Preservation

Endangered: Silver Spring Library by Rhees Burket

The mid-century modern Silver Spring Library by noted local architect Rhees Evans Burket, AIA, is facing an uncertain future. The county has put out a request for proposals from developers to turn the site into senior housing and child day care facilities through either incorporating the existing building or knocking it down and starting from scratch. Local activists, including the Silver Spring Historical Society (SSHS), are urging any development plan to integrate the existing structure into the future design. Proposals are due Feb. 28.

A vintage rendering of the low-slung library. Courtesy of the Silver Spring Historical Society.

“Inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright’s ‘organic modernism,’ ‘in harmony with nature,’ his 1957 S.S. Library of stone and glass and brick, integrated into the hilly landscape, was the largest County library at the time., ” the SSHS said in a statement. “This public building is Burket’s legacy to Silver Spring and Montgomery County.”

An original clock inside.
Burket (1899-1963), a Silver Spring resident, was a noted architect in the D.C. area for his homes, commercial and public buildings, including schools. His Stratford School in Arlington, Va., is on the National Register of Historic Properties.

Prince George’s Modern

As part of growing local efforts to document and preserve local mid-century modern architecture, the Prince George’s County Planning Department has launched its Prince George’s Modern project to help raise awareness of the mid-century treasures in the county. One of the signature buildings in the county is the Hyattsville Public Library. Designed in 1964 by Walton and Madden, it features a concrete and Plexiglass flyer saucer-like structure near the entrance. While a new library will be built next year, the plans include using the saucer in a new garden space.
“The buildings and cultural landscapes of the Modern Movement, especially those from the mid-twentieth century (Mid-century Modern) are among the most under-appreciated and vulnerable aspects of Prince George’s County’s heritage,” the program says. “Since the 1980s, an increasing campaign of demolition and alteration has eroded the physical fabric of the County’s recent past with little consideration of its community importance, design significance, or role in a sustainable future. Identifying these properties and exploring their architectural and cultural significance is the first step to increasing awareness of their merits and fostering advocacy for their preservation.”
If you have information or images of mid-century modern homes or buildings, please reach out to the county’s Historic Preservation office at HistoricPreservation@ppd.mncppc.org or 301-952-5447.

Lost: Rockville’s ‘Pink Bank’ Building

The “Pink Bank” in Rockville at 255 N. Washington St. will be no more. Work has started to take down the 1964 former Suburban Trust Bank building. Despite the city’s Historic District Commission’s recommendation that the building be spared and that a historic designation process be allowed to begin, the Rockville City Council voted 3-2 to allow the condo developer Kettler to raze the building, which was designed by Washington architect Arthur L. Anderson.

“Anderson’s design is strongly reminiscent of contemporaneous works by Edward Durell Stone, whose designs for Lincoln Center in New York (1962), and the National Geographic Society Headquarters in Washington, D.C. (1963) are recognized as landmarks of New Formalism, a style pioneered by Stone and others who introduced monumental form, ornamentation, and classically-inspired design into the modernist canon” architectural historian Dr. Teresa B. Lachin wrote in a 2006 piece about the building. “In the Suburban Trust building, Arthur Anderson combined the use of urban scale, modern classical form, color, and ornamentation in his interpretation of the New Formalist style.”

Johnie’s Coffee Shop in LA Landmarked

Some good preservation news from Los Angeles. Johnie’s Coffee Shop, designed in 1955 by Armet and Davis, was landmarked by the LA City Council last week. The original drawing for the Googie coffee shop first built as Romeo’s Time Square is part of the Overdrive: L.A. Constructs the Future, 1940–1990 exhibit currently at the National Building Museum. Here are a few shots from a couple of my trips to visit the Googie landmark, which was featured in movies such as “The Big Lebowski” and “Resevoir Dogs.” Hopefully, the vacant building can be turned into a cool coffee shop once again amid redevelopment plans for the area around the corner of Wilshire and Fairfax.

Post Highlights MoCo Modern Preservation Effort

The Washington Post is out with a story today on the efforts of Montgomery County historic preservation planners Montgomery Modern effort to catalog and preserve mid-century modern buildings (such as the school in Takoma Park pictured above) and communities. “The challenge is always preserving the recent past,” says Clare Lise Kelly, research and designation coordinator in the county’s Historic Preservation Section. “It’s easy to look at things from 100 years ago and see them as historic. .?.?. If we don’t act now to assess resources from this time period, they’ll be gone, and then it’s too late to say, ‘That apartment complex was really special.’?” Check out the slideshow here to see some of the iconic mid-century modern resources in the county. There are even a few shots inside our mid-century split in Bethesda.

