Some of the books recently acquired by library of the Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation include “vintage” books on Modernism—ones that were part of the campaign (a cultural battle) to establish Modern architecture as a viable choice for home owners. At the top-right is “Modern Houses”—a collection of designs published in 1964. The cover is quite beautiful: an abstracted version of the beach-side elevation of Rudolph’s Milam Residence—and you can compare it with a photograph of the house (plus Rudolph’s own rendering) which are in the book at the upper-left: an anthology of “Record Houses” published by Architectural Record.
LOOKING TO BE SURPRISED
When you’re already pretty-well acquainted with all that’s going on in the contemporary design scene, then where to you go for an infusion of something new?
The answer is The Past. That’s the place you’ll always be surprised. A big part of this undiscovered [forgotten] past—a treasure-archive of Modernism—is to be found in the body of books published in that era.
RESIDENTIAL PIONEERS OF MODERNISM
We’re speaking of the period, right after World War II in the USA, when returning veterans were ready to start families, and new home construction boomed. The preponderance of designs for new residences ranged from bland-to-blander—think of the the miles of “ticky tacky” cookie-cutter homes: the acres of tract houses, like the type sung about by Pete Seeger in the 1963 hit “Little Boxes.” Sometimes, these houses had a thin veneer of traditional design—or used vintage motifs like they were dignity-conferring “accessories.” Earlier housing developments in the US and England, from the late 19th century through the 1920’s, sometimes constructed rather large groups of houses of some distinction—but, by the post-war “boom,” design vitality seemed to have gone out of the system.
Suburban development in a northeastern section of Colorado Springs. Photo courtesy of David Shankbone, via Wikipedia GNU.
The conformity of the suburbs (including its architecture) was brilliantly critiqued in the 1990 film, Edward Scissorhands.
Edward Scissorhands Neighborhood, Source: 21st Century Fox, via The Geek Twins website.
Into—indeed, against—this design dullness (and the traditional dollhouse “dreamhouse” preconceptions of clients) the post-war generation of architects fought to present Modern architecture as a real and practical alternative, both for main homes and vacation getaways as well.
Rudolph, via his fresh (and often economical to build) houses, was one of those design warriors—and further famous (or famous-to-be) names in that old battle-roster included: Philip Johnson, Peter Blake, George Nelson, Eliot Noyes, Gregory Ain, Craig Elwood, Victor Gruen, George Matsumoto, and Abe Geller. Even more plentiful are the other architects who participated: doing good (and even adventurous) work, and who were occasionally published—ones who may have achieved a bit of renown at the time, but were ultimately not to become boldface names in architectural histories. Even so, they—all that work—deserve a re-look.
The cover of “Modern Houses of the World” had this elegant wrap-around design, playing on the elevation of Rudolph’s Milam Residence in Florida. The book, by Sherman Cantacuzino, was publihsed by Dutton Studio Vista in 1964. From the library collection of the Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation.
SEEING THE EXCITING IN THE OLD
The famous (and not-so-famous) residential archiects of that time had their work published in magazines—yes, that’s true—but those journals were primarily aimed at their colleagues. A wider audience (and maybe potential clients) might be found via the plenitude of books about houses published in the post-war era, ones that were marketed to the general public. These are volumes worth looking back on, studying, acquiring—and which are still inspiring. It is a selection of those, in the library of the Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation, that we share with you today.
Curiously, the interior text of the above book does not feature the Milam House—but it does include another celebrated Rudolph design: the “Umbrella House,” of 1953, designed for Philip Hiss in Florida..
“Vacation Houses” was published in 1962 by Harper & Brothers. It profiled 40 houses—plus including a section with insights and tips on practical approaches to planning and constructing such buildings.
This house, near the water and among the dunes, was designed by Peter Blake—who was to come to greater fame as a writer and long-time editor of Architectural Forum. [Bu-the-way: Blake’s memoir, “No Place Like Utopia: Modern Architecture and the Company We Kept” is a delicious insider’s view of the post-war architectural scene—and covers a “Who’s Who” of the major figures of that era.]
This house, of all the ones shown in the book, had one of the simplest plans: it is essentially a one-room cabin. But it also had one of the most emphatically expressed structural systems! Did Rudolph—consciously or not—remember this house when designing his Deane Residence?
A building boom has to serve a variety of buyers including those which are budget-minded—and the book market responded with volumes like this one: "Budget Houses,” published by Reinhold in 1954. Here, 100 houses were were profiled, all built for $20,ooo or less, and even a few at less than $5,000. [The equivalent of $20,000 (in the mid-1950’s) would be be about $190,000 today). Each house in the book was shown with a floor plan, several photographs, and—most usefully—info on budget, materials, and an analysis of the planning.
Architectural Record was—and still is—famous for producing their annual “Record Houses” issue. Each is devoted to the architect-designed houses which they think are of the most distinction or originality. This book, published in 1984, reviews and revisits a quarter-century of their coverage—and profiles 57 award-winning homes. Below are several views of pages from within this volume.
Jules Gregory’s design for a home in New Jersey (from the same year that Rudolph’s Milam Residence was also published) exemplified the more adventurously exotic pole of Modern residential design. The sweeping curves of the roof foreshadow the dramatic spaces within.
This house, fit onto a small, oddly shaped site in Chicago, has an austere and stately exterior—but, through careful planning, an inspiring set of bright, open spaces was created within. Booth & Nagel were the archiects—and this design makes us want to know more about them.
Rudolph’s Milam Residence in Florida was reported upon widely in the architectural & home design press—including in a 1963 issue of Architectural Record. That coverage is reprised in the book—and on this spread one can compare Paul Rudolph’s rendering with a photo of the finished result.
The book is punctuated with section introductions that make insightful observations on the evolution and directions of contemporary residential architecture—and they’re spiced by the superb cartoons of Alan Dunn (whose work also appeared in The New Yorker.). He had a special affinity for architecture, and was Architectural Record’s long-time cartoonist—for decades his offerings were one of the dependable treats of each issue. At the very end of the book is the page shown here, graced by Dunn’s take on Paul Rudolph’s Milam Residence. In this scenario, the man leaving (presumably the real-estate agent who has just competed the sale) offers a bit of advice to the new owners (and uses a fragment of a famous poem to do so):
“One thing more—it still takes a heap o’ livin,’ you know.”
BARGAINS FOR BRILLIANCE
Some of these books were donated to our library, and others purchased by our staff - some were such bargains (and even found in the “bargain bin” of the store).
Once again, it just-goes-to-show: High cost is not necessarily a determinant of quality. [Which some of the architects in these books exemplify by their work.]
As with much of Rudolph’s early residential work in Florida, sometimes fine things can be gotten for relatively small expenditure.