Turkel House and Garden (1955)
Frank Lloyd Wright, Architect
2760 West Seven Mile Road, Detroit MI 48221
The current owners have rescued the Dorothy Turkel House from near disintegration and oblivion.
I toured the house when it was for sale several years ago and I wanted to cry. It had been abandoned with the heat turned off in the middle of a Michigan winter. The toilets literally were cracked in half due to the water inside freezing. The water covered the floor and froze…creating mini ice rinks in the bathrooms. There were large cracks in the exterior walls, some of the wood paneling had water damage…I have to stop – as the memory of that day is too painful. I know, a little melodramatic, but it truly was sad. It was hard to imagine that anyone could actually rescue this treasure. A miracle happened. The current owners have slowly, purposefully, creatively and passionately rescued and restored this house. In fact with their garden ( dare I say ) they have made it better than it has ever been.
Originally the narrow Cherokee red concrete terrace and steps lead down to a grass lawn. Now the lawn has been replaced with an extension of the Cherokee red terrace. Along one side is a narrow pool with three bubbling fountains. Surrounding this extended terrace are multiple garden compositions, each with a unique personality, yet all work together. Interspersed are glass sculptures, silver balls-on-a-stick (my favorite) and a sculpture court with large wire spheres.
Inside, the two-story Music Room has been beautifully restored. The wood paneling looks great, and the owner’s art collection accents the space perfectly. I am happy to report that the toilets have been replaced and the bathroom floors are no longer covered with ice ( even after the last winter we had here in Detroit).
This is one of the most amazing comeback stories I have experienced – in architecture anyway.
Bravo!
Hanselmann House (1967-71)
Michael Graves Architect
10220 Circlewood Drive, Fort Wayne IN
Visited October 27 2013
Best known for his earthy umber and ocher buildings with exaggerated classical references and a little proportional fun, this stark white modern”ish” cube designed by Michael Graves will come as a surprise. This was Michael Graves first architectural commission. And just from the glimpse you can see from the street, it looks as great now as I assume it looked over 40 years ago – especially in the Indiana autumn with the leaves providing the color. I really want to walk up those stairs…
The house is on a heavily wooded corner lot. In the winter with the leaves off the trees the side facade would be visible from the street.
See interior photos of the house from a recent real-estate listing click here.
Michael Graves and Associates webpage on the house.
Palmer House – Interiors (1950)
Frank Lloyd Wright, Architect
227 Orchard Hills Drive, Ann Arbor, MI 48104
Visited September 15-16, 2012
See my post “Palmer House – Exterior” for information on the property.
The interior dramatically changes personality as the light changes in the space. From morning light, afternoon light, evening light and then artificial light the spaces are transformed as time goes by. When the trees, lawn and natural gardens are in sunlight, the interiors takes a back seat as the windows and walls seemingly disappear and the beautiful natural hillside is the star. In the evening after the sun sets, the glass appears as black panels focusing attention inward to the interior. The integrated indirect lighting transforms the oil-finished cypress clad ceiling of the living room into a warm canopy focusing on the fireplace. The polished Cherokee red concrete floors subtly reflect the light from above. Wright’s Origami Chairs ( which are quite comfortable ) are placed around the living room focused on the fireplace. Built into a wall by the kitchen is the dining table surrounded by dining chairs ( which are not comfortable).
All of the interior walls come together at 60 or 120 degree angles, as the floor plan is organized on an equilateral triangle grid. This grid is implemented in the furniture as well, even the beds have 60 and 120 degree corners.
Palmer House – Exterior (1950) – revisited
Frank Lloyd Wright, Architect
227 Orchard Hills Drive, Ann Arbor, MI 48104
Visited September 15-16, 2012
Look at my first Palmer House post from two years ago for a description of the building.
The Palmer House has been purchased from the Palmer family estate, and is now available for overnight rentals (when the new owner is not in town). The purchase agreement comes with a very strict preservation agreement. Since it was purchased from the original owner’s estate, and the preservation agreement is in effect, this is an incredible opportunity to “live” in an original Frank Lloyd Wright house. The experience is pure Wright, without any unfortunate “updates” that mar many Wright properties that have gone through multiple ownership changes over the years.
