Chicago Set to Destroy Gropius Buildings

On Facebook this morning we learned from the Gropius in Chicago Coalition that Chicago is moving forward with the demolition of the Michael Reese Medical Center. This will make the city of Chicago, and those running it, the single largest destroyer of Walter Gropius buildings in human history.

Read the article here:
http://www.savemrh.com/news/2009/10/22/alert-demolition-to-begin-immediately-7-of-8-gropius-buildin.html

They are set to build a new "mixed income neighborhood".

Maybe they could build a something to compliment the on hold Chicago Spire (a giant Wee Wee).

Graham

When, in 1966, Robert Graham was fresh out of the army and newly married his grandfather made a proposal. His grandparents had some land and, like they had done for his parents before him, they wanted to give him some and help him build a house for both he and his new bride. Robert knew the property well having spent most of his early years running around it with his brother and chose a bedrock outcropping off a small street in northwestern Stamford.

His grandfather had said that he should find an architect but he had no idea where to start. Then he thought of his schoolmate Lewis Bremer, known to the rest of us as L. Paul Bremer US Ambassador to Iraq under President George W. Bush. Mr. Bremer grew up in New Canaan in a now iconic house designed by one Eliot Noyes in the international style. Graham was not a huge fan of that style with its small living spaces and so decided that maybe he could contact Noyes for guidance in finding an architect that worked in a style more to his liking. So he called.

“Noyes was very nice about it”, Graham said, “and invited me over to his office”.

While he was there, Noyes showed the young non-client around Noyes showed him models of both built and unbuilt projects the firm had in the office. One set caught Graham’s eye. Noyes proposed “Wall Houses”. These were houses where two huge walls formed a center corridor of indoor street and off of which the living spaced cantilevered away from the outside of the street like the buildings in the small towns in Italy.

Graham was hooked and the process began.

“Our budget was around $100k for the house but when the project went out to bid we received bids ranging from $200k to over $600k. That’s it, I thought, we’re done.”

But when discussions moved forward with the contractor who would eventually get the contract the cost was cut to about $150k (approximately $1.03m in 2008 dollars).

“This was done by using the stone from the property’s stone walls. “ Graham said.

They moved forward and what was supposed to be a nine month project turned in to a year and a half project with the bulk of the time going to planning. Graham was there almost every day which is one of the reasons that the house remains in what can only be said to be spectacular condition.

“Since I saw it all go together, I sort of became my own maintenance man. I know how it works and where everything is.”

The house is located on an enormous outcropping of bedrock some forty feet above the Mianus River. The walls themselves are basically “glued” to the rock using concrete and the sheer weight of the structure. There was some initial concern over whether or not it was bedrock or just a really big boulder dumped there during the last ice age. If the later were true then it was conceivable that the weight of the structure could unbalance the rock and it could roll over. A geologic survey put those concerns to rest. It was indeed bedrock.

The rest of the house is cantilevered using large poured concrete beams that are pretensioned using cables embedded in them between the rebar which also adds strength to the beams. Steel was considered instead of concrete but cost prohibited its use. 

When you enter the house from the front porch situated between the two walls you are faced with a bright and airy corridor. Tree tops are clearly visible at the end of the hall though the dining room and den windows. Skylights provide wonderful natural light in the space where the owners have an abundance of plants.

Each doorway or stair leading one off the “street” takes you to another wonderful sunlit space with views to die for and, like Noyes 2 in New Canaan, one is surprised by the solitude, the quiet and the tranquility of the space.

Graham has raised three children in the house and some remodeling has been done to update and change a few things. When possible he used people who had worked with and for Noyes including Alan Goldberg who helped open the kitchen up to the eat-in area.

What’s next for the house? In the works is a bid for listing it on the National Register of Historic Places, a task one would assume should not be two difficult given its status an example of one of Noyes favorite themes and one echoed in his own second home in New Canaan.

