"She's a Brick House"

     This week we return to our more Modern buildings. Here is the former ACME Brick showroom building on Victory St in Little Rock, AR. This building is really a step beyond the International Style movement that we have been discussing. It contains many elements found in the International Style, but there are a few ornamental touches that would have been somewhat sacrilege in the International Style movement. However, we will discuss the architectural elements of the building in a moment. First let me tell you a bit more about the building's history. The ACME Building was designed by the firm of Eherhart, Eichenbaum, & Rauch and was constructed in 1958. Eherhart, Eichenbaum, & Rauch is the firm that is responsible for buildings such as Beaux-Arts Parnell Hall at Arkansas School for the Deaf (1931), the Art Moderne styled Arkansas State Tuberculosis Sanitarium in Booneville (1938), and the original International Style St. Vincent's Hospital (1958) at the corner of University and Markham in Little Rock.The ACME Building was designed to serve as the showroom for the various products that ACME Brick had to offer. To this end, the firm designed the building in such a way that the exterior became as much a showroom as the interior was.  We see the dark, almost black brick on the majority of the facade. The inset on the West facade is accented by yellow and golden bricks with concrete textile blocks creating sun screens in front of the windows. The floating steps are even made of bricks which were set into a cantilevered metal frame. When looking at the building with this mindset, it fully exemplifies the Modern architectural concept of the function or purpose of a building being evident on its exterior. ACME stayed in the building until 1996 when they sold it to the state for offices. Various different agencies have been housed in the building since then, most recently the Arkansas Asphalt Pavement Association. However, there will never be a more appropriate inhabitant than ACME Brick. Now, let us discuss the architecture of the building, from top to bottom.
     Starting with the roof of the ACME building, we find our first significant feature. While it may appear as your standard floating, flat roof, the same sort of roof seen in hundreds of other Modern buildings, it is in the construction of it where we find its significance. It was created use of what is called a "lift slab" system. This is done when the roof plane is poured on the ground and then lifted up by means of hydraulic jacks to rest upon the structural columns which are installed after it is lifted. To my knowledge, this was the first building in the state to have this construction system implemented on it.

    Next, let us move from the roof to the body of the building. Other than the beautiful, if not a touch gaudy, metallic gold bricks, the most noticeable feature on the building's main facade is the concrete textile block screens that adorn it. This elements, which constitute a departure from the strict ornamental minimalism of International Style, serve a function beyond just aesthetics. These screens not only provide a bit of privacy to the offices beyond the windows which sit behind the screens, but they also provide a bit of shade without completely blocking the light. Similar design elements were used in the highly popularized Palm Springs Modern houses of A. Quincey Jones, Palmer & Krisel, and George & Robert Alexander. We also see this architectural feature locally in Arkansas. Architect Dietrich Neyland of Ginocchi, Cromwell, & Associates used a very similar concept in his designs for Reynolds Elementary in Morrilton (1956), UALR Commons (1956), and two buildings at Philanders Smith College in Little Rock (1957). The internationally renowned Arkansas architect Edward D. Stone was also known for commonly using a concrete textile block screen. Some notable examples of this from him are his designs for Carlson Terrace Apartments (1957) and the Sigma Nu Fraternity House (1953), both at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. The likelihood that the designers at Eherhart, Eichenbaum, & Rauch were familiar with these building is pretty high, but no direct connections can really be made on influence. However, it is a functional as well as beautiful element to include on any Modern building, and it certainly does help this one to stand out a bit more.

UALR Commons by Dietrich Neyland (1956)

Carlson Terrace Apartments by Edward D. Stone (1957)

     Finally, we come to the base, or more specifically, the stairs. This is actually my favorite element on the entire building. They were designed by a young Gene Levy who was interning with Eherhart, Eichenbaum, & Rauch while he was in school. Mr. Levy went on to work directly under Dietrich Neyland at Cromwell, and later to become a partner at Cromwell, but I digress. While Mr. Levy describes the stairs a series of geese looking over one another, I think there is a more famous source of inspiration for these stairs. A similar set of floating stairs were designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe for his Farnsworth House (1951). Young Mr. Levy, being a good architecture student, would have known of this elegant staircase. Now whether Mr. Levy was conscious of this influence is unknowable, but the staircase that came out of young Mr. Levy's mind is a source of joy for me every time I drive by and see them.

Gene Levy's design for the ACME Building staircase

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's staircase at Farnsworth House (1951)

   As we have seen, though this building may have intended to be just a simple showcase, the resulting composition is one of lasting interest and significance.

