Thenewsstar.com reports that the Walter Burley Griffin-designed Cooley House in Monroe, Louisiana has been awarded a $5,000 grant that will assist in its ongoing preservation by the Louisiana Cultural Economy Foundation. Read more here.
Image via thenewsstar.com
Here's a link to a news piece from abc15.com about Frank Lloyd Wright apprentice, Cornelia Brierly, and her life as a witness to Arizona's history while living at Taliesin West. Read and see more here.
Image via abc15.com
PrairieMod reader, John D., sends a link to an article in the New York Times about the dramatic industrial-inspired home in Pittsburgh, PA with a dramatic cantilever. Read more about it here.
Image via the New York Times website
One of Chicago's enduring monikers is "The Second City," even though we're technically behind both New York and Los Angeles for size. However, according to a recent ranking of the world's best skylines by Diserio.com, Chicago is still "two-iffic" (coming in a slim second only to Hong Kong. New York and Los Angeles? #3 and #34 respectively. See the rankings and the methods used to calculate them here.
Image via diserio.com
The LA Times reports that Newport Beach officials have ordered a real estate investor to stop gutting the interior the Richard Neutra-designed Mariners Medical Arts building (1963) which had been saved from demolition in 2009. Sadly, it seems the whole upstairs of the building was gutted before a preservationist blew the whistle on the non-permitted work. Read more about it here.
Image via latimes.com
The Guardian reports that the Le Corbusier-designed La Cité Radieuse housing estate (1947-1951) in Marseille, one of France's most important modern architectural landmarks, was damaged by fire on February 10, 2012. Read more about it here.
Image via guardian.co.uk
Here's a link to an article about restoration craftsman, Bill Schermerhorn Jr., and his work restoring historic architecture in Ottawa and Chicago (specifically, the Louis Sullivan-designed Carson Pirie Scott & Co. building). Read more here.
Image via mywebtimes.com
Blair Kamin's recent article in the Chicago Tribune discusses the unlikely pairing of architect Jeanne Gang's creative vision and the reputation-sullied Chicago suburb of Cicero. Ms. Gang's idea on display at a new exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in New York re-imagines Cicero as a "Vertical Neighborhood" meets the "Born-Again Factory." Intrigued? Read more here and see a graphic about Gang's idea here.
Image via the Chicago Tribune
The Kansas City Star is showcasing an "A to Z" of area architecture. "B" includes a look at the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Bott House (1956). See photos here.
Image via kansascity.com
"Eddie's House", the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed pooch pad once attached to his Berger House (1950-1957) in San Anselmo, California, has been getting a lot of press lately. It's even been reconstructed and showcased recently as part of the promotion for Michael Miner's film "Romanza". Here's a link to another article on this pedigreed dog house.
Image via flavorwire.com
Here's a link to a New York Times interview with Timothy Sakamoto of in-D media, the company behind the sleek Planet Architecture CD-ROMs and apps. Read it here.
Image via NYT website
Here's a link to an article about the efforts of Chuck Lohre and Janet Groeber to save an innovative Modernist kitchen designed in 1960 by Taliesin architect, John deKoven Hill, for the Corbett House in Cincinnati, OH. The house's owners agreed to let the couple remove the kitchen and now the quest is on to find a new home for it. Read more here.
Image via House Beautiful magazine
Blair Kamin's Cityscapes blog takes an in-depth look at the re-design concepts proposed for Chicago's Navy Pier. Two of the five finalists seem to rise above the rest for their creativity and bold moves. Read more here.
Image via Cityscapes
The architectural collector and scholar, Douglas Steiner, has contributed much to the study of Frank Lloyd Wright's work through his amazing website. One recent addition to the site is a in-depth study of one of Wright lesser-known (and now lost) Oak Park, IL commissions: The remodeling of the Pebbles & Balch Store (1907) that once stood on Lake Street. Read and learn more here.
Image via Douglas Steiner
The Wall Street Journal recently featured an article on Jazz legend, Rudy Van Gelder. Little known to many, perhaps, is that the famed Van Gelder Recording Studio in Englewood Cliffs, NJ was designed by Usonian architect, David Henken. Read more about how Van Gelder chose Henken and was inspired to build Usonian here.
Image via acapella.harmony-central.com
Crain's Business Chicago reports that the new downtown flagship Target store inside the former Louis Sullivan-designed Carson Pirie Scott & Co. store on State street is scheduled to open on July 29, 2012. Read more about it here.
Image via Blair Kamin/Cityscapes
Blair Kamin reports that the iconic Wrigley Building on Chicago's Michigan Avenue was finally recommended for landmark status yesterday by the Commission on Chicago Landmarks. Read more about it here and here.
