Paul Rudolph designed this card, on the theme of the Three Wise Men. Donated to the archives of the Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation by the family of Louis Gardner.
THE PAUL RUDOLPH HERITAGE FOUNDATION Wishes YOU ALL A WONDERFUL (AND WELL-DESIGNED) HOLIDAY AND A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR !
A RUDOLPH DESIGN
In this season, we are pleased to share a holiday design by Rudolph himself: a modern version of the story of the Three Wise Men.
This etched postcard, from 1940, was recently found in the files of Louis Gardner, a friend and fellow student of Rudolph’s. Gardner and Rudolph were classmates at Alabama Polytechnic (now Auburn University) where they were both studying architecture during the 1930’s. [It was from Alabama Polytechnic that Rudolph received his first architecture degree, before going onto his Masters at Harvard.]
The Gardner family has graciously donated this unique work of Rudolph’s to the archives of the Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation, as well as numerous architecture and art books and museum catalogs from the late Mr. Gardner’s extensive library.
AN ARCHITECT—AND THE GIFT OF FRIENDSHIP
No one would deny the importance of friends in their life—they are sometimes the greatest gifts to our lives—and they are also important linkages to knowledge, news, resources, ideas, and even power. But when it comes the biographies of architects, the existence of friends (and the practice of friendship) is generally not known or shown in-depth, and—when mentioned at all—is done without much background on the architect’s social network. [This is in stark contrast to the biographies of most other “creatives”—artists, musicians, performers, and especially writers—which are fully attentive to the power of friendships.] We know of—and have mentioned in our articles—a handful of Paul Rudolph’s friends—but, on the whole, his history is largely quiet on the topic.
Thus it is a gift, to our expanding knowledge of Rudolph, to be able to share about of one of his friends: architect Louis Gardner—who passed at 100 in 2018, and who was a lifelong admirer of Rudolph’s genius for architecture, design, and lighting innovations.
LOUIS GARDNER BIOGRAPHY
Louis Gardner (né Goldberg), AIA (1918-2018), was born in the same year as Paul Rudolph. A native Alabamian, he met Rudolph while they were studying architecture together at Alabama Polytechnic Institute (now Auburn University) from which he received a Bachelor of Architecture (Class of ‘39) one year before Rudolph. This was followed by a Masters in Architecture from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Class of ’40). Like Rudolph, Louis Gardner served during WWI: first in the US Army Corps of Engineers where he rose to Colonel, and then as a reservist for 26 years. An architect in private practice in New York for decades, his projects included the Pan Am Worldport/Terminal 3 at JFK International Airport (formerly Idlewild Airport).
Architectural model of the Pan Am “Worldport” terminal at JFK (then Idlewild) airport in NYC, designed by Louis Gardner. Photographed by Gottscho-Schleisner, Inc., courtesy of Wikipedia.
Opened in 1960, the Pan Am Worldport was revolutionary for its round “flying saucer” roof suspended from exterior columns by 32 sets of posts and cables.
News coverage of the Worldport building, as shown in this clipping from the files of Louis Gardner.
Other of Mr. Gardner’s projects were the restoration and expansion of West Point’s 1926 Thayer Hotel plus several academic buildings, numerous urban planning programs, private residences along the eastern seaboard, and the Gardner family home in Manhattan. Located on East 71st Street, he transformed a dowdy 19th century townhouse (on the wrong side of the soon-to-be-demolished Third Avenue Elevated railway) into a sleek Modern environment for living, entertaining, art collecting and raising a family with his wife, Madeline Capp Gardner and their children. The most striking design element of the house was the story-high sliding glass doors that replaced the fourth wall on the parlor floor creating a continuous white plane extending from indoors to outdoors – starting with linoleum tile flooring and white brick walls, continuing outside with the white marble squares, and ending with white pebbles and fence at the landscaping. (Unsurprisingly, the pebbles had to be raked every week and replaced entirely every year to maintain the pristine look.)
An illustration from an article in the files of Louis Gardner, showing his NYC residence—wherein the architect created consummately Modern settings within the context of an existing NYC townhouse.
The Modern living room, with the Gardner family gathered in the rear. The home was filled with interesting art, and above the fireplace is “Hay Making Machine,” a painting by Francis Picabia Hache Paille (circa 1919). The glazed-in living room (of the above photo) can be seen through the opening at the right.
Mr. Gardner won two design excellence awards from the AIA. His professional and military archive is at Auburn University, where it is currently being cataloged. It includes vintage measuring and drafting tools he used as an architecture student. His watercolor of the antebellum home, Rosemount in Forkland, AL, is in the Library of Congress (Historic American Buildings Survey), and was made for an advanced class in architectural rendering at Auburn and for which he received First Medal.
ROAD TRIP TO PAUL RUDOLPH’S FAMILY HOME
Louis Gardner’s lifelong admiration for Paul Rudolph solidified during a road trip from Auburn to the Rudolph family home in Elkton, KY sometime between 1936-39. Mr. Gardner recalled that the house was a humble wooden structure located in the “boondocks,” with rocking chairs on the front porch. But, once inside Rudolph’s own room, he encountered a thoroughly astonishing space designed by and outfitted with original modern furniture crafted by the young Rudolph himself.
OUR GENEROUS DONORS
Alexa Gardner (Louis Gardner’s daughter) is a native New Yorker. She received a BA in Modern Art & Architecture History from Smith. Upon graduation, she joined Sotheby’s (formerly Sotheby Parke Bernet) Latin American Painting Department. Her specialties also include intellectual property licencing; she has represented SNOOPY (PEANUTS) and others.
Anthony Gardner (Louis Gardner’s son) is a literary agent in New York City. He earned a BA in Comparative Literature at Columbia University.
Alexa and Tony are thrilled that many of their late father’s books and catalogs will be used by scholars, researchers, students, and other appreciators of Paul Rudolph—and we are grateful for their ongoing generosity.