Although recuperating from a back injury and not prepared with my tripod, I could not pass up an invitation from some amazing friends to spend the night. I have documented the house in 3 separate posts showing the exterior, the interior and the tea house on the property.
Palmer House – Tea House (1964)
John Howe, Architect
227 Orchard Hills Drive, Ann Arbor, MI 48104
Visited September 15-16, 2012
After visiting Japan, the Palmer’s planned a teahouse on their property sited down the hill from the main house. John Howe, the on-site Taliesin representative during construction of the main house, was the architect (Wright had passed away 5 years earlier).
The tea house uses the same materials and equilateral triangle grid as the main house. It includes a recessed sitting area and table for tea drinking, a fireplace, bed, and small kitchen and bathroom.
St. Francis de Sales Muskegon – Interior (1964)
Marcel Breuer – Architect
2929 McKracken Street, Norton Shores, MI
Visited July 6, 2012
Click here for the blog post of the exterior of this church
St. Francis de Sales Muskegon – Exterior (1964)
Marcel Breuer – Architect
2929 McKracken Street, Norton Shores, MI
Visited July 6, 2012
This Marcel Breuer brutalist concrete edifice is a surprise find on a Muskegon Street. I was not actually surprised, as I traveled to Muskegon just to see this building. What is surprising is that this famous Jewish architect from Germany’s Bauhaus (who also designed the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York) designed this Catholic Church in Muskegon – and this building is relatively unknown.
I have posted some exterior photographs today, and will update this post with additional information and photos in a day or two. I also made arrangements to photograph the interior, and will post those photos separately.
Check back soon for more.
Michigan State Capitol (1879)
Elijah E. Myers, Architect
Capitol Square, Lansing MI
Photos Taken July 5, 2012
I am proud to say that this is my State Capitol. I have not been inside since I was a child. I remembered that the rotunda floor was glass, which fascinated me at that young age. Well the glass floor is still there, and it is a simple surprisingly understated highlight. And of course, from the center of the rotunda floor, looking up you get an amazing view of the dome ceiling. I recommend taking the elevator up to the fourth floor where you get a closer view of the dome ceiling. Then work your way down floor by floor on the wide stairs and just explore. The Senate and House chambers are both interesting, beautifully restored, and each unique. You can get into the galleries of both houses off the third floor and get an overview of the chamber floor below. On the second floor you can get into the doorway of both the Senate and House chambers. While in the center corridor look up at the chandeliers. They are converted gas light fixtures, and there are bronze deer and other native animals amongst the light globes. The original Supreme Court chamber was open, and I was able to walk through a corner of the space.The grand wood door to the Governor’s office was closed. Looking back on it I didn’t check to see if it was open…maybe I should have knocked?
I highly recommend a visit, even if just for a few minutes to walk into the rotunda. This is a special building, our special building.
Click here for a video of the history and restoration of the Capitol.
Greater Columbus Convention Center (1993)
Peter Eisenman, Architect
400 North High Street, Columbus OH 43215
Visited May 1-2, 2012
This huge building perhaps looks best from the air. The gracefully curved shapes of the roof form an interesting composition. The Greater Columbus Convention Center actually uses this image as their logo ( although I would assume that few of the conventioneers realize how the logo relates to the building). At street level, the building is broken up into smaller forms with several entrances facing High Street, mimicking a traditional downtown streetscape with a series of buildings and storefronts (although these “storefronts” are mostly windowless). This I assume was to avoid a long blank facade with an expanse of empty unpopulated sidewalks.
I was in the building during a large convention with the entire convention hall floor being used and the meeting rooms filled with lectures and presentations. With the convention hotels being linked to the convention center by a pedestrian bridge to the south, and parking and a row of restaurants to the north, the vast majority ( meaning virtually all ) of pedestrians never go through the doors facing High Street. The High Street facade is a several block long pastel colored angled geometric folly. The building blocks are solid angled grids with projecting blocks organized on a slightly different angled grid. These solid windowless sections of facade are interspersed with a few sections with rows of doors and windows above. The window mullion grid also has sections skewed at slightly different angles. Even with the full convention going on, these rows of doors facing High Street stood mostly unused, available as fire exits.