Unlike “Noyes 2” however, there is nothing one would have to “put up with” in the Graham house. Don’t get me wrong, I love Noyes 2 but I would think that running between bedroom and kitchen outside in February would test one’s mettle. Graham House is just a stunning, reasonably scaled work of art, certainly one of Noyes greatest works if not one of the greatest modernist homes in America.

More Pictures:

Whitie Ford

On a recent trip to, big surprise, The Gropius House we drove past the Ford House which is nearby. Ford House was built by Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer in 1938-39 for Katharine and James Ford under an arrangement with the benefactor of the Gropius House itself, Mrs. James Storrow. Gropius and Breuer designed the house for the then Associate Professor of Social Ethics at Harvard and his wife Katherine. The couple would later write a watershed book on moderns, Classic Modern Homes of the Thirties: 64 Designs by Neutra, Gropius, Breuer, Stone and Others (Modern House in America).

The House had always been, so we thought, wood sided and unpainted. On previous visits it was indeed sided with what appeared to be untreated or lightly stained cedar or redwood siding (Gropius used Redwood in his house so this isn't that much of a stretch). This week, a the house was white! White like the Gropius and Breuer Houses nearby. To say we were shocked is an understatement. Was the current owner defacing the historic structure?

Upon speaking to folks at The Gropius House itself our fears were not at all allayed. They seemed to be slightly perturbed as well.

Well fear not. As you can see in this picture from the North Carolina State University Collection, which appears to have been taken some time in the 1950's or '60's, the house has been white before.

Picture of Ford House from c1950

This leaves the Bogner House across the cul-de-sac as the only natural wood structure on the street. Not a bad thing.

$100 Johnson

If you are like us you love modern. You think that Philip Johnson was a brilliant theoretical architect (and not a bad non-theoretical one too). You want to walk around his compound taking pictures until your poor digital camera starts to emit sad sounds and begins to smoke.

Take Heart.

The Philip Johnson Glass House and The National Trust for Historic Preservation have created a program for modernsist wackos like us. For a donation of $100 you get, according to the folks at The Glass House;

For a $100 per person donation, you get behind the scenes access to the Glass House, Painting Gallery, Sculpture Gallery, Studio Library, Da Monsta and photography privileges. Also receive the Glass House visitor guide, 20% shop discount, donor recognition on our website

Sounds like a great way to see the house surrounded by like-minded folks while helping support the project and the property.

For more information contact the Glass House Visitor Center at 203.594.9884 ext 0

New Look Old Look

Recently you might have noticed that we briefly changed templates (look) here at EmbraceModern and then we changed back.

We did change templates and then after we posted a few things, saw that the stylesheets embedded in the new template where wreaking havoc with our pictures. That's why we went back to the old look.

We are working on a new EmbraceModern, we just have our web design plates full at the moment with other projects.

SP

Scorched Earth by Olympic Torch

It seems that, like the Communist Chinese government before them, that the government of the city of Chicago and its Olympic bid committee are practicing the same scorched earth policy when it comes to “site Prep”.

The Recent Past Preservation Network and The Gropius in Chicago Coalition report that “site prep” has begun at the site of the Walter Gropius designed/influenced Michael Reese Hospital complex. It seems that demolition contracts have already been awarded and that the grounds have been stripped of their Sasaki and Collins designed landscaping.

It would seem that, like the little badge “Flexfuel” on a Chevy Suburban, the Chicago Olympic Committee’s assurances that this would be a “Green” Olympics is just there to gain acceptance of the project by a greater number of the people of Chicago.

In our opinion the only “Green” way to proceed is the adaptive reuse of the complex. It is a little disconcerting to hear that even if Chicago is not awarded the games that the land may be sold off to developers. Maybe Chicago could have a line of phalluses like the on-hold Chicago Spire along the lakeshore? Is Michael Reese doomed because it is low and surrounded by, until the recent stripping, green park-like grounds? It could be that we have entered an era where public architecture is about a city standing up on its feet, thumping its chest and declaring to the world, “Oh yeah! You want soma dis!?”.

