300 pages and 400 colour and many years has been active in the ISC for black-and-white illustrations, hardbound Registers, describes in detail the survey work 69.90 euros (shipping not included) done by the Dutch Conservation Service in close cooperation with the Sara Lee Company, the Available from: parent of the Van Nelle Company today. Wessel Coen Sligting Book Import, de Jong, a founding member of DOCOMOMO Amsterdam, The Netherlands International and for many years its secretary

DOCOMOMO-US/SUMMER 2006 14 DOCOMOMO-US A Modern House’s Happy Fate (cont’d from pg. 6)

Newsletter Staff and a former playroom, which now serves as the Longstreth’s legacy (much of it built for Princeton office of the Witte-Whiting firm, WW faculty and members of the Institute for Advanced Guest Editor Architecture, on the lower level. The master bed- Study) survives, but the public library he designed Hélène Lipstadt room is, according to the Times, “small by today’s in the community’s core was demolished in 2002. standards, [but] for the new owners, the room’s Longstreth eschewed publicity, including publica- Assistant Editor architectural qualities, including walls of wood tions, so his buildings are known primarily by the Diane De Fazio (instead of Sheetrock) and two facing ribbons of limited number of people who occupy or visit glass, are compensation.” them. Richard Longstreth, Director of the Graphic Designer The Times’ report on the unique sales Graduate Program in Historic Preservation at Unjoo Noh arrangement will perhaps inspire others to follow George Washington University, donated his suit. The rate of modernist houses demolished for father’s office records to the Architectural Archive Contributors larger, more conventional dwellings in Princeton is at the University of Pennsylvania in 1996 in the Christine Baldricia high, fuelled by escalating land values. Witte hopes that his legacy would eventually become Jon Buono recalled that School of Architecture Dean Stan more widely appreciated and to also assist proper- Flora Chou Allen took them to view houses on the market in ty owners in making repairs and alterations that Diane De Fazio Princeton, but, “Stan would say, ‘There’s a nice are sympathetic to the original design. Jill Dolberg modernist house just around the bend,’ and then Gabriel Field David Fixler we’d turn the corner and we’d see a lot where —Richard Longstreth John Harwood the house had just been torn down.” Most of Hansel Hernandez-Navarro Hyun-Tae Jung Thomas F.Little Julie McKeon Easy Living (cont’d from pg. 6) Mary McLeod Dietrich Neumann when a Womb chair has the same wear as the “work” at all evident. Everyone who’s entered the Alexander M. Padro house itself, it feels like a real chair rather than a house has been immediately put at ease. It’s a Andrew Phillips “piece” on display. But I believe that it’s the vacation house for a 365 day/year vacation. It’s Andrew Roman house itself that creates this particular atmos- remarkable to me that even now, after living here Susanna Santala Mark Senffner phere. The bedrooms, bathrooms, and kitchen are for almost a year, the house surrounds us with an Lynette Stuhlmacher not large by contemporary standards, but that is aura of comfort inside and awe at the views out- Cody Wright partly what makes them comfortable, and the side every day. Yes, a 5:00 PM cocktail seems views make each room extraordinary. It’s a house especially appropriate in such a setting, but it’s Board Members that is easy to live in: the spaces flow easily, the the house itself that offers the most constant Theodore Prudon, President proportions are easy, the structure is simple, the refreshment and no magazine needs to tell me views are easy to admire again, and again, and that. Jorge Otero-Pailos, Vice-President again. It all works perfectly, without making —Sarah Whiting

Hélène Lipstadt, Secretary

Mark Lee, Treasurer Upcoming Conferences & Events Exhibits

Laura Culberson Lecture: “Infinitely Fresh, Infinitely New:” Cityscapes Revealed: Highlights from the Nmandi Elleh Echoes Of Richard Neutra and Los Angeles Collection Nancy Levinson Architecture in Europe National Building Museum, Washington, D.C. Robert Meckfessel Santa Monica Museum of Art Ongoing Brendan D. Moran Santa Monica, CA Andrew Phillips July 6, 2006 Norman Foster: Space and Time Jack Pyburn The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts Nina Rappaport Lecture: Julius Shulman, Modernity, Moscow Barry Solar and the Metropolis Through July 2, 2006 Kazys Varnelis National Building Museum Washington, D.C. Álvaro Siza/Architect: Drawings, Models, Corporate Members July 26, 6:30–8:00 pm Photographs Johnston Marklee & Associates Santa Monica Museum of Art Prudon & Partners How to Preserve a Modern Utopia: The Santa Monica, CA Barry Solar Documentation and Sustainability of Modern Through August 19, 2006 Heritage Case Study: Ataköy–Istanbul Institutional Members Workshop in conjunction with the IXth Julius Shulman, Modernity and Metropolis Getty Research Institute International DOCOMOMO Conference National Building Museum, Washington, D.C. Istanbul, Turkey Opening July 30, 2006 September 23–26, 2006 Best of Friends: R. Buckminster Fuller and “Other Modernisms” Isamu Noguchi IXth International DOCOMOMO Conference The Noguchi Museum Istanbul / Ankara, Turkey Queens, NY September 27–29, 2006 Through October 15, 2006

DOCOMOMO-US/SUMMER 2006 15

Nebraska State Historical Society) Historical State Nebraska

(photo: David Murphy, image courtesy image Murphy, David (photo:

Detail: corrugated 16-in steel panels steel 16-in corrugated Detail:

Behlen House, Columbus, NE, 1958. 1958. NE, Columbus, House, Behlen

summer 2006 summer

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