Present: Bill Barry, Bart Bauer, Matthew Bronski, Michael DeLacey, Marilyn Fenollosa, Patrick Guthrie Assoc. AIA, David Hart AIA, Donna Harris AIA, Erin Hester, Richard Jarvis, Wendall Kalsow AIA, David Kelman, Wayne King, Doug Manley AIA, Elizabeth Randall, Brian Roche, Norm Scarpulla, Susan Schur, Malcolm Smiley AIA, Jonathan Smith AIA, Bill Stokinger, Robert Thomas, Eric Ward AIA, Sara Wermiel 1. History of U.S. Seacoast Fortifications: Norm Scarpulla, a mild-mannered banker by day, and an impassioned seacoast fortifications historian by night, presented a general overview of the various periods, types, and characteristics of U.S. Seacoast fortifications from 1794 to 1945, then presented a detailed assessment of all the components of one single WWII-era battery (Battery Murphy at East Point, Nahant). Norm was assisted by Bill Stokinger of the MDC, who works with the seacoast fortifications of Boston Harbor and interprets them for visitors. Norm and Bill recommend Seacoast Fortifications of the U.S. by Emanuel Raymond Lewis as a good first text. Norm, Bill, and other kindred spirits are able to meet and share information through the Coastal Defense Study Group (CDSG), a non-profit organization devoted to the study, preservation, and proper interpretation of coastal defense and fortification sites. Check out their website at www.cdsg.org, and consider them a valuable resource if you undertake a project or advocacy involving a coastal defense structure. First System Fortifications (1794-1801) such as Fort McHenry Baltimore (c. 1800) follow the classic European model of a star-shaped plan (often with diamond-shaped bastions at the tips of the star), with a single tier of guns that fire over the walls. Second System Forts (1804-1812), such as Castle Clinton (c. 1808) on the southern tip of Manhattan, represent a transition where a single tier of guns is still employed, but with guns that fire through openings in the walls. In Third System Forts (1816-1867), such as Fort Adams, Newport RI (c. 1824-57), Fort Richmond at Staten Island (near Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, c. 1847-70), Fort Pilosky, Georgia (c. 1829-50), and Fort Scott, San Francisco (c. 1870), multiple tiers of guns fire through high walls in forts that were sited relatively low, near the water line. The availability of naturally-hydraulic cement (with its much faster cure time) made possible these higher fort walls and multiple gun tiers. Improved rifled cannon firing against these forts made the brick versions of these forts obsolete – the improved accuracy of rifled artillery enable repeated firing at the same spot on a wall, which quickly ate through the brick walls at Fort Pulasky, where this lesson was learned the hard way. With its higher material strength, granite walls fared somewhat better against this type of assault. Civil War era Forts (1861-65) typically were hastily built at minimal cost, due to the expediency of the war, and were somewhat temporary in nature. Those that were built were typically at junctures that had more strategic importance between the North and South than for coastal defense from foreign threats. Fortification construction in the US was temporarily halted in 1867, with the vulnerability of traditional masonry to modern rifled cannon as seen at Fort Pulasky. Construction of coastal fortifications was resumed during the Endicott/Taft Period (1887-1917) using concrete construction to overcome the vulnerability of traditional masonry to repeated fire at the same point. Endicott/Taft period forts employed cannons on “disappearing” counterweighted carriages, that rose up over the tops of walls to fire, then disappeared back behind the walls for reloading. These disappearing cannons were supplemented with mortars which lobbed shells up over the walls at a steep trajectory. Fort MacArthur in Los Angeles is a good example of Taft/Endicott Period. Many forts built in one period were updated or rebuilt during a later period to make them technically viable for their day. Fort Warren in Boston is a Third System Fort updated with Taft/Endicott Period gun batteries. Fort Independence, Boston (c. 1800-1840) is a Third System Fort built over a Second System Fort. By WWI, the guns of Endicott/Taft period were woefully outdated compared to the guns on WWI battleships. Coastal forts were not relied upon for defense during WWI, as the US coast was never threatened. After WWI, improvements in optics and optical control of firing led to a revolution in accuracy when firing large guns over long distances. WWII era sixteen inch (diameter) guns could fire a 2000 pound shell (weight of a Volkswagen) about 20 miles with an accuracy of a few hundred yards. With potential naval threats from both the Pacific and Atlantic, construction of coastal defenses in the US resumed with fervor at the outbreak of WWII. In WWII era Coastal Defenses (1940-1948), the improved optic control of firing accuracy (along with improved radio communication) led to a revolution in the design of coastal defenses, as for the first time, all the functions of the fort (observation, plotting, firing, ammunition storage, etc.) were separated into discrete structures and spread all along the seacoast. Observation towers were spread far from the guns to allow for multiple sightings and precise triangulation and plotting of targets. Plotting of targets was separated from the guns to avoid shaking. Ammunition was separated from the guns for safety. The entire model of the traditional fort was deconstructed. For example, the main 16 inch guns at East Point Nahant (“Battery Murphy”) had 9 other separate stations along the coast, with observation towers as far south as Fourth Cliff, Scituate, and as far north as Castle Hill in Ipswich. All these structures are heavily reinforced concrete. Other than observation towers, all other structures (gun batteries, plotting rooms, ammunition storage, sleeping quarters) are partially buried into the hillside to take advantage of earthen protection atop the concrete. Observation towers that are located on relatively low stretches of coastline were necessarily tall and tower-like (such as at Brant Rock, Marshfield), while some of those that were located on a high bluff, and didn’t need to