Mid century modernism doesn’t do that. That is not what the movement was/is about. That’s why we all need to defend it and save examples of it where ever we can.

Saturday Near The Park With Frank

Today we had the opportunity, daughter away at camp, to go to New York and see the Frank Lloyd Wright exhibit at The newly expanded and renovated Guggenheim Museum.  FLW was sort of our entry point into modern architechure and we were fans of him before we'd ever heard of Eliot Noyes et al.

To be able to see his drawings and sketches in one of his most iconic structures was an amazing experience.

To some modernists Wright's seemingly endless need for ornamentation makes it possible to dismiss him as a modern architect. Indeed Philip Johnson, who Wright ofetn referred to as "Little Philip" once famously referred to him as "the greatest architect of the 19th century. However the way Wright defined space, the melding of inside and out along with his belief that form does indeed follow function makes him, one of the people who made modernism possible.

You can see, interestingly enough to us anyway, direct correlation between Wright's Solar Hemicyle House (Jacob's House II) and Johnson's Glass House. When I looked at the drawings for Jacobs you can clearly see a house with a lot of glass and a circular brick area housing "private" areas that protrudes through the roof.  Sound familiar? Wright's house was built in 1944 and Johnson began schematic diagrams for the Glass House in 1945.

You can see many such connections throughout the exhibit. To help us understand how Wright's designs worked, The Guggenheim has added animations and models, six done by SITU Studios on New York, and they are fantastic. We plan on going at least one more time you should too.

www.guggenheim.org

Now, some random pictures of the museum taken today. Did FLW like circles? You decide.

Some new Gropius Pix

Here are some new shots taken last Monday while we walked around Gropius.

The stair

This is a new shot of Gropius House in Lincoln Massachusettes.

Another shot up the driveway.

The service entrance. 

The screen porch.

The deck shot from below clearly showing it's Bauhaus Pink wall.

The back showing the shade roof for the living room windows below.

Nephews Tom and James at Gropius. 

Is Too Much of a Good Thing a Good Thing?

I have to say, hats off to The New Canaan Historical Society, The Glass House, The National Trust for Historic Preservation, The Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation, The Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism and Building Conservation Associates for the Modern House Survey in New Canaan. I know it is not yet complete and they were pressured in to releasing it early by The New York Times but it is a fabulous resource.

On our own and with help from people at The Gropius House, homeowners and other enthusiasts we have identified over 500 modern houses and structures (We know we have said 300 previously but this morning we actually counted). This is not to say that we have been top them or have pix of them, we just know where they are.

Our concern is that maybe, in the rush to identify modern homes and structures in order to save them, are we diluting their importance? I have read that the Modern House Survey was undertaken in part because of the judge's decision in the Westport Paul Rudolph House case. The judge ruled that, despite the fact that people were screaming for it's preservation, there existed no documentation that proved the houses importance. We are not saying that we shouldn't ID, survey and document mid-century modernism. We think that New Canaan model should be cloned in every town that has more than one house that fits the criteria (are you listening Wilton, Weston, Greenwhich, Stamford....).

Our fear is that as we ID thousands of moderns across the country that the importance of the individual unit my be diminished. We can see a developer saying "Well I can tear this one down, there are three more around the corner."

What do you think?

Our Current To Do List

We just thought we'd let you know what we have on our plate right now. If anyone has any information, contact info or pix, feel free to pass them along.

If it is contact information for you or someone who owns a house we might be interested in, please send an email to skip[at]embracemodern.com. Please do not post your contact info or that of anyone else in the blog itself.

We are co-ordinating with the owners of Philip Johnson's Booth House for a tour and pictures.
We are talking (email) with the former owners of Eliot Noyes Horton House in Greenwich which seems to have been demolished some time ago to make way for a "typical Greenwich WOW house".
We are co-ordinating a time for pictures and a tour of a lesser known Noyes house in New Canaan.
Skip is working on a kids book about Walter Gropius for the Gropius 90/90 event in Chicago and elsewhere.
The TAC cluster in Massachusetts is on our to do list.
The Usonian cluster in New York is on the list too.
As is the Lincoln Massachusetts cluster containing The Big Dig House.
We have located more that 200 moderns in the last three weeks. That should keep us busy for awhile.

