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NEW YORK|TRI-STA TE 2010 no. 2 Contents MODERN IN THE VILLAGE: A FIRST FOR NEW CANAAN 2 LESSONS FROM WEST 12TH STREET RAYMOND AND RADO’S ROOSEVELT HIGH SCHOOL 3 Bastion of postwar Modern architecture is not the first image Greenwich Village brings to mind. Narrow, idio - VIGNELLI CENTER AT RIT 4 syncratic streets lined with an eclectic assortment of KAHN’S TRENTON BATH HOUSE Federal and Greek Revival row houses, Italianate brown - AND DAY CAMP RESTORED 5 stones, tenements and lofts, joined by a wave of elevator apartment buildings from the 1920s would be the popu - NEW JERSEY GETS A SURVEY 6 lar perception. Yet given the neighborhood’s celebrated THE VERTICAL URBAN FACTORY 8 association with the avant-garde it should come as no surprise that Greenwich Village would foster a flurry of WHIG HALL: UNUSUAL MODERN buildings illustrating, in microcosm, the evolution of LANDMARK RENOVATED 9 postwar Modernism in New York City. THE MODERN LIBRARY 10 West 12th Street is an especially instructive example of this evolutionary microcosm. Joseph Urban’s Bauhaus-inspired design for The New School for Social Research (1929–1931) is an apt architectural expression of the progressive philosophies of the school and the neighborhood, while maintaining the scale of the 19th- century streetscape. Between 1958 and 1960, the firm of Mayer, Whittlesey & Glass, with project architect William J. Conklin, completed additions to Urban’s building that created an appropriately Village-scaled campus. The glass and aluminum grid façade of Conklin’s nine-story, Miesian inspired addition to the west is respectfully set back from W 12th and the Urban building. The addition’s For timely news sign airy glazed volume plays counterpoint to the dark brick up for our monthly mass of the older building and provides a connecting “News+Events” email lobby for the Urban building. A new mid-block courtyard Z C I W connects Conklin’s new 11th Street building to the south. E WWW.DOCOMOMO-NYTRI.ORG I K S Spanning the courtyard, a two-story, glass-walled bridge I R supported in part by welded pipe trusses in an “X” pat - K N H tern, makes the same connection above grade. The wider O Contribute online: 11th Street building, although employing the same grid- J New School for Social Research, 11th Street Building, patterned glazing as its 12th Street kin, is more contex - WWW.NYCHARITIES.ORG William Conklin/Mayer, Whittlesey & Glass, 1958 –1960 (search on “DOCOMOMO New York ”) tual, maintaining 25-foot structural bays that echo the width of row houses on the block. As Gordon Bunshaft William Conklin and James Rossant drew from both did at Lever House, Conklin playfully expresses the build - neighborhood building types and Modernist themes Contact Information ing’s structural columns as a colonnade at ground level. while expanding upon the bifurcated thru-block court - In the process, he provides a soothing glimpse of the yard building type to create the rare luxury building NEW YORK/TRI-STATE CHAPTER landscaped courtyard through the glass to passersby on appropriate for the Village. Completed in 1962 and sited [email protected] W 11th. The New School’s postwar expansion manages to between W 12th and W 13th Streets, Butterfield House www.docomomo-nytri.org be true to the progressive philosophies of Modernism responds to each street independently while providing P.O. Box 250532 while respecting the scale and vibe of the neighborhood. New York, NY 10025 a southern exposure for the courtyard and north block. These attributes will be employed by the same firm, On W 12th, the architects conceived a seven-story block, DOCOMOMO US Mayer, Whittlesey & Glass, in its better known project contextual to the picturesque row houses and older down the street: Butterfield House. [email protected] continued page 6 www.docomomo-us.org A FIRST FOR NEW CANAAN MODERNS In September eighteen New Canaan Moderns were added to the National Register of Historic Places or to Connecticut’s State Register. The event marked the first Welcome use of the Multiple Property Documentation Form (MPDF) in a statewide, thematic listing of mid-century Modern houses. The form has been used for other build - Let’s start 2011 by publishing a ing types, but never before for Modern houses, according 2010 newsletter. In about the time to Ginny Adams of Public Archaeology Lab in Pawtucket, it takes you to read this column I RI, the firm that conducted research and prepared the could have changed the datelines to nominations. A 2011. Our determination to catalog Included in the listings are Marcel Breuer’s first New R T S two newsletters per year stopped me Canaan house, which he built for his own family; Alan M E I Gelbin’s Murphy House; Eliot Noyes’s Chivvis House; and H short. We trust you’ll find the con - B O tents useful despite the tardiness. Hugh