Bixby Residence Rumpus Room by Kem Weber - Modern Illustration - Modern Photo of the Week

Kem Weber. Elevation of Rumpus Room for W. E. Bixby, Sr. Residence, 1936-37. Watercolor and graphite on board. The University Art Museum, University of California at Santa Barbara.

Rumpus Room of W. E. Bixby, Sr. Residence, Kansas City. Photograph by R. B. Churchill, 1937. The University Art Museum, University of California at Santa Barbara.

This illustration and photograph are the interior designs of Kem Weber for the Bixby Residence which we featured an exterior photograph of here last week. The Moderne Style residence is located on the Missouri side of State Line Road. I am sure that many of you have driven by this house hundreds of times.

Weber is best known for his designs for the interiors of the original Walt Disney Studios in the 1930's and the ubiquitous Airline Chair (1934), which was used thoughout the studios.

In 1936 and 1937, Weber designed thirteen rooms for the Walter Edwin Bixby, Sr. home that was done in an uncharacteristic Modern style by noted Kansas City architect, Edward W. Tanner, who designed many of the buildings on the Country Club Plaza.

According to the University Art Museum, University of California at Santa Barbara website:
In its 1939 review of the Bixby interiors the London-
based International Studio praised Weber’s exploration
of the full creative potential of the Moderne aesthetic
through bold colors—Dubonnet (maroon), midnight
blue, coral red—and such new materials as aluminum,
glass block, linoleum, and masonite as well as richly
veneered plywood and cork paneling. Weber used
moveable and built-in furniture, combined with
veneered wood paneling surrounds to manipulate the
existing outline of Tanner’s rooms. Critics singled out
Weber’s distinctive use of the curved line in his design
for the built-in furnishings of the basement rumpus room
and its drop ceiling with concealed overhead lighting.

Bixby sold the house 1949 and unfortunaly the interiors were eventually dismantled, but we still have Weber's original renderings to show us this great design.

See the University Art Museum, University of California at Santa Barbara website for a more in depth discussion of the Bixby Residence.
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Carl Stenstrom, Architect- "Stonestream" Revisted

The previous post about "Stonestream" generated quite a bit of interest from friends and acquaintances that wanted to see more of the house... I recently located some photos I had taken in 1989 and 1990. I hope you find them interesting...The above pic was taken from the "car court" looking toward the entry, garage/workshop on the left, bedroom wing on the right.
Looking toward entry. Stenstrom loved an entry sequence. Columns had integrated lighting at the tops...note Carl's 16 inch module lines in the concrete.
Looking toward entry, screens seen at left and below enclose the Tea Garden.
Car court perimeter is defined by this fence, 30 ft. by 30 ft. workshop below.
Above looking toward front door, dining room screened from foyer...below Carl and friend looking at plans in dining area. Early evidence of roof leaks which ultimately doomed the house.

Above, fireplace nook with low ceiling deck. Below, wall of french doors in living room. Carl designed the lamp.

Above, cantilevered roof over master bedroom terrace. Below, master bedroom terrace as seen from the south. The pond seen here in the previous post is long gone.
Below, master terrace looks into the woods.
Below, one of the many "straight as an arrow" retaining walls Carl built.
Below, a fusion of two photos showing the idyllic setting under the trees.
The next post about Stonestream will show more recent photos highlighting the poor current condition of the home.

Foley Tractor, by Architect, W. I. Fisher, Wichita, Kansas - Then and Now

Here is a vintage photo of a landmark Wichita, Kansas business, Foley Tractor. Now known as Foley Equipment, the original building by Architect, W. I. Fisher, displayed that wonderful everyday modern commercial style that is disappearing so fast. This one is close to my heart because I rode by this one often when I was a kid. It was just down West Street from the Wichita John Deere dealer in a similar building that my dad visited frequently. I borrowed this estate sale photo from KCMODERN friend, Keith Wondra's Flickr site, kawwsu29. He was kind enough to let us use it.

THEN -- I love how the large expanses of glass act as a billboard for the sale of the Caterpillar industrial equipment displayed in the showroom. Can you imagine driving by at night when the brightly painted, industrial yellow equipment was lit up behind that glass? The neon Caterpillar sign over the exposed steel canopy at the entrance was a nice touch too!

