51福利

For as much as is known about the contributions of those considered to be the major architects of the Modern Movement such as Johnson, Breuer, Wright and Kahn, the contributions of minority and female architects to our built heritage is vast and yet largely unknown and underrepresented. The purpose of our 2019 thematic focus, "the diversity of modernism," was to cast a light on the significance of minority and female architects, landscape architects, designers, and engineers, and their works. Looking back at this year's Tour Day events, from discovering the legacy of Detroit's black architects to the (not so well-behaved) women who made history in Portland, OR, it is clear that celebrating the diversity of the Modern Movement is critical to expanding our current knowledge and understanding of this important piece of our history. 

Many thanks to our chapters and partners who embraced this year's diversity theme.

HOWARD MODERN: The Legacy of the African American University's Architects and Architecture

51福利/DC

Docomomo DC and Howard University’s Department of Architecture hosted a tour of modern architecture on Howard's main campus in Washington, DC. Howard University is a historically black university with a long-standing commitment to architectural education and practice. The tour featured modern buildings designed by renowned African American architects including Hilyard Robinson and Paul R. Williams and explored the role of the modern movement in the campus’ development.

Professor Hazel Edwards launched the tour with an overview of campus history. Edwards is Chair of the Department of Architecture and co-author of The Long Walk: The Placemaking Legacy of Howard University.  Professor and architect Bradford Grant led a tour of Howard's modern architecture. Highlights included the Just Biology Building (1956) and the Ira Aldridge Theater (1961), both designed by Robinson and Williams. Campus Architect Derrek Lucien Niec-Williams concluded the tour by reflecting on how Howard’s modern buildings are being managed today and their relationship to its evolving campus design. 

The Shape of Things to Come: Reclaiming the Legacy of Detroit's Black Architects

51福利/Michigan

For Tour Day 2019, the Docomomo MI chapter hosted an event, "The Shape of Things to Come: Reclaiming the Legacy of Detroit's Black Architects, with a focus on a living Detroit legend: Nathan Johnson. Johnson opened his own architectural firm, Nathan Johnson and Associates, in 1956, at a time when black architects were a rarity. He went on -- along with fellow African American architects Roger Margerum, Howard Sims and Harold Varner -- to design churches, schools, public buildings and private residences in nearly every district of Detroit. While Johnson worked in a variety of architectural styles, from midcentury modern to Googie, his work always featured boldly modern structural elements. 

The program included visits to two historic churches, designed at midcentury by Johnson: Bethel AME (1974) and Second Baptist (addition built in 1968). The Bethel AME featured a program, intended to serve several goals: 1)to educate the public about a virtually unknown chapter of Detroit's architectural legacy, 2)to advocate for the preservation of the structures designed by Johnson and his fellow architectural pioneers, and 3)to inspire a new generation of African American architects, which still form only 2% of registered architects nationally. The program included visits to two churches, designed at midcentury by Johnson: Bethel AME (1974) and Second Baptist (addition built in 1968).

The Bethel AME site featured a tour and a lecture on Johnson's work by architect Saundra Little (one of the .4% of black women architects nationally) and architectural designer Karen Burton, whose organization Noir Design Parti won a Knight Foundation Challenge grant to study minority architects in Detroit. The tour of the Second Baptist site focused both on the church's architecture and on its historic role as a stop on the Underground Railroad. 

Best of all, architect Nathan Johnson (now in his 90s!) came to part I of our event at the Bethel AME site, allowing church officials such as Pastor David Jarrett (for the first time) and attendees -- including church members, architecture enthusiasts and students -- to meet a living Detroit legend. We hope that the event will have lasting effects, relating both to the new relationships developed by Docomomo MI with Mr. Johnson and Noir Design Parti (which includes a videotaped interview with Mr. Johnson) and to the impact on the student attendees, who may shape Detroit's architectural future. 

Modernism in San Francisco's Chinatown 

51福利/Northern California 

51福利/NoCa led a tour of Chinatown to highlight the contributions of architects, designers, and artists that have shaped Chinatown in the latter part of the past century.

