Bunshaft House Threatened There are buildings we simply cannot afford to lose, and the Gordon and Nina Bunshaft House in East Hampton, NY, 1961–1962, is one of them. The Town of East Hampton would commit a grave error if it did not step in immediately to forestall impending demoli- tion by its new owner Donald Maharam who recently purchased the house from Martha Stewart. Maharam claims that Stewart sold him the house in a state of disrepair and he has no choice but to demolish it. The supreme irony here is that Maharam is a member of a family whose business, Maharam Textiles, produces many products of mid-century Modern design; the company’s “Textiles of the Twentieth Century” collection features designs by contemporaries of Bunshaft such as Charles and Ray Eames, Alexander Girard, and Verner Panton. (Editor‘s Note: Panton’s work is currently on display at the AXA Gallery in New York City—see “Exhibits” section.) As recently as 2000, the Eames Office partnered with Maharam Textiles to create a line of fabrics based on the Bunshaft House, 1961-1962, designs of the Eames brothers. in its current condition. This all makes it difficult to understand why Mr. Maharam would (photo: Caroline Rob Zaleski) not restore the Bunshaft House, a masterpiece of mid-century Modernist design, and become an instant hero instead of a villain. The Nina and Gordon Bunshaft house is one of the great Modern houses in the Hamptons. It faces Georgica Pond and was designed by Gordon Bunshaft of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. The architect is well know for individual New York City landmarks such as Lever House, 1952; the Manufacturers’ Company Fifth Avenue Branch, 1954; and the Pepsi Cola Company Headquarters, 1960; as well cont’d on p. 5 NATIONAL NEWS | summer 2005 ARTICLES DOCOMOMO NEWS UPCOMING CONFERENCES 1 Bunshaft House Threatened 2 Welcome How to Preserve a Modern Utopia: by Françoise Bollack The Documentation and Sustainability 3 Chapter News of Modern Heritage 2 SOM Building Fighting Against Case Study: Ataköy-Istanbul Demolition by Big-Box Retailer Workshop in conjunction with the IXth by Alex Marthews BOOK REVIEW & International DOCOMOMO Conference ANNOUNCEMENTS Istanbul, Turkey 3 Fuller's Dome Home September 23-26, 2006 by Cornelius J. Crane 6 Review of Atlantic Modern: The Architecture of the Atlantic “Other Modernisms” 4 Burlington Industries Building Provinces 1950-2000 IXth International DOCOMOMO Demolished by Benjamin Briggs Conference 7 Lower Manhattan Emergency Istanbul/Ankara, Turkey 5 A Facelift for Cincinnati's Terrace Preservation Fund September 27-29, 2006 Plaza Hotel? by Margo Warminski 7 Future Anterior 11 EXHIBITS 8 Modernism in New Orleans 9 DOCOMOMO 2006 Conference by Eleanor Burke 11 2004 Conference Proceedings 10 Phoenix Building Placed on National Register by Lynn Ferrari DOCOMOMO-US Email: [email protected] Mail: PO Box 230977 New York, NY 10023 www.docomomo-us.org Welcome SOM Building Fighting Against Demolition 2005 is an auspicious year for by Big-Box Retailer DOCOMOMO-US. Ten years have passed since the formation of the US Chapter of DOCOMOMO Last year the Santa Clara County Superior Court trial design of its day. The Historic Landmarks International at the occasion of ruled that the City of San Jose violated California Commission calls it “one of the finest examples the first “Preserving the Recent law when it granted Lowe’s Home Improvement of Modern Industrial architecture in Santa Clara Past” conference in Chicago. Store permission to demolish IBM Building 25 as County,” and compliments the bold geometric DOCOMOMO-US is now one part of the construction of a new store. pattern on the building’s façade, reminiscent of among some fifty working par- The city’s Historic Landmarks Commission early IBM tabulating punch cards. According to ties across five continents. In the and Planning Commission argued that the big-box the Final Environmental Impact Report that was fall of 2006, all of the working retailer and most or all of Building 25, designed compiled as part of the effort to save the building parties will once again come by John Savage Bolles of Skidmore, Owings & from demolition: together at the IXth International Merrill in 1957, can co-exist on the site, a former DOCOMOMO Conference to be IBM office campus. Lowe’s contended that its The design was a radical departure from the held in Turkey under the theme business model required construction of a spe- solid wall construction of most industrial “Other Modernisms.” The confer- cific design for its store that was not compatible and laboratory facilities of the time. It was ence—an announcement is in this with saving the building. The court, however, felt designed so that each office and laboratory issue—will take place in