SNAPSHOT
Lang Kirchheimer
By John Roach
SwitchYard Media, Inc. - contact | website
Designed and produced by Lang Kirchheimer
SwitchYard Media, Inc. - contact | website
A production of SwitchYard Media, Inc.
Courtesy Rob Williams
1939: Fallingwater starts an era
Fallingwater, the celebrated modern architect Frank Lloyd Wright's masterpiece, inspired many of the homes that would become icons of mid-century architecture across the United States.
The home, anchored by the rock walls of the 30-foot waterfall it overhangs, blends in with its surroundings yet exudes tell-tale modern touches such as reinforced concrete terraces that seem to float in space - a balance between man and nature.
Wright designed Fallingwater for Edgar Kauffmann, a successful businessman from Pittsburgh. It was completed in 1939 and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1976.
Location:
491 Mill Run Rd, Rte 381 S., Mill Run, PA 15464
Year in History
1939: The Oscar for best picture went to Gone with the Wind. Also nominated were The Wizard of Oz, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Of Mice and Men, Stagecoach and others. The country was stilled mired by The Great Depression and Americans were counting time until the U.S. would enter into the war that was already underway in Europe.
Courtesy Barbara Alfors
1946: One with the desert
Kaufmann, the Pittsburgh businessman who commissioned Wright's Fallingwater, made another mark on 20th century modernism when he asked architect Robert Neutra to design a home in the burgeoning desert oasis of Palm Springs, Calif.
The Kaufmann Desert House creates an intentional bond between home and nature, according to critics. Sliding glass walls at the end of each wing and a rooftop terrace help hide the distinction between inside and out.
The five bedroom, five bath, 3,800 square foot home was built in 1946. Architectural historians Brent and Beth Harris recently restored the home to its original luster and put it up for sale.
Location:
Kaufmann Desert House, 470 Vista Chino, Palm Springs, CA
Year in History
1946: The Oscar for best picture went to The Best Years of Our Lives, a drama about soldiers coming home after World War II. Its a Wonderful Life was also nominated in '46. Following the war, the country was in the midst of a major reinvention with the economy picking up. Perry Como, Frank Sinatra, The Ink Spots and Bing Crosby all topped the charts during the year.
Photo: Courtesy Staib
1949: A box with a view
Floor to ceiling windows? No problem, at least at the Philip Johnson Glass House, an icon of minimalist modernism on the architect's 47-acre estate in New Canaan, Conn., that was completed in 1949.
The four exterior glass walls of the 56 foot by 32 foot home are framed by charcoal-colored steel. A brick cylinder that holds a fireplace and bathroom is the home's only nod to privacy - and provides spatial division.
Location:
199 Elm St., New Canaan, CT
Year in History
1949: The Oscar for best picture went to All the King's Men. The classic Darryl Zanuck war movie, Twelve O'Clock High was also up for best picture. Dinah Shore, Russ Morgan and Frankie Laine were chart toppers during the year.
Courtesy Creative Commons
1949: California case study
The husband and wife modernist pioneers Charles and Ray Eames designed their landmark home in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles as part of the Case Study House Program led by Arts and Architecture Magazine.
The two-story, two-unit complex divided by an open court is part studio, part home that encompasses the couple's desire to live and work in a setting with nature as a "shock absorber," according to the Eames Foundation. The home was completed in 1949.
Location:
203 North Chautauqua Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90272
Year in History
1949: The Oscar for best picture went to All the King's Men. The Darryl Zanuck war movie, Twelve O'Clock High was also up for best picture.
Courtesy Anissa Housley
1951: A modern classic
The simplicity and purity of the famed architect Mies van der Rohe's aesthetic is captured in the weekend retreat he designed for Edith Farnsworth in Plano, Ill., about 60 miles southwest of Chicago.
The glass-walled home with a partitioned interior offers both exposure and retreat from the raw elements of nature. It was completed in 1951.
Steel beams and a single, cylindrical core lift the house 5 feet, 3 inches off the ground. It turns out, this isn't high enough: the Fox River has spilled over its banks and flooded the interior at least six times since 1954.