The tour started in the heart of Chinatown at Portsmouth Square. Looking south from Portsmouth Square is the Clement Chen Jr.-designed Chinatown Hilton and Chinese Cultural Center, arguably one of the finest examples of Brutalist architecture in San Francisco. The tour included the Buddha’s Universal Church designed by Chinese American architect Worley K. Wong, and the China Trade Center, a six-story building that housed the Empress of China, a lavishly decorated “View Restaurant” located at the top of the building. In its heyday the Empress of China was THE restaurant in Chinatown and was frequently mentioned in the articles of Herb Caen.

The tour also included a stop at the corner of Grant and Sacramento. Although the Bargain Bazaar looks like a typical Chinatown curio shop, for a brief moment in time during the late 1940s Jade Snow Wong sat in this shop window at a potter’s wheel and crafted elegant Song Dynasty-inspired ceramic ware. Jade Snow Wong was born in Chinatown and was a well-renowned potter and enamelist in addition to being a published author who chronicled her childhood growing up in Chinatown in the best-selling novel, 5th Chinese Daughter.

The tour ended at the Ping Yuen Public Housing Project. This low income housing project was designed by John Savage Bolles and is an interesting combination of modern apartment blocks, ornamented with flourishes of Chinese-inspired architectural features.

San Francisco’s Chinatown is a great place to explore the work of architects and designers of Chinese descent because it is not only the birthplace of San Francisco, but is a place where modern architecture exists if you know where to look.

The Schweikher House Tour 2019

Schweikher House Preservation Trust

The sold-out 51福利 Tour Day event on Saturday October 12, 2019 hosted by the Schweikher House Preservation Trust was a great success. The history of the house and its former inhabitants was shared with 75 visitors!

One of the stories shared that touched on the theme of diversity was that of the home’s final resident, Martyl Langsdorf. Although she was not an architect, she converted modernist architect Paul Schweikher’s original drafting studio into her art studio and created art in it for sixty years. Martyl was a successful female artist, wife, mother, and thoughtful caretaker to the modernist home & studio she lived and worked in until her death in 2013, she was ninety-six years old.

The Schweikher House is full of artwork by female artists, including Langsdorf herself, Ruth Duckworth, and her daughter Sandie, who created a number of the home’s textile pieces. Martyl is best known for being the designer behind the Doomsday Clock, a symbol for the potential devastation of nuclear weapons and the apocalypse. The idea of using a clock for the cover was meant to signify urgency, with the hands counting down to midnight. The Doomsday Clock was drawn for the June 1947 cover of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. Martyl designed the sketch of the clock on the back of a copy of Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas, with the idea that the background color would change every month. The design of the clock ran on the cover of the Bulletin, for decades, and can still be found somewhere on the cover. Martyl drew end pieces and illustrations for Bulletin articles from 1947 until the 1970s. Martyl had nearly 100 solo exhibitions in her lifetime and her work is represented in many major galleries and museums worldwide, including the Art Institute of Chicago and the Whitney Museum of American Art.

UNDER / REPRESENTED: A Conversation about Diversity in Modernism

51福利/Southern California

For 51福利 Tour Day on October 12, 2019, the Southern California Chapter hosted a special tour and panel discussion at the Founder's Church of Religious Science at 3281 W. 6th Street in Los Angeles, California. The focus of the event was the life and work of Gin Wong, Norma Sklarek, Robert Kennard, and Paul R. Williams—four architects who not only transformed the field of architecture through their bold modernist designs, but also overcame significant institutional barriers throughout their distinguished careers. In an intimate panel discussion, attendees heard personal stories of these significant architects recounted by relatives, associates, and admirers in a 1960 church designed by Paul R. Williams. Urban designer, architect, and preservationist, Luis Hoyos, moderated the discussion, which included Janna Wong, writer, professor, and daughter of Gin Wong; Margot Siegel, architect and former partner at Siegel Sklarek Diamond; Gail Kennard, architect and daughter of Robert Kennard; and Janna Ireland, artist and photographer, who has made Paul R. Williams’ designs the subject of her recent work. The panel discussion was preceded by self-guided tours of the church and a small reception. 

Yamasaki in Detroit

Preservation Detroit

Preservation Detroit celebrated 51福利 Tour Day 2019 with five buildings designed by Minoru Y