Author: info@philachaptersah.org

Vinyl, Plexiglas & Neon: Venturi, Scott Brown’s Transformation of St. Francis de Sales – a revealing history & conversation

April 14, 2015 /

2015-05-07 St Francis 03 bw

Thursday, May 7, 2015 @ 6:00 p.m.
Auditorium of St. Francis de Sales Roman Catholic Church
4625 Springfield Ave., University City, Philadelphia
Free and open to the public.  No registration required.

In 1969, the Church of St. Francis de Sales – a landmark church in the Byzantine Revival style (Henry Dagit; 1907-08) – reopened after alterations that addressed changes to the Catholic Mass. Comprising elements built of vinyl, Plexiglas, and neon, the design by Robert Venturi & Denise Scott Brown was radical, controversial, and removed within a year by the parish. Now, after over 45 years, join us for a revealing conversation and tour about the project’s conception, execution, and the firestorm that ensued.

Landscape architect, Sue Weiler, will provide an introductory tour of the architecture of St. Francis de Sales, including its magnificent Guastavino dome; William Whitaker, curator of the Venturi, Scott Brown Collection at Penn’s Architectural Archives, will talk about the VSB design and the architecture of the period; and Father John McNamee, parish priest at the time of the change, will recall his role as pastor and client during a time of social change.

SAVE THE DATE FOR PHILA SAH SPRING PROGRAMS

April 12, 2015 /

The next Phila Chapter SAH program will be on the evening of Thursday, May 7.  A tour of the Church of Saint Francis de Sales at 46th & Springfield Avenue with a discussion of the controversial “neon halo” and other renovations designed by Venturi Scott Brown.  Chapter President Bill Whitaker is putting the finishing touches on the details which will be sent to Chapter members as soon as possible.

Also mark Thursday, June 11, on your calendar for a program at an amazing Victorian house, Oakbourne, in Westtown Twp, Chester County.  We’ll have a reception followed by a talk on the home’s architect T. Roney Williamson.  Details and registration information will be sent to Chapter members in early May.

Amazing Mid Century Modern Home For Sale

April 8, 2015 /

2015-04-08 Irv Stein 1958 Wallingford PA home

This wonderful 1958 mid century modern home, designed by architect and Philadelphia SAH member Irwin Stein, is for sale by the current owners who are looking for a buyer who will treasure it as much as they do. They are hosting an Open House on Sunday, April 12 from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. at 2 South Providence Road, Wallingford, PA.

Almost all of the original details are intact.  The 2600 square foot house has 4 bedrooms, 2 full baths and one half bath.  The attached 600 square foot office has four rooms and a powder room.  It can easily be converted to an apartment.

The home is situated on .75 acres of land, has two patios and in another week the yard will be filled with over 1,000 daffodils.  The interior boasts soaring ceilings, redwood paneling, tile and hardwood floors, ample natural light, two wood burning fireplaces, cove lighting and a gorgeous open staircase.  The home has been featured on the cover of Atomic Ranch Magazine, on houzz.com and apartmenttherapy.com and was voted one of Philly’s “Amazing Spaces” in Philadelphia Magazine.

For more info visit http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2-S-Providence-Rd-Wallingford-PA-19086/92240976_zpid/

ESCAPE: The Heyday of Caribbean Glamour

March 17, 2015 /

escape caribbean glamot
A talk and book signing by Hermes Mallea, architect and author
Tuesday, April 7 at 6:00 pm,
Copeland Lecture Hall, Winterthur Museum, Wilmington, DE
Winterthur Members $5. Nonmembers $15.
Call 800.448.3883 for reservations.
For GPS and online mapping services, use: 5105 Kennett Pike, Wilmington, DE 19807. Winterthur recommends using Mapquest for directions as Google Maps sometimes gives inaccurate directions.
www.winterthur,org

Hermes Mallea, architect and author, takes us on a nostalgic celebration of the glamour of warm-weather destinations in the Caribbean and Florida, from the great estates of ambitious patrons, including H. F. du Pont’s retreat in Cuba, to the most exclusive resorts of the mid-20th century. Through iconic photography capturing the cultural mood at the moment when social codes relaxed from the formality of the Gilded Age to the spontaneity of the jet-set era, Mallea takes you inside a world of beach parties and costume balls set in lush tropical landscapes, of rarefied resorts and fairy-tale private estates. Among these idealized settings blossomed the resort lifestyle of international celebrities, from Marjorie Merriweather Post to Babe Paley, Princess Margaret to David Bowie, whose escapades are spectacularly captured in these pages to make the region’s bygone glamour come alive.

Architectural Surprises of Upper East Falls (Queen Lane Manor) Walking Tour

March 16, 2015 /

Sponsored by East Falls Historical Society
Saturday, April 18 at 10:00 a.m.
(rescheduled from October, when heavy rain forced postponement).
The fee is $15, or $10 for EFHS members.
The tour will occupy about one hour and 45 minutes. Comfortable walking shoes are advised!

The upper or eastern part of East Falls, formerly known as Queen Lane Manor, within a few-block area contains excellent examples of a range of architectural styles: grandiose Beaux Arts, clean and crisp International, Art Deco, Georgian Revival, Gothic revival, Jacobean, and more.

Creating and leading the tour are Steven J. Peitzman, professor of medicine at Drexel University and a long-time architecture enthusiast; and Ken Hinde, lecturer and tour guide formerly with the Foundation for Architecture and the Philadelphia Society for the Preservation of Landmarks.

The history of the Queen Lane Manor district, The Oak Road, the Queen Lane Reservoir and Filters, and more, will also be discussed. The postponement in fact allowed the tour leaders to conduct further research about the region and its buildings – it’s more interesting than even they had imagined!