be tall to have a commanding view were ingeniously disguised as seaside cottages to avoid notice by the enemy (see attached drawing of the Fourth Cliff, Scituate Observation Tower.) By casting details and reveals into the surface of the monolithic concrete walls, some of these remarkable disguised “cottages” have concrete clapboard, and concrete 6/6 windows with concrete mullions and concrete glass that would make even Henry Mercer blush. Remarkably, Norm’s slides taken from 20 yards away would not have appeared to be anything other than a typical wood-framed seaside cottage without his explanation and more careful study on our part. Construction of coastal defense structures was halted in 1948. By 1954, it was apparent that centuries of evolving seacoast artillery and defense structures had ended for good, with the advent of airpower and missiles as superior weapons. Construction of the first non-coastal continental defense from the 1954-1974 (Nike missile sites) confirmed that the era of coastal artillery is truly over – guns were scrapped, and coastal defense structures and sites were surplused. Thus the WWII era structures not only completely reinvented coastal defense design, they mark the final epoch of centuries of coastal defense structures. While 19th century forts are well-appreciated and recognized for their historic significance, WWII era coastal defense structures are all around us in New England, often unnoticed, and almost invariably unappreciated. Today they beg for awareness and advocacy. While many survived relatively intact into the 1980’s or 90’s, within the last 10 or 20 years many have been unsympathetically altered, or are neglected and deteriorating. Norm showed a series of distressing “then and now” slides of some of these structures from 10 or 20 years ago, compared to today. Condos have been built atop an old battery in Hull. Some isolated concrete structures are overgrown and deteriorating in the hillside. Homeowners are cutting new windows into concrete “cottages” with carbide-tipped saws. In one particularly distressing slide, Norm showed a tall, slender undisguised observation tower that someone is transforming to make it look like a lighthouse (the not-yet-appreciated, purely functional 60 year-old coastal tower being altered to look like the highly romanticized, purely functional 150 year-old coastal tower). 2. APT Northeast at Yale: HRC stalwart and APT-NE Board Member Lisa Howe did yeoman’s work to help organize the first ever APT-NE Chapter Meeting and Symposium. Leland Torrance and John Canning gamely led campus tours through the rain and drizzle. Lectures were held in the auditorium of Paul Rudolph’s brutalist Art and Architecture Building, where the rock-hard bench seating succeeding in ensuring the rapt attention of the audience, just as Rudolph envisioned. By the end of the day, we were all thankful to sit in our cars. Lectures included recent rehab. work to the Yale Center for British Art (Louis Kahn); ongoing work at the Beinecke Rare Book Library (Gordon Bunshaft of SOM); an architectural appreciation of Eero Saarinen’s sculptural, brontosaurus-like, Ingalls Hockey Rink; sympathetic additions to the Sterling Law School Dining Hall and the Yale Music Library; rehabilitation of the fire-ravaged Italianate Davies Mansion (Henry Austin); and various solutions for the replacement of deteriorating steel windows with lead caming in neo-Gothic buildings by James Gamble Rogers. Wayne King mentioned that he particularly enjoyed the presentation on high-tech, in-situ, digital documentation of the existing masonry conditions on Harkness Tower using military-spec “ruggedized” laptops. 3. 20th Century Architectural Metals Conference: Susan Schur of Technology & Conservation reminded us to register for the April 4-5 conference at MIT. The conference is coordinated with the National AIA/HRC meeting, and includes tours and other related events. Details and registration info are available on the BSA/HRC website: http://committees.architects.org/hrc/hrc_news.htm 4. Restoration of Historic Bridges Lecture: Matthew Bronski alerted us to a BSCES (Boston Society of Civil Engineers Section) “Student Night” Lecture by Dr. Francis Griggs Jr., PE at Merrimack College on March 3. Dr. Griggs was the driving force in rescuing the twisted pieces of a collapsed, Mosely-designed, riveted wrought iron, tied-arch bridge from the bottom of a riverbed in Lawrence MA and restoring it in a true grassroots effort with volunteer (mainly student) labor and donated materials. The bridge now spans a reflecting pool at Merrimack College in No. Andover, where it has become a centerpiece of the campus. Griggs orchestrated a similar effort to restore a Squire Whipple wrought and cast iron bridge over the Eerie Canal near Union College with enthusiastic student volunteers. It’s amazing what motivated students can accomplish when you give them an inspiring pep talk and a lot of coffee. 5. Kuhn House, Wellfleet, MA: The Kuhn House is a late 1950’s modern movement house designed by Nathaniel Saltonstall & Peter Morton (colleagues of Breuer and Gropius) with an extensive collection of intact period furnishings. The house is under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service at the Cape Cod National Seashore. The BSA/HRC recently wrote a letter to strongly discourage its proposed use as a summer dormitory for lifeguards, and to recommend more gentle and sympathetic usage and maintenance (salt water, sand, sun tan oil, Doritos, and zinc-oxide nose cream are all rough on interior finishes and intact period furnishings). 6. March HRC meeting: for those who want to skim the book in advance, the March meeting will feature a talk by Robert Fogelson about his book, Downtown: its rise and fall, 1880 – 1950. Feel free to bring your book to the meeting for Bob to sign. Bob’s research re-contextualizes the discussion about decline and revitalization of our downtowns by introducing a broader historical perspective.
Downtown, its rise and fall with Robert Fogelson, MIT 8:00 a.m., Thursday, March 13, 2003 The Architects' Building, 52 Broad Street, 5th floor, Boston
Henry Moss AIA, Matthew Bronski, and Sara Wermiel, co-leaders and scribes
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