Feed: Official Blog of the Society of Architectural Historians' Study Tour Program - AggScore: 51.5
On day two, the pace of the tour accelerates. This is a feel good day, where we continue to explore the city of Atlanta and then travel west after lunch to spend time in Tuskegee Alabama.
The theme was centered around a day in the life of African American Education, from 1867 – present. Our real time exploration in the built environment introduced us to the legacy of Alonzo Herndon; Atlanta University Center (AUC): Spelman, Morehouse and Clark Atlanta University; Booker T. Washington High School and Tuskegee University. Traditionally African American educational institutions are referenced as Historically Black Colleges and Universities and the familiar acronym (HBCU). The tolerance for the soul aesthetic exhibited in designated Greek recreational areas, was of special interest to first time visitors to the HBCU campus.
The day began warm, muggy and overcast. However as we drove west to Alabama, the sun burned off the clouds and by time that we arrived in the town square of Tuskegee AL, the temperature was 89 degrees!
This was my first visit to the Tuskegee University and the campus well exceeded my expectations, it was impressive. Many of the structures that were built before WWII, were designed by African American architect Robert R. Taylor. Founded Tuskegee Institute in 1880 and dedicated to a mission of vocation, in the early years students apprenticed in a variety of building trades. While providing their labor in the construction of many historic resources on campus, the curriculum benefited both the student and growth of the institution.
After reviewing my photographs I realized that while at Tuskegee University the majority of my images of the built environment we of Robert Taylor buildings.
With our cameras in our hands, we walked, then walked, then walked some more and took pictures every step of the way. By days end we were exhausted, had covered seven institutions and a lot of ground. Yet despite our fatigue, the group had bonded and on the ride from Tuskegee to Montgomery, we realized that yes indeed, our time was grand!
Thrasher Hall roof ornament.
Historic Thrasher Hall next in line for much needed renovation and TLC.
The Administration Building roof gables and chimney masonry design are favored by local birds.
Administration Building north elevation. Thrasher Hall bell tower is seen in the far distance along the east elevation.
Restored parapet of White Hall.
White Hall, south elevation.
White Hall.
White Hall, north elevation.
Stain glass window in The Chapel, circa 1969.
Dorothy Hall, west elevation, .
Dorothy Hall, 1901, north elevation.
I am admiring the condition of George Washington Carver's typewriter.
This is the George Washington Carver Museum, we had fun here!
The next few images attest to my affinity to signage.
U.S. Coast & Geodetic survey sidewalk marker, located in Tuskegee AL town square.
Perhaps this street sign at the intersection of North Main Street and East Rosa Parks Avenue can be interpreted as a progress marker in the incremental dismantling of Jim Crow mandated legislation and restriction.
Tuskegee courthouse, west elevation.
Close up of rooftop griffin.
Courthouse rooftop bell tower adorned with corner griffins and banner weathervane.
Courthouse, south elevation, Tuskegee AL.
Cornerstone, Booker T. Washington High School, Atlanta Public schools.
Entrance foyer Booker T. Washington High School with pre WWII bas relief murals.
Booker T. Washington High School, Atlanta, first public secondary school built for African American students in the Georgia, 1922 - 1924.
Looking through the sculpture on the Clark Atlanta University campus, the front gate of Spelman College can be seen in the far distance.
Trevor Arnett Hall, Clark Atlanta University.
Wright Hall, Clark Atlanta University
Clark Atlanta University.
Alonzo Herndon Home, built from 1907 - 1908, this was my first visit to the mansion. I was extremely moved by this early twentieth century representation of business acumen and hard work. The architectural designs for the construction of the house, are attributed to Adrienne Herndon, Alonzo's wife. Mrs. Herndon was also a professor of Drama and Elocution at neighboring Atlanta University.
The Society of Architectural Historian Study Tour Fellowship has awarded me the opportunity to enhance my understanding of the significance of architectural structures and commemorative monuments. These memorials appear in abundance across the southern landscape, depicting a plethora of activity marking the struggles of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. As we began our journey I was not sure of what to expect, however I remember that my enthusiasm and excitement grew with every step that we took on our ambulatory review through history.
For over thirty years I have loved Atlanta. In return, Atlanta has loved me. For the past six years this is where I live, embracing my ideal of a southern lifestyle, while still I jokingly referring to myself as New Yorker in self imposed exile, happily residing in Atlanta and living an adventure in reverse migration, circa twenty first century.
My acquaintance with Atlanta extends back to my childhood, when I enjoyed the occasional vacation in Atlanta, with my family. My father belonged to a national professional organization and during the 1970s the local Atlanta chapter would periodically host the annual convention. As a child, I knew very little about Civil Rights struggles, movements or memorials, beyond the whispered angst and vague details surrounding the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., eavesdropped from adult conversations. In hindsight, I realize that my parents, who were second generation northern born Southerners, fastidiously protected their children from the hostile realities of segregation, discrimination and Jim Crow legislation. Consequently, my memories of traveling south were limited yet warm and to Atlanta specifically, my recollections of the landscape and character of the people were both vivid and fond.
