PreservationNation

Written by Ivan V.

My own illustration of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Lillian and Curtis Meyer Home.

Happy 2010 from Boise, where it currently feels like a crisp 19 degrees. The Boise Architecture Project is fresh from winter break and ready to get back into the swing of things – and I’m first up!

After studying architecture for a few years, I’ve found that I’m extremely interested in modernism. I recently took a trip to Chicago, where I was introduced to the work of Frank Lloyd Wright. I’d like to use my first-ever blog post to talk about some of my favorite Wright buildings.

Frank Lloyd Wright is, of course, one of the most well-know architects in the world. He’s also someone I now deeply admire. While reading up on him, I was surprised by his extensive body of work, especially the residential projects. I learned that, after he completed one of his most famous works, Fallingwater, Wright’s popularity grew across the country. The result? Commissions to design more and more buildings.

Another view of Wright's studio.

Most of those new projects ended up being residential homes, and most became part of what Wright coined the Usonian movement – a new and unique American style that brought with it more modest floor plans. While not all of them are immediately recognizable as Wright homes, his simple aesthetic, his use of natural forms, and his modern designs of interlacing wood, brick, and steel are always there.

In my opinion, his houses that were built during the 1950’s are especially elegant examples of his work, and they can easily be mistaken for homes built within the past 15 years. Regardless, it still stuns me just how many homes he built during his career – I counted 154 within one of the books I recently read about his life.

Many of his homes – especially the Craftsman-style ones – are constructed of brick and incorporate cantilevered roofs/ balconies. They feature simple, repeating designs, and all have unique motifs and layouts. The interiors of the Usonian- and Prairie-style homes are always rich examples of stone and woodwork coming together. Many have a solid wall opposed by a large wall of windows. The solid wall often has a row of long windows at the top to bring in light. These can be long rectangles or repeating motifs. Also, great attention is given to the furniture and carpeting, all of which were designed specifically to fit each home. Regardless, the spaces are quite comfortable looking – perhaps a little too comfortable!

A house not classified as a Usonian (though it incorporates many of the same design principles) but nonetheless quite modern is the Gloria Bachman and Abraham Wilson Home. Its windows are decorative on the street-facing side and high against the roof to provide privacy but still bring in light. The interior is extremely clean and well designed.

A close-up shot of "The Boulders."

Along with the Usonians, Wright designed several hemicycle-shaped homes, or buildings that incorporate a half-circle structure that is often the living area with windows being part of an arc. His first example of this is the Wilbur Pearce Home, which was built in 1950. The Lillian and Curtis Meyer Home is probably my favorite. Its roof and windows are a rich brown color that is perfectly offset by simple white siding. I still can’t believe it was built so long ago!

If you want to do some Wright reading, I recommend “Frank Lloyd Wright Mid-Century Modern,” as it’s the book that inspired this post. Another good (and shorter) reference is “The Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright: A Complete Catalog.”

In this post, I’ve included several pictures that I took while in Chicago, as well as my own drawing of Wright’s Lillian and Curtis Meyer Home. In the illustration, notice the octagonal theme; using geometric units and/or shapes is common in many of Wright’s projects. You’ll also see a picture of two figures called “The Boulders.” These were designed by Richard Bock and are meant to convey the struggle of the oppressed. I thought they were pretty cool.

Please stay tuned for future posts about modernism – I don’t plan to stop here!

Ivan V. is a student at Boise’s Timberline High School and is participating in the Boise Architecture Project. You can follow the students here on the PreservationNation blog and on their Flickr photostream. Also, get daily updates from their teacher, Doug StanWiens, on Twitter.

Are you an educator interested in teaching preservation in your classroom? Visit PreservationNation.org for resources, tips, and ideas to enhance your curriculum with lessons that will teach your students to recognize and appreciate the rich history that surrounds them.

Written by Fiona Lawless

The last column standing at Ground Zero. (Credit: National September 11 Memorial and Museum)

Just a few days ago, Save America’s Treasures (SAT) announced a $200,000 federal challenge grant to conserve the now-iconic “Last Column”—the final steel structure removed from Ground Zero during the 9/11 rescue effort.  At 36 feet tall, weighing 58 tons, and covered in spray-paint and tributes from rescue workers, construction teams and family members, it has become a major artifact reflecting the sacrifices of so many, and the strength and resilience found in unity during the aftermath. The column will be a major element of the new National September 11 Memorial and Museum.  Since its removal from Ground Zero in 2002, the steel column and each of the 82 photographs, notes, memorial posters and Mass cards have been stored and protected in a climate-controlled facility at Hangar 17 at New York’s JFK Airport. This past August, the “Last Column” became the first artifact returned to the museum site for installation within a special encasement where it will be assessed, conserved and monitored.

