"Do I think that the tunnels and one way streets were a bad idea? Yes, I do. I think it was a terrible, disastrous idea for a city that needs to maintain a vibrant downtown." -Jack Gosnell, Dallas real estate broker
Here's a great video from You + Dallas on downtown Dallas' pedestrian tunnel system. When they were built in the 1960s, they were heralded as new, streamlined, climate-controlled retail corridors. Problem was, they pretty much killed the streets above them.
As the city of Dallas' new Downtown Dallas 360 plan is implemented, the city's tunnels and sky bridges may close to bring people back to the sidewalks. Is there a role for these places as the city evolves?
David Garber is the blog editor at the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
David Garber is the Coordinator of Blog Content & Outreach at the National Trust for Historic Preservation. He is a native of Washington, DC, and loves the intersection of preservation, innovation, and sustainability.
There's only so much that can be said before you watch this amazing video. So here is it, in all its glory. Turns out gangsta rapper and actor Ice Cube is a big fan of Los Angeles' Mid-Century design legacy. Check it out:
The video is part of a campaign by the Getty called Pacific Standard Time that celebrates art in LA from 1945-1980. The New York Timespicked up the story and interviewed Ice Cube about LA, his time as an architectural draftperson, and his appreciation for the places that make his city unique.
“What was appealing was showing off Los Angeles to people who think they know what Los Angeles is all about,” said Ice Cube, who is seen in the two-minute video cruising in a convertible 1960s Lincoln Continental and explaining the difference between the city’s “bougie” and “gangsta” freeways.
“Everybody who comes here thinks they got the place figured out, but you can never get this place figured out,” he said. “This place is like ‘The Wizard of Oz.’ ”
Preservationists are everywhere.
David Garber is the blog editor at the National Trust for Historic Preservation. If you have stories you think would interest PreservationNation, please send them to editorial@nthp.org for consideration.
David Garber is the Coordinator of Blog Content & Outreach at the National Trust for Historic Preservation. He is a native of Washington, DC, and loves the intersection of preservation, innovation, and sustainability.
Accessibility discussions usually seem to center around ways to retrofit historic properties to better accommodate people of all abilities. Why? Because it's an issue that still needs to be addressed at historic places all across the country that weren’t originally designed with universal accessibility in mind. Hey, we even blogged about the subject last week. It’s far less often that we come across old and historic buildings that were accessible from their start.
That said, it is incredibly refreshing to hear about efforts to preserve the Laurent House in Rockford, Illinois, which is the only Frank Lloyd Wright-designed home originally commissioned to be wheelchair-accessible. Completed in 1952 on a stretch of then-rural land four and a half miles outside the heart of Rockford’s downtown, the low-slung brick home was commissioned by Kenneth Laurent, an injured World War II veteran, and his wife Phyllis.
The Laurent Home and its furnishings are scheduled to be sold at auction on December 15. We had the opportunity to talk with John Groh, President and CEO of the Rockford Area Convention and Visitors Bureau and founding member of the Laurent House Foundation, about their efforts to buy the house, preserve it, and open it up to the public.
Tell us about the Laurent House Foundation. How did it start and what is its primary goal?
JG: The Laurent House Foundation started to come together about 3 years ago. It was within the last year that the group incorporated and appointed its first board of directors. The group's primary goal has always been to acquire the Laurent Home and its original Frank Lloyd Wright-designed contents from the original owners, Kenneth and Phyllis Laurent, in order to open the home to the public and ensure its lasting place in our community.
What are some of the design characteristics of the home and what is most inspiring about it as a place?
Inside the open living room of the Laurent House. (Photo: Wright)
JG: The Laurent House was one of FLW's Usonian homes, in the "hemicycle" style, based upon intersecting arcs and circles. The Laurent House is the second of only eight hemicycles he designed and the only one in Illinois. The culmination of this “arc and circle” experiment was the Guggenheim Museum in New York City.
Kenneth and Phyllis Laurent are the home’s original owners and still reside in the house. They are 92 years old and had a wonderful relationship with Frank Lloyd Wright. Mr. Laurent, confined to a wheelchair as a result of injuries sustained in World War II, "challenged the master" to design an accessible home. Completed in 1952, the Laurent House was fully accessible some 40 years before the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed. Mr. Laurent credits his home with giving him the will and motivation to live - and to do so fully. He noted that the home has allowed him to focus on his ability rather than his disability.... Read More →
David Garber is the Coordinator of Blog Content & Outreach at the National Trust for Historic Preservation. He is a native of Washington, DC, and loves the intersection of preservation, innovation, and sustainability.