Therefore as we toured the twenty first century built environment of monuments, memorials and structures which significantly inform Atlanta’s place within the Civil Rights Movement, it soon became apparent that our exploration of the nuances of representation would prove to be a comprehensive journey indeed. After I reviewed my photographs for day one, I realized that my taste in building styles was surprisingly influenced by fondness for historic structures. Additionally, the photograph inventory confirmed my affinity for cornerstones, signage and any tableau that attractively displays the written word.
Above and below, cornerstones for the Wheat Street Baptist Church , 365 Auburn Avenue.
Nothing really historically significant about this sign, I just liked the name "Soul Food Museum".
First Congregational Church cornerstone.
Partial sign identifying Thornton Dial as the sculpture of that designed "The Bridge".
We topped off the day at “The Bridge” memorial, designed by Thorton Dial to commemorate John Lewis’ participation in the Selma to Montgomery March and Bloody Sunday and his contribution of influence and service in the Freedom Parkway controversy. We were met by Robert M. Craig, architectural historian from Georgia Institute of Technology who discussed the details of citizen resistance to urban renewal, surrounding the construction of Freedom Parkway.
The Bridge, located in John Lewis Plaza at the junction of Freedom Parkway and Ponce de Leon Avenue, is a massive structure that is difficult image to capture in its entirety.
The First Congregational Church, 105 Courtland Street.
You caught me taking a load off my feet sitting in a window well in front of the Auburn Avenue Research Library. Fondly known as the AARL, this is decidedly one of my most favorite places in all of Atlanta! The archives has several processed collections that document regional African American influences second to none in the U.S. South. As is quite apparent by the look on my face, I was all tuckered out and attempting to rest up for at least another two hours of exploration. Regardless of how tired I was, we had a blast.
These ruins of the original Atlanta Life Insurance building are still very architecturally appealing.
The main structure of the Odd Fellows Building was completed in 1912, the auditorium partially visible on the left side was completed two years later in 1914.
Dell Upton sharing information with the group about the architectural design and features of the Odd Fellows Building, (circa 1912 - 1914) 250 Auburn Avenue.
The Prince Hall Masonic Hall, 332 -34 Auburn Avenue, circa 1937 - 1941, arched windows are visible on the lower level. Masonry medallions, signage with date stamp are displayed between the upper floors and the parapet.
The alley houses adjacent to the Dr. M.L. King Jr. birth home were undergoing restoration. We were advised that the garage in the foreground is an original structure that would also be renovated after the restoration of the alley houses is completed.
Martin J. Holland
As a young scholar, interested in writing on the topic of memorials and concerned with guaranteeing an equitable and pluralistic society, this tour was simply incredible. My thanks to all the staff of the Society of Architectural Historians for administrating the study tour fellowships. This is a truly worthwhile program and I would strongly encourage other young scholars and graduate students to apply for a traveling fellowship, especially when the tour’s content is related to your own scholarship or interests. I also have to thank Perdita Welch and Allison Larkin of International Seminar Design Inc- they were able to get the study tour group in places normally completely inaccessible to members of the general public. I also have to offer my deepest thanks to Abigail Van Slyck, the SAH representative who also attended the tour for keeping everything running smooth, and for asking some wonderfully probing questions. The group members of the study tour themselves were incredible, thank you for your companionship and your conversation. I learned a lot from your comments and from your expertise.
I must also offer Dr. Dell Upton a huge thank you for not only the countless hours that he spent organizing the tour, but also sharing his research with us. As a graduate student working away on a dissertation, I learned an amazing array of techniques concerning the built environment from Dr. Upton’s keen observations and methodology.
Lastly I have to thank all of you, the general membership of the SAH, for your generosity and financial support in establishing these travelling fellowships. For years I have witnessed first hand the slow but constant withering of resources available to students in post secondary educational institutions. The ability for the SAH to offer not one, but three fellowships to new scholars and graduate students is nothing short of remarkable, and a testament to the quality of you the members of the SAH. I know that many of you are probably suffering from donor fatigue, but to have attended this particular tour, and to have witnessed both the tragedies and the triumphs of the civil rights movement has been nothing short of life changing for me. For the opportunity to attend this tour, I am in your debit.
P.S. Thanks to everyone who followed me on Twitter- and I again apologize for some of the spelling mistakes, next time I will bring along a blackberry with an actual key board rather than my overly touch sensitive iphone! Keep looking for updates on Twitter as well!
Best regards,
Martin
Despite being a Sunday, our last day of the study tour was as full and busy as the other days. We started our day visiting the Bethel Baptist Church, which was subject to three separate bomb attacks during the 1950’s and 1960’s. The first attack on the church and its pastor, the Rev. Fred Lee Shuttlesworth, occurred in the early hours of Christmas Day 1956. An explosive device made up of some nineteen sticks of dynamite was placed between the small alley between church and the parsonage, just mere feet from the bedroom of the pastor. The resulting explosion, while completely destroying the parsonage, left the reverend unharmed. The church sustained heavy damage, with all of its windows broken, and structural repairs required before services could be once again conducted. The attack on the church caused the congregation to establish a round the clock watch on the church and a security detail for their pastor, out of fear for his life. Such precautions proved wise as the church was again attacked in 1958, when another explosive device was left on the eastern side of the church. This time, thanks to the quick and brave actions of the guards, disaster was averted. The guards were able to defuse the majority of live explosives, and throw the remaining nine sticks of dynamite away from the church’s foundation into an adjacent, open field. The resulting explosion still smashed the windows of the church, but given the placement of the bomb, and the fifty-four sticks of dynamite that it originally contained, catastrophic structural damage that would have demolished the church was avoided. With this second attack on the church, local neighbors and members of other churches in Birmingham started to volunteer to augment the churches security. The last attack occurred when six sticks of dynamite were thrown from a speeding car, landing on the main entrance landing at the front of the church. Once again, there was significant damage to the church, but thankfully no loss of life.
