Present: Bill Barry, Matthew Bronski, Jean Carroon, Anthony Consigli, Ross Dekle, Taya Dixon, Leslie Donovan, Robert Fogelson, Jack Glassman, David Hart, Randi Holland, Lisa Howe, David Kelman, Doug Manley, Keith Moscow, Henry Moss, Brian Roche, Susan Schur, Malcolm Smiley, Sara Wermiel 1. Coastal Defenses: "Is this a guy thing?" asked a committee member in the elevator descending from our presentation on historic fortifications to streets full of contemporary war talk. Matthew Bronski noted the unintended but poignant coincidence of these events. Others quickly underlined the odd vulnerability of historic military installations when they do not support politically active mythologies or are not picturesque. David Hart described his firm's disappointment at Fort Trumbull in New London, Connecticut when all Cold War material was removed. Ross Dekle described Cuban reliquaries where artifacts of the Revolution are on display (trucks, light aircraft, tractors) and where at the same time fortifications built from the 17th century through the 19th century are carefully maintained. Jack Glassman and Malcolm Smiley mentioned the evocative power of ruins, while Matthew noted the contrast between the WWII battlefield at Pointe du Hoc, Normandy (where 50 years later, gnarled trees, rusted barbed wire, scorched concrete pillboxes, and deep shell craters still scar the landscape) and the now idyllic meadows of Civil War battlefields such as Antietam and Gettysburg. Devastated landscapes gradually become benign if melancholic. WWII concrete gun emplacements are slow to soften and unyielding to romance. Norm Scarpulla and Bill Stokinger brought their images and histories at a sensitive but appropriate moment. 2. BSA Preservation Award Candidates: Taya Dixon sparked a discussion about granite prisons (MGH hotel and Dedham condos). Susan Schur recommended the Boston Athenaeum because of its extensive and thoughtful rehabilitation. Henry suggested that we ask Laurie Soave and Eric Ward to generate and collect ideas for possible recipients. 3. "Downtown, Its Rise and Fall, 1850-1950": Robert Fogelson, Professor of History and Urban Studies at MIT, visited the committee to discuss the genesis and development of his book that explores and chronicles how the core of American cities evolved from the "good and inevitable downtown" to, by 1950, just another business district. Prof. Fogelson had originally begun a biography of William Zeckendorf (Sr.) but discovered that his archive was a bankruptcy casualty. Nevertheless, he realized that there was a useful subject in how Americans thought about their cities, and that while suburbanization is extensively documented, the evolution of "downtown" was relatively unstudied. He spoke about the research and writing in a personal but self-deprecating manner, and often noted how he could find few records to help explain powerfully commonplace events. A business district that all professionals and their support workers had to visit for work and recreation, but that was depopulated on weekends and after dark except for theaters, is a uniquely American concept and kind of place. Nobody lived in the Loop or on Wall Street. These were strange places. Yet Americans in the 19th century took for granted that work and commerce would be centralized, in places they called downtown, and that people would live elsewhere. Up until the 1920's or 30's downtown interests thought it was fine for people to move out of the city, as they assumed they would come back every day. Only after the fact did they discover that relocation was selective, with affluent people moving out, who did not necessarily return daily to support the downtown businesses. Eventually downtown businesses, like department stores, began to branch to the suburbs, along with decentralizing picture palaces. Downtown no longer had a monopoly on this kind of activity. Thus, a centrifugal force was evident much earlier than our explanations of "sprawl" typically allow and well before the widespread ownership of private automobiles. Downtown identifies and tracks efforts to staunch the flow of business from the center. Planners, city politicians, and downtown business interests desperately sought correctives, and such as improving transportation from the outskirts in and clearing slums. In part as a response to these changes, the Historic Preservation movement took on a new political dimension. Prof. Fogelson looked for ways to understand peoples' experience of being downtown or going downtown. The culture and people of downtown changed drastically. Whole categories of jobs and urban social interactions evaporated: elevator operators, dispatchers, floorwalkers, newsboys… He wryly noted that if women stop coming downtown because dressing up and wearing white gloves was too much bother, then subways and urban redevelopment would have little effect. One surprise from his research was how little race seemed to matter in the decline of city centers before 1950. His story ended in that year, six years before the Federal government started the interstate highway system. After 1950, race and the Federal government would become a big part of the story. The effects of the Great Depression on our cityscapes and skyline are little recognized among urban historians. The anxiety about skylines and height limits was deeply rooted and persistent. Confusion about congestion and transportation access continued for decades. The causes of huge fluctuations in downtown property values before, during, and after the Great Depression were difficult to assign to decentralization specifically and were later masked by distortions of the wartime economy. Downtown concentrates on the similarities among cities' downtowns and their loss of intensity, but Prof. Fogelson said there were interesting comparisons to be made between cities that retained relatively healthy centers and those that did not. The book is a readable 400 pages and full of surprising new images of familiar cities and the preoccupations of their past citizens (including architects and planners). 4. 20th Century Architectural Metals Conference: Susan Schur, Technology & Conservation's renowned conference organizer, announced that all is set for this conference, which will take place at the end of the first week in April. Susan's academic background includes a concentration in metallurgy, and the conference should introduce many new technical subjects to those of us undertaking 20th century building conservation projects. The conference is organized to coincide with a meeting of the AIA National Historic Resources Committee. Susan has designed a few events to encourage exchanges between our members and colleagues from other parts of the country. 5. Josef Plecnik Slide Lecture: On April 3, 6:00-8:00 PM, the Historic Resources Committee and the BSA International Committee co-host a special slide lecture on Slovenian architect Josef Plecnik. Plecnik was an assistant to Otto Wagner in Vienna before WWI, served as Architect of the Prague Castle Hradcani in the 1920's, and later served as a professor of architecture in Vienna and Ljubljana, Slovenia until his death in 1957. Plecnik's richly detailed yet strikingly modern work has been rediscovered and newly appreciated with relatively recent expositions and publications. Slovenian architect/educator/author/urban designer Peter Bassin (who received his M.Arch at HGSD) will come to the BSA to share his view of Plecnik's contributions to architecture. There is no charge for this evening of wine and beautiful architecture, but reservations are required so we order enough refreshments. To reserve your seat, write/call the BSA at bsa@architects.org/(617) 951-1433 ext. 221. Muckle Associates on window restoration & Gaiety Theatre advocacy update April 10, 2003, Thursday, 8: 00 a.m. The Architects' Building, 52 Broad Street, 5th floor, Boston
Henry Moss AIA, Matthew Bronski, and Sara Wermiel, co-leaders and scribes
|