conjunc- had walls of glass to integrate the landscap- that Lowe’s had not demonstrated that its cur- tion with a workshop on the plan- ing and outdoor art with the working spaces. ning and preservation issues fac- rent business model was the only way to accom- Building 25 is where historically significant ing Ataköy, a mid-century suburb modate the kind of store they needed. Lowe’s research occurred, including work associated outside of Istanbul. appealed the ruling, and the case will be going with development of the flying disk drive, In the U.S. the steadily before the Superior Court in December of this which is considered one of the most signifi- increasing interest in “mid-centu- year. cant inventions in information storage ry Modern” has brought greater technology. attention to the need to preserve the buildings from that era and has resulted in a growing num- ber of chapters and members of DOCOMOMO-US. This issue of our newsletter reflects this growth in interest, evidenced by the geographical distribution of the contributions highlighting the continuing threat to mid-century buildings. With the broadening of inter- est in Modernism has also come a shift from the preservation of national icons to the preservation of a larger number of regional and local landmarks. To support those efforts, DOCOMOMO-US will focus in the next year on the expansion of its register and documentation efforts. We plan to consolidate our website and bring the register online in order to make it more accessible. On a national level we have IBM Building 25, 1957. (photo: Preservation Action Council of San Jose) several initiatives planned for 2006 and 2007. Plans are being made to organize a small con- The Preservation Action Council of San Jose, Bolles accented the design of Building 25 ference to discuss the survey, which initiated the lawsuit to stop demolition of with courtyards—meant to surround the building documentation, and recording of Building 25, is optimistic that the Superior Court with natural light—oak and redwood trees, and Modern buildings in the context ruling will positively influence the preservation of a Modern art collection that included Research, of the register. DOCOMOMO-US the city’s Modernist legacy. When IBM erected a sculpture by Gurdon Woods. The goal was to also hopes to host a small confer- the Advanced Research Building 025 at its Cottle make the building comfortable for employees, ence on technology as it relates Road campus in 1957, it became a symbol of a novel idea at the time. As a result, Factory- to the overall preservation of Maintenance and Management named Building Modern buildings. Silicon Valley innovation and was visited by Nikita 25 “Plant of the Year” in 1958 out of 900 sites. All of these initiatives are Khruschev during his tour of the United States. Though Building 25 has been closed since aimed at supporting the preser- The building is significant to San Jose as a fore- vation of Modern heritage in the runner of the many high technology campuses 1995, multiple ways to preserve the building are U.S. We hope you will continue that now characterize the city. Today it might being considered, including using it for retail to to participate with us in these seem common fare for a high-tech company support the Lowe’s store. efforts. building, but the one-story building with its Theodore Prudon floor-to-ceiling windows and sophisticated sense — Alex Marthews President, DOCOMOMO-US of symmetry was a notable shift from the indus- DOCOMOMO-US/SUMMER 2005 2 Chapter News Fuller’s Dome Home WESTERN WASHINGTON The morning of April 20, 1960, was mild and Puget Power Building Threatened sunny in Carbondale, Illinois. There was a buzz in by New Development town that day as residents contemplated draw- ings of an odd building about to be built on the Exceeding the three-story height corner of Forest Avenue and Cherry Street in the limit the city had previously southwest part of town. For years there had been set, the four-story Puget Power a run-down, pink-colored trailer on the lot, and Building was the tallest building in Bellevue, WA when it was con- neighbors were happy to see it go. A “geodesic dome” was to take its place. But no one had structed in 1956. With farms dot- The Fuller Dome Home under protective cover. ting the surrounding landscape heard of a geodesic dome, and some neighbors (photo: Cornelius J. Crane) in the late 1940s, downtown wondered if they were better off with the old a former chair of the SIU Design Department, Bellevue was little more than a pink trailer. Others were excited about the unique cluster of shops on Main Street. building which was understood to be a prototype H.F.W. “Bill” Perk, purchased the dome and However, by the early 1950s, of a new domestic technology.