NOW-- It appears that a 1970's brick redo was done to the glass parts of the facade. This was probably done because the large expanses of south and west facing glass caused the showroom space to overheat in the summer. You can see that the industrial steel window sash is still intact in the left background. This is probably a shop area and might be older than the vintage showroom.

INTERIOR -- The vintage interior was clean and modern too. I bet they no longer display Caterpillar equipment in there since the equipment has gotten much larger and it appears that the overhead door is no longer there. The business was already closed for the evening so I didn't get a new shot of the interior.

Elpidio Rocha, Architect - "What's the Story on that House?"

If you are driving south on I-35 out of downtown Kansas City, MO and look down to the right, you'll see an older neighborhood. Standing out in the area of older "shotgun" houses is a distinctive house design that from the highway looks like a Bruce Goff "Houseboat".

I spoke with John B., the owner, who asked his childhood acquaintance, Elpidio Rocha to design him a home he could build, which he did in 1967. This house is a direct result of the lectures Bruce Goff did in 1965 at the Kansas City Art Institute. Rocha said," I pulled the best I could for the budget, out of my Bruce Goff "Catalog of houses". Of course there is no catalog, but Rocha, listened to Goff, and the result is a tight little house with character and a "spirit" of fun. The family enjoys the distiction of owning a unique home and today the house remains in good shape.
This is a difficult house to photograph. These are photos of the front deck and "shadow makers".

This is a view from the alley behind the house. The entry is on the left of the house, now enclosed. The Kitchen is on the rear of the house, seen here and steps out to the terrace.

Closeup of "diamond" bay and lower level windows with triangular ends. Note the angled siding. Bedrooms were on the lower level, with ample light.
This is from the living area looking down toward the entry, note the "lozenge" shaped door...definitely "Goffian"...
This shows the wood tongue and groove ceiling and central beam. The door on the left gives access to the front deck.

Elpidio Rocha, Professor of Architecture at the Kansas City Art Institute, after hearing Goff's last lecture, quit architecture. When we spoke he said he was so impacted by what Goff said, he stated, " I don't have the right education or influences to be the kind of architect I want to be...Goff was light years ahead of Wright".

He went on to work for the KC Parks Dept., designing parks and shelters that we still see today. He was one of the "Fathers" of urban renewal, designing "pocket parks" in urban areas. Interestingly, He and Dale Eldred, noted sculptor and artist, collaberated on a park across the street from this house. It was removed during a highway expansion. His most noteworthy, and ultimately controversial design was for an urban park in downtown KC,KS. Today, he lives in California. (Click on images to enlarge) Elpidio Rocha, to be continued...

Carl Stenstrom, Architect- He called it "Stonestream"

A good friend of ours, Carl Stenstrom, (1927-2008) designed and built this house himself near Red Bridge Rd and the Blue River. After graduating(1950) from KU with a degree in architecture and being an avid devotee of Frank Lloyd Wright, he applied for apprenticeship at Taliesin. Wright asked him if he was married, he replied "Yes"... "Do you have children"? "Yes sir, one and one on the way", Wright said, "We don't have very much room around here right now, so you should go home and raise your family." Agreeing, but wanting to learn more, Carl worked on the construction crew during the building of Wright's Price Tower in Bartlesville OK. He became a wizard in concrete construction. He believed the most rewarding home was one you built yourself or at least helped build, growing "organically" as needs changed. His home was a great example of his thinking. He started building it in 1958.
The neighbor kids, now grown, tell stories about always hearing the cement mixer, it seemed it was running more than not. With classical music playing in the background, Carl did an enormous amount of work for one man.. moving rocks, mixing concrete, not to mention all the form work, carpentry, pouring the slab with radiant heat, etc, all while making a living as an architect to support family and construction ...In the carport building, in the space labeled studio, is where the family originally lived. It's a small space with kitchenette, fireplace, and hardly enough room for two adults much less a growing family. You know they hoped for fair weather so they could enjoy sleeping outside on cots.
The mid 1970's photos above show the "Wrightian" fireplace with lower ceiling deck and built-in seating to the left, "World Book Encyclopedia" on the shelves. Behind the fireplace is the retreat with the tower integrated with the fireplace. The house has plaster ceilings and cork floors, except in front of the french doors where he randomly placed flat stones in the concrete border. Carl designed a lot of his own furniture and the elaborate geometric screen in the dining room. The previous photo is taken from the dining room looking south toward the Steinway parlor grand piano in the back of the living area, the fireplace is to the left. (Sorry, the ceiling isn't stained, it's my photo)
After the house took shape Carl threw himself into building rubble stone retaining walls that stretched into the surrounding landscape. Under the car court in front, Carl built a 30ft.x30ft. concrete room to store his tools and to use as a shop.