Smallen’s Tatum and Parsons Houses. John Black B And not to steal any thunder this Lee, whose work was prominently featured in Preservation Parsons House, Hugh Smallen, 1964 magazine this year, also had two listings: Lee House I newsletter might have, but as soon Y R O as you finish reading it you really (built for his own family on an outcropping of rocks) T A R and the System House, a modular design by Lee with O should visit our website. It launched B A Harrison DeSilver. L in August and has been helping the Y G O organization expand its programs, Alicia Leuba of the National Trust’s Northeast office L E A broaden networking channels and and Gretchen Mueller Burke of the Philip Johnson Glass H C R raise awareness of activities around House directed and coordinated the year-long project. A C I L Modern architecture ever since. Partnering with the Trust were Janet Lindstrom of the B U P , www.docomomo-nytri-org . New Canaan Historical Society, Richard Thomas of the S M A New Canaan Preservation Alliance, Stacy Vairo of the D We could definitely use more people A . V Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism (CCCT), / power. An email from the site’s “con - D L E and the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation. I tact us” page is all it takes to volun - F O Funding came from CCCT with additional support by C S teer with DOCOMOMO NY/Tri-State. William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty. Ginny Adams J Here’s a little refresher of some of and Jenny Scofield of Public Archaeological Laboratory System House, John Black Lee & Harrison DeSilver, 1961 what awaits, you choose: (PAL) guided the nominated properties through the ADVOCACY (research, drafting • various stages of review. The last stop was the National letters and testimony, attending Connecticut.” PAL’s documents call Connecticut’s contri - Park Service, the official home of the National Register. hearings, press outreach); butions to Modern residential architecture “nearly •REGISTER (research, writing fiches unparalleled in scope and impact.” and helping with building surveys); Homeowners had to volunteer to join The 2010 group joins an illustrious group of New •COMMUNICATIONS (website, “Email the multiple registry effort…“Nowhere has the Canaan moderns by Philip Johnson, Frank Lloyd Wright, News” and this newsletter) and buy-in or enthusiasm been as strong as it Eliot Noyes, and Landis Gores already designated as •PROGRAMS (speakers, venues, tour has been here in Connecticut.” historic houses. And there may be other listings in the planning and event logisitics). future. Burke is in the process of writing a set of guide - If you know one of our board lines for the Glass House website to help modern house Burke described the MPDF as “a detailed overview of members below you can also let owners prepare individual nominations. the history of the development of Modern architecture them know you’re interested. and design in the State of Connecticut that provides an New Canaan’s 2010 National Register Listings: Time to get started on the first umbrella-like structure for the nomination of individual Breuer II [first New Canaan House], Marcel Breuer 1947 2011 newsletter. Send us your arti cle Modern houses to the State and National Register of Durisol House/Risom House, SMS 1949 ideas, comments and suggestions. Historic Places.” The houses listed on the State Register Lee House I, John Black Lee 1952 —Kathleen Randall, editor were all built after 1960, said Burke, and haven’t yet Ford House, Gates & Ford 1954 reached the 50-year mark. The 50-year guideline can Techbuilt/Swallen House, Carl Koch 1954 DOCOMOMO NEW YORK/TRI-STATE occasionally be trumped by other historical factors. Beaven Mills House, William Pedersen 1956 BOARD MEMBERS David Bahlman, director of the CCCT’s Historic Mills House II, Willis Mills of SMS 1956 John Arbuckle Preservation Department, commended the owners “for System House, John Black Lee and Harrison DeSilver 1961 Meredith Arms Bzdak their open and willing spirit of participation in the Hall House, William Pedersen 1962 John Morris Dixon process.” Not every eligible New Canaan Modern was listed. Tatum House, Hugh Smallen 1962 Kyle Johnson Homeowners had to volunteer to join the multiple reg - Murphy House, Alan Gelbin 1964 Jeff Miles istry effort. Bahlman, Burke, and Leuba hope that the Chivvis House, Eliot Noyes, 1979 Leslie Monsky multiple registry in New Canaan will be a model nation - 2010 New Canaan listings on the Connecticut Hänsel Hernández-Navarro wide, and as Bahlman said at a Glass House gathering Kathleen Randall State Register: to celebrate the event: “Nowhere has the buy-in or Lindstrom House, Gary Lindstrom 1964 Nina Rappaport enthusiasm been as strong as it has been here in D’juro Villaran-Rokovich Papp House, Laszlo Papp 1959 –1964 continued page 8 DOCOMOMO / 2010 no.