Our hosts for the tour of Bethel Baptist were Mrs. Hightower and Deacon Stone, both long term members of the church, who held us riveted not only with their knowledge of these horrific attacks, but their incredible sense of optimism. Despite continual harassment by the police, and attacks on their church, they noted that a large majority of the congregation never waivered in their struggle for equality. While some members were open about their concern that the moral and political stance that the church was taking would “get them all killed”, the church did not abandon the cause, or lose members.
While Bethel Baptist Church building is currently in disrepair, they have already plans for a complete restoration that should get underway within the year. Members of the congregation built a larger church just a block away that is twice the size of the location we saw, and their numbers of the congregation continually grow. I was able to record a snippet of the oral history that Deacon Stone and Mrs. Hightower provided on my smart phone, which I have posted below in a movie format. Sorry for the poor quality of the audio.
Photo: The exterior of the church as it stands today. The parsonage used to stand directly adjacent to the western wall of the church that we see above.
This image, taken from A Walk To Freedom, The Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth and the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights, 1956-1964 by the Birmingham Historical Society shows how close the parsonage was to the church. Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth is in the upper right hand of the photo.
The above photo, also from A Walk To Freedom, The Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth and the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights, 1956-1964 by the Birmingham Historical Society shows the destruction of the first bombing against Bethel Baptist Church.
Photo of Mrs. Hightower and Deacon Stone.
After we left Bethel Baptist Church, we toured the predominately African American neighborhood nicknamed “Dynamite Hill”. It seems that those who were unwilling to recognize racial equality, and resorted to violence and intimidation were not below planting explosives at private residences. “Dynamite Hill” received its name from the seven separate attacks using explosives within the neighborhood in 1957 alone.
We left the neighborhood to go to the Sixteenth Avenue Church prior to their Sunday Service being held. The Church was under construction from 1909 through to 1911, and was designed by Wallace A. Rayfield and Company. It was also the site of a bombing in 1963, and unlike Bethel Baptist church, there were causalities from this terrible incident. Four young girls, Addie May Collins, Carol Denise McNair, Carole Rosmond Robertson, and Cynthia Diane Wesley were all killed when the ten sticks of dynamite planted by the Ku Klux Klan exploded during their Sunday school service.
In response to the attack, and the considerable anger that was felt by both black and white residents of Birmingham, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stated: “We must not harbor the desire to retaliate with violence. The deaths may well serve as the redemptive force that brings light to this dark city.”
In 2008, the church established a memorial to the four girls.
The role of the Sixteenth Avenue Church within the struggle for civil rights cannot be overstated, and a key factor of that critical role had to do with the church’s physical location. Sixteenth Avenue was a racial dividing line within the city of Birmingham, and the church was directly on that invisible, but very real line that segregated blacks from whites. As a result, it became a natural starting point for protest marches, and in May of 1963 was the point of origin for the Children’s Crusade. The crusade was organized to show the world the extent of racial segregation within Birmingham, and how even young African American children would be arrested if they merely walked over to the southern side of Sixteenth Avenue into Kelly Ingram Park.
Photo: The Sixteenth Avenue Baptist Church.
Kelly Ingram Park was named after the first white sailor to perish in World War I, and while it was far removed from white neighborhoods, it was directly adjacent to a large African American neighborhood and business district. Despite of its location, it was on the other side of the color line, and forbidden to be used by Birmingham’s black community. To protest racial segregation, it was also the site for some of the most disturbing imagery to come out of the civil rights movement. White police with batons in hand met many of the protesters, as did snarling police dogs, water cannons, and tear gas. These troubling events are now all recognized in Kelly Ingram Park with the following memorials.
Photo: "Dogs"/ "Foot Solder Tribute".
Photo:"Firehosing of demonstrators"
Photo:"Praying Ministers"
Photo: "Martin Luther King Jr. Monument"
Photo: "The Children's March"
Photo:"Police Dog Attack"
We then had an hour or two to visit the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute located on the northeast side of Sixteenth Avenue. The Institute is a wonderful resource and places the visitor directly into the historical and cultural context of the early stages of the civil rights movement. The institute also has on display the jail cell where on the night of April 16, 1963 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. pens his famous “Letter from the Birmingham Jail” which was a response to white clergy criticizing the efforts of the civil rights movement as “unwise and untimely”.