Stonestream is the English translation of the Swedish name Stenstrom, which was appropriate considering the rain runoff that flowed through the property that Carl endeavored to control. Initially, he dammed the stream that bisected the property, you can see the shallow pond with the cantilevered master terrace hovering above in the photos. This created a very picturesque setting and provided a lot of fun for the family, note the canoe. The city later installed sewers making it a ditch. Carl filled the pond with dirt and built more retaining walls turning the slope into flat elevations.

The above winter photo taken from the hill behind the house, shows the low horizontal plan of the house in full. Mostly french doors on this south side, you get an idea of the pinwheel sprawl of the house. In the foreground, under construction, is the elliptical swimming pool retaining walls. He added an adjoining taller cylinder to house the changing room and kitchenette. Though never completed, when walking through it, you can appreciate Carl's vision.
Suffering from declining health, and unable to maintain the property, Carl and his wife moved. He passed away last year, just a few weeks after the Kansas City Star did another story about him and his house. Today, the house sits empty and vandalized. Two subsequent investor/owners did nothing to protect the house from the elements... it is in extremely poor condition.

KCModern salutes Carl and his dedication to his ideal.

Bixby Residence by Edward W. Tanner - Modern Photo of the Week

Name: Walter Edwin Bixby, Sr. Residence
Architect: Edward W. Tanner
Landscape Architect: Hare and Hare
Interior Designer: Kem Weber
Year Designed: 1935
Builder: Unknown
Year Built: 1936-37
Size: Unknown
Location: State Line Road, Kansas City, MO
Type: Residential
Style: Moderne with International Style influences
Status: Exterior excellent; Interior altered
Photographer: Jim Seelen

KCMODERN friend Jim Seelen has been out photographing lots of Kansas City are houses of all styles recently and posting them to his Flickr Site, SKY-VU . This one caught my eye.

More on this house next week!

Drummond "Flatties" - The J.C. Nichols Connection

In 1951 Francie Drummond returned from a trip to San Francisco CA. She had seen houses built by, and met, a successful Bay Area home builder named Earl Smith. She liked the way his new house plan functioned. He developed subdivisions and built many homes. Due to the flat roofs on his many houses he was nicknamed "Flat Top" Smith. Joe Eichler, another Bay Area builder/developer started his Sunnyvale Development with house plans obtained from Smith. Here are vintage photos of Smith's model and floor plan, courtesy of Robert. (click on image to enlarge)


Francie returned home with the plans and Don built the house almost identical to Smith's, only changing; sizes of specific spaces for buyers needs, siding types, using Reynolds Aluminum windows, offering smaller patios, landscaping by Stuart Mertz and Associates (out of St. Louis MO) and per Don "engineering the house to take ten feet of snow". He liked this plan because of it's sense of structure and lovingly called them "Flatties". He built one to "model" and sold more than he had lots...quickly fixing that with J.C. Nichols, he still had to deal with the concern for flat roofs and FHA Financing issues. The house below is one of the best preserved of all the "Flatties". So much of the original classic 1950's landscaping has "grown out" and wasn't replaced...the crab trees,tulip trees and junipers softened the edges...

Drummond built culdesacs of his "Flatties" at 71st Terrace and Mission, now demolished for a Care Center, but that's another story, and 75th and Ash...the west side of the street demolished for additional daycare space for the adjacent church and a fire wiping out another on the east side of the street. There are a few on Rosewood also.

This one sports shutters and a bay window with leaded glass and converted garage, an 80's redo, note the "Flattie" behind and to the left with yellow trim... the photo below has trees that obscure the breaks in the facade but reveals the vinyl siding and replacement windows.

Don said "once I put tops on, I sold more" , meaning I guess, he got extra mileage out of the plan by putting hip roofs on the houses. Today many of these houses are considered "old" looking, but in their day and with appreciative owners today, they can look pretty cool and still provide a great sense of space and economy. The house below was redone in the late 1970's by altering the entry and adding a front deck and sliding doors where the "picture" window was, still looking nice today... Interesting to note, this was the first house that connected Don to Eichler and later led to both their work with Case Study architects Jones and Emmons from California...

