Category: News and Events of Interest

ATHENAEUM OF PHILADELPHIA SEEKS SATURDAY VOLUNTEERS

July 3, 2015 /

In fall 2008, with the aid of generous volunteers, the Athenaeum began opening on one Saturday per month. Over the years since that time two more Saturdays have been added, again through the good efforts of volunteers. Now the Athenaeum wants to take the next step and begin opening in fall 2015 on all Saturdays in the month, barring holidays and major snowstorms.

Please help with this project. The hours will remain 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on each Saturday. If you have time to volunteer any hours for these Saturdays, please contact Sandra L. Tatman, at 215-925-2688 or sltatman@philaathenaeum.org. Your enthusiasm and willingness to serve are most appreciated!

Narratives of Manners and Style: The Houses of Cross & Cross

May 15, 2015 /

2015-05-15 Cross & Cross

Winterthur Museum & Gardens
Tuesday, May 19 at 6:00 pm
Copeland Lecture Hall
5105 Kennett Pike, Wilmington, DE
Winterthur recommends using Mapquest for directions as Google Maps sometimes gives inaccurate directions.

Members $5. Nonmembers $15
Register by calling 1-800-448-3883.
Book signing to follow.

Join architect Peter Pennoyer and architectural historian Anne Walker, authors of the new book New York Transformed: The Architecture of Cross & Cross, for a look at two of the early 1900s’ most important but largely forgotten architects. Brothers John and Eliot Cross counted the country’s richest and most influential figures among their clients, yet they tended to gravitate toward an unpretentious luxury—a polite and historically embedded expression of their wealth. They designed several magnificent Colonial Revival houses in New York as well as country houses in fashionable areas such as Long Island’s North Shore and East End, Greenwich, Connecticut, and Far Hills, New Jersey. Most notably, they designed J. Watson and Electra Havemeyer Webb’s Brick House in Shelburne, Vermont (now part of the Shelburne Museum), Chestertown House in Southampton for H. F. du Pont, and the childhood home of famed decorator Sister Parish in Far Hills, New Jersey. Pennoyer and Walker will share gorgeous photos of these homes and insight into the people who lived there and will discuss the influences the Cross brothers used while designing each property

150th Birthday of the Wagner Free Institute of Science’s historic building

April 25, 2015 /

Wagner Free Inst Building 150th talk image 237-PR-026

PHILADELPHIA 1865: A CITY ON THE EDGE
Delivered by Bruce Laverty, Gladys Brooks Curator of Architecture at the Athenaeum of Philadelphia
Wednesday, May 20th, 2015, 6:00 to 8:30 p.m.
1700 W Montgomery Avenue, Philadelphia

Join us for a lecture, cake competition, and member reception in honor of the 150th Birthday of the Wagner Free Institute of Science’s historic building.

Lecture:
In 1865 Philadelphia was a city on the edge; a city on the edge of grief; a city on the edge of growth; and a city on the edge of genius. That year saw Philadelphia’s joy of Northern victory dashed by the overwhelming shock and grief brought on by the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Less acute, but even more sobering, was the growing realization in 1865 that Union victory and the abolition of slavery were by no means the end of race problems in the City of Brotherly Love. In 1865 Philadelphia commenced the most rapid physical growth in its history; by century’s end the built portion of the city had more than doubled in size. Finally, 1865 was the year when the genius of local entrepreneurs, both individually and collectively, through the efforts of scientific, benevolent, and educational associations, achieved the critical mass that launched Philadelphia into modernity.

Bruce Laverty, a life-long resident of Philadelphia and graduate of LaSalle College, has been Curator of Architecture at the Athenaeum of Philadelphia since 1983. He prepared that institution’s first catalog of architectural drawings. During his tenure at the Athenaeum, the architectural collection grew from 30,000 to more than 220,000 drawings and he oversaw the creation of nearly 8,000 Visual Materials records documenting them. He has served as curator for more than a dozen exhibitions at the Athenaeum and in 1998 he received the Preservation Achievement Award for his work as curator, editor and co-author of “Monument to Philanthropy: The Design and Building of Girard College, 1832-1848.”

Cake Competition:
For this event we will also be running a cake competition that gives entrants the opportunity to represent the Wagner in cake. Entries are being accepted until May 1st, 2015. All information about the competition, including deadlines and baking parameters, can be found on the Wagner’s website.

Reception:
Following the talk, at 7:30 pm, Wagner members are invited to join us for the Annual Member Reception. Members are welcome to bring one guest to the reception. Non-members and extra guests are asked to pay $10 to attend the event.

For more, visit the event page on the Wagner’s website.
http://www.wagnerfreeinstitute.org/syllabi%202014-15/Philadelphia1865.htm

Registration is encouraged but not required and can be done through Eventbrite https://www.eventbrite.com/e/philadelphia-1865-a-city-on-the-edge-lecture-and-member-reception-tickets-9445428531

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 /

uncommon-modern-exhibit-betsy-manning-sm-300x196

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

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)