Save America’s Treasures is a national public-private partnership dedicated to ensuring a brighter future for our past.  It includes the National Trust for Historic Preservation as principal private partner, and the National Park Service, the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, the two National Endowments, and the Institute for Museum and Library Services.  This grant to the “Last Column” is one of 42 nationally significant historic structures, artifacts and collections selected to receive a 2009 award through Save America’s Treasures.

Administered by our federal partners, on December 11th Save America’s Treasures announced $9.5 million in grants to address the preservation/conservation needs of some of our nation’s most storied places. The “Last Column” joins the Old Naval Hospital on Washington’s Capitol Hill, Newport’s Stanford White Casino Theatre, Tufts University’s “This I Believe” Collection, Raices Latin Music collection, Santa Fe’s San Miguel Chapel and many others. In just 10 years, this national partnership has awarded over $350 million in federal matching grants and private contributions to address the enormous preservation backlog.

World Trade Center Model (Credit: Lee Stalworth)

Having worked closely with the 9/11 Museum on this and other important projects, we at the National Trust’s SAT program were especially pleased to learn of this recognition and support for the “Last Column.”  Back in 2002, Save America’s Treasures partnered with the American Architectural Foundation (AAF) and ALCOA to fund the conservation of the Yamasaki World Trade Center architectural model—the last authentic 3-dimensional representation of the complex. Last year, the AAF announced its loan of the model to the Museum, where it will occupy a central place in the exhibition that tells the World Trade Center story. Save America’s Treasures secured a pledge of the required funds from its partner organization Tourism Cares, for the model’s encasement, presentation and interpretation.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation also joined with its preservation partners to save the stunning Vesey Street Staircase, down which hundreds of people escaped during the attacks.  Known as the “Survivors’ Staircase,” it was threatened with demolition until the National Trust named it to its 2006 list of 11 Most Endangered Historic Places.  As with the “Last Column” and the World Trade Center model, the Vesey Staircase will hold a special place in the new Museum.

Save America’s Treasures at the National Trust is honored to partner with the National September 11 Memorial and Museum where artifacts, oral histories, documents and displays will pay tribute and convey the tragic 9/11 story of loss and recovery.

Fiona Lawless is the program manager for Save America’s Treasures at the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Written by Karen Nickless

For more than a decade, the National Trust for Historic Preservation has worked to preserve the resources of the post-war and modern era and raise awareness of their importance. It’s been a challenging task, even with some long-time preservationists. I have a confession to make—before joining the National Trust Southern Office staff as a field representative for Florida, I was one of them. I liked some modernism, but as a whole it left me cold. Modernism was simply more proof to this historian of the nineteenth century that, with a few exceptions (the Progressive Movement, Women’s Suffrage, Civil Rights), the twentieth century was just a big mistake.

That all changed because of Florida. In my work as a field representative there, I have had the opportunity to be inspired by people who helped form the modernist aesthetic in Florida and tutored by those committed to preserving it. Call it my own “Great Awakening.” (Those of you who know the nineteenth century will get this reference.) My awakening is not shared by some in the preservation field and many in the general public, who just “don’t get it.” Some struggle with the aesthetic itself, some with reconciling that, yes, something can be historic even if they remember when it was built or new.

My teachers have included modernist architects Peter Jefferson, Alfred Browning Parker, Hilario Candela and Jorge Hernandez. Parker, in his early 90s, impressed me with both his residential designs and his philosophy of building: 1) Build strongly; 2) Build as directly as possible with no complications; 3) Let your building love its site and glorify its climate; 4) Design for use; make it beautiful. Parker’s homes were designed to take advantage of Florida’s climate. The materials are strong and organic, and his residences seem to have grown on their sites. Not everyone appreciates this. In 2008 his Manus House in Palm Beach was demolished to make way for a “British Colonial style” house. Parker hoped to salvage some materials to use in the house he was building for himself, but the demolition crew arrived first.

Hilario Candela, the architect of Miami Marine Stadium (one of 2008’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places), is a soft spoken but passionate man. A 28-year-old Cuban immigrant when he designed the Stadium, he recently worked with Jorge Hernandez (National Trust trustee and professor of architecture at the University of Miami) and his graduate students to develop creative plans to reopen the Stadium as the centerpiece of a revitalized Virginia Key. With luck and the continuing efforts of Friends of Miami Marine Stadium, I think this story will have a happy ending. Support is widespread—just a few weeks back, Jimmy Buffett called on all parrotheads to help save the stadium.

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