Help Preserve Mid-Century Glenmont

Planners are working on a new sector plan for Glenmont that looks at past recommendations and reflects the community’s vision for a transit-oriented, revitalized community. The Planning Board will hold a public hearing on the draft plan this Thursday (Feb. 14.) here in Silver Spring.
Glenmont Forest (the former Americana Glenmont) was built by Carl M. Freeman, who helped introduce modern residential architecture in DC. Photos courtesy of Clare Lise Kelly.
As part of this review, two important mid-century modern resources will be subject to the hearing this week. One is Carl M. Freeman’s 1961 Americana Glenmont modernist garden apartment complex (now called Glenmont Forest). Freeman was a leading innovator in modern housing, bringing “California contemporary”-style to Washington.
The Georgia Avenue Baptist Church was designed in the 1950s by Theodore R. Bennett. An early 1960s education wing was designed by Vosbeck-Ward Associates.
The other is the 1956 Georgia Avenue Baptist Church, which uses TECFAB panels that were developed by Charles Goodman, and manufactured in a Goodman-designed plant in Beltsville. The church was designed by Theodore R. Bennett. An early 1960s education wing was designed by Vosbeck-Ward Associates.
Here is an excellent resource for more information on Americana Glenmont and the church.
Clare Lise Kelly, research and designation coordinator for the Montgomery County Planning Department’s Historic Preservation Section (HPC), says the HPC’s staff believe the apartment complex and church are highly significant resources, merit historic designations and should be protected amid the proposed development of the area. She adds that the Read More >

Preserving DC’s MCM Architecture

Interested in what is happening in efforts to preserve Washignton’s mid-century modern architecture? If you are, pick up tickets for an Oct. 4 event at the National Building Museum (NBM) that will explore the issue. Six years ago, the D.C. Preservation League, working with Robinson & Associates, a research and consulting firm specializing in architectural history and preservation, took a comprehensive look at Washington’s mid-20th-century architecture, such as the Pan American Health Organization building by Uruguayan architect Roman Fresnedo Siri (above). D.C.’s Historic Preservation office published a 20-page brochure based on the larger study “DC Modern: A Context for Modernism in the District of Columbia. The publication examines the rise of modernism in a more classic architectural town, the urban development of Southwest and the reaction against modernism in the city.
The NBM panel of architects, developers, and preservationists will look back at Washington’s history of mid-century design and discuss the progress made on preserving this building stock, while upgrading it for current use. Panelists include Graham Davidson, FAIA, Hartman-Cox Architects, former Washington Post architecture critic Benjamin Forgey (moderator) and David Maloney, State Histroic Preservation Officer, D.C. Office of Planning.

Mid-Century Manhattan: Manufacturers Trust Interior Gutted

The interior of the landmarked Manufacturers Honover Trust building has been gutted.
So much for preserving the1954 Manufacturers Hanover Trust Building on 5th Avenue by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. Curbed New York reported this week on the gutting of the interior of the landmark modernist building by Gordon Bunshaft. Despite the fact that the the interior of the building was landmarked, Joe Fresh, the Canadian shmata retailer, was given permission to “renovate” the interior. I snapped the above picture a couple of weeks ago and wondered why the interior was ripped apart. I thought it was protected. Sadly not.

Preserving Iconic Mid-Century Modern Homes

As part of the 75th anniversary celebrations this year for Fallingwater, the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy is holding a symposium on April 5 at the Carnegie Museum of Art Theater about preserving iconic modern homes throughout the country. Private Domains/Public Displays: The Modern House Interpreted will bring together an “international gathering of directors and curators … in Pittsburgh to discuss strategies for preserving and interpreting nine of the world’s iconic modern house museums.” The homes to be discussed include Phillip Johnson’s Glass House (pictured above), Eero Saarinen’s Miller House (which is opening to the public for the first time soon) and Mies’ Farnsworth House. You can register here if you want to learn more about efforts to preserve this icons of modernism.
Miller House, Columbus, Indiana, circa 1957. Photographer Ezra Stoller. © Ezra Stoller / ESTO.

Saving the 1970 Brown Planetarium

Named as one of Arlington County’s most endangered historic places for 2010, the 1970 David M. Brown Planetarium in Arlington is facing closure amid much needed capital improvements that the county’s school district said it cannot fund. The mid-century facility is the sole freestanding school planetarium open to the public in the D.C. area. While a $100,000 gift to a local group working to keep the facility open has achieved the goal for now, $160,000 is still needed. You can help support the group’s efforts here.

