September 29, 2008/Southwest, Tiber Island /by Mid-Century Mike

D.C. Preservation League to Hold Trio of Modern Events

The D.C. Preservation League is holding a trio of modern-related events in the coming months. The League’s DC Modern Fall 2008 programming kicks off this Saturday (Oct. 4) with a walking tour, “Southwest DC: Renewal at Risk,” which will focus on the area’s urban renewal projects from the 1950s and ’60s and is being cosponsored by the preservation organization DOCOMOMO. A reception before the tour will held at the Thomas Law House and is sponsored by the Keyes, Lethbridge and Condon-designed Tiber Island Cooperative Homes, one of the developments built as part of the urban renewal. Tickets are $20 for non-members, $10 for members.

The second event ($20 for non-members; $10 for members) will focus on the designation and future preservation of modern buildings and sites within Washington. The panel discussion, “Evaluating the Significance of Modern Structures,” will be held on Nov. 20 in one of my favorite MCM buildings in D.C., the 1965 Pan American Health Organization building (see below) by Uruguayan architect Roman Fresnedo Siri. The building is located at 525 23rd St., NW. I’ll have a more on this building in an upcoming post.

The third event, originally scheduled for Oct. 15 at the Mies van der Rohe-designed MLK Library has been postponed until February 2009. The event will focus on a recent study cataloguing mid-century modern buildings in Washington and the importance of modernism to the development of the city.

Make sure to click here for all the details and registration form.

September 26, 2008/Charles Goodman, Southwest /by Mid-Century Mike

Southwest Parade of Homes; 9/28

If you are thinking about buying a home in the MCM enclave of Southwest D.C., head to the Southwest Parade of Homes this Sunday. More than 20 homes will be open from 1 to 4 p.m. You will find listings for properties designed by Charles Goodman (River Park), Chloethiel Woodard Smith (Capitol Park, Harbour Square, Potomac Place) and Keyes, Lethbridge and Condon (Tiber Island, Carrollsburg condos).

September 20, 2008/Charles Goodman, River Park Washington DC /by Mid-Century Mike

The World of Windows

Alexa Yablonski has an interesting piece in the Post‘s Fall Home & Design Issue about how windows were incorporated into various architectural styles over the years, culminating with the liberal use of glass in modern architecture as the price of the material declined. “[I]t wasn’t until the 20th century that the ribbon window (a series of horizontal windows separated only by mullions) and the glass curtain wall (essentially, one large window that envelopes an entire house or skyscraper) became possible — and went on to become hallmarks of modern architecture,” Yablonski writes.

Yablonski highlights Charles Goodman’s aluminum-and-glass barrel-vault townhomes in River Park as an example of how glass was used in local mid-century architecture. Although she quotes one resident as saying the unique vault design has some drawbacks. “It’s hot as hell. And bright. You have to get up early — there’s no choice,” says Max Robitaille. Although shades fall on the wrong side of the modernist manifesto, how about installing blackout shades to fit the space if you want to sleep in later? What do River Park residents have to say about that?

September 19, 2008/Hollin Hills Virginia, Holmes Run Acres Virginia /by Mid-Century Mike

Hollin Hills, Holmes Run Acres Via Flickr

Here are two nice Flikr groups showcasing Hollin Hills and Holmes Run Acres to join–or just to view.

September 18, 2008/Mid-Century Modern /by Mid-Century Mike

Share Modern Capital

I added the ShareThis plugin to help spread the word about Modern Capital. Here are some stats (from August) to give you a sense of the community that reads the blog:

6,600 total visits
Close to 3,000 unique readers
More than 15,000 pageviews

Top five states by number of visits:

Virginia
D.C.
Maryland
California
New York

Top five countries by number of visits (excluding the U.S.):

Canada
U.K.
Australia
Belgium
Pakistan

Thanks for reading and for all of your continued support.

Michael

September 16, 2008/Mid-Century Modern /by Mid-Century Mike

Exhibit: Oscar Niemeyer at 100

Niemeyer’s Brasilia

The Art Museum of the America’s is marking legendary modernist Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer’s 1ooth birthday with a retrospective of his career, which is still going strong.

