Historic Restoration: A Museum in the Streets
As we near the celebration of the anniversary of our country’s independence, it seems fitting that we should write about a setting where an important Revolutionary War battle took place. This small village is but one of many in America that demonstrates the mettle of our forefathers. Ridgefield, Connecticut, is situated in the foothills of the Berkshire Mountains. It was first settled by English colonists from Norwalk and Milford in 1708 when a group of settlers purchased land from Chief Katonah of the Ramapoo tribe, part of the Mohegan group of the Algonquian. The most notable 18th century event was the Battle of Ridgefield on April 27, 1777. This American Revolutionary War conflict involved a small colonial militia force led by General David Wooster and Benedict Arnold. There are many landmarks from the Revolutionary War in the town, with most along Main Street. In the late 19th century, spurred by the new railroad connection to this rolling village, Ridgefield began to be discovered by wealthy New York City residents, who assembled large estates to build elegant summer ‘escapes’ throughout the higher sections of town. A several block stretch along Main Street, named The Museum in the Streets, is a stroll through the built environment of East Coast America of the 1700s and 1800s where there are many striking examples of Dutch Colonial, Queen Anne and Folk Victorian, and Greek Revival architecture. The cool summers under the forested canopy nurture colorful landscapes of rhododendrons, lilies, hydrangeas, roses, astelby, and lush ferns. The homes we find on Main are built exclusively of wood construction with wood or shingle siding. The small amounts of masonry are in the foundations of the structures. The stones, assembled and strewn about the landscape and rolling hills are "thrown" walls that ramble along property lines, haphazardly built by farmers clearing their pastures. "The Walls" are a signature of this lush landscape...we will detail their stories in the next blog.
Steve Chambers: An Architect Reviews Dallas Historical Architecture and its Preservation
Steve Chambers, AIA, inside You+Media Dallas officesAt the fulcrum of Commerce, Pearl, and Central is a fittingly triangular-shaped building that is currently home to the vibrant business, You+Dallas and its parent company, You+Media. Most Dallas residents know 2130 Commerce as the former address of KLIF radio, the Mighty 1190. Years later it housed the Dallas Observer, and more recently the ad agency PowerPact.
Northeast view of 2130 Commerce The Magnolia Petroleum Co. constructed several memorable pieces of architecture; 2130 Commerce is the smaller of two in downtown Dallas. Magnolia branded its identity with many similar three to five-story configurations in what appears to me to be Spanish Eclectic (the AIA book, Guide to Dallas Architecture, describes this building as “commercial Gothic with Prairie-esque flourishes”) styles. Many examples can still be found across the U.S. Southwest. These commercial ‘blocks’ of brick veneer often incorporated flat roofs, decorative cornices, terra cotta tiles and arched openings for drive-through bays within the building. The standardized corporate designs were multi-story versions that usually included office space on the upper floors for Magnolia employees. Magnolia preferred corner locations, allowing for the drive-through bays to access two streets.
Southeast view of 2130 Commerce, showing expansive Spanish-style archesDeveloper Reggie Graham, now owns 2130 Commerce and renovated it, along with nine other distinctively rehabilitated commercial spaces in the area. Reggie’s signature aesthetic (Masters in Architecture, Harvard) is deeply appreciative of the ‘bones’ of these historical structures, which used to house what was known as ‘Automobile Row’ in downtown Dallas. In the 1920s and 30s, automobile dealers, repair shops, and gas stations dotted the landscape of the southeastern edge of the city. Mr. Graham’s renovations retain the outer character of the original architecture and reveal the period craftsmanship of the interior construction. With the juxtaposition of modern materials, details, and views to these vintage structures, new spatial relationships are formed and create an entirely contemporary ambiance without sanitizing history. These sensitive treatments show us Dallas’ own ‘Tale of Two Cities:’ the one with an energetic mercantile past; the other a breathtakingly artistic and creative future.
It’s no mystery that the You+Media owners chose this striking piece of geometry for their new home. During Plato’s time, platonic solids like this truncated triangular building were thought to act as a template from which all life springs. Some of the many terms historically associated with the triangle are: creativity, harmony, manifestation, illumination, integration, and culmination. In Platonic Solid Theory, the three-dimensional triangle also represents the dimensions of space, time, and form. The fulcrum is believed to be the agent through which the vital powers of an enterprise converge and reveal themselves.