Location:
14520 River Rd., Plano, IL
Year in History
1951: The Oscar for best picture went to An American in Paris. Tony Bennett, Patti Page and Nat King Cole were top performers.
Courtesy FountaineBleu
1954: Miami's modern style
Morris Lapidus' curvilinear design for the Fontainebleau Miami Beach hotel was a stage for glitzy hipsters of post-war America. Frank Sinatra's Rat Pack and Elvis Presley were part of the star-studded scene around the pool and Hollywood put it on the silver screen with films such as Goldfinger.
The Fontainebleau was derided as kitsch by its critics when it opened in 1954, though it has since been embraced as defining Miami Beach's architectural aesthetic. The hotel underwent a $1 billion renovation in 2006, though its iconic looks were retained.
Location:
4401 Collins Ave., Miami Beach, FL 33140
Year in History
1954: The Oscar for best picture went to On the Waterfront. The Crew Cuts came out with the hit single Sh-Boom and Eddie Fisher had a number of hits, including Oh! My Pa-Pa.
Courtesy Jones2jy
1955: Oklahoma natural
With a spiraling wall of rubble stone that appears to emerge from the earth in a woodsy Oklahoma retreat, Bruce Goff's masterpiece designed for the artists Nancy and Eugene Bavinger has attracted interest from architects across the country ever since it was completed in 1955.
The circular motif is carried inside, where a spiral staircase leads to circular rooms adorned with circular furnishings. The home, which is open to public tours, is the best preserved of Goff's designs.
Location:
730 60th Ave., N.E., Norman, OK 73071
Year in History
1955: The Oscar for best picture went to Marty. Rock Around the Clock by Bill Haley and the Comets was a big summer hit. Tennessee Ernie Ford's Sixteen Tons was also getting a lot of air time along with The Chordettes Mr. Sandman.
Courtesy Orlando
1959: Guggenheim stirs the soul
Frank Lloyd Wright heeded the call for a building that would stir the soul when he designed the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. His career-capping building is famed for its stirring, inverted spiral design, which allows visitors to view the collections in a continuous meander.
Wright was commissioned to design the museum in 1943. Design revisions, the need for more property, rising construction costs, and the death of its benefactor contributed to delays. Construction didn't begin until 1953. It finally opened to the public in 1959.
Location:
1071 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10128
Year in History
1959: The Oscar for best picture went to Ben Hur. Frankie Avalon, Paul Anka, Bobby Darin and, of course, Elvis singing A Big Hunk O' Love were booming out of juke boxes this year.
Courtesy Bobak Ha'Eri
1961: A monument to God
Marcel Breuer met Abbot Baldwin Dworschak's call for a "monument to the service of God" with his design for the St. John's Abbey Church in Collegeville, Minn., according to the abbey and university.
The building, completed in 1961, is among Breuer's best known works, which includes the famous 112-foot tall, concrete-poured banner bell tower and the 60-foot-tall north wall replete with 430 hexagons of stained glass.
Location:
31802 County Rd., 159, Collegeville, MN 56321
Year in History
1961: The Oscar for best picture went to West Side Story. Elvis was hitting his stride in '61 while Chubby Checkers was doing the Twist and Gary U.S. Bonds were hot on the scene.
Courtesy Evan Cordes
1962: TWA terminal takes flight
It's a bird...it's a plan...it's an...airport terminal? Eero Saarinen's Trans World Flight Center at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport uses steel to curve concrete for a design that evokes the romance of flight.
The terminal was completed in 1962, a year after Saarinen died. It closed in 2001 when TWA ceased operations. JetBlue Airways is working with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey on renovations to incorporate the iconic building with the airline's new terminal, which opened in 2008.
Location:
John F. Kennedy International Airport, Jamaica, NY 11430
Year in History
1962: The Oscar for best picture went to Lawrence of Arabia. Ray Charles' "I can't Stop Loving You" was a big hit during the summer and "Big Girls don't Cry" by The Four Seasons rounded out the year.