Lost and Found

Just a quick note.

It seems that Eliot Noyes Horton House in Greenwich has been lost to development. We don't know the details yet as to when it was lost but will fill you in when we get them.

Interestingly enough we were told that it was seeing the Graham House by Noyes in Stamford that had prompted the Horton Family to contact him in the first place.  We have finally located the house and are working to contact the owners.

Rudolph in New Canaan

You learn something new every day.

Imagine our surprise when, while researching something different, we came across a New York Times article from February 1st 1967 with the following headline.

Architect Quits School Project:
Rudolph's Resignation From New Canaan Job Ends Fight Over Design

What!? Paul Rudolph was supposed to design New Canaan High School!?

Yes, that seems to be the case. Paul Rudolph had been hired although the design had not yet moved to the drawing phase. It seems that even in 1967 there were people opposed to more modern stuff in New Canaan.

Cited as reasons for not wanting him in the first place were a dislike, by some, over the scale and style of his buildings;

"such as Yale's Art and Architecture building, a six story structure of rippled concrete and plate glass."

Parents were upset too. In a letter by 10 parents to the school board they stated;

"We should move toward an attractive school building, one in keeping with 20th century building trends but without revolutionary structural appearance by eliminating Paul Rudolph."

I get a kick out of the "without revolutionary structural appearance" part especially when you see what was actually built. Furthermore there was concern about Rudolph's international reputation as an architect and what effect that could have on the sleepy little hamlet.

"We don't want an architectural landmark that people will drives miles to see."

Charles F Kelly, First Selectman.

It may not be the High School that is the draw but I think the horses are out of the barn on that one.

Random News and Rumors

It looks like the owners of Philip Johnson's Wiley House are adding a new structure to the front of the property. Wiley itself seems untouched.

We have heard rumors that John Johansen's 1956 Villa Pointe or Warner house is undergoing remodeling and expansion. We don't know if this is a fact or who the current owner is or the architect for that matter but will try to get more information as soon as we can. Also known as The Bridge House it spans a stream in northern New Canaan.

In searching for Eliot Noyes Horton and Graham Houses we inadvertently stumbled across the Frank Lloyd Wright Usonian megacluster. Some 30 or so moderns by Wright, his disciples and others in Westchester County. I am planning a trip now. It rivals the Walter Gropius TAC megacluster in Lincoln Massachusetts for it's sheer number of moderns in such close prioximity to each other. One might draw the conclusion that there is, indeed, safety in numbers. I found Graham, still looking for Horton.

We had fun at camp the other day drawing and then coloring a huge mural containing some New Canaan moderns, or Sharpie sketches there of. It was used as a back drop for building modern houses out of wood and foam blocks. The cars were Automoblox of course.

More later.

Julius Shulman 1910-2009

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="402" caption="Case Study House 22 by Julius Shulman from www.juliusshulmanfilm.com"][/caption]

Through Atomic Indy, a blog out of Indianapolis, we received word that famed photographer and modernist icon Julius Shulman has passed at the age of 98.

Shulman got started with Richard Neutra in 1936 as a photographer and ended up as the preeminent photographer for the entire modernist movement.  He had a sense of composition, drama and style that few have. His photo of the Case Study House #22 has been called the greatest architectural photograph of the 20th century.

From the LA Times:
http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-julius-shulman17-2009jul17,0,1393680.story

From AP:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hZbcDn_-Sbjp8OZFsvyI6gJsgYcAD99FRQKO0

From the arts section of the LA Times:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2009/07/julius-shulman-and-me.html

An article about Case Study House 22.
http://www.latimes.com/features/home/la-hm-stahl27-2009jun27,0,504751.story

Thanks Bill

Today William Earls, author of the book The Harvard Five in New Canaan and a guy who knows about modern preservation, took time out of his busy day to spend an hour with the kids at The Daycare Center of New Canaan where I spend my days during the summer.