Image via Wikipedia
Blair Kamin has been thoroughly covering Chicago's Navy Pier re-design competition (of which the 5 finalist designs were recently unveiled) on his blog, Cityscapes.
One thing Blair wants to makes sure is squelched is the propensity by some of the competitors to attribute the phrase that Chicago's lakefront should remain "forever open, clear and free" to Daniel Burnham. Burnham did not say that. Read more about it here.
Image via wikipedia
Historian and blogger, Lee Bey, reports that the historic Pullman neighborhood on Chicago's south side could become the city's first national park under legislation to be proposed in Congress by U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. Read more about it here.
Image copyright Lee Bey
Curbed LA reports that architect Frank Gehry has been tapped to design a new performance building for the Jazz Bakery in Culver City. Read more about it here and here.
Image via curbed LA
Blair Kamin reports that the The Art Institute of Chicago is planning to mount an exhibition on the work of architect Jeanne Gang in September 2012. Read more here.
Image via studiogang.net
Following-up on the proposed redevelopment of the 100 block of State Street in Madison, WI, which would demolish several historic buildings. Mark H. sends a link to an update on the story from The Capital Times. Apparently, the city's planning department staff report rebuffs the plan and states it should be reworked to be more sensative to the historic quality of the block. It remains to be seen if this will stop the developers quest to see their redevelopment vision come to fruition. Read more here.
Image via host.madison.com
Nelson B. sends a link to an article in the Sunday Los Angeles Times, which details the building celebrity anger and outrage at the planned demolition of the Bart Prince-designed Morgenthaler house (2005) in Malibu. Why a practically new, 7,000 sqft house is not sufficient enough for a couple with two kids certainly boggles my mind. Looks like another case of people having more dollars than sense. Read the article here.
Image via latimes.com
Mark H. sends a link to a troubling story in the New York Times about the often unconsidered (and terrible) human cost associated with the making of Apple's must-have products, such as iPads, iPhones, etc. Read it here.
Image via the New York Times
Blair Kamin shares a special treat on his Cityscapes blog: Lecture notes from last Saturday's program on Mies van der Rohe's Tugendhat House by Chicago architect Dirk Lohan, in which two of Mies' residential masterpieces (Farnsworth and Tugenhat Houses) are compared and contrasted. Read it here.
Image via Blair Kamin/Cityscapes
Here's a link to a question and answer interview on Frank Lloyd Wright's religious architecture with Joseph Siry, author of the new book on Wright's Beth Sholom Synagogue. Read it here.
Image via wesleyan.edu
Here's a link to an article about Elmhurst college students exploring the hot topic of sand-casting bronze. It's a labor intensive art form that few people still practice. This article is of specific interest to architecture lovers in that one of the students expresses his desire to turn his experience in casting bronze into a way to help Frank Lloyd Wright's Unity Temple replace the bronze epigram letters that were stolen off the building a few years ago and need to be replaced. Now that's a hot idea!
Image via the elmhurst.patch.com
Mark Hertzberg sends a link to an interesting article about the "taste gap" between what the general public likes architecturally and what is liked by architects themselves (the article uses the 2012 AIA 25-year award for the Gehry House in Los Angeles as the example). Why does it matter? Seems the disconnect makes people distrust architects. Read more about it here.
Image via articles.boston.com
Here's a link to an article at columbiaspectator.com that discusses the donation of the architectural archives of Frank Lloyd wright apprentice, Edgar Tafel, to the Avery Library at Columbia University. Read it here.
Image via peterbeers.net
What happens when you turn down an offer of a lifetime to study at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts for four years in Paris, all expenses paid; spend two years of study in Rome; come back to Chicago and be made partner in the city's most successful architectural firm? If you're a young Frank Lloyd Wright, you ultimately become the most celebrated American architect of all time.
Find out the story of when Wright turned down Daniel Burnham's amazing offer here.
Image via Wikipedia
Nelson B. sends a link to troubling news that the Andrew Fuller House, designed by architect A. Quincy Jones and located in Fort Worth, TX, is in imminent danger of being demolished. The house carries no historic designation (despite being architecturally significant) and with the city's recent issuing of a demolition permit, things look bleak. Read more about it here.
Image via star-telegram.com
In other R.M. Schindler news, the February 2012 issue of Dwell magazine has a small feature on the restoration of Rudolph Schindler's Bubeshko Apartments (1938) by DSH Architects. The article provides insights into the process and also some never-before-seen historic images and materials associated with the building. Get your issue at newsstands or through the Dwell website.
Imge via Dwell magazine
The Chandler Museum's extensive collection of photos, writings, and publications dating back to 1912 is being digitized and put up on the web for viewers to enjoy around the world. Read more about it here and check out some the site's Frank Lloyd Wright-related images here.
