fort wayne parks get culture

The Fort Wayne Board of Park Commissioners approved five “cultural landscape reports” at their meeting today. These reports–completed by the Vermont landscape architecture firm of Heritage Landscapes–will provide the roadmaps for historic preservation, maintenance and improvements in the future. The completed reports for Foster Park, McMillen Park, Shoaff Park, Weisser Park and the Rudisill Boulevard will join three others already completed, and being implemented by FW Parks and Recreation in Swinney, Lakeside and Memorial Park.  Thanks go to the Fort Wayne Park Board for their committment to this historic preservation activity. Thanks also to Patricia O’Donnell at Heritage Landscapes for her amazing expertise, thoroughness, and ability to include so many different viewpoints into a plan that all can agree with. Thanks also to the Legacy Committee, led by Julie Donnell, and the donors who funded the projects, and the Friends of the Parks of Allen Couty. Thanks also to Alec Johnson, the new Fort Wayne Parks Landscape Architect.!

Last Stand for St. Vincent’s Church

ARCH received this letter:

February 18, 2008

 Dear Parishioners,

We have just learned that the St. Vincents Buildings and Grounds committee is making plans to have our 104 year old church and house at the N.W. corner of Auburn and Wallen roads torn down at a cost of over 100 thousand dollars on or about April 15, 2008. What a waste of money. What a shame.

This is not good stewardship and is a waste of our sacrificial giving. We have inspected the church and find it in fairly good condition. It will stand for another 20 or 30 years with little or no costs. The house is in good condition. Take a look for yourself. ARCH is working with the bishop [note: we have contacted the diocese and offered help with finding alternative uses for the building, but have not received a response] to save the beautiful 104 year old landmark. Let’s try to save it.

Please vote for a better solution for the use of our 100 thousand dollars and send it back to Fr. John A.S.A.P.

__1. Tear down the old church and the house and grass in the area at a cost of over 100 thousand dollars.

__2. Save the church and the house. Use the extra 100 thousand dollars to be used for the next several years to provide housing on a temporary basis for the poor and less fortunate. The MASTER gave us this house. We his servants should not bury it. The house should be used.

__3. Save the church and the house. Use the extra 100 thousand dollars to decrease the tuition of our children at St. Vincents school.

__4. Save the church and the house. Use the extra 100 thousand dollars to help the poor. Give the money to Matthew 25.

__5. Save the church and the house. Use the extra 100 thousand dollars to help solve our parking problems at the new church by adding about 200 parking spaces. This can be done by filling in our retention pond at the south end of our new church. Use large tile and stones to fill in the pond and put parking on top like many businesses are doing now.

Comments__________________________________________________.

Signature optional____________________________________________.

Thank You                                  Save the Church committee

posted by Angie

Leaving a trace

One of the mantras for those who camp or canoe or spend any time at all in public lands is “leave no trace.” The idea and ethic that having visited somewhere you should leave it as you found it for the next person to enjoy. Documenting LaGrange County is all about the traces that people leave behind. Houses, buildings, towns, cemeteries and bridges. Even, as is pictured here, an anonymous farmer’s roadside tree row.

Modernism in Indiana

Modernism, Indiana-style

By Angie Quinn and Michael Galbraith, ARCH Inc., Fort Wayne.

(This article was originally written for the Indiana Preservationist, but was not published.)

 

Mark Dollase’s excellent introduction to Indiana’s modern architecture (Indiana Preservationist, #6, November-December, 2005) identifies and highlights Indiana’s impressive collection of important Modern Architecture, and provides a jumping-off point to explore the residential side of a style which he described: “flat roofs, smooth and uniform wall surfaces, expansive windows, and a complete absence of ornament. Skeleton construction of steel or reinforced concrete is typical, though some smaller buildings use wood. The style usually favors a strongly horizontal form, often using ribbon windows to reinforce horizontality.”