Bill took questions from over 40 k-6th grade kids ranging from how many buildings does he average a year as an architect to how old he was when he started writing the book (no, I am not telling). He told the kids of meeting with Victor Christ-Janer and Philip Johnson (not together). He talked about form vs function and why moderns follow a similar theme.

He showed his college portfolio which contained photos and drawings of projects done with blocks he made himself while at school. He talked about having to build things with rocks and sticks while at school.

Bill also shared a look at what the Gores Pavilion aka the Irwin Pool House will look when it is fully restored.

Then he got out of his chair got on all fours and had a discussion with three young architects about the building they had created out of blocks. That was awesome.

The kids introduced him to foam building blocks and we talked about how we used them to build buildings to reach the ceiling.

It meant a lot to all of them.

So a big thanks to an amazing guy, William "Bill" Earls. You can get his book The Harvard Five in New Canaan at most local bookstores and at amazon.com .

Gropius in Chicago Update

For those of you who think that tearing down the only example of leading Bauhauser Walter Gropius' urban planning chops available in Illinois is maybe a stupid thing to do there is new urgency.

According to the folks at the Gropius in Chicago Coalition bids have been received for the demolition of the Michael Reese Hospital Campus in Chicago. This comes even before the city knows whether or not it's bid to host the 2016 summer Olympics.

So for those of you in and around the windy city, here's the deal:

2016’s meetings are possibly one of our final chances to present our case. The Gropius-affiliated buildings and landscapes at Michael Reese Hospital must be preserved as a critical part of Chicago and United States cultural history, but Chicago is moving forward with demolition action.

The Gropius in Chicago Coalition firmly believes that these important works of art can be a successful and beneficial part of the Olympic Village, or future residential redevelopment as currently proposed.

Gropius in Chicago Coalition.

For those of you not in and around Chicago, please let them know that you do not approve of the demolition and that adaptive reuse is the only answer.

http://www.savemrh.com

Murphy's Awe

The first thing you notice about Alan Gelbin’s 1964 Murphy House is not the house but the grounds around it. The driveway winds through a grove of mature trees from which scrub brush has been cleared. Gravel pathways are visible as they too make their way through the woods. The home is revealed slowly. First the end of Gelbin’s 1974 studio addition with its wall of mitered glass that extends up onto the roof. Then the sun room addition, a remodel actually of the existing carport also done in ’74, which has been now reworked as a master suite. Finally you are facing the house, which contrary to current practice, seems to almost be an extension of the ground plane, like it grew there in harmony with its surroundings. It didn’t, of course, but was designed and constructed for Peggy Murphy in 1964-65. It’s design by Frank Lloyd Wright student and master-of-works, Alan Gelbin.

Again, even when facing the house, you are struck by the landscaping. There is a peaceful, zen-like feeling even standing in the driveway. All around there are slip-form stone walls, mirroring those in the house, that form planters, stairways, the grill enclosure and retaining walls. Low plantings, small trees and pools of smooth black pebbles complete the look. It is obvious, even before setting foot in the house or on the surrounding decks that Murphy is indeed in very good hands.

Landscaping helps the house join to its surroundings instead of highlighting its existence.

Another small path leads from the driveway, past the flat-roofed woodshed built in 1964 as well, to the reworked patio area. Here the walls and patios look like they have always been there, a testament to landscape architect Wesley Stout’s skill. Paths snake off around trees and small rises. The feeling is of a European park like those I saw in Brussels. The exterior hardscape all seems to have grown from the house itself like the roots of a mature tree.

The new patio part of landscping done by Landscape Architect Wesley Stout

As you stand, facing the house’s northern point, and it is all about points and angles, the architecture begins to reveal itself. Strong roof lines meet at a very sharply pointed overhang supported by two sets of three columns. Beneath the overhang, where the current owners have replaced the original gypsum board soffits with well ventilated cement board, are the windows of one of the three bedrooms in this wing. Walking around to the left and on to the deck you immediately see the next point of this three pointed pinwheel, the deck extension which also ends in a very sharp point and juts out over the pond. On the right you see the mitered glass corner of another bedroom window. Dark wood is everywhere and it fits the house to its environs.

