the forum THE NEWSLETTER OF THE INSTITUTE OF CLASSICAL ARCHITECTURE & CLASSICAL AMERICA FALL 2010 message from the president an interview with marc appleton old westbury gardens continues to inspire book reviews ~ calendar of events message from the president 1 At Last a Library THE INSTITUTE SEEkS We are also glad to add grateful acknowl- dAILy TO bUILd ANd MAINTAIN A edgment for all those donors, who have to date, SOLId SCAFFOLdINg OF CLASSICAL advanced the cast collection’s secure status. kNOWLEdgE. Please feel free to advance its content and value Sensitivity and its attendant creativity prosper at any time by forwarding new information. best in the wake of imparted truths and seasoned That is our essential cause in partnership with experience passed down through the generations. you. you above all can help us strengthen our We conserve such knowledge as a tool for classical scaffolding, which we do for the sake of progress. As writing is to thought — distilled, conserving knowledge and its residual guidance. disciplined, and thus made manifest — so is Similarly, Natalie kurzyma, another summer drawing and its underlying principles to archi- intern, has been scanning slides donated by tecture, planning, and their allied fine arts. That architecture historian Jean-François gabrielle, is the theoretical basis upon which we build our professor emerita of Syracuse University. The programs thanks to those like you who provide goal is to have the J. F. gabriele Slide Collection the capacity. Anyone who cares about contem- available on-line for research and image use alike. porary design and art would ultimately agree In this spirit of greater intellectual access, that our role is essential, especially in the context I am delighted to report that Council of Advisor of rapid change including, gladly, lessons from member and 2010 ICA&CA board of directors the past. laureate, Calder Loth, has launched a monthly To that end, we strive as resources allow to blog post examining the classical tradition in all accumulate the objective raw materials necessary its historic complexity especially as it has and for such forward-looking intellectual construction. does affect America. Please take due advantage Over the past year our research coordinator, Jess of Calder’s sagacious and always provocative Ouwerkerk, along with Nora Reilly, education insights each and every month. He too will pay assistant, the Publication Committee and its due attention to our casts and library as they are steadfast volunteers, have been hard at work now better corralled. harnessing our publication assets with a catalog We strive forward during challenging days. and its according shelving. This fine collection I thank you for providing the needed optimism. is now at your service at national headquarters on West 44th Street in Manhattan, available to members, students, and instructors as a non- circulating library. It is one that is poised to grow as future donations allow — a dedicated room houses it — and the essential tools of Paul gunther access are squarely in place. Eventual on-line President access will be the next step. I am also pleased to report that with the efforts of spirited 2010 summer intern, Julian domo, similar progress has been made with the historic plaster casts catalog including new images contributed by Ann barton, Tony McConnell, and greg Shue, all of whom have done so much in our educational behalf. These new images are especially significant as 2010 Rome Drawing Tour participant Leslie-jon Vickery sketching inside the Pallazzo Corsini entry hall to Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica (renovated by Ferdinado Fuga 1729-1732). Photograph ICA&CA instructor Michael Mesko. so much conservation intervention has occurred since we first posted the casts five years ago. This catalog is an organic resource as we stand by always to add interpretative essays along with helpful links, which together can extend the collection’s utility. 2 ica&ca interview fall 10 3 office, david Rinehart and Jack McAllister. BP: How so? ICA&CA Interview with Marc Appleton Later I worked with Tim Vreeland in Los Angeles, and finally, Frankg ehry from 1973-76. Looking MA: In the late 1970s almost my entire peer back I feel lucky that the experiences were so rich group, along with the AIA membership, seemed and varied. consumed by the kind of self-conscious, icono- clastic contemporary design I was turning away BP: When did your work focus on a more classical, tradi- from. In Los Angeles there were fewer and fewer tional, and regional, rather than contemporary, vein? people with whom I shared ideas and direction. I felt certain that the language of modernism MA: When I left Frank’s office, few firms were was a dying movement, that the derivative build- hiring, so I thought it was time to start my own ing it spawned had undermined the individual AN ENCHANTINg