Our last destination for the tour was the 4th Avenue business district, which served as the economic and cultural center for African Americans in Birmingham. Predominately occupied with black owned businesses, it was much like Auburn Avenue in Atlanta, where monies generated within the district stayed within the area to help foster and reinforce economic opportunities for the black middle class. Arthur George Gaston, a wealthy and talented black entrepreneur, was directly responsible for at least four separate businesses within the district, including a hotel, radio station, insurance company and funeral home. The business district, like many downtown areas in many American cities, has unfortunately fallen upon tough times. Dr. Upton provided an incredible amount of detail to not only the architectural history of the buildings that we were seeing, but a rich and textured social history as well.
Photo of Dr. Upton in front of AG Gaston’s hotel.
Dinner was also a special occasion, as for our last night we were served a traditional southern dinner that included collard greens, fried chicken, sweet potatoes, macaroni and cheese. All of this feast was prepared by Chef Clayton Sherrod, who also treated us with a reflection of his own experiences growing up in Birmingham during the civil rights struggle, and how he soon learned that he could not remain silent when he saw injustice in the world and how he could not let others determine the course of his own life. The meal, and his presentation, were excellent.
We had a special treat arranged for us this morning- Perdita Welch had been able to arrange a visit inside Mrs. Rosa Parks’ home at the Cleveland Courts public Housing in Montgomery, Alabama.
Photo: The Rosa Parks' home.
The Cleveland Courts were constructed in the early 1940’s to counteract the lack of affordable and adequate housing in the south. The apartments still serve as public housing today.
Photo: Interior shot of Mrs. Rosa Parks’ home.
We then visited the “Brick – A - Day” church, also known as the First Baptist Church of Montgomery, which played a central role in the struggle for equality during the civil rights era. The “Brick - A – Day” nickname came from the donation of home-made bricks made by the congregation membership to the rebuilding efforts after a fire destroyed the church in the early nineteen hundreds. The reconstruction effort lasted for five years, from 1910 to 1915 when the church was finally completed. Reverend R.D. Abernathy, a central figure of the civil rights movement, and close friend to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was also the pastor of this church from 1952 to 1961.
While there, we had the good fortune to have an organ recital performed for us by Mrs. Essley Gomiller. She served as the church’s organist for some forty-nine consecutive years. I was able to record a small snippet of the tail end of the recital. Please click on the image below this entire post to play the movie.
Photo of interior of the First Baptist Church of Montgomery.
Photo of exterior of the First Baptist Church of Montgomery.
Our next stop was the Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church, which is located just a stone’s throw from the State capital. This proximity is of critical importance, as Dexter Avenue has had a very troubled and difficult past. On the low end of the street, a slave auction market was established just after the founding of the city, and the site of the church itself was once the headquarters of a slave trader.
Photo of the State Capital and a memorial recognizing the swearing in of Jefferson Davis as President of the Confederate States of America on February 18, 1861.
Photo of Dexter Avenue King Memorial Church.
Dexter Avenue Church had its first worship service in 1889 on Thanksgiving Day, but its planning can be traced as far back as 1877. The church had been without a minister since 1953 when Rev. Vernon Johns left Montgomery. However, R.D. Nesbitt Sr. one of the church’s deacons had heard of a powerful, young preacher in Atlanta who he wanted to bring to Montgomery as the church’s new pastor. That young preacher was Martin Luther King Jr., and he was barely twenty-four years old. The Dexter Avenue King Memorial Church was also the only church that Dr. King ever pastored.
It was also in the church’s basement that the decision to launch the Montgomery Bus Boycott was made on December 2, 1955 a day after the arrest of a young seamstress named Rosa Parks. Originally intended to last just a single day, the boycott lasted three hundred and eighty one days, and involved the creation of ride sharing for some forty thousand African Americans day.
Photo: Interior of the Dexter Avenue Church.
Just up the street from the historic Dexter Avenue Church is the Civil Rights Memorial Center, whose outside memorial was designed by Maya Lin in 1989. The memorial is to the forty plus people who lost their lives in the fight for desegregation, and to the landmark legal rules that officially ended the discriminatory practice on a national level.
Photo of The Civil Rights Memorial designed by Maya Lin.
Our last stop in Montgomery was to visit the parsonage that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called home while he was the Pastor at the Dexter Avenue Church. The home, on South Jackson Street, was squarely located in the center of the black middle class neighborhood of Centennial Hill. The home, built in 1912 became the parsonage used by Dr. King when he accepted the pastoral responsibilities of Dexter Avenue church in 1954. If you look closely at the photograph of the exterior of the home, you will notice that the windows of the left hand side do not match the windows on the right. The reason that this is the case is that on the evening of January 31, 1956 a bomb was thrown onto the porch and the resulting explosion destroyed the windows and damaged much of the exterior of the home. Despite shrapnel being stuck in the interior walls, thankfully no one was injured despite Mrs. King and her children being present in the home at the time of the bombing.
Photo of Dexter Street Parsonage Museum.
Photo of the bombing plaque.
We left Birmingham for Selma, but just outside of the city limits of Birmingham we stopped off at a roadside memorial dedicated to Viola Liuzzo. Viola Liuzzo was a housewife from Detroit Michigan who, after seeing the police brutality that met the first effort of African Americans to walk from Selma to Montgomery on March 7, 1965, decided that she had to drive to Selma to offer any assistance that she could. While driving local protest organizers home along highway 80, a car containing four Ku Klux Klan members (one of whom was a police informant) open fired on the vehicle, killing her instantly. The memorial was paid for by the SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference) and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and was completed in 1991. Due to numerous defacements, including the painting of the Confederate flag on the memorial, a fence was established around the memorial’s perimeter in 1999.