Stahl Residence - Case Study House #22 - THE ARCHITECTURAL PHOTO OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY- Modern Photo of the Week

Name: Stahl Residence - Case Study House #22
Architect: Pierre Koening
Year Designed: Unknown
Builder: Unknown
Year Built: 1960
Size: Unknown
Location: 1635 Woods Drive, Hollywood Hills, California
Type: Residential
Style: Modern
Status: Good and still owned by the original owner
Photographer: Julius Shulman

As you know we love the photos of Julius Shulman here at KCMODERN. We also love the Case Study House Program for Arts & Architecture magazine and the Stahl House in particular. We have posted it here before and it was named one of The Best Houses of All Time in L.A. This particular photo of the Stahl House, also known as Case Study House #22 is arguably "THE ARCHITECTURAL PHOTO OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY." It symbolizes the optimistic feeling of the "New" Modern Architecture and certainly typified the California interpretation of the style. Shouldn't everyone in California have a glass house overlooking Sunset Boulevard and the Los Angeles basin!

For more about the making of this iconic photograph read this article from LA magazine and this article from Taschen.

via Shorpy

Drummond's First Houses - Prairie Village, KS - The J.C. Nichols Connection - Part Two

This is a current photo of Don Drummond's first house in Kansas. Not necessarily what we think of as a "Modern" house, but it had many new distinctive features of it's day. (Click on Images to Enlarge) It also is the beginning of a significant relationship between builder and architect. After WWII, in 1946, Don had been building smaller, lesser expensive houses in KCMO...wanting to grow his business, he was encouraged by his Father-in-Law, Judge Woodruff to build in the emerging community of "Prairie Village" in the Country Club District as it was called by J.C. Nichols. In 1946-47, Don built his own home as a model to live in and to show to potential clients. With "Mr. Nichols" urging him to have an architect design his houses, Don engaged David Runnells to design his first home in PV. Don and his wife, Francie had met David Runnells, when Francie was on the Land Planning Committee for the "Western" Highway, known as 56 Hwy or Hwy 50 then, or now known as Shawnee Mission Parkway. Nichols was not a modernist, though he did believe in new home innovations, he was more concerned with what would sell and in his opinion maintain property values in his developments. Though not modern looking, the house had some pretty unique features such as the brick wall at the entry which continued inside, kitchen in the front and the living area with fireplace in the rear of the house with what would then be considered a lot of windows. Don tells a story of a rumor in the neighborhood that "peeping toms had moved in" so they could watch the actions of their neighbors...he laughed and said, " it took some getting used to for people as I built others in the neighborhood".... We have a 1947 promotional film showing this house with stained siding, the ample windows in back, kids riding trikes in the driveway and cars driving down 67th St. near Delmar, kicking up dust on the gravel road...hardly any trees in sight...just imagine PV without trees... the Drummonds stayed here until they moved into their Runnells designed modern house near 69th and Belinder in 1951.

Drummond's First Houses - Prairie Village, KS - The J.C. Nichols Connection - Part One

I love "First-Ring" suburbs. You can find the coolest MCM houses, not to mention interesting shopping areas, schools and churches. Since so many of the houses we have researched are in Prairie Village, KS it seemed like it would be interesting to explore it's early years. J.C. Nichols, the "father" of the internationally renowned Country Club Plaza Shopping District wanted to expand his company's developments into Kansas from nearby Missouri. He had already established Mission Hills as a place for the affluent. His desire was to build another community with shopping and recreation. These images are from an original promotional brochure.
After numerous attempts he finally purchased Elisabeth Porter's farm. With a promise to build her a house and enough land for an ample garden he sealed the deal. (This was the sister of the Porter that sold Nichols land around the area of Tomahawk and Roe, where Porter Park is today.)

This was not a "production" house from Nichols, but one of the best looking Cape Cods he built in P.V., it was all-brick, nicely scaled and because of it's location had a presence as the "Gatehouse" to the "Village", Nichols' shopping center. Definitely Nichols took advantage of this as a marketing strategy.