On the interior, the main concourse is between the convention hall and the meeting rooms. (The windowless building blocks facing High Street are meeting rooms and rest rooms). The concourse has very high ceilings with occasional clerestory windows letting in light sporadically. This concourse has angled walls painted in large sections of various pastel colors. The effect looking down the entire concourse, with the sidewalls at slightly different angles and the light from above, is that of a narrow rainbow sherbet canyon.
The building is interesting, but I leave feeling that it was more interesting as an excercise on paper ( or on a computer screen). With a couple of hotels now being built across High Street, perhaps 20 years after the building opened, at least a few people will walk down the High Street sidewalk and actually use the rows of unopened doors.
Cincinnati Union Terminal (1933)
Paul Philippe Cret with Fellheimer & Wagner, Architects
1301 Western Ave., Cincinnati OH
Last Visited March 19 2012
Visible from I-75, you may think this building is the Hall of Justice from the DC Comic’s Justice League – which it did inspire. An image of this building also appeared in the movie Batman Forever as the “Hippodrome”, where Dick Grayson’s family is killed by Two-face.
In reality, it is the Cincinnati Union Terminal for train service in Cincinnati. Designed by Paul Cret, the same beaux arts architect as the Detroit Institute of Arts.
The Art Deco facade has bas relief sculptures flanking a huge arched window assembly with a stepped fountain out in front greeting travelers.
Inside, the halfdome lobby is vast and surprisingly colorful, with bold stripes of yellows and oranges in the ceiling, and amazing colored glass mosaic murals, each 22 feet high and 110 feet long depicting the history of Cincinnati. From the lobby floor you at first do not realize they are composed of thousands of small glass mosaic pieces, but once you realize that, there are all the more impressive.
Carew Tower (1930)
Walter W. Ahlschlager, Architect
W. Fifth Street and Fountain Square, Cincinnati OH
Last visited March 19 2012
This 49 story Art Deco/Art Moderne office tower is part of the complex that includes the Netherland Plaza Hotel. Be sure to explore the street level shopping lobby to see the silver leaf ceiling and the colorful Rookwood pottery tile archway surrounds with a bold floral theme.
Netherland Plaza Hotel (1931)
Walter W. Ahlschlager, Architect
35 West Fifth Street, Cincinnati OH
Last Visited March 18-19, 2012
The Historic Netherland Plaza Hotel Building opened it’s doors on January 28, 1931 to rave reviews. The 800 room Art Deco hotel has one of the most beautiful hotel lobby restaurant/bars anywhere, the Palm Court. Built as part of the Carew Tower Complex, this hotel has hosted the likes of Winston Churchill, Elvis, Eleanor Roosevelt, Bing Crosby and John and Jackie Kennedy. Make sure you stop by the consierge station and pick up the “Walking Tour & Pocket History” brochure. Take the meandering path leading up through the Palm Court, Apollo Gallery, Continental Room, Hall of Mirrors, the Julep Room, Pavillion Caprice and the Hall of Nations. Grand staircases, each different, make the “climb” from street level up to the fourth floor Pavillion Caprice a most pleasurable journey. The Pavillion Caprice hosted 16 year old Doris Day’s first professional appearance. Even the coat check room off the lobby has the most interesting art deco door surround.
This is the first building that has a post on all 3 of my blogs, check out the Hotel and Restaurant posts for additional photos of this grand old dame.
Contemporary Arts Center (2003)
Zaha Hadid Architect
44 East 6th Street, Cincinnati, OH
Last visited March 19 2012
I have visited the CAC many times while in Cincinnati visiting friends. I cannot believe it has been open almost 10 years. It seems at though I never get great photos for some reason. There are the odd large spherical streetlights seemingly in the way of all exterior shots, not to mention the traffic and trucks stopped on the street. I have posted these from my recent trip hoping they give some impression of the building and space inside.
Zaha’s first building built in the US I think has held up pretty well. It almost seems a little timid now, but that could be that I am so used to it. (I recently visited the now under construction Broad Museum of Art on the Michigan State University campus in East Lansing by Zaha. That building looks like it will be a bold jarring presence on campus, the same feeling I remember of the CAC when I first saw it. I will post some progress photos soon) The CAC really fits into the Cincinnati streetscape well.