DCPL Preservation Conference to Explore Mid-Century Modern Issues

A detail of the 1972 AIA headquarters designed by TAC. Photo by Greg Braun.
Two panels during the D.C. Preservation League’s upcoming 2010 Citywide Historic Preservation Conference will focus on preserving mid-century modern buildings in the city. The concurrent sessions on Friday, Sept. 24, are entitled “Preservation and Public Opinion” and “Rehabilitating Modern Buildings.” The first session will look at the sagas of two D.C. landmarks: the 1971 Third Church of Christ, Scientist, and the 1950 Waffle Shop. Panelists include the Washington Post’s Philip Kennicott, Paul Milstein of Douglas Development Corporation and the DCPL’s Rebecca Miller and Peter Sefton. The second session will examine various techniques being used “to keep mid-20th-century structures in use.” Examples to be discussed include the Waffle Shop, which is being relocated and reconstructed, the green renovation of the 1972 AIA headquarters by The Architects Collaborative, the rebuilding of the 1969 Constitution Center (former Department of Transportation building by Edward Durrell Stone) and the addition to Harry Weese’s 1961 Arena Stage in Southwest. Speakers include James Brown of Bing Thorn Architects, Marnique Heath of Studios Architecture, Kevin Milstead of Shalom Baranes Associates and David Varner of SmithGroup.

Last Chance to Submit for DCPL’s 2010 Most Endangered Places List

Tomorrow is the last day to get in your nominations for the D.C. Preservation League’s 2010 list of Most Endangered Places. Any MCM buildings you think should be nominated? Selections will be announced in May. Click here for more info.

Saarinen’s U.S. Embassy in London Protected

Eero Saarinen’s 1960 U.S. embassy in London
A year ago I posted here and here about the potential demise of Eero Saarinen’s brutalist U.S. embassy in London. While the U.S. still plans to move its embassy to a new location, Saarinen’s 1960 building cannot be destroyed. In giving the building “Grade II” status Britain Minister of Culture and Tourism Margaret Hodge said the building is a “really important piece of modernist architecture that fits comfortably in its surroundings and illustrates a great architect at the top of his game.” While any future development cannot change the exterior of the building, the interior can be modified, according to this report in the The Architects’ Journal in Britain.

Charles Goodman Included in New Canaan’s Modern Home Study

Charles Goodman
Launched nearly two years ago, the “Modern Homes Survey: New Canaan Connecticut” is now available online. The survey catalogues 91 homes built between 1939 and 1979 and has bios on 31 architects who helped turn New Canaan into one of the meccas of modernism in the country.

D.C.’s very own Charles Goodman is included for his design of the Alcoa Care-Free Home, one of which was built in New Canaan. Unfortunately, the 1958 home looks like it has been altered beyond recognition.

Summer Reading: Larry Van Dyne’s ‘Tear It Down! Save It!’

If you are looking for something to read on the beach this summer, take a look at this fascinating 10,000-word Washingtonian article by Larry Van Dyne on the history of Washington preservation efforts, including the growing debate over what to do with modern structures built during the past 50 years.

“The conflict over the [Third Church of Christ] has brought to the fore a broader issue that will be played out in Washington over the next decade: Of the thousands of modernist buildings built from the 1940s through the 1970s, which ones have the architectural distinction or other significance to merit protection?” Van Dyne asks. “Are some of these structures, often not that attractive or lovable, worth saving as a reminder of their time? Are works by I.M. Pei, Edward Durell Stone, or Chloethiel Woodard Smith as important as the work of John Russell Pope or Adolf Cluss? Is Brutalism worthy of the same respect as Beaux Arts? …
“The dilemma will arise on the buildings between the iconic and the crappy, buildings that may be judged important by architects or historians but ordinary or ugly by nonexperts. Most of these structures are approaching middle age—50 years is the customary point when they are first up for historic designation—and they house some well-known government agencies and private institutions.”

Event: Wright Conservancy Guggenheim and NY House Tour; June 20

Max Hoffman House (1955). Photo by Steve Maxwell.
Calling all Frank Lloyd Wright fans. Join the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy‘s for Out and About Wright: New York on June 20. Start the day with a lecture at the newly restored Guggenheim Museum and then tour privately owned and rarely open Wright-designed homes in the picturesque Wright-planned community of Usonia in Pleasantville.

Wright carefully sited each house, approved all the plans and personally designed three of the residences within this community. Many of the other homes were designed by architects such as Paul Schweikher, Theodore Dixon Bower, Ulrich Franzen, Keneji Domoto, Aaron Resnick (here’s one for sale by Resnick) and David Henken.