A detail shot of the golden brick and concrete textile block screen

International Style in the Capital City: Part 3

501 Building West Facade on Woodlane Street

  This week's installment of International Style in the Capital City brings us to the 501 Building on Woodlane Street, facing the Capital building. The 501 Building was originally called the National Old Line Insurance Company Building, being named after the builder of the building. It was designed by Arkansas architect Yandell Johnson. Johnson was originally from St. Louis, MO, but moved to Arkansas in 1938. After spending WWII in the U.S. Navy, Johnson and his first wife, architect Mary Johnson, decided to open a firm together in Little Rock in 1946. In the following twenty-one years, Johnson worked on 385 design projects, including the National Old Line Insurance Company Building. In 1967 Johnson was named an A.I.A. Fellow, the first in Arkansas. After this he closed his own firm and eventually worked for two other firms until 1978, when he retired. During his career he designed houses and commercial buildings all over the state of Arkansas, including houses in the Stifft Station/Capital Hill area and in the Park Hill area, however he is best known for his work on the National Old Line Insurance Building.

    The National Old Line Insurance Building was built in 1955 and is one of the most beautiful and best preserved examples of the International Style in the state. It has many of the tell-tale characteristics of the style; the curtain walls with ribbon windows, clean and ornamented facades, large cantilevered planes, and and an overall boxy form. The building design draws a great deal of influence from the work of Walter Gropius, founder of the Bauhaus School of Design and father of Modern Architecture. His design for the Bauhaus Student Quarters in Dessau, Germany and Gropius's entry for the 1922 Chicago Tribune Competition, the largest architectural design competition in the 20th Century, share several design elements in common with Johnson's design for the National Old Line Insurance Building. 

The Student Building at Bauhaus in Dessau by Walter Gropius in 1925

   

Gropius's design for the Chicago Tribune Tower Competition, 1922

We can see the same horizontal wrapping influence of ribbon windows with large cantilevered planes above on both Gropius designs that is present in the National Old Line Insurance Building. There is also vertical elements that serve to break up the dominant horizontal movement present in Gropius's Bauhaus design that we find in Johnson's design. These vertical elements serve much the same purpose in Gropius and Johnson's designs as they do in the Tower Building that I discussed in a previous post. They serve to house the service systems, i.e. elevators, stairs, and HVAC systems. 

Vertical element on the Wesr facade of the 501 Building

While Johnson is little known in his own state and even lesser known beyond Arkansas, he shared similar ideas to other more influential architects of his day. The internationally renowned, Arkansas-born architect Edward Durrell Stone produced some designs that were closer to Johnson's designs than Gropius's. Stone's 1951 design for the "new" Fine Arts Building at University of Arkansas bares a striking resemblance to Johnson's design. It has the same projecting overhangs, ribbon windows, and general form. However Stone's design does lack the vertical elements in both Gropius's and Johnson's designs. There is also the matter of material choices in the two designs. Both have steel structures with reinforced concrete projections, however where Stone chose to face his curtain walls with buff colored brick, Johnson used cut limestone slabs. Johnson's approach creates a clean surface more in keeping with the International Style ideals. Couple of other similar structures to Johnson's design are the twin towers of Yocum and Humpfreys Halls, by Mott, Mobley, & Horstman (1962). These towers are rather like a half way point between Stone's Fine Arts Building and Johnson's 501 Building. They have Stone's materiality but a form closer to Johnson's design.

Edward Stone's Fine Arts Building at University of Arkansas (1951)

 

Yocum and Humpfreys Halls at U of A by Mott, Mobley, & Horstman, 1962

  The National Old Line Insurance building has changed hands a few times over the years, but the architectural charm of its design still holds firm. It currently houses several state offices, including the Arkansas Building Authority. There have been some attempts to have the building torn down due largely to the contrasting styles of the strictly Modern Johnson building and the neoclassical style of the Capital, however, none have succeeded. Personally, I think the contrast created by the positions of the two buildings enhances the beauty of both. They serve to point out and draw attention to elements that define both styles. Hopefully the two buildings and continue to coexist and perhaps someday a mutual appreciation for both will form. 