Inside the museum offers a variety of gallery experiences. Even if you have just a few minutes, you can experience the first floor for free and get a feel for Zaha’s complex angular composition with the floor turning up the wall on the north side.
I stop in every time I am in Cincy, and it still is an exciting experience. I cannot wait to see the completed museum in East Lansing, and experience Zaha’s more mature/developed style in comparison.
National Corvette Museum (1994)
Neumann/Smith Architects
I-65 at Exit 28, Bowling Green KY
Visited March 18 2012
Well I do not really know where to start….I have driven down I-65 many times , always wondering what the bright yellow truncated cone with the red stylus sticking out of the top was….and what does it have to do with the Chevrolet Corvette?
This year I stopped to check it out. I did not have time to go in…but really did not want to once I was there.
The north facade is dynamic and interesting, a large swoop of dark grey metal panels with the impression of speed. From here I am not sure what to make of it. The south portion of the building in lighter grey metal panels is a newer addition. It also has a curved wall, but is resting on a series of round columns, taking away any feeling of speed or even drama. At the end of the colonnade is the entrance….which someone felt had to have huge white letters “ENTRANCE” over the doors, otherwise how would anyone know how to get in?
Near this entrance is the Corvette Cafe, which looks like it is falling over or sinking into the sidewalk, for no apparent reason.
In what is basically a traffic peninsula in the parking lot is a memorial garden. This is out in the sun, with low garden areas with a lot of red mulch surrounding large areas of paving with stone park benches.The backs of the park benches have memorials to deceased corvette enthusiasts. To me, the setting was odd, right by the driveway, with no shade, and not projecting the feeling of relaxation, or contemplation. With the benches looking more like tombstones, I didn’t want to sit on any of them feeling I was disrespecting the deceased.
I really like the bright yellow truncated cone with the red stylus,but I am still not sure what it is…… and what does it have to do with the Chevrolet Corvette?
I guess I should have gone in, but I wasn’t sure where the entrance was.
Bow House and Neighborhood (2009)
Ryan Thewes Architect (of the Bow House)
249 33rd Ave. N, Nashville, TN
Visited March 17 2012
On the side of a hill overlooking the freeway and Centennial Park, with the Nashville Skyline in the distance, is a cluster of new contemporary houses. Before my trip to Nashville I did some searching for interesting architecture to visit while there. I came upon the “Bow House” by architect Ryan Thewes. It was named for the bow trusses which form the dramatic roof structure. In locating the house I found that it was part of a small group of similar homes at the end of a rather traditional neighborhood. I do not know who the other architects are, but there is an interesting variety of “Dwell” like houses in this enclave.
Nashville’s Germantown Neighborhood
Just north of the State Capitol Building and the Bicentennial State Park
Nashville, TN
I happened upon this neighborhood when going out to dinner with friends at the Mad Platter Restaurant. It is a great mixture of buildings from as early as the 1830’s to the present. There are workers cottages with the “Shotgun” floor plans typical of this building type. The restaurant we had dinner in is an approx. 1890’s commercial storefront building. Across 6th street is a fish market, and across Monroe is a line of wood framed worker’s cottages from about 1870’s. This is not only a historic district with meticulously maintained small houses, there is also a building boom going on. There are new brick townhouses and loft condo developments, bringing some new energy to the neighborhood – and continuing its lineage with buildings from many different decades. It reminds me of Detroit’s Corktown neighborhood.
The Parthenon – Nashville (1925-31)
William B. Dinsmoor, Russell E. Hart, Architects
Centenial Park, Nashville TN
Visited March 17 2012
First built for the Tennessee Centennial Exposition of 1897, the Nashville Parthenon is an “full scale replica” of the original in Athens. The building was originally built as a temporary structure, but the building was so popular that it remained after the Exposition was over. The plaster, wood and brick temporary structure did not weather well as you would expect, and in 1920 construction of this more permanent concrete structure began.
Billed as an “replica” of the Athens original is in reference to the dimensions of the building, not the building materials. This version is cast in concrete, rather than the original marble version in Greece.
