It seems like yesterday, when again we were going to enjoy the beauty of a Bruce Goff jewel over our Christmas holiday in 1997. Waiting for a call to go over to
Shin'enKan, the most "fantastic" piece of architecture built, we received a call that it was on fire and "it was bad." As you can see, it certainly was. We got as close as we could to take pictures of the fire and the aftermath. It was a very sad experience for my family. I think they all understood something very important had been lost. At least we were fortunate to have had a "relationship" with this work of art.
Needless to say and to make a long story short, the Price family sought out the best architects of the time. Bruce Goff was hired by Joe Price to design his home, and subsequent additions, ultimately becoming his Opus... Harold Price Sr., his father, had hired Cliff May to design the family home at
Starview Farms, and at Goff's insistence hired Frank Lloyd Wright to design an office building, the Price Tower. Harold Jr. hired Wright to design his home, essentially creating an architectural theme park. The May designed house was in bad condition and razed by developers. The only remaining house is the Wright designed house called "Hillside".
The loss of Shin'enKan, by arson, was a major loss for students and enthusiasts of architecture throughout the world.
I visited the site, over the holidays, which had been cleared and the foundations filled in. Nothing had been built there, though the area has been subdivided and the affluent are building traditional houses nearby.
It was a melancholy moment, sad, but with wonderful memories...
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.