International Style in the Capital City: Part 2

The Tower Building at the corner of 4th and Center Streets

     This week's installment of Arkansas International Style is the Tower Building, also known as Catlett-Prien Tower, in downtown Little Rock. This eighteen story building is notable for many reasons beyond the International Style of its architecture. Upon completion in 1960, it was the first skyscraper in the state of Arkansas and remained the tallest building in Arkansas until 1968, when One Union National Plaza surpassed it by thirty-one feet upon completed. Another significant fact about the Tower Building is why it was built. It was the brainchild of Winthrop Rockefeller, the grandson of the oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller. W. Rockefeller felt that in order for Arkansas to really advance industrially it needed "modern" high rises in its capital city. Rockefeller believed in this idea so much that he primarily funded the construction of the Tower Building, which was later used to house a large part of his company here in Arkansas. Rockefeller went on to head the Arkansas Industrial Development Commission to further his dreams for Arkansas industrial advancement and later to be governor for two terms. 

  The architecture of the Tower Building is equally significant as its past for the state of Arkansas. The design of the building was the work of two architects, Harold A. Berry and Frank Eugene Withrow. Berry was an architect from Dallas, TX, who had worked on similar sized projects before, was the lead architect and responsible primarily for the exterior design of the building. Withrow was an Arkansas architect with little experience on similar projects and as such was put in charge of designing the interior of the Tower Building. Berry's design for the building's exterior was likely influenced by the recently completed and high praised design by Flatow, Moore, Bryan, and Fairburn for the Simms Building (1954) in Albuquerque, NM.

Sims Building (1954), Albuquerque, NM

The similarities in the designs are pretty obvious. Both buildings have glass curtain wall exteriors on the North and South facades, and both buildings have brick masonry walls for the East and West facades. However, here is were the similarities end. The Simms Building is notably shorter than the Tower Building, at thirteen stories (180ft) to eighteen stories (300ft). Also the placement of the service and utility spaces differ. The Simms Building design has these spaces confined to the central interior of the tower, a relatively common practice even in today's skyscraper design. In the Tower Building these spaces are pushed to exterior of the building, manifesting in the vertical perpendicular limestone mass on the South facade. This move not only opens up more interior space for offices but also introduces a dynamic break to the large flat glass facade, creating a more striking composition. There is also the treatment of the ground levels of the buildings that differ. The Simms Building design opted for a large horizontal glass massing for the ground floors, rather similar to Gordon Bunshaft's design for Lever House (1952) in New York City. The Tower Building also has large horizontal massing on the ground level, but it is not covered entirely in a curtain wall. Instead, the design called for a large covered outdoor area with a fountain to welcome people from the street into the building. This open area covers the entire corner of the building and terminates in offices/retail spaces enclosed in glass curtain walls. These differences not only set the Tower Building's architecture apart from the building that inspired it, but also show a departure and , arguably, improvement of skyscraper design at the time. 

Lever House (1952), New York City, NY

    The Tower Building is praised for being an ideal design for an International Style office tower, not only in Arkansas but in the greater school of International Style buildings. The Tower Building was awarded a place on the National Register of Historic Places in 2011 because of the exceptional way in which it exemplified the characteristics of International Style. It has almost no ornamentation to speak of, its large facades are covered in either glass curtain walls or standard uniform brick masonry, and there are no overhangs, all of this being definitive characteristics of International Style. Hopefully the honor of being on the Historic Register will help to protect this building for the generations of Arkansans to come so that it will continue to be an International influence on the city and a reminder of the successes of your past. 

The Northwest corner of the Tower Building

For more on any of the buildings mentioned above, please check out these links:

http://www.arkansaspreservation.com/pdf/tour_scripts/Tower%20Building%20Tour%20Script%202012.pdf

http://www.arkansaspreservation.com/historic-properties/_search_nomination_popup.aspx?id=2593

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simms_Building

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lever_House

Mies-ian Style comes to Little Rock

The KTHV Building upon its completion in 1954

 Actual Modern architecture, referring here to the stylistic movement in architecture rather simply "modern" meaning current, is a rare find outside of major metropolitan areas in America. The big names in architecture from that period, such as Mies van der Rohe, Walter Gropius, Eero Saarinen, and Richard Nuetra, tended to stay on the coasts or in Chicago. Be that as it may, here is an exceptional example of High Modern architecture in Arkansas. It is the KTHV Channel 11 Building at the corner of Izard and West 8th Streets. The building was constructed for television station in 1954 and designed by Dietrich Heyland of Crowell Architects, although it was called Ginocchio, Cromwell, and Associates at the time. This is the same firm that was partially founded by renowned Arkansas architect, Charles L. Thompson, but I digress. Heyland was from Louisiana original, graduating from Tulane University. After college he spent some time in California working under the famed Modernist Richard Nuetra. In 1950, he was recuited by Edwin Cromwell and moves to Arkansas. Shortly afterwards Neyland designed the KTHV Building. This building is in line with the almost minimalist work of Mies van der Rohe in his design for the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, IL, and more specifically in his design of S.R. Crown Hall (1950-1956) on that campus.