Photo of Viola Liuzzo Memorial.
As we entered the city limits of Selma, we stopped briefly at the memorial park on the far side of the Edmund Pettis Bridge, where the SCLC established a series of memorials to the key figures in both the national and local civil rights movement.
After a walking lecture provided by Dr. Upton in downtown Selma, we stopped by Brown Chapel African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) (1869).The church was the starting point of the protest march against discriminatory voter registration procedures, which resulted in massive disenfranchisement of African American voters. The protest march was to start in Selma, and go all the way to the state capital of Montgomery. On March 7th, 1965 these protestors were met by local police enforcement with tear gas, billy clubs, dogs, and mounted horsemen who beat them mercilessly in front of national media. That particular Sunday became to be known as “Bloody Sunday”, and drew national and international attention to the plight of African Americans in the south. Blacks exercised their right to vote during reconstruction, however in the early part of the twentieth century, state officials saw to it that they were systematically purged from the state and local voter rolls. Practices such as severely limited hours for voter registration, poll taxes, and intense literacy requirements dropped the number of eligible black voters from some 164,000 immediately after reconstruction to a mere 3000 in 1965. In the single month following the passage of the civil rights act of 1965, more African American voters registered to vote within the state of Alabama than did so in the previous sixty-four years.
Photo of the exterior of the Brown Chapel AME Church in Selma.
Photo of the interior of the Brown Chapel AME Church in Selma.
Our last stop of the day in Selma was at Live Oaks Cemetery, where we met a self described historian and preservationist by the name of Patricia Goodwin. The cemetery was dedicated in 1829, and provides the final resting place for many confederate solders, and at least one large confederate memorial is present. Ms. Goodwin told us of difficulties that she experienced with her efforts to place a memorial to Nathan Bedford Forrest within the city of Selma, and she viewed the predominately African American city council as being the major detractors of her efforts. For half an hour the group listened to her descriptions of the events that led up to the memorial’s placement within the cemetery, but it became clear that her central role in the fundraising and the construction of the memorial made the events that she experienced incredibly personal. When she was challenged on some of the basics regarding the life of Nathan Bedford Forrest, such as his involvement with the formation of the Ku Klux Klan, and the possibility that he served as the first Grand Wizard of the group, she denied any involvement that he had with the Klan. When asked about a particular inscription on the memorial that refers to him as being a “wizard in the saddle”, Ms. Goodwin stated that that term was used by one of his former foes, out of respect for Forrest’s military prowess. Walking under live oaks draped with large tufts of dangling spanish moss I was struck that despite the end of the civil war some one hundred and forty four years ago, many of the wounds are still festering.
Mrs. Goodwin in front of the Nathan Bedford Forrest Memorial.
Photo: The Alonzo Herndon Home
Herndon first made his money through being a barber, and slowly, through hard work, started to own a series of barbershops throughout the southeast. His most famous location was in downtown Atlanta on Peachtree, where he employed some twenty-six African American barbers to cut the hair of his powerful white clientele. The wealth that he earned through his establishment went back into the black community, and assisted him in amassing prime real estate locations in the south, and also providing the capital necessary to start Atlanta Life insurance.
Our tour then took us through the educational institutions that were established to teach the young minds of the rising black middle class. Clark Atlanta University, Spelman College, and Morehouse College were founded to address the necessity of providing excellent post secondary education to African Americans, so that those students would become the next generation of community, political and business leaders. Remember at the time of their respective founding, no black students were allowed to attend post secondary educational institutions in the south.
Photo: Martin Luther King Jr. statue at Morehouse College.
Photo: Sisters Chapel at Spelman College.
We also had a brief visit to Booker T. Washington High School, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. went to high school as a young man. Again, because of racial segregation, King had to travel miles to attend this all African American high school, even though there were numerous white high schools that were much closer to where he lived.
Photo of "Lifting The Veil" at Booker T. Washington High School. ( A copy of statue of the original statue is at Tuskegee University.)
We then departed Atlanta for Tuskegee, home of the famous Tuskegee Airmen, and the Tuskegee Institute founded by Booker T. Washington (now Tuskegee University).
Photo of Tuskegee Town Square.
We then walked the grounds of Tuskegee University, including the George Washington Carver Museum. The history of the University is fascinating. Lewis Adams, who recognized that while slavery had been abolished by the emancipation proclamation acts of 1862 and 1863, noted that freed slaves often possessed little formal education or marketable skills to support themselves or their families. Adam’s strong lobbying of the State of Alabama’s democratic party resulted in the establishment of the Institute in 1881, and he hired the young Booker T. Washington to serve as the first president of the school. The school proved to be a critical destination for many African Americans, as the school not only provided formal education, but also real world, “hands on” experience. Many of the buildings on the grounds were designed by the first African American architect in the United States, Robert Taylor, who had graduated from MIT in 1892, and the labor for the construction came from the Institute’s student body.
Photo of student laborers constructing a building at the Tuskegee Institute.