The tour will meet at the Revolutionary War monument on the southeast corner of Queen Lane and Fox Street. There is ample street parking in the area, and the meeting location is a short walk from the Queen Lane Station of the Chestnut Hill West Regional Rail Line. The K bus stops at the location.

For more information, contact Steven Peitzman at peitzmansj@gmail.com.

Pennsylvania Modern Architecture Juried Photo Exhibit

March 16, 2015 /

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As part of The State Museum and Archives’ 50th anniversary commemoration, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) is hosting a juried photo exhibit at The State Museum focusing on Pennsylvania’s wide variety of modern architecture. Featured will be submissions of photographs that display examples of mid-20th century architecture constructed in Pennsylvania between 1930 and 1980. Entries may depict exteriors, interiors, and/or details of roadside architecture, schools, religious buildings, homes, commercial structures, recreational sites and other modern buildings. Entries will be received online through June 30, 2015. The exhibit will open to the public on Sunday, October 25, 2015, and close February 28, 2016.

We are currently seeking submissions via www.callforentry.org, a professional art entry website. Entries will be accepted through June 30, 2015.

For more information and a complete list of official rules to enter the juried exhibit visit http://statemuseumpa.org/pennsylvania-modern-architecture-photo-exhibit/

Jurors:
Dennis Hockman, Editor-in-Chief, Preservation magazine, and Senior Director, Editorial+Creative, National Trust for Historic Preservation, Washington, D.C.

Betsy Manning, Philadelphia-based photojournalist and featured photographer in the special exhibit
“UnCommon Modern: A Pennsylvania Glossary of Midcentury Architecture,” now on display at The State Museum through April 26, 2015.  For details visit http://statemuseumpa.org/changing-exhibit/uncommon-modern-pennsylvania-glossary-midcentury-architecture/

David Oresick, Executive Director, Silver Eye Center for Photography, Pittsburgh

HARRISON’S FOLLY

February 27, 2015 /

2015-03-30 Harrison's Folly
co-sponsored with The Oliver Evans Chapter, Society for Industrial Archeology

by Patty McCarthy, Friends of Northeast Philadelphia History

Monday, March 30
5:30 Wine/Beer & Cheese, 6:30 Program
Registration required at oliverevanssia@outlook.com

Cost: $10 for those who register in advance, $15 for non-registered, Payable at the door.

Fairmount Water Works Interpretive Center, 640 Waterworks Dr.
Since the Art Museum and Restaurant are closed, you can park on the circle around the Seahorse Fountain, closer to FWWIC.

“Some persons care little or nothing for the past. Musty records and old things have no charm for them.” Joseph Harrison Jr., The Locomotive Engineer and Philadelphia’s Share In Its Early Improvements, 1872

Joseph Harrison Jr. (1810-1874), engineer, inventor, art collector, writer and one-time major property owner in Northeast Philadelphia, was not a person who cared “little or nothing for the past.”  The quote above is the opening passage of his 1872 history of the early development of the locomotive, a history in which Harrison himself played a significant role [as creator of the Harrison Safety Boiler]. In 2013, a collection of photographs came to light offering previously unknown views of Harrison’s unusual mid-19th-century estate stretching from Holmesburg to Torresdale along the Delaware River.  The photos were taken in 1901 by the Philadelphia Water Department to document its demolition of the estate for construction of the new Torresdale Water Treatment Plant on the site.  The images are part of an album that includes mechanical drawings and other technical materials on the plant’s construction.  In the 1950s, a superintendent at the plant rescued the album from a junk pile and gave it to his son-in-law Henry Kalinowski, also a superintendent at the plant.  The album eventually passed into the possession of Kalinowski’s daughter Vivian Haggerty, who is a neighbor of local historian Pat Worthington Stopper.  Stopper arranged for the album’s donation to the Friends of Northeast Philadelphia History.  As revealed in the photos, “Harrison’s Folly,” as the estate came to be known, was an interesting and unusual property. The same could be said for the man who built it.  Join Patty McCarthy to learn about this fascinating slice of Philly history.(Text adapted from Northeast Times, August 27, 2014)

White Towers Revisited Gallery Tour & Talk

February 15, 2015 /

Thursday, February 19, 2015
Harvey and Irwin Kroiz Gallery,
Architectural Archives University of Pennsylvania School of Design
220 South 34th Street, Philadelphia

TOUR 3:30 – 4:30 p.m. Join exhibition curators, William Whitaker and Paul Hirshorn for a lively discussion and tour of the exhibition.

LECTURE 6:00 p.m. by Paul Hirshorn

Taking on the subject of architectural symbolism and communication during the late 1960s was a radical move that opened up new avenues of artist expression and narratives about the development of roadside commercial architecture in the United States.  Steven Izenour and Paul Hirshorn had been sensitized to the subject through their work with Denise Scott Brown and Robert Venturi and found themselves attracted to the strong architectural character of the White Tower hamburger chain.  In this talk, Paul Hirshorn will share his insights into this remarkable example of architectural ingenuity tied to a corporate purpose and the role that he and Izenour played in uncovering its enduring significance.

Paul Hirshorn was Head of the Department of Architecture at Drexel University from 1986 to 2012, and a member of the faculty since 1974. Following architectural studies at the University of Pennsylvania and Cambridge University, he worked for the firm of Venturi and Rauch.

Teaching Opportunity at Drexel Dept of Architecture

February 8, 2015 /

Drexel’s Department of Architecture and Interiors is looking for a qualified person to teach the middle section of our three term series on the history of world architecture this coming summer. The material covered during this term is largely Western architecture from the early Middle Ages through the spread of the Renaissance.  If interested, please contact Mark Brack (brackml@drexel.edu)