Front view, 2130 Commerce looking westYou+Media is a convergence media company, which takes the best parts of traditional media like radio, television, newspapers and magazines then combines them with online and mobile technology to create more powerful media experiences. It is a content company that tells day-to-day stories of life in cities, neighborhoods, and homes. These narratives are about the people, institutions, and culture that define individual cities. You+Media does this by sharing content created by their clients, combined with the resources of their company to create new content, develop and produce events, and share the advertising revenue streams generated by combined projects.
Interior 3-story atrium of 2130 Commerce
We welcome this new voice in the Dallas terrain, a business that chronicles who we were, what we are, and where we are going. And it’s singing from the soul of an architectural grande dame!
After viewing these photos, write and let me know what architectural style you think that 2130 Commerce is!
Terra cotta decorative tile and cornices
Decorative magnolia flower detail
Interior bridge between 2120 Commerce and 2130 Commerce
Visitor seating area at You+Media
Interior stair to outdoor roof deck
Reggie Graham: owner, developer, designer for 2130 Commerce and many commercial buildings at the southeast edge of downtown Dallas...and a spellbinding raconteur!
Steve Chambers: Compares and Contrasts Historic and Modern Louisiana Architecture
University of Louisiana at Lafayette
Steve Chambers, AIA, studying stairwell of new museumBuilt in 1967, the university’s first art center was designed by A. Hays Town modeled after the 1812 Hermitage Plantation, an antebellum building in Darrow, Louisiana. The building is completely surrounded by 24 Doric columns, laid in the Greek Revival manner with bricks covered by plaster, the columns narrowing slightly toward the top.
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| Town Museum in front of new Hilliard Museum |
Originally, this building was a pale pink, an authentic reproduction of a color popular in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries in colonial Louisiana, made by crushing old bricks and mixing the dust with paint. A. Hays Town used bricks salvaged from Martin Hall, the university’s administration building demolished in 1963, for the costruction of the Art Center, as well as its color. Mr. Town also utilized the ‘embodied energy’ of the Martin Hall staircase railing and newel post, as well as recycling cypress flooring from a New Orleans convent and slate tiles used as ballast in New Orleans sailing ships for use in the Center. Whether or not this effort in sustainability was intentional, it was certainly a cutting-edge design decision by Mr. Town.
 Original museum reflected in the new museum's exterior glass wall |
Contrasting with its predecessor is a modern response designed by Eskew + Dumez + Ripple Architects. The new building is a steel-frame structure with precast-concrete walls on three sides and a glass curtain wall on the side facing the original Art Center. Depending on time of day and angle from which it is viewed, the glass alternates between reflective and transparent. Sometimes the viewer sees the old antebellum building in the glass; other times, we see the contemporary ‘bones’ and art of the new museum.
Of particular interest to me on my recent visit there was the stairwell of the new building. As one ascends to the contemporary art of the second floor, perforated metal walls and cathode tubing cast clean, white light and strobing images. From public spaces on the second floor, visitors can see the outdoor water feature and sculpture garden, as well as the original museum from an unusual vantage point.
When visitors look back at the old building they see the roots of Louisiana’s past. In the new design, they see the creativity and possibilities of its future. Both A. Hays Town and architecture firm of Eskew + Dumez + Ripple are to be commended for their vision and gift to Lafayette’s diverse cultural landscape. While the two buildings differ radically, they enhance rather ignore each other.
Town's original museum as seen from second floor of new museum
Eastern exterior view between old and new museums
Outdoor waterwall as seen from inside new museum gift shop
Second floor glass and metal corridor in new museum allows unusual vantage point to view antebellum museum from overhead
Steve Chambers, Residential Architect, Studies San Antonio's McNay Remodel/Historic Residence
A forward-thinking Ohio artist, Marian Koogler McNay, provided her San Antonio home, art collection, and considerable endowment to establish the first modern art museum in Texas. Her Spanish Colonial Revival house designed in 1927 by the renowned architect, Atlee Ayres, became its core. Today, the meticulously preserved original structure includes additions by O'Neill Ford and a recently completed strikingly modern wing designed by Jean-Paul Viguier.
The McNay provides us with a successful model of how a structure can grow over time through the visions of various architects and still remain honest, expressive, and relevant. Each addition reveals the character and period of its implementation while maintaining overall integrity and function as a repository of significant modern art, a world-class theater arts library, and an educational facility. We must also give credit to the forward-thinking community of San Antonio for embracing these sensitive additions to the historic Spanish Colonial home.
