DOCOMOMO US June 2013 E-News Brief

JUNE 2013 DOCOMOMO US is the working party of Docomomo in the United States. It is a 501(c)3 registered non-profit organization, a union of regional chapters that shares its members' knowledge of and enthusiasm for the Modern Movement, promotes public interest in it through lectures and walking tours, and organizes advocacy efforts to protect endangered sites and buildings. Join the national community of architects, historians, preservationists, students and modern movement enthusiasts dedicated to raising awareness of the importance of modern architecture and landscapes in the United States. Membership is available online at www.docomomo-us.org or by downloading our membership form. Go Modern! at www.docomomo-us.org, and follow DOCOMOMO US on Facebook and Twitter   IN THIS EDITION:

World Trade Center threatened in New Orleans

Published by Anonymous on Tue, 2013-05-28 17:55

New Orleans, Louisiana. Another mid-century modern building may be demolished in the Crescent City. Edward Durell Stone’s World Trade Center, built as the International Trade Mart, has been under threat since the mid-1990s. Begun in 1959 and partially occupied by 1966, the ITM set the standard for other such structures worldwide. Designed to promote foreign commerce through the Port of New Orleans, the ITM was home to the trade organization, the Dock Board, stevedores, international consulates, shipping companies, a women’s clinic, modistes and an art gallery.

Stone and associate architect Robert Lee Hall conceived the 33-story building with nautical associations, an enormous compass and an anchor to a landscaped plaza adjacent to the Mississippi River. Developers hoped that New Orleans would become the modern world’s Damascus and Stone aligned the structure’s four wings with the cardinal directions.  Situated atop 600 tension piles, the reinforced concrete structure afforded 4 wings of leasable space on each of the office floors. Solid concrete panels alternated with floor-to-ceiling windows that provided expansive views of the city surpassed only by the penthouse vista. Macton Machinery Company -- maker of the 1964 New York World’s Fair “Tower of Light” -- fabricated the revolving penthouse cocktail lounge that visually linked the Mississippi to Lake Pontchartrain.

When asked about the building, Hicks Stone, Edward Durell Stone's son and author of the book Edward Durell Stone: A Son's Untold Story of a Legendary Architect stated, "Father’s building is a serene and elegant presence on the New Orleans skyline. Its vertical lines are emblematic of his 1960s era work. A look at any image of the surrounding buildings quickly reveals a dizzying array of clumsy and charmless contemporary high-rises. The only other building that stands out as a project of distinction is Skidmore, Owings and Merrill’s One Shell Square, but even that has a sterile and anonymous quality to it. If they demolish Father’s building, they are destroying the best contemporary high-rise that they have. Instead of tearing it down, the owners should expend some effort into restoring and improving it."

New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu recently proclaimed the site the “most important piece of property in the city” and announced his interest in replacing the building with a monumental attraction akin to the Gateway Arch.  The city is now considering three proposals to redevelop the site and should make a decision later this summer. Follow Docomomo US on Facebook to receive updates about the building.

Photograph:  May 2013
See:  Bruce Eggler. “Decision on New Orleans World Trade developer not expected until July.” The Times-Picayune (30 April 2013). As viewed 18 May 2013 at: http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2013/04/decision_on_world.html#incart_river

SOM 1958

The former Pan-American Life Insurance Company Building (1951-52), designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill with Claude Edgar Hooton, Jr. (1905-1993). The National Register structure is currently being restored and repaired for use by the Veterans Administration.

Image above: Detail, F.Donald Gibson, letter to Freret-LaCour, 3 December 1958, Building Letterheads, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

DOCOMOMO advocates for the adaptive reuse of the Wheatley School

The School Facilites Master Plan of Orleans Parish has consistently threatened to eradicate important mid-century modern public schools from New Orleans’ historic neighborhoods. From the outset, DOCOMOMO US/Louisiana identified Charles Colbert’s Phillis Wheatley Elementary as one of the most architecturally significant buildings of the twentieth century.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency assessed the building as eligible for the National Register, thereby triggering the National Historic Preservation Act’s Section 106 Process. DOCOMOMO US/Louisiana -- in an effort to save the building -- agreed to participate as a Consulting Party in the Section 106 Process. Since the NHPA review process began, the World Monuments Fund has cited the structure for its 2010 Watch List, referring to it as an “architectural gem unique to New Orleans.”

As public support for adaptive reuse has grown, the RSD has acknowledged that Wheatley is not a generic twentieth-century building and deserves to be considered carefully. The hiring of Holly and Smith Architects to assess the feasibility of adaptive reuse is an acknowledgment of the building’s importance. In fact, Wheatley is the only Orleans Parish School Facility which the RSD has considered for adaptive reuse.

The successful renovation of Charles Colbert's McDonogh 36 School by the Early Childhood Family Learning Foundation demonstrates the feasibility of adaptive reuse for mid-century modern school architecture and provides a model by which Wheatley may be rehabilitated as a twenty-first century school.