An Eichler home in Palo Alto, California. (Photo: Flickr user Telstar Logistics)
Mid-Century Modern is a style on the rise. There's something about its clean lines, its intentional and idealized departure from more "traditional" ornament and craft, and the way it pulls you into its era. It has a warm grandma's house plus sleek Jetsons feel, yet is also very Etsy and Mad Men. Some hate, some love, but there's no denying its power and influence in the design world. See what people are saying about it (and more) in today's Preservation Round-Up.
"Steve Jobs grew up in a sleepy neighborhood in what was set to become Silicon Valley, in a home designed with simple but strong design elements that spoke to the middle class’ sense of leisure. It turns out that Job’s masterful use of modern design could have been incubated by growing up in that home, which was built by California's Modernist developer Joseph Eichler. The idea is not too far fetched - in Walter Issicason's biography on the design pioneer, Jobs admits "that his appreciation for Eichler homes instilled in him a passion for making nicely designed products for the mass market"."
"Mid-Century Modernism is a style that many Apartment Therapy readers cite as their favorite. But what is it about the mid-century aesthetic that makes it so popular? ... My guess is that most people like how Mid-Century Modernism (aka MCM) is simple and functional but still warm. It's both modern and organic, and doesn't feel either fussy or cookie-cutter. I also see a link between the handcrafted feel of a lot of MCM furniture and today's 'Etsy' aesthetic, which privileges handmade or found unique objects."
"Lives were not all that was lost during the Civil War. Many of the South’s grand antebellum homes that weren’t burned by Union troops were left to fall into decay. But Nell Dickerson’s new book, Gone: A Photographic Plea for Preservation, manages to capture some of these culturally important structures—and the history held in their eaves."
"The New York City entrepreneur who promises to find new life for the Michigan Central Depot — the city's most famous ruin — says its billionaire owner has spent millions of dollars this year cleaning up Detroit's former train station."
"WHAS11 News got a never before inside look at the empty buildings on the historic Whiskey Row. Preservation-minded developers saved the 150-year-old buildings from the wrecking ball but what they look like inside shows just how much work is ahead." Watch the news story below:
David Garber is a member of the Digital and New Media team at the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
David Garber is the Coordinator of Blog Content & Outreach at the National Trust for Historic Preservation. He is a native of Washington, DC, and loves the intersection of preservation, innovation, and sustainability.
This might look cool (okay, or just really creepy) but it can be quite bad for the exterior building materials. (Photo: Flickr user flavor32)
You've seen houses like this before. The ones absolutely covered with ivy or other climbing vines - or the houses with neatly cropped, almost topiary-esque, greenery growing on the exterior brick, stone, or stucco. There's usually about one per neighborhood. Problem is, those vines can take quite the toll on old and historic buildings.
See what Old House Webhas to say on the subject: "In the thrill of seeing such lovely ivy on my house, I made the classic mistake of not thinking about what was happening underneath it. That would be the tendrils creeping into every crack they could find in the brick, shimmying under the neighboring clapboard, and wrecking havoc underneath the lovely green blanket."
Historic Boston Incorporated recently completed renovations at on their new offices inside the old Dudley Square neighborhood firehouse. Check out the amazingly awesome fence they're building for it.
Speaking of awesome things... a young couple in San Antonio has begun renovations on an old house in the Dignowity Hill neighborhood. Why is this news? Because this renovation is the best of old and new, and, well, this whole "fixing up old houses in old neighborhoods" thing is a trend that just keeps giving. And there's a cool slideshow.
Good Buffalo news! "What many thought would surely see the landfill has had nothing short of a rebirth. St. Vincent's Orphanage stands as an incredible example of historic preservation near the brink of loss." Read this great account of how a high school is moving into the old St. Vincent's orphanage.
The Washington City Paper has an interesting piece on the next frontier of historic preservation. "...As time progresses, the definition of what we consider 'historic' also changes. That window is usually understood as about 50 years, which puts us in the early 1960s already." Is DC's Southwest Waterfront, a textbook example of urban renewal, the city's next historic district?
David Garber is a member of the Digital and New Media team at the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
David Garber is the Coordinator of Blog Content & Outreach at the National Trust for Historic Preservation. He is a native of Washington, DC, and loves the intersection of preservation, innovation, and sustainability.
The PreservationNation blog features stories, news, and notes from the National Trust for Historic Preservation as well as the wider preservation movement. Have a great story to share? Email us! And visit PreservationNation.org to learn more about people saving places.
While the writers of the PreservationNation blog are on staff at the National Trust for Historic Preservation or affiliated organizations, their posts are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
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