Kansas City Star Magazine does feature on 60's Modern Architecture

photo by shane keyser | the star

Kansas City Star Magazine Editor, Cindy Hoedel has written a great cover story article about 1960's architecture in this past Sunday's newspaper. Two of the three KCMODERN founders, Scott Lane and Robert McLaughlin were quoted in the article, Saving the '60s: Modern buildings become eligible for historic preservation.

Ms. Hoedel outlines some of the difficult issues in preserving these "hard-to-love," buildings from the 1960's with her astute observations. "The problem is, the simple geometry and unadorned surfaces of modern buildings show neglect more readily than brick or stone buildings that have lots of ornamentation to distract the eye. So mid-century buildings that have fallen on rough times are more likely to be viewed as eyesores."

If you love Modernism you owe it to yourself to check it out.

Read the entire article here

Visit photo gallery here

Bruce Goff, Architect- Thanksgiving In Bartlesville, OK

I'm late in getting this post up...Over Thanksgiving my family went to see relatives in Bartlesville, OK. As I always do, I had to cruise around and check on some amazing architecture there. We stopped in at the Price Tower to see the Contemporary Art Show, we were told the restaurant is now closed but the bar is still open at certain times. It's a great building, you should stop in if you are near. I then drove over to Christ Redeemer Church (located adjacent to Hwy 75). This originally was a church complex designed by Bruce Goff, unfortunately the church was never built but the ancillary service/ youth building was in 1961...these photos show how it looks now.

The pieces of blue-green glass are "culled" glass broken out of large vats from a nearby glass manufacturer( Bruce Goff often used "found" items or elements in his architecture). The glass is used in similar fashion as Shin-en 'kan, the Joe Price house destroyed by arson ten years ago, I love the bold corner embellishments. Note the entryway supports that resemble arrows.

Below: The glass cullet is used as sidelights to the door, letting in dramatic light by day and glowing at night from light within...

I had to get a photo of the afternoon light on this wall...the steel framed diamond windows, Oklahoma Limestone and random placement of the glass cullet give this building a refined discipline...I would have loved to see the faces of the church's building committee when BG presented his design.

The building was locked for the holiday, I'll try to locate some photos I have of the interior and post those in the future. I didn't include photos of the chapel, it is more subdued and less exciting, somewhat mismatched, but I'm sure it was more affordable than the design by Goff.

Kivett & Myers - A Synagogue designed functionally and aesthetically

Name: A Synagogue designed functionally and aesthetically - project
Architect: Kivett & Myers, Kansas City, MO
Year Designed: Circa 1952
Builder: N/A
Year Built: N/A
Size: N/A
Location: Unknown, probably Kansas City, MO or Central Plains
Type: Religious
Style: Modern
Status: N/A
Scanned from:
Climate & Architecture
Progressive Architecture Book
Jeffrey Ellis Aronin
Reinhold Publishing Corporation
New York, U.S.A. 1953

I was reading a vintage architecture book about "Climate and Architecture" and came accross this handsome little drawing. I love it when my two great interests, Mid-Century Modern and Sustainable Architecture, collide.

We know that Kivett and Myers designed several Jewish Synagogues, the most famous being the now demolished Temple B'nai Jehuda in Kansas City, MO. We also know there is a Kivett and Myers designed Synagogue in Omaha, Nebraska. It is unclear if this design was ever built somewhere, but I do not think it was built in KC.

St. Francis Xavier Church - Modern Photo of the Week

Name: St. Francis Xavier Church
Architect: Barry Byrne and Joseph Shaughnessy
Scupture: Alfonzo Ianelli
Year Designed: Unknown
Builder: Unknown
Year Built: 1951
Size: Unknown
Location: 1001 E. 52nd Street, Kansas City, MO
Type: Religious
Style: Moderne
Status: Good
Photographer: Robert McLaughlin

Here is a teaser image from the Out and about Wright Tour. Look for a lot more from this event soon!

Community Christian Church by Frank Lloyd Wright - Modern Photo of the Week

KCMODERN friend, SkyVu, aka Jim Seelen, let us borrow this recent photo from his Flickr Photostream. Most of you will recognize it as Frank Lloyd Wright's Community Christian Church from from Main Street and the Country Club Plaza.

Name: Community Christian Church
Architect: Frank Lloyd Wright
Year Designed: 1940
Builder: Ben Wiltscheck, contractor for the Johnson Wax Complex
Year Built: 1941
Size: Unknown
Location: Main Street at the Country Club Plaza, Kansas City, MO
Type: Religious
Style: Modern
Status: Good
Photographer: Jim Seelen

Here is our description from the KCMODERN website.

The concept for the Community Christian Church represents Frank Lloyd Wright’s vision for a “church of the future” built of modern materials. Planned as a low cost steel frame structure with walls of a concrete material called gunite sprayed over a wire mesh, the church embraced the growing “car culture.” The design called for the ultimate convenience for parishioners by providing parking terraces to allow members to travel from car to sanctuary without being exposed to the weather. Unfortunately the terraces were never built. The hexagonal plan created a dramatic interior space which feels more like an intimate concert hall than a church with its auditorium style seating and stage-like alter. An organic, sculptural skylight sits over the alter of the church. As originally planned, a light tower was to be fitted with powerful lights creating a spire. Due to blackouts in World War II, this never was realized until local artist, Dale Eldred, designed a lighting solution similar to the original design, which was installed in 1994.

Modern Photo of the Week - Temple B'nai Jehuda by Architects, Kivett and Myers

Name: Temple B'nai Jehuda
Architect: Kivett and Myers
Year Designed: Unknown
Builder: Unknown
Year Built: 1969
Location: 69th and Holmes, Kansas City, Missouri
Type: Synagogue
Style: Sculptural Expressionistic
Status: DEMOLISHED

Photographer: Brad Finch

http://www.f-stop.com/

Clarence Kivett and Ralph Myers were the patriarchs of Modern Architecture in Kansas City. They mentored and entire generation of modernists within their office. Their work spanned some forty years of modernism as they matured their style in the Kansas City area. This building was described as an 82 foot concrete tent for worship.