Columns suport the northern tip of the roof.

The mitered window corner of one of the bedrooms

The deck which forms the eastern point of the house.

Continuing around the deck you glimpse different views of pond and woods. Overhead, what look to be copper scuppers protrude from the roofline to propel water away from the house. The upstairs bedroom addition, part of the ’74 work Gelbin did for the homeowner, is visible too as is the entire side of the house past the newer master bedroom suite and studio.

I even like saying the word "scuppers". These appear to be copper.

The "back" of the house

Walking completely around the house you arrive at the front door which has been changed from the original design (which can be found on page 149 of Bill Earls book “The Harvard Five in New Canaan”). Originally there was an overhang and one was met with a wall. One then turned to the left to find the front door. One then walked down a narrow dark hallway before turning the corner where the larger public spaces are revealed, typical of Wright’s influence.

One of the light fixtures, a scupper and the new cement board soffit.

Now, after the ’74 remodel by Gelbin and a subsequent remodel by the current owners, when you face the house you see a glass-walled entry foyer and door that faces the driveway. After walking though the new door you then walk through what was originally the master suite, now a seating area in an expanded living room with built-ins that mirror the double-support shelves in the bedrooms. The effect is arguably the same. The ceiling in the old master suite remains low and the flow makes a slight jog to the left before the massive fireplace wall and sunken seating area is revealed. The fireplace is a massive slip-form box that rises up through the roof. The living room fireplace is, as stated before, massive. It is essentially a box that appears unsupported on one corner. It is not a typical flat fronted affair but angular and functions well as the anchor in the center of the original house.

The chimney.

Behind the fireplace is the huge eat-in kitchen with under cabinet task lighting (original) and indirect lighting on top of the wood cabinets. Adjustments have been made for a new refrigerator but those adjustments can not be singled out as new since the homeowners have, again shown an incredible level of care in preserving the homes look. Noticeable in the kitchen immediately are the kick plates on the doors done by the architect for the original owners to protect the doors from the owner’s dogs. The plates are abstracts of the original house plan.

The eat-in part of the kitchen is probably its most stunning feature. The table, banquette, chandelier and chairs were all designed by Gelbin and look like they could have come from one of Wright’s Oak Park houses. Off the kitchen is the utility room, behind it are the dining room and then the three original bedrooms.

The bedrooms are cool, very cool in a steamship compact berth kind of way. This is typical of Wright’s movement where bedrooms where for sleeping, living was done in the larger public spaces. There are built-in beds, desks, cabinets, bookshelves. They are compact but very cool. They are made even cooler by linens from French Bull which are covered with retro and very colorful patterns.

Passing back through the living space to the new foyer we step into the ’74 addition. Originally a carport then a sun room with a fireplace (1974) the first area has been remodeled into a wonderful master suite with a fireplace. The view from the floor to ceiling windows is the pond and woods and I can’t imagine a more tranquil view to wake up to every morning. Past the master suite is the studio with its built-ins and window wall. There is abundant light and space.

Back past the master suite is the staircase which was originally (’74) free-floating, suspended from the ceiling by cables or rods. It still is but one side is now covered by the master suite wall for its dressing area. Upstairs is a guest room and bath with views of the pond and woods as well as access to the roof.

There is a sense of peace and tranquility that one feels when in and around this house. The approach to living is different than that of some of Noyes and Black-Lee’s works with their open floor plans and yet there is a common thread, separation of public and private space. It works well here and from what I have seen you can cross Murphy House off any endangered house list you may have for it is indeed in attentive and loving hands.

More Pictures.

The mitered windows of the studio

The studio end of the house. The master bedroom windows are at right.

One of the original slip-form stone structures.