The land was platted and ready for construction when World War II began. Nichols called his new development "Prairie Village" in the Country Club District, associating this neighborhood with others he had created in KCMO, just across State Line Rd. With a "pent up" market of buyers returning from the military after the war ended, construction burst into action in 1946. The subdivision stretched from 67th street south to 71 street, Mission Rd to Roe. A total of 1776 houses were built in the sub-division. Prairie Village officially became a city in 1951, when 75th St was a dirt road west of Colonial Dr.(Click on images to enlarge)
Just look at the benefits a returning veteran could realize purchasing a house, with $257.53 cash required, a Vet would have a house payment of $68.15 on a 25 year loan, compared with a non-veteran FHA loan requiring $2683.33 in cash for a house payment of $67.93 (both payments do not include taxes and insurance)
Nichols, as usual, planned to build a shopping area adjacent to the residential community. In most of his communities it seems that all roads lead to his shopping districts.
This shows the original plan for the Prairie Village Shopping Center. Interesting to note the original location of the grocery store and drug store, very different than today...too bad we didn't get that theater!
As J.C. Nichols Company acquired more land to develop, he assembled an "All-Star" team of builders( as seen in the first image), many a generation or two in the business, and most, if not all, recognizable names today. Note Don Drummond, top row, third from left...to be continued...

Modern Houses of the World by Sherban Cantacuzino - Modern Illustration

I just love this Mid-Century Modern illustration. Apparently many other people do too. It is the second most viewed image in my Flickr photostream. The image depicts the Milam Residence at Ponte Vedra, Jacksonville, Florida by Architect, Paul Rudolph. The house was designed in 1959 and built in 1960-61 when Paul Rudolph was part of the Sarasota School of Architecture. Later Rudolph would become the Dean of the Yale School of Architecture. The image is an abstracted brutalist elevation which has been used as cover art for the book, Modern Houses of the World by Sherban Cantacuzino. It is a great little paperback that shows many mid-century modern houses throughout the world.

Click here to see a photo of the actual house and here to see a rendering by the architect.

Victor Beutner, Architect- "What's the Story on That House"?

Driving in KCMO on 39th Street east of Troost, you'll come across this home by architect Victor Beutner, who built it for himself in 1911. An example of the Prairie Style, this house is built of wood, masonry and stucco.
Today, the cedar tree is still there, the trellis is missing and "burglar" bars have been installed on the windows. This is an interesting area in our city, clearly wealthy and progressive in it's time. The form and mass of the structure is strongly reminiscent of Frank Lloyd Wright's design for Unity Temple in Oak Park, Illinois which was built on a flat site... this is built on what today we would call a "walkout" lot. It's fascinating to think this was the suburb of it's day.

Spider Mid-Century Modern House - Modern Photo of the Week

Name: "Spider House"
Architect: Unknown
Year Designed: Unknown
Builder: Unknown
Year Built: Unknown
Size: Unknown
Location: Belinder Street, Mission Hills, Kansas
Type: Residential
Style: Modern
Status: Demolished
Photographer: Robert McLaughlin

We do not know a lot about this house except about its untimely demise. Sorry for the uninspiring photo of this cool design, but I always thought that I would get back on a better day to shoot it. Before I knew it, this one was gone. If anyone has some better photos of this house that was somewhat famous in the community, please let us know.

This butterfly roof design was amazing with a big exposed exoskeleton, big south facing windows and redwood throughout. The original owner actually sold this house to the person who demolished it. Reportedly she could not bear the thought of someone else living there. It did have deferred maintenance issues, but I would have loved to have seen this one brought back.

Unfortunately the value of the land in this Belinder Street neighborhood has made smaller Modern Houses easy targets to be scraped for more Mission Hills McMansions. Architect, John "Jack" Morley's house next door fell to the bulldozer not long after this one. In the 1990s, Don Drummond's personal home diagonally across the street, designed by Architect, David B. Runnells was demolished to give the adjacent house a golf course view. Across the street to the south a Modern Drummond Castilian was remodeled into a hacienda. All of this makes us very worried about the future of the Marcel Breuer designed home just down the street.

Frank Lloyd Wright Book, "The Women" by T.C. Boyle, Reviewed by Ward Sutton in "Daddy Frank and the Curse of Sex"

There seems to be a rush of Frank Lloyd Wright books lately. And then there is the rumor of an option to produce a feature length movie. Who should we hire to play Mr. Wright himself?