The exhibit features original plans and sketches, video and photography footage and scale models of his major projects, including the U.N., which he designed with Le Corbusier, and the new capital city of Brasilia (pictured above), which was conceived and built in four years. It was completed and inaugurated in 1960.

Here’s a nice New York Times slideshow of some of Niemeyer’s major works.

The exhibit runs until Oct. 26.

September 14, 2008/Bauhaus /by Mid-Century Mike

Visiting Bauhaus in Boston

The Long Weekend column in the Post gives the inside scoop on visiting Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius’ 1938 house in Lincoln, Mass., near Boston. The home, designated a National Historic Landmark in 2002, is owned and maintained by Historic New England.

September 13, 2008/Preservation /by Mid-Century Mike

Roger Lewis on the Third Church of Christ Debate

Washington Post columnist Roger K. Lewis, a practicing architect and a professor emeritus of architecture at the University of Maryland, writes about the continuing battle over the church that is detested by its owners and being protected by preservationists. “In real estate, few laws provoke as much controversy and litigation as those concerned with historic preservation of architectural landmarks,” he says.

September 11, 2008/Mid-Century Modern /by Mid-Century Mike

Arlington Lustron Sprouts in NYC

The Krowne Lustron

One of the 11 pre-fab, porcelain steel enameled Lustrons built in Arlington County after World War II that had been disassembled has been rebuilt in the middle of New York City. Inside the the Museum of Modern Art. The Lustron, which was donated to Arlington County in April 2006 by Dr. Clifford M. Krowne, is part of the MoMa’s “Home Delivery: Fabricating the Modern Dwelling,” which runs through October 20. The Arlington Heritage Alliance Educational Tours is sponsoring a day trip on Oct. 18 to view the Krowne Lustron and see the rest of the pre-fab exhibit. See details here about the “Steel” Away to NYC trip.

Also, check out this great resource published by the county, which includes information about the Krowne Lustron, other Lustrons in the area and how to take apart and put together a Lustron if you ever find yourself faced with such a task. The guide was written by Cynthia Liccese-Torres, a historic preservation planner with the county, and Kim A. O’Connell, a member of the Board of Directors of the Arlington Heritage Alliance. O’Connell, who specializes in writing about historic preservation and conservation, also wrote this piece last year in Preservation magazine.

September 6, 2008/Charles Goodman, Reston Virginia, Virginia /by Mid-Century Mike

MCM Townhomes in Reston by Goodman, Sauer

Townhomes by Charles Goodman in Hickory Cluster in Reston, Virginia

I came across an interesting article (scroll down a bit after you hit the link) from 1966 on the new phenomenon of suburban townhomes by then-Washington Post architecture critic Wolf Von Eckardt. In his article, Von Eckardt writes how developers repackaged the old row house concept of the cities into the modern townhomes of the suburbs. He hailed this move not only for the modern architecture, which he thought was more compelling than most suburban homes, but for their “green” attributes (he did not describe these as green, but that is essentially what he was saying 40 years before it was hip): townhouses minimize suburban sprawl by using less land, they take less resources to build, etc.

“When the row house became a town house, a number of creative, modern architects came to the rescue,” Von Eckhardt wrote. “They have contributed little to our suburban housing, partly because it doesn’t pay them and partly because the builders feel they can along without them. But for the town house the builders have sought professional help.” Von Eckardt highlighted the work of prominent architects in the new modern suburban town of Reston, including Charles Goodman, Chloethiel Woodard Smith and Louis Sauer, who was schooled at the Institute of Design at Illinois Institute of Technology founded by Bauhaus master Lazlo Moholy-Nagy.

Below are a few homes for sale, one by Goodman and two by Sauer.

1965 2/1.5 Hickory Cluster Townhome by Charles Goodman – $239,999

1968 4/3 Golf Course Island Townhome by Louis Sauer – $499,500

1968 4/3.5 Golf Course Island Townhome by Louis Sauer – $374, 900

Month: September 2008