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Present: Nicole Benjamin-Ma, David Bliss, Matthew Bronski, Cynthia Bubb, Edwin Goodell, Jeffrey Harris, David Hart, Wendall Kalsow, David Kelman, Ryan Kennedy, Henry Moss, Pat Morrissey, Wendy Nicholas, Susan Schur, Malcolm Smiley, R. Drew Sondles, David Torrey, Olga Vaysman, Eric Ward, Sara Wermiel, Sally Zimmerman 1. Zero Net Energy Task Force, March 2009: Henry Moss referred again to Gov. Patrick's Zero Net Energy Task Force report (http://www.mazneb.org/, link to pdf at bottom of page) and municipalities' choice to implement stricter energy requirements of the "Stretch Code." The committee discussed research needs, for example, on how to improve insulation and air-barriers in existing buildings. One suggestion was to diagram energy flows and moisture migration in the ten most common types of renovation projects, then produce guidelines to reduce loads while respecting architectural value and avoiding building envelope failures. David Kelman cited Energy Star guidelines and references to "blower door" (air leakage) and thermograph studies that locate heat losses, but don't provide information about possible moisture problems or unwelcome architectural modifications. Wendall Kalsow reminded the group that heavy insulation on masonry structures is not always appropriate. Pat Morrissey referred the group to EIFS-related lawsuits for examples of problems that can arise with exterior insulation. Sara Wermiel tried to put the matter of old houses and their contribution to global warming in perspective: the Census Bureau reports that only 7% of the nation's housing units were built before 1920, so the contribution cannot be large, while old houses are an increasingly rare resource. [A differentiation may be between buildings that can be insulated without removing exterior or interior finishes, and those that cannot. Meanwhile, see Joanna Dowling, "Blanketing the Home: The Use of Thermal Insulation in American Housing, 1920-1945," APT Bulletin 2009, vol. XL, No. 1.] The National Trust for Historic Preservation is working on policy with Congressmen, trying to make the point that different regions should be treated in ways appropriate to their climates. The NTHP is concentrating on weatherization issues as these are likely to be associated with tax credits in any forthcoming energy bill. Wendy Nicholas referred the committee to the Trust's Preservation Green Lab program, which will coordinate efforts to improve local energy codes and design practice guidelines across the country - in many cases targeting homeowners. [For a broader view see May Cassar, "Sustainable Heritage Challenges and Strategies,"APT Bulletin 2009, vol. XL, No. 1. May Cassar is professor of Sustainable Heritage and director of the Centre for Sustainable Heritage at University College London and director of the UK Science and Heritage Programme.] 2. Partners in Preservation, NTHP: Wendy Nicholas explained the Trust's preservation efforts funded by American Express, which is designed to engage the public in supporting specific historic buildings. Individuals can vote for nominated properties; the winning property gets a grant. The Trust launched the program in San Francisco in 2006, after which it went to Chicago and New Orleans. The program will expend $10 million over five years on bricks-and-mortar preservation work with further investments totaling $5 million from the World Monuments Fund. This year the program is focused in Greater Boston (defined as within Rte. 495). Wendy described the grant award processs as akin to "the American Idol of Preservation grants." Go to http://www.partnersinpreservation.com/boston/ to vote for one or more of the worthy grant applicants. You may vote once a day. 3. Early Modernism, Social Idealism, and Anti-communism in the Career of Edwin B. Goodell, Jr.: Ned Goodell, a young architect at Machado and Silvetti in Boston, has embarked on a study of his grandfather's architectural career. His grandfather, Edwin B. Goodell, Jr. (1893-1971), introduced Modernism to New England in advance of the European Arrival when he built the Richard and Caroline Field House in Weston (1934, three years before the Gropius House). Born to a prosperous, politically conservative family, Goodell studied at MIT (1910-1915) and started his career at Cram & Ferguson. He worked on projects conceived within the eclectic approach of the 1910s and '20s, including Colonial Revival projects for Exeter and Williams College. He left Cram & Ferguson in 1928 to join Parsons, Waite and Goodell, which designed houses for wealthy clients. Goodell's marriage unwound around this time, and in 1929 he visited Paris, where he was exposed to the original buildings from which he derived his eclectic variations. He felt that he was recreating buildings, producing essentially stage sets. By 1933, Goodell was questioning his beliefs. After discussions with Ralph Cram, he began to codify his design values and wrote a pamphlet, Enjoying Your Museum: At the Heart of Architecture. His political views shifted to the left, and he came into contact with likeminded people. Caroline C. Field, a founder of the League of Women Voters, and her husband (who headed the Alger Hiss Defense Fund) chose Goodell to design a house for them in Weston. The design departed radically from the French-style houses Goodell's former firm had produced for their wealthy clients on Fisher's Island. The Field House featured flat roofs, rectilinear forms, and horizontal massing. It is not an International Style house. Goodell's inventiveness can be seen in graded green paint colors ascending shiplap elevations, and the main entrance has an Art Deco or Moderne flavor. It was an extraordinary house for the time. Some analysts of the devastating professional impact of the Great Depression estimate that 80% of the nation's architects and engineers were unemployed continuously or were displaced into other types of work. Goodell became the New England Regional Director of the Homeowners Loan Assn., a government agency that helped arrange repairs to refinanced houses. A registered Republican, Goodell did not vote for Roosevelt. He voted Socialist. When the U.S. entered World War II, Goodell became involved in civil defense and spent two months in London learning about that city's response to German bombing. He learned about the British Communist Party's contribution to civil defense (such as opening bomb shelters on the platforms of London's Underground). Eventually, he lost his job at the Homeowners Loan Assn. He had expressed an interest in redistributing wealth, citing his childhood experience of redistributing winnings in games played with chestnuts. Nevertheless, he never joined the Communist Party, and his post-war architectural practice continued to depend on wealthy clients, although ones with progressive ideas and ideals. In 1948, he designed the Bloedel House in Williamstown, Mass. (Now the Guest House at Field Farm, it remains intact with period furniture and an additional building by Ulrich Franzen: 413.298.3239). He also was invited to become president of the Boston Architectural Center, and he worked with Dean Cascieri to rebuild its student body after the war. Enrollment had dropped to six students. In 1955, Goodell was called to testify at Joseph McCarthy's House Un-American Activities Committee. He refused to answer questions and the committee cited him for contempt. The Boston Globe published a very negative account of Goodell's encounter with Congressional anti-Communists and presented a profile of Goodell as one of Massachusetts' most problematic citizens. He continued to pursue progressive causes, editing the Unitarian Universalist Social Services newspaper, The Christian Register. But his architectural career, apart from work at the BAC, was largely over. In the early 1960's he designed the Salvation Army's Berkeley St. headquarters - a departure from his residential work in scale and materials, but reminiscent of the massing of the Field House. As late as 1970, he produced the Pressman House with Steve Olds. Goodell died in 1971. Until the Field House was threatened with demolition by new owners in the 1990's, Goodell's career was little known. Research by members of DOCOMOMO/New England and the Weston Historical Commission established the house's early date and significance as a pioneering example of Modern Architecture in New England. This research is illuminating the contributions of other unsung architects (Raymond and Saltonstall, for example) in the period before Gropius arrived at Harvard and the International Style found institutional channels for its propagation. Preservation Mass included the Field House on its Ten Most Endangered historic sites list. Subsequent owners have treated it sympathetically.
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