Image via archive.chandlermuseum.org
Eastern Iowa Life reports that the Louis Sullivan-designed People’s Bank and Trust Building in Cedar Rapids, IA was named to the 2012 Most Endangered Properties list by Preservation Iowa. Severely damaged by flood waters in 2008, the bank is in danger of being lost if a restoration and ongoing preservation plan cannot be implemented. Read more about this perilous situation here.
Image via easterniowalife.com
Here's a link to an article about the new book written by Wright-historian Joseph M. Siry titled Beth Sholom Synagogue: Frank Lloyd Wright and Modern Religious Architecture that details and lavishly illustrates the story of Wright's only executed synagogue design. Read more here.
Image via Amazon.com
Here's a link to a little editorial celebrating the town of Rochelle, IL's special Carnegie library: The Claude and Stark designed Prairie School building that still shines today. Check out more here.
Image via Debbie Ramsey
Here's a link to a story about the newly restored Park Inn Hotel, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1910, from the Chicago Tribune. If you'd like to see this and many of the other architectural treasures in Mason City, plan on attending this year's Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy Annual Conference. Details here.
Image via Chicago Tribune website
Over the weekend, Mark Hertzberg sent word that original Frank Lloyd Wright client, Albert "Ollie" Adelman, passed away last Friday. Mark wrote-up his own remembrance at his blog "Wright in Racine", which you can read here.
A few of the PrairieMod Squad members were lucky enough to visit Mr. Adelman's home in Fox Point, north of Milwaukee, last year as part of Wright in Wisconsin's 2011 Wright & Like event.
He was an amazing man, whose life was enriched by living in a Wright house, and was kind enough to share it with all of us.
Image copyright Mark Hertzberg
Speaking of the Guggenheim Museum, Apple sent out invites today that it will hold a media event at the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed icon in New York City on Jan. 19, 2012 concerning an "education announcement in the Big Apple." More here.
Image via loopinsight.com
Oak Park trustees voted unanimously this week to move forward with the construction of the $91 million tower project at Lake Street and Forest Avenue. The "tower" is much reviled by local historic architecture fans, but the fact it will feature two floors of retail space and 270 apartments hold appeal for those who want to move the Village's business prospects into the 21st century. We'll see how it plays out. Read more here.
Image via oakpark.com
Yesterday afternoon, Nelson Brackin sent some bad news that he saw author Alan Hess mention on his Facebook page about the loss of a significant work of Organic Architecture by Kendrick Bangs Kellogg. More after the jump...
The Guggenheim Foundation is looking to branch out its cultural franchise with a new $178 million museum for Helsinki, Finland. It's proposed that the museum could be built on a city-owned site in Helsinki's south harbor, and that the city move forward with an architectural competition. It'll be interesting to see who participates and what the ultimate winning design will be. Read more here.
Image via reuters.com
Here's an interesting piece in the Capital Times that cites Taliesin's Charles Montooth, who back in 1972 said it would be short-sighted to remove thousands of miles of rail lines that service small communities and business because the railroads saw them as "non-profitable" in the wake of the new interstate systems being built. According to writer Dave Zweifel, that warning should have been heeded. Read more here.
Image via The Cap Times
Nelson B. sends updated news on the preservation saga unfolding over the Bart Prince-designed Lever/Morgenthaler House located in Malibu, CA. According to the Curbed LA update, the Malibu planning commission has not made any decisions yet on giving the go-ahead for tearing down the seven-year-old structure. Also, it seems celebrities are joining the cause against tearing down the house, including Don Rickles and Sean Penn. Read more here.
Additionally, here's a link to The Mailbu Times article on the planning commission hearing to get their perspective.
Image via curbed LA
Karlitos E. send a link to a fascinating work of architecture by Oklahoma modernist, Frank Wallace (known for designing Oral Roberts University). His home (featured in the link) was apparently up for auction in 2010. Learn more and see more here.
Image via mredsauction.com
Architectural preservationists fear the worst for the Richard Neutra-designed "Cyclorama" (1961), located on the Gettysburg battlefield in Pennsylvania. Civil War historians say it blocks views of the battlefield; architecture buffs hail it as an important work of American modernism. Will the Cyclorama be saved or will it be the battlefield's final casualty? Read more here.
Images via Neutra.org
The Department of Natural Resources in Indiana is looking for a public/private partnership to renovate the Dunes State Park Pavilion on the shores of Lake Michigan, near Chesterton. The pavilion opened in the early 1930s and stood near the now razed Dunes Hotel (bottom photo) which was designed by John Lloyd Wright. Read more about this preservation initiative here.
Top image via posttrib.suntimes.com/bottom image via eBay
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