Modernism’s roots are in the Midwest, with the ground-breaking work of Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright. Following publication of the first set of Wright’s work—the Wasmuth Portfolio—in Germany in 1911, several European architects and designers were inspired to create new forms and styles. These and other efforts soon created what was called Bauhaus style. Bauhaus included all of the elements that have come to be known as Modernism. Le Corbusier called these new homes “machines for living.”                     

  

The style then returned to America in the 1920s, with several immigrant architects who contributed major works nationally and in Indiana for the next four decades. Eliel Saarinen and his son Eero first came to the notice of American architects when Eliel submitted a modern design for the Chicago Tribune contest. Although the building did not win, the design was widely applauded. Eliel Saarinen was soon hired as director of Cranbrook School, in Detroit. He rarely designed residences in the United States; one is in Fort Wayne.

The A.C. Wermuth House was constructed 1941-1942. Eliel’s wife, Loja Saarinen, designed several interior textile pieces for the home. A.C. Wermuth was the contractor for many of the Cranbrook buildings, and also for the First Christian Church in Columbus, IN.

Richard Neutra—who worked with R.M Schindler, with most of his work centered in California. Neutra designed a home at Dune Acres, Indiana in the 1950s. Other International or Modern buildings in Dune Acres were designed by Keck & Keck, and Crombie Taylor.

In 1932 the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York exhibited recent architectural works and coined the term “International” to describe the style.  The show was curated by Philip Johnson, and Henry-Russell Hitchcock. During the decade that followed, interest in International or Modern style increased dramatically. The first large collection of the new style appeared at the Century of Progress Exhibition in Chicago in 1933. Following the Exhibition, the homes were taken by barge across Lake Michigan to Beverly Shores, Indiana (in Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore).

In 1938, Wayne and Jacob Knee, of Fort Wayne began construction of an International/Art Moderne home. Designed by Wayne Knee, the home was built by several family members. Designed as a double home, it was constructed of poured concrete, using a reusable mold for forming the walls and columns. Construction was completed enough to occupy in 1951, and although the home was occupied by family members until 1961 it was never quite finished. By 1966 it was vacant, and sold to a developer. It became a legendary hang-out for generations of Indiana teens, and others who were enthralled by the design. Architect Michael Graves visited the site during his years as a student and told ARCH that it was an inspiration in his own design work.  It was demolished in 1988.

Construction came to an almost complete stop during WWII, and commenced again beginning in 1946. Pre-fabrication was utilized in the Modern Lustron Houses built between 1948-1951. 148 of the homes were built in Indiana.

In 1949 Edwin A. Gibson, a principal in the firm of A.M. Strauss Associates in Fort Wayne, designed an International/Usonian home in Wildwood Park in Fort Wayne. Gibson was Indiana’s first registered by examination African American architect, and worked as the Indiana State Architect during the 1970s.  

In 1955 J. Irwin Miller—the foremost patron of Modern architecture in Indiana– asked Eero Saarinen to design a modern home for him in Columbus.  Landscape Architect Dan Kiley designed the garden. The Miller House is a National Historic Landmark for its exceptional design.

By the 1960s International and Modern design was losing popularity as ranch houses and neo-colonial homes were being built. A new generation of architects brought energy to the style in the late 1960s. “The New York Five” were featured in a 1969 Museum of Modern Art exhibit. The five young architects included Michael Graves, Peter Eisenman, Charles Gwathmey, Richard Meier, and John Hejduk. Graves, an Indiana native, designed his first professional commission in 1967 for the Hanselmann family  in Fort Wayne. He also designed the Snyderman House (now demolished) and the Crooks House (never built) for Fort Wayne families.

Another of the “Fivers”–Charles Gwathmey—designed the Sycamore Place in Columbus, with his firm, Gwathmey/Siegel Associates in 1982. Sycamore Place offers public housing. Pence Place Apartments, also in Columbus, was completed in 1985 by the firm.

As preservationists, we assume that a historic style has a general beginning and ending point. International and Modern style is unique, however, in it has not yet reached an end date. This poses an interesting challenge as the “modern” homes of the 1960s reach the 50 year benchmark for significance. While in the past, styles have been replaced by newer ideas, International has not yet met the next new thing.