After a long, and full day, we headed to our next destination, Montgomery Alabama.
As we gathered for lunch at the Hampton Inn and Suites in downtown Atlanta, Dr. Dell Upton gave a wonderfully insightful lecture on memorials and the act of commemoration as a foundation to what we were about to experience over the next four days. Of particular interest was his observation that memorials often reflect the social, cultural and historical perspective not of the time that they were supposed to be marking, but rather of the current conditions of when they were actually being established. Thus memorials to the civil rights era that were constructed in the late twentieth century reflect the ideals and perspectives of the 1980’s and 1990’s that were interpretations of the civil rights movement of the 1950’s and 1960’s. Applied on a broader level, Upton’s observation explains a great deal why sites like the World Trade Center Memorial in New York City, or the Memorial to Flight 93 in Shanksville, Pennsylvania are still so hotly contested, and their cultural meanings still uncertain.
Professor Upton also noted in his lecture how the traditional forms of memorialization seem to be strangely out of place for the civil rights movement. In a systematic approach, Upton showed numerous examples of traditional memorial statuary, and revealed their reliance upon metaphors of military prowess and conquest for their meaning. The seated equestrian, the heroic lone figure, the group action pose— all find their respective origins in military conflict. Dr. Upton wondered just how appropriate such visual metaphors were for a movement that practiced nonviolence, and saw great success in mundane, yet critical actions such as voter registration, community organization and peaceful acts of civil disobedience.
Photo: Dell Upton giving his introductory lecture.
After the lecture and a substantial lunch we headed off to Auburn Avenue, which was and remains a center of black middle class life and culture. The act of racial segregation, combined with discriminatory business laws that intentionally restricted access to capital for African Americans, made Auburn Avenue a central node for the black middle class. It was here that Atlanta Life was based, an insurance company established by Alonzo Herndon in 1905 to provide African Americans with financial tools and security similar to those enjoyed by their white middle class counterparts. Professor Upton showed members of the study tour the numerous and complex spatial interrelationships that black businesses utilized before the civil rights movement to ensure that monies generated by black owned businesses would stay within the African American community, and how black reinvestment into Auburn Avenue was an absolute necessity given the overtly hostile attitudes and discriminatory practices by whites towards black owned businesses.
Photos: Atlanta Life then and now.
Auburn Avenue was also the birthplace and the final resting place of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. We toured the home where he was born, and noted how, on that particular section of Auburn Avenue, there were a range of housing stock that encompassed the urban poor through to the wealthy. Our docent for the tour of Dr. King’s birthplace told the story that when Martin Luther King Jr. was a child, he saw first hand the wide financial disparity experienced by African Americans on this very street. On one side, small, two room, “shotgun homes” were the dominant housing stock, while on the other side of the street,large mansions were the norm. This inequitable relationship within the African American community stayed with Dr. King, and was a constant reminder of not only how far African Americans had come, but also how far was still left to go.
Photo: Dr. King's Birthplace in Atlanta.
Photo: Small, shotgun homes on Auburn Ave.
Photo: The upscale homes just across the street from King's birthplace.
Photo: The tombs for Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife, Coretta Scott King.
Civil Rights Memorials and African-American Urban Landscapes in the Twentieth Century South.
October 8-12, 2009.
By Martin J. Holland
This is the first of three accounts by SAH fellowship recipients discussing the recent SAH study tour that examined civil rights memorials in the South. For those of you interested in a day by day, moment by moment account of what we saw, I would strongly suggest that you subscribe to Twitter, and sign up to get tweets from the SAH_Study_Tour which will not only provide you with what occurred from October 8-12, 2009, but with any luck, all future SAH study tours as well. It is a great way to feel part of a Society of Architectural Historians tour, even if you are unable to attend.
The Legacy
August 9, 2009
It’s difficult to believe how quickly this tour has gone by! On our final day, we took a look at the legacy of the 1909 Plan of Chicago.
We began our day with breakfast at the SAH Headquarters, the Charnley-Persky House (Sullivan, 1892). I was amazed by the striking interior space and spent a great deal of time exploring the house.
View from ground level
From left to right: Kristen Schaffer, Peter Ambler,
Jonathan and Linda Lyons, William Mullen
Then over to the Madlener House for a lecture entitled “Planning Then and Now” by Robert Bruegmann of the University of Illinois at Chicago. Robert traced the development of city planning in Chicago from the 1909 Plan to the Chicago Metropolis 2020 plan. Since Burnham, the efforts moved away from the City Beautiful and became more concerned with housing and transportation in the 1930s and 1940s. Movements against urban renewal grew strong in the 1950s and 1960s. Issues of historic preservation became a concern and in 1968, the Chicago Landmarks Commission was established. The 2020 Plan returns to some of Burnham’s ideas (e.g. transportation) but also tackles issues such as school systems and social reforms. Robert’s lecture led us to think about Chicago as representative of other American cities.