Courtesy U.S. Airforce
1963: Chapel for all faiths
The Air Force Academy Cadet Chapel near Colorado Springs, Colo., is designed to give cadets of all faiths a spiritual lift. The 17 pointy, fighter-jet-like spires are the most recognized feature of Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill architect Walter Netsch's iconic aluminum, glass, and steel structure.
The building contains separate chapels for the Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, and Buddhist faiths plus an all-faiths room that is used by Muslims and cadets with other spiritual needs. The chapel was derided by critics when it was completed in 1963, though has since become a recognized example of modernism.
Location:
U.S. Air Force Academy, USAFA, CO 80840
Year in History
1963: The Oscar for best picture went to Tom Jones. The surf sound of Jan and Dean became popular in '63 and Leslie Gore crooned It's My Party. The assassination of John F. Kennedy in Dallas that November traumatized the country.
Courtesy a.j. davis
1964: Catacombs in the sky
Chicago's Marina City -- dual corn cob concrete structures jutting 65 stories into the sky -- was designed by Bertrand Goldberg and completed in 1964. It is perhaps where a young "Mad Men" era exec would have his bachelor pad if the show took place in Chicago.
Set along the north bank of the Chicago River, the first 19 floors of the mixed-use, commercial/residential buildings are open-air spiral parking garages with almost 900 spaces. The residential area begins on the 21st floor. Each floor contains 16 apartments, designed as pie-shaped wedges with almost no right angles and semi-circular balconies sporting terrific views of the city.
Location:
300 North State St., Chicago, IL 60610
Year in History
1964: The Oscar for best picture went to My Fair Lady. Dr. Strangelove, Mary Poppins and Zorba the Greek were also up for the award.
Courtesy Richie Diesterheft
1965: Gateway to the West
Eero Saarinen's iconic Gateway Arch in St. Louis, is a 630-foot-tall monument constructed in the form of an inverted catenary - the form that a necklace or chain takes when strung between two points.
The tapered curve is linked together with blocks of stainless steel. The base is an equilateral triangle 54-feet a side at the bottom and 17 feet a side on top. Stairwells with 1,076 steps each lead up either side, but visitors can take a 40 passenger tram to the top.
The structure was completed in 1965 and opened to the public in 1967.
Location:
707 N 1st St., St Louis, MO 63102
Year in History
1965: The Oscar for best picture went to The Sound of Music. The Beatles, the Stones, the Byrds, Herman's Hermits, The Supremes and Sonny and Cher topped the charts.
Courtesy of University Corp. for Atmospheric Research
1967: Research in the Rockies
I.M. Pei knew he couldn't compete with the stunning backdrop of the Rocky Mountain foothills when he designed the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo. Instead, he matched the surroundings with bold clusters or reddish-brown concrete cut by gray-tinted glass.
The center, which opened in 1967, affords scientists spectacular mountain views and space for quiet contemplation in the upper level offices. Alcoved corridors that zigzag through the sprawling complex encourage chance meetings of the minds.
Location:
1850 Table Mesa Dr., Boulder, CO 80305
Year in History
1967: The Oscar for best picture went to In the Heat of the Night. This was the year of The Monkees' I'm a Believer; The Doors' Light My Fire; Aretha Franklin's RESPECT; The Stones' Ruby Tuesday; and the Beatles' Penny Lane.
Courtesy of Weyerhaeuser
1971: Skyscraper on its side
The headquarters for Weyerhaeuser, one of the world's largest privately owned forest products companies, is lauded for integration with its wooded and meadow surroundings.
Often referred to as a skyscraper on its side, the Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill building is made of gently sloping terraces that are overgrown with ivy. The building, completed in 1971, was also one of the first to incorporate the concept of an open office, giving almost everyone a view.
Location:
33663 Weyerhaeuser Way South, Federal Way, WA 98003
Year in History
1971: The Oscar for best picture went to The French Connection. The BeeGees, Rod Stewart, Sly and the Family Stone and Isaac Hayes' Theme from Shaft top the charts.