Participants will be able to tour such homes as the Reisley Residence (1951) and the Serlin Residence (1949), while ending the day with a tour and dinner at the Hoffman Residence (1955) in Rye. See the full brochure here.

Third Church Makes DCPL’s Most Endangered List

The D.C. Preservation League unveiled its 2009 Most Endangered Places list yesterday. The one modern building on the list was no surprise: the Third Church of Christ, Scientist at 900 16th St. NW. The Brutalist-style church, built in 1971, made the list last year as well. The city recently said the church, which was designated a D.C. landmark, could be demolished. A developer plans to do just that and build an office building. DCPL plans to appeal the decision and is having an event June 20 to discuss how to adapt the landmark building for use today.

Roger Lewis: ‘The Triumph and Decline of a Truly Brutal Style’

Post columnist Roger K. Lewis, a practicing architect and a professor emeritus of architecture at the University of Maryland, gives some of the history of brutalist architecture and tells preservationists not to worry too much over the Third Church of Christ decision.

“[P]reservationists should not panic,” he writes in today’s column. “This was a special case involving tough issues: private property rights, freedom of worship, economic hardship, a structure difficult to adapt to new uses, and, conversely, the government’s right and duty to advocate for and enforce historic preservation.
Thus the church’s fate is not a harbinger of things to come. The need to act sustainably and create greener architecture will ensure survival of most unloved concrete buildings, preserving the energy and resources already invested in them. And with a creative facade makeover, even the brutal can be made beautiful.”

Upcoming DCPL Events: Most Endangered List, Symposium on Third Church

The D.C. Preservation League is will announce its 2009 list of most Endangered Places on June 2 at 12:30 p.m. See full details here. I wonder if there will be any MCM buildings on the list this year? Last year, the brutalist Third Church of Christ, Scientist correctly made the list. The city has now has given the green light for it to be razed.
While the DCPL is looking at its legal options concerning the decision on the church, which was previously designated a historic landmark by the District, it will hold a symposium, Third Church: A Hard Building to Love, June 2o from 10:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. at the offices of the American Institute of Architects. (The program is free, but registration is required. See full details here.)
The symposium will feature nationally recognized architects Hugh Newell Jacobsen and Arthur Cotton Moore along with other leading experts who will “discuss key strategies for successfully adapting this controversial mid-century modernist landmark for contemporary use and how these strategies can serve as a prototype for similar buildings.”

Post’s Kennicott Analyzes Trust’s Most Endangered List, Third Church Debate

The Post‘s architecture critic Philip Kennicott takes a look at the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s List of Most Endangered Historic Places, saying the list does not always pick “easy” choices and comments on the Third Church of Christ debate. (According to this AP story, “Rebecca Miller, executive director of the D.C. Preservation League, said there are unexplored alternatives that would maintain the historic building. The group will likely appeal the decision, she said.”)
On the Trust’s list and the larger issue of preservation, Kennicott writes:

“[T]he National Trust’s annual list — which reflects increasing concern about the preservation of mid-century modernism — has never been exclusively devoted to the easy issues in preservation. When they hold their yearly adopt-a-puppy day, they don’t slight the mutts, the mangy and the ill-tempered. The list is always way out ahead of public opinion, which is where the Trust should be. And it often serves more as a guide to the philosophical problems of preservation than a simple gazetteer of historic or beloved buildings.
“This year, there’s nothing local on the list. But that doesn’t mean the list doesn’t have clear local import. Frank Lloyd Wright’s Unity Temple in Oak Park, Ill., is a far greater and more essential building than Araldo Cossutta’s 1971 Third Church of Christ, Scientist, on 16th Street near the White House. And the Unitarian Universalist congregants of the Wright’s 1909 temple are desperate to save their house of worship, while the Christian Scientists who worship in Cossutta’s concrete box have successfully Read More >

D.C. Gives Green Light to Demolition of Brutalist Third Church of Christ

“The Christian Science Church got the OK to raze its 1970s-era concrete chapel and can now proceed with development plans, apparently ending one of the city’s fiercest battles over historic preservation,” the Washington Business Journal reports. Read the full article here. Is this really the end of this long-simmering battle? Post columnist Mark Fisher hopes so. He rails against the “small band of preservation extremists” and “arrogant elite” who supported saving the structure. His views have already spurned many comments on both sides of the issue as you could imagine. What do you think?