Our next talk was on “urban nature.” Sally A. Kitt Chappell of DePaul University delivered a lively commentary on Burnham’s legacy of the green space in the city. One of the things that struck me was Charles Graham’s renderings of the World’s Columbian Exposition and his focus on the public spaces. I was reminded of something Kristen had spoken about on our first day of lectures – Burnham wanted to make his buildings a wall for the street. With this in mind, it is easy to see just how important public space was for Burnham. Sally highlighted the ways in which green space had a positive effect on the city: wasteland became recreation areas, vacant lots and rooftops became gardens, median strips became places for greenery, etc.
Following her lecture, we went on a walking tour of Lincoln Park, one of the city’s oldest designated open public spaces (est. 1864).
of Saint-Gaudens’ Lincoln statue)
Our first stop in the park was the Chicago Historical Society (Graham, Anderson, Probst and White, 1932) and we admired the ceremonial entrance facing the park. We strolled past the Prairie-style Café Brauer (Perkins and Hamilton, 1908) on the way to the Lincoln Park Conservatory (Silsbee and Bell, 1894).
The formal gardens in front of the conservatory contrasted with the informal “Grandmother’s Garden” across the street. The conservatory was another world in itself with ferns, palms, orchids and other exotic flowers (even including a confined Venus fly-trap).
The final stop on the walking tour was the Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool (Alfred Caldwell, 1937), another perfect example of a green space where one could escape the congestion of the city.
Alfred Caldwell Lily Pond
After a few hours of free time (and a few cool drinks to escape the day’s heat!), we reconvened below the Wrigley Building for a River and Lake Sunset Cruise with commentary by Phil Gruen.
Being on the water allowed me to think about the ways in which the relationship between the natural and built environments is such an integral part to the fabric of the city. The city continues to develop, a fact that was evident in the growing number of skyrise developments along the waterfront.
As we glided out onto Lake Michigan and saw the expanse of the city, I thought about the development of Chicago – how far it has come since Burnham’s Plan. The cruise was such a fitting end to our study tour and I would like to thank SAH for the opportunity to be a part of such a wonderful learning experience.
The Plan
August 8, 2009
After focusing on Daniel Burnham’s architecture during yesterday’s activities, today we focused on Burnham’s 1909 Plan of Chicago. Carl Smith of Northwestern University led the morning’s lectures. He stated that what was novel in Burnham’s plan was the idea of the beauty and health of a city as being integral to a city’s financial success. This progressive proposal -- that a great space makes great people -- was the impetus for the City Beautiful movement and the Plan of Chicago.
Carl outlined the six main issues of the plan:
- Development of the lakefront
- Creation of highways outside of the city
- Improvement of railways
- Systematic arrangement of avenues and streets
- Acquisition of an outer system of parks
- Development of centers of intellectual and civic life
Burnham tried to reconcile different interests and address pertinent issues as he considered the long-term development of the city of Chicago.
Following Carl’s lecture, Dennis McClendon provided us with a closer look at the Plan through the use of lantern slides of city and area maps and Guerin’s renderings. Dennis spoke about the reasons why the plan succeeded - mainly because of its limited scope (it wasn’t trying to address all social issues) and by promotion (through the use of Guerin’s renderings, publications, etc.). These lectures were a great foundation for the afternoon’s motor coach tour where we were able to see the Plan in action.
The planned itinerary became a little more sporadic as we tried to beat the traffic caused by Lollapalooza and the Chicago Bear’s Family Day. I did not mind at all – it was great to see the city alive with people.
Passing under an elevated rail track
We started at “Museum Campus” which contains the Field Museum (D.H. Burnham and Co.; Graham, Burnham and Co., Graham, Anderson, Probst, and White, 1912-20), the John G. Shedd Aquarium (Graham, Anderson, Probst, and White, 1929) and the Max Alder Planetarium (Ernest Grunsfeld, 1930). From here, we took photos of the city and were able to see just how much of the city was extended into the lake by means of landfill.
Dennis was a whirlwind of information – he knew something about everything we passed, not just areas relating to the 1909 Plan. The motor coach took us past areas we had seen during the morning’s lectures. One area that particularly stuck in my mind was Ogden Avenue, the only diagonal street executed from the Plan of Chicago. It was meant to extend from Lincoln Park to Old Town but over time it had been abandoned. By 1993 it was pushed back to Chicago Avenue. We were able to see its ghost running through a corner park and small residential street.
In addition to the planned diagonal avenues, major streets were widened to accommodate traffic. The widening of these streets, such as Western, Damen, and Ashland avenues, was executed unlike the planned diagonal avenues. Dennis pointed out that most of the remaining buildings on those streets had facades from a later period.
We drove through Lincoln Park on the way to Graceland Cemetery, where Burnham was laid to rest after his death in 1912. I was struck by the beautiful lakefront and green spaces as we left the noise and congestion far behind. The difference was incredible and yet we were only a mile out of the city. The skyscrapers loomed in the distance but it felt as if we were a world away.
Not only was the cemetery a peaceful setting, but it also contained some beautiful mausolea and headstones. In addition to Daniel Burnham, other prominent individuals laid to rest in Graceland include John Wellborn Root, Marshall Field, Ludmig Mies van der Rohe, Louis Sullivan (who also designed two mausolea in the cemetery) and William Holabird.
We drove back into the heart of the city to Wacker Drive, where we were able to see how traffic was divided into the double-decker road system. Freight traffic was meant for the lower level of the drive while the upper levels were reserved for pedestrian and automobile traffic.