The latest book is The Women by T.C. Boyle. Barnes and Noble chose to promote the book with an interview, review and hiring cartoonist and illustrator, Ward Sutton to give his take on the book with a graphic novelette, "Daddy Frank and the Curse of Sex".
Click Here for the Slide Show.

Ward Sutton’s cartoons and illustrations have appeared in the Village Voice, TV Guide, Rolling Stone, Time, Esquire, The New Yorker, and on the Op-Ed page of the New York Times.

Don Drummond's "Home for You in '52" - Modern Photo of the Week

In honor of KCMODERN's recognition for helping with the first ranch house survey in Kansas, I thought I would post one of our favorite ranch houses.

Name: "Home for You in '52" (modified L version)
Designer: Francie Drummond with Gier Sloan
Year Designed: circa 1950-51
Builder: Don Drummond
Year Built: 1955-56
Size: 1362 sq. ft. 3 bedroom 2 bath
Location: Prairie Village, KS
Type: Residential
Style: California Ranch
Status: Good
Photographer: Robert McLaughlin

While this photo may look like it was circa 1959, it was really taken on June 24, 2007, during the "Drummond + Weekend" House Tour in Prairie Village, Kansas.

This home was designed by Francie Drummond with the help of Gier Sloan and built by Don Drummond at multiple locations in both Kansas and Missouri. The straight version of this house was called the "Home for You in '52" in a 1951, Better Homes and Gardens magazine article. Sometime after that, the design was reworked into this L-shaped version so that it would fit on smaller lots.

The car is a 1959 Buick Electra and it belonged to one of the members of the local Buick club.

KCMODERN Acknowleged for Involvement In 1950's Ranch House Survey

In the November/December 2008 issue of Kansas Preservation, the magazine published by the Kansas Historical Society, KCModern was acknowledged for helping facilitate a survey by Sally Schwenk and Associates. We provided historical documentation regarding the construction of ranches and their growth in popularity. A neighborhood near 68th and Metcalf in Overland Park, KS wanted to protect themselves from zoning changes that would allow multi-family housing nearby. Passionate about their ranch neighborhood, they initiated the first study on ranches in the state of Kansas. A study is the first step in determining eligibility for an historic designation. KCModern salutes their efforts...(click on image to enlarge)

Experimental Eames Lounge Chair

Well this experimental chair is something that Charles and Ray Eames never put into production and the 1946 date on the photo predates the ubiquitous Eames Lounge Chair production by ten years. The chair is contemporaneous with the introduction of the Eames LCM and the seat shows some relationship to that design. But we can see that the many of the design elements of the Eames Lounge Chair are there. The curve of the seat, the back and arms as separate plywood pieces are all represented in the classic Eames Lounge Chair. Just add the beautiful leather upholstery.

The chair does show a rather crude, by Eames' standards, leg and arm attachment, which begs the question, was this a prototype to test the seating comfort only? Or was this simply early in Eames' career before their refinement skills were brought up to the highly refined standards we expect to see in Eames furniture today?

Via Shorpy

Shipping Container House in Kansas City

I was forwarded a news story recently on a local home that is under construction being built with Shipping Containers. I managed to drive by and snap a few pictures one day last week. The home is being built in Brookside and is currently midway through construction, it is going to have a very industrial feel when it is completed given the nature of the shipping containers. Check out their website for a rendering of the finished product. It must have been quite the battle with the city to get their approval on such a radical approach to home construction [in Brookside].

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.

The Modern Garden

As the weather gives a hope of warm Spring days ahead, my mind quickly turns to the garden after reading the Fall 2008 edition of Modernism. The Cultural Landscape Foundation and the Chicago Architecture Foundation joined forces for a conference in November and presented The Second Wave of Modernism in Landscape Architecture in America. Topics such as "what makes a landscape design modern?" were discussed by the nations leading landscape architects and garden design professionals of how they were influenced by the preceding generations of modernists.

Speakers included Andrea Cockran from San Francisco.

Walter Hood of Berkley

Tom Oslund of Minneapolis

Peter Lindsay Schaudt of Chicago

Michael Van Valkenburrgh of New York City

Reed Hilderbrand of Watertown, MA
Thomas Woltz of Charlottesville, VA