DCPL’s 2009 Most Endganered Places Nominations Close Feb. 6

Do you know of any mid-century modern buildings in D.C. that are endangered? If you do, click here to nominate your choice to be included in the D.C. Preservation League’s 2009 list of Most Endangered Places. Nominations close Feb. 6.

Event: DCPL to Host Evaluating Modern Discussion PAHO Building

The D.C. Preservation League will host a panel discussion Nov. 20 on the designation and future preservation of modern buildings and sites in Washington. The discussion, the the second event of the DCPL’s D.C. Modern fall program, will be held 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Pan American Health Organization building located here. Panelists will include: Christine Madrid French, president of the Recent Past Preservation Network; Theodore Prudon, president of the the U.S. chapter of DOCOMOMO; and Beth L. Savage and Kristi M. Tunstall, preservation experts with the General Services Administration. Click here for registration information.

In addition to the interesting program, the event will present a rare opportunity to go inside one of D.C.’s best examples of mid-century modern architecture. Completed in 1965 and designed by Uruguayan architect Roman Fresnedo Siri, the building is composed of two structures–the cylindrical unit housing the 300-seat council chamber and the 10-story crescent-shaped secretariat building, which is raised up on pilotis (pictured above). The walls of the council chamber are covered in a zig-zag concrete pattern of brise-soleil (pictured below), the sun blocking technique popularized by Le Corbusier, who was a major influence on Siri. Read the PAHO newsletter article announcing the news of the completed building.

I really like this shot I took. The shape of the cloud mirrors the circular shape of the council chamber building.

WashPost: Preservationists Want Fenty Adviser Off Case

“The D.C. Preservation League is demanding that a senior adviser to Fenty (D) disqualify herself from ruling on the Third Church of Christ, Scientist’s appeal to raze its building at 16th and I streets NW,” the Post reported yesterday. “The preservationists contend that Harriet Tregoning, the District planning director who began presiding over the case yesterday, cannot rule impartially because her boss, Deputy Mayor Neil Albert, has already backed demolition.”
Click here for more documents and background on the case from the DCPL and here for earlier posts I did on the debate.

More on Saarinen’s American Embassy in London

The architecture critic of the Sunday Times (London) argues that the Eero Saarinen-designed U.S. Embassy in London should not be lost as the State Department seeks a new home elsewhere in the city. “Like it or loathe it, this building has enormous character, the expression of a subtle architectural intelligence,” Huge Pearman writes in the Wall Street Journal. “I know this: If we lose it, we will come to regret it.”
In an accompanying article, Joel Henning describes how the University of Chicago Law School revitalized its buildings completed by Saarinen in 1960 rather than tear them down and start from scratch. Check out the all the Saarinen and Eames furniture the lawyers-to-be get to enjoy as they hit the books in Saarinen’s renovated library tower, which was done by the architecture and design firm OWP/P. Here’s another story from the Chicago Tribune.

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.

National Trust Book on Preserving Modern Buildings

For those interested in issues concerning the preservation of modern buildings and communities, the National Trust for Historic Preservation has published Preserving Resources from the Recent Past by Jeanne Lambin. The book “looks at the historic context of the postwar building boom, the special challenges of preserving this legacy, and some case studies of community successes.” You can pick up a copy here.

More on Saving Mies’ MLK Library, I.M. Pei’s Church of Christ

Washington Post columnist Roger K. Lewis, a practicing architect and a professor emeritus of architecture at the University of Maryland, writes about what should be done about modern buildings that may not have aged so well. He discusses the recent debates abut two D.C. buildings: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s 1972 four-story MLK Library (pictured above) and I.M. Pei’s 1971 Third Church of Christ, Scientist. Lewis says the buildings should be saved and be used as a base for changes that would make both structures more usable according to today’s needs.

Post on D.C. Preservation Efforts

Today’s Washington Post Sunday Source section ran a piece on historic preservation efforts in D.C. The story’s sidebar highlights success stories of some buildings saved from the wrecking ball, including the Ludwig Mies Van de Rohe-designed Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library. The building, which was Van de Rohe’s last and only building in D.C., was named a historic landmark in June.
Here’s an earlier Post article of about the debate over the building.

Whither Bradley Park?

I was looking at this 1963 home in Bradley Park the other day when I came across this lot. For the most part, the original California contemporary homes by Ken Freeman remain. Some have been modified while others have met the wrecking ball to make way for homes that, to say the least, do not fit in with the rest of the community. Unfortunately, the home I linked to above, (which has dropped $100K by the way), sits on a cul-de-sac right near a brick McMansion monstrosity. Without community covenants restricting what types of homes can be built, I fear more of Freeman’s MCM homes will disappear.