First Baptist Church (1965)
Harry Weese Architect
3300 Fairlawn Drive Columbus IN
Photographs taken March 16 2012
Irwin Union Bank (1954)
Eero Saarinen Architect
500 Washington Street Columbus IN
Photographs taken March 16 2012
As luck would have it ( although I say this with a sad heart ) the day I visited the Irwin Union Bank and walked in the front door…was the last day that this building was open to the public. At least as a bank. All of the employees were packing up their desks, and carting off their belongings. I was able to take lots of interior photographs, probably the last opportunity in a long time. I asked several of the bank employees what they were going to do with the building. They all hedged a little, and I got the feeling they have been asked that question a hundred times and were uncomfortable because they did not have an answer. The consensus was that it may become a museum sometime in the future…a hopeful result but an unconvincing delivery.
Even if it does open as a “museum” it will not have the same feeling as being what it was designed as…a bank. When I was there, even on the last day, people were coming in and cashing their checks, and doing their banking, just as they did the first day the bank opened in 1954.
The building is an interesting low glass box with a thin white roof plane. The roof plane has 9 domes projecting out above the roof in a 3×3 grid. These domes are actually the light fixtures for the bank interior – reflectors for the suspended uplights flooding the bank with warm light. The only walls that go to the ceiling are the perimeter glass walls. The interior “walls” stop short of the ceiling. They actually look like part of the file cabinet system, with the conference room/private offices enclosed with the cabinets. This keeps the overall ceiling plane pure and uninterrupted.
Still worth a visit….the exterior walls are all glass so you can still peek in.
First Christian Church (1943)
Eliel Saarinen Architect
531 Fifth Street, Columbus IN
Photographs taken March 15 & 16 2012
For those familiar with the Cranbrook Educational Community in Bloomfield Hills, MI, elements of this building should feel “familiar”. Eliel Saarinen the architect lived at Cranbrook. He designed many buildings at Cranbrook with similar brick detailing, and interesting asymetrical placements. The First Christian Church shows an interesting mix of contemporary, Art & Crafts and even a feeling of the old cloister and gothic places of worship skillfully integrated. His wife Loja, an acomplished textile artist, created the tapestry “Sermon on the Mount” hanging on the side wall of the alter. And keeping it in the family, the hanging light fixtures were designed by his son Eero, who also designed the St. Louis Arch, the TWA terminal at JFK, and the North Christian Church in Columbus Indiana.
Cleo Rogers Memorial Library (1969)
I.M. Pei, Architect
536 Fifth Street, Columbus IN 47201
Photos taken March 16, 2012
It is not every midwestern city of 45,000 that has a public library designed by I. M. Pei, and this one has a Henry Moore sculpture placed out front to boot. The citizens should feel lucky to have such a pair right downtown.
North Christian Church – Interior (1964)
Eero Saarinen, Architect
850 Tipton Lane, Columbus IN
Photographs taken March 16, 2012
The interior of this landmark church is as exceptional as the exterior.
It is intimate, simple, focused…
Inspirational.
North Christian Church – Exterior (1964)
Eero Saarinen, Architect
Daniel Kiley, Landscape Architect
850 Tipton Lane, Columbus IN
Photographs taken March 16, 2012
This is one of my favorite buildings. I have visited this building 4 times, and each time I am more impressed with it’s “complex simplicity” (this term is borrowed from a business associate who summarized my rambling passionate description of the building concisely).
Saarinen’s path he creates for the faithful (and tourist alike) is a sequence of carefully and subtly planned discoveries. Starting with Dan Kiley’s landscaping, each parking area is separated with rows of hedges just high enough to screen the cars, but the hovering hexagonal church is visible just above the hedges. The procession takes you through the only opening in the hedges on axis with the church’s exceptionally tall and slender steeple and main entrance. Past the last row of parking spaces, there is a stairway taking you up through the center of a bank of flowers approaching the church. Here you see that the hexagonal structure is centered in a recess in the ground, raised on a bunker-like base with a landscaped bank surrounding the church. You then drop down a series of low and very deep steps, “ducking” below the low metal eave, revealing the tall glass windows tucked up in the shadows of the steeply sloping soffit. The series of glass entry doors open up the glass perimeter wall allowing entry to the interior. See the next post for photos of the interior of this landmark church.
The hexagonal form is stretched in the east/west direction creating a bit of dynamism, but maintains it’s pure simple presense, floating slightly above the earth, and pointing directly to the heavens.
Traverse360 Architecture 