Mies van der Rohe's design for S.R. Crown Hall at Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago

The glass curtain wall with exterior exposed structural supports and raised basements were trademark features Mies van der Rohe's work at this time. All of these features are also seen in the KTHV Building. The Modern features of this building are significant not only because they are so blatantly Modern in character but because the KTHV building was completed in Arkansas two years before Crown Hall was completed in Chicago. Despite the common conception that Arkansas is always behind the times on style, this building, along with the creation of the Arkansas Power and Light Building the year before, is evidence that Arkansas was actually right in line with the architectural mentality of the times, if not a bit ahead of it.

    While KTHV has done some renovations on the interior of the building, they have keep the exterior of the building in more or less the same form as it was in upon its completion in 1954, with the exceptions of some mild deterioration and paint color changes on the exterior. KTHV should be giving props for preserving the character of this historic building even though there is almost no public interest or attention given to it. Hopefully, this building will soon be recognized as the truly historically significant structure that it is and will continue to be a remarkable example of High Modern architecture in Arkansas for many years to come. 

The East and North facades of the KTHV Building as they look today.

The South and East facades of the KTHV Building as they look today.

For further reading, please check out the following links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KTHV

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.R._Crown_Hall

http://www.aetn.org/midcenturymodern/beforeafter

International Style in the Capital City

   The Entergy Building, originally the Arkansas Power and Light Building, sits at the intersection of 9th and Louisiana Streets in downtown Little Rock. Many people drive by it but few are aware of its significance or past. It was one of the earliest office building to be designed in the International Style in Little Rock. The International Style, a term coined by architect Philip Johnson, was popularized in the minds of Americans in the 1930's due in large part to a book and exhibition of the same name that was created by Johnson and architectural historian/writer Henry-Russell Hitchcock in 1932. The style, or architectural movement, reached it highest point in America following WWII, and was advocated by such architects as Richard Nuetra, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, A. Quincy Jones, and to a small extend Frank Lloyd Wright. International style is characterized by rectilinear/boxy forms, a lack of traditional or decorative ornamentation, glass curtain walls, and ribbon windows. While there are many fantastic examples of this movement in other parts of the country, International Style is rather poorly represented in Arkansas, hence the importance of this building.
   When Arkansas Power and Light decided to build a new office in Little Rock, they wanted a building that would symbolize the new and "modern" Arkansas that the company helped to usher in. Arkansas Power and Light commissioned architect Fred Arnold of the Little Rock firm Wittenburg, Deloney, and Davidson to design their new face. The construction on the building started in 1953, but due to financial concerns and labor union issues, it was not completed until 1959. However, it was well worth the wait. The building is constructed of red brick, steel, glass, black granite, and Georgian marble. The glass enclosed lobby with its black granite columns sits under the hovering office cantilever with ribbon windows and marble panels adorning the curtain walls on the North and South sides. The light color of the marble combined with the reflective nature of the glass create the illusion of weightless-ness for the building. This is contrasted by the red brick massings on the  West end and base of the cantilever, which also serves to visually anchor the floating mass of the offices. Elements such as these echo the design characteristics of Mies van der Rohe and Frank Lloyd Wright, most notably Fallingwater. The International Styled building was such a success that locals of the time called it a modern masterpiece and appropriate new face for "modern" Arkansas.
   The Arkansas Power and Light Building is a remarkably intact and well preserved International Style building, but that did not happen on its own. In 2010 Entergy undertook a renovation and refit of the building, restoring many of the signature elements of the facade. This including replacing the marble panels that lined the sides of the building, which had began to bow and buckle due to the sun and weather over the years. The new panels were taken from the same quarry as the original but were thinner and attached to a bracket system in order to prevent future problems. The preservation efforts of Entergy were so successful that they received an award for the project from the Historic Preservation Alliance of Arkansas. Thanks to Entergy's commitment to maintaining the history and character of this historic building, the people of Arkansas will be able to enjoy its International Style for generations to come.

For further reading on this building check out the following links:
http://www.arkansaspreservation.com/historic-properties/_search_nomination_popup.aspx?id=1639

http://www.entergy-arkansas.com/news_room/newsrelease.aspx?NR_ID=2014

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arkansas_Power_and_Light_Building