Keeping on topic with the transportation in the city, we stopped into Union Station to admire the original waiting room (Graham, Anderson, Probst, and White, 1916-25).
One of the completed projects from the Plan was the straightening of the south branch of the Chicago River – an astonishing undertaking. We drove over the straightened section and saw the area that was intended to become the site of a consolidated rail facility. The consolidation of the rail companies into one large facility was never realized.
The motor coach tour was an excellent complement to the day’s lectures. We were able to see what parts of the Plan were realized, such as the widening of streets and lakefront expansion, and what aspects of the plan never came to pass.
The Architecture
August 7, 2009
The Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, located in the Albert F. Madlener House (1901-2), provided the setting for our lectures each morning. The first day of the tour began with a welcome from the Executive Director of SAH, Pauline Saliga, and from the tour coordinator, Phil Gruen. After an introduction to the weekend’s events, we were treated to a lecture from Kristen Schaffer of North Carolina State University, one of the leading Burnham experts. Her talk focused on the relationship between Burnham’s architecture and his city planning. Kristen proposes there is continuity in his buildings and his city plans – the provision of public space. Burnham favored the hollowed square plan with an atrium in the center was exemplary of Burnham’s attitude of the public nature of private space. It was this attitude that extended into his plans for the city.
After lunch, we were joined by geographer and historian Dennis McClendon to take a walking tour of Chicago’s Loop, the city’s downtown center. The rainy weather did not stop Dennis and Kristen from providing an intriguing commentary as they took us on a tour of significant Burnham buildings that illustrate his philosophy of urban architecture.
Our first stop was the Rookery (Burnham and Root, 1885-89). For a building of such great height (eleven stories), the foundation needed to be solid enough to rest on Chicago’s marshy soil and was therefore made of interlinking concrete and iron. The more traditional façade features a Romanesque entry arch, rustication and terra cotta ornament.
The Rookery
Detail of the Rookery
La Salle Street Entrance
with Richardsonian Romanesque Arch
It was in the interior, however, that we were truly able to understand Kristen’s commentary on the public nature of private spaces. As we entered into the atrium, we were struck by the openness and airiness of the space. Despite the dreary day, the amount of light filling the space was incredible.
Atrium of the Rookery
The atrium was renovated by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1907. The original iron staircase, railings and supports were encased with gold-incised white marble. However, one iron support is exposed to allow visitors to imagine what once was. After seeing a photo of the original atrium and seeing the exposed support, I can’t help but feel that the atrium lacks the airiness that Burnham and Root intended.
Light fixture by Frank Lloyd Wright
Original iron support exposed
One of the most thrilling parts of the tour was the private viewing of the office of Burnham and Root on the eleventh floor of the Rookery. The original fireplace, where the well-known photograph of the two architects was taken, remains in situ.
Burnham and Root in
Running between raindrops, we headed over to the Monadnock Building (Burnham and Root, 1889-91) to marvel at the load-bearing masonry construction. The enormity of the six-foot-thick base of the building was best observed from the interior where you could see the thickness of the walls from the interior storefronts. Instead of an atrium, light would have filtered through the vertical shafts containing iron staircases.
Monadnock Building
as it reaches the cornice and then bows slightly outward.
The Old Colony building undergoing
The desire to get out of the rain took us into the Marshall Field and Company Store (D.H. Burnham and Co.; Graham, Burnham and Co., 1892-1914). The store was converted into a Macy’s into 2005, much to the chagrin of Chicagoans. The stone façade gave no indication of the two striking atria on the interior. The south side atrium features a mosaic dome by Louis Comfort Tiffany and the north side atrium topped with a skylight.
With the walking tour coming to a close, we briefly looked at the People’s Gas, Coke and Light Building (D.H. Burnham and Co., 1910-11) and the Railway Exchange Building (D.H. Burnham and Co., 1903-04) before heading to the Cliff Dweller’s Club at 200 S. Michigan Ave. for a private screening of clips from Judith Paine McBrien’s upcoming Burnham documentary, Make No Little Plans: Daniel Burnham and the American City. The film will be premiered in the Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park on Wednesday, September 2, 2009 at 7.30 PM.
Chicago Study Tour, August 7-9, 2009
Catherine Boland
On the occasion of the 100-year anniversary of Daniel H. Burnham’s Plan of Chicago, there is perhaps nothing more fitting than a tour celebrating Burnham and the Plan – its precedents, execution, and legacy. This three-day excursion was coordinated by Phil Gruen of Washington State University and included lectures, tours, and commentary by Kristen Schaffer, Dennis McClendon, Sally A. Kitt Chappell, Carl Smith, and Robert Bruegmann. Tour participants were immersed in the architecture of Burnham and his contemporaries and his successors. Discussions focused on the reasons why some elements of the plan, such as lakefront expansion and development of the arterials of the city, were realized, while others, such as the creation of a civic center and the consolidation of railways, were not. Over the course of the three day tour, we moved from a focused study of Burnham’s architecture, to his 1909 Plan of Chicago, and finally to planning in general. Throughout these three days, tour participants were able to experience the city of Chicago not only through our own eyes but also through the eyes of Burnham.