PRESENTATION practice. I wasn’t certain what I wanted to do, identities of most cities, and surely this would AbOUT FLORESTAL, his grandparent’s but I knew I didn’t want to pursue the kind of change. I was wrong. In fact, the modern language multi-fabled estate in Santa barbara, designed career represented by most contemporary archi- has persisted well into the 21st century and by george Washington Smith in 1925, led tects I was familiar with: careers that seemed to is louder and more bombastic than ever. For to Marc Appleton’s invitation to become a involve a relatively egocentric and competitive me, architects like Lebiskind and Zaha Hadid national ICA&CA board member. Shortly preoccupation with creating original or innova- are essentially speaking in the same modern thereafter, the Southern California Chapter tive work. language; they’re just shouting it now, and, with was founded in 2004 by Marc and david Cohen When I thought about the Southern California as much egocentricity and paranoia about being with support from Suzanne Rheinstein. architecture I most admired, much of it had been original and making an individual impact as With an English literature degree from created by classically-trained architects from the their forebears. Only in the last 10 or 15 years Harvard and an Architecture degree from yale, early 20th century: bertram goodhue, Arthur have there been significant signs of change. Marc apprenticed with architectural firms in benton, Myron Hunt, Reginald Johnson, Julia San diego and Los Angeles before starting his Morgan, gordon kaufmann, george Washington BP: In Los Angeles, is the popularity of the Southern own practice in 1976. Much of Marc’s early Smith, and others. What I appreciated most was California Chapter indicative of that change? training and work was based on modern and how these folks seemed flexible and adept at postmodern trends, but he was drawn to the working in varied styles, without imposing an MA: I’d like to think so. When david and classic forms in architectural history and started overriding personal stamp on their buildings. I started the Chapter, we weren’t sure anyone designing new traditional work; a rarity at that This appealed to me, and, coupled with the fact would be interested, especially in LA. I suspect time as most architects sought contemporary that as a young architect I began with restoration that many of us “traditionalists” were working directions. He also welcomed remodeling and and remodeling of older buildings it sent me quietly on our own and looking for some kind restoration projects, where the subtle challenges off in different directions. I became an amateur of forum outside the establishment to give us of being respectful to original building contexts of local architectural history and still am. a voice. I am delighted that our Chapter now has were attractive. MARC APPLETON I also continue to restore, remodel, and add on over 200 members with an active program Here he speaks to bret Parsons about the to existing structures. I think it’s the most of lectures, courses, and events. I have never ICA&CA, its Southern California Chapter, was then dean of the Harvard graduate School challenging, responsible, and elegant work an experienced such a diverse yet compatible design academic mentors, his proposal for The Nixon of design. We were force-fed gyorgy kepes’s architect can do. community as the one our chapter embodies. Memorial Library, the relationship between “Vision and Valve” books and a healthy serving residential architecture and psychotherapy, and of what turned out to be pseudoscientific BP: Was this change in focus immediate? BP: What’s the relationship between the National office and other engaging opinions. aesthetics. the local chapters? Following college, I was admitted to the yale MA: Not really. One of my first jobs was restoring Bret Parsons: It’s remarkable that one presentation led to the School of Art and Architecture, where Charles and adding onto a Richard Neutra house for the MA: There are fourteen different chapters now, creation of ICA&CA’s Southern California Chapter. Moore had become dean. yale provided a more original clients. I became fascinated with Neutra’s and they have various relationships with National fertile atmosphere with architects as diverse as conceptual detailing and, ironically, found relative to their age, size, and location. The Marc Appleton: In 2001, the Institute was looking Phillip Johnson, kahn, Sterling, Moore, bucky myself defending the original architecture of the Southern California Chapter was one of the first for a local architect or designer to give a talk at Fuller, Scott brown and Venturi, younger New house against my clients, who were arguing with and largest ones, and it is obviously pretty New the Hotel bel-Air as part of a California tour. york architects such as Eisenman and graves, each other about making changes.