Karl Kamrath Skyscraper Faces Demolition (Arch Record 1964)

pgharchfan · Post by **pgharchfan** » Tue Dec 18, 2018 5:36 pm

http://swamplot.com/pasadenas-first-sky ... 018-12-17/

Photos from Architectural Record 1964:

http://houstonmod.net/bldg_detail.asp?i ... %20Kamrath

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Tue Dec 18, 2018 6:36 pm

Thanks for that, pgharchfan. The tower, which I've never seen pictured, clearly contains Wrightian references.

I went looking for other work by Kamrath, and found this house, the Gonzales residence, Houston, no date, published in Serraino and Shulman, "Modernism Rediscovered" (Taschen, 2000), pp 515-17. I think this house shows a
Wrightian influence -- more than the typical MCM house does, in any event ?

Julius Shulman (and Pierluigi Serraino) apparently thought it important to record the date of each photo in their book, but not necessarily anything of
the architecture displayed beyond the name of the architect and the location of the work. Before finding this house, I went through Shulman's
"Architecture and its Photography" because I thought I would find at least one project by McKie and Kamrath. I had to page through the whole book,
as I do every time I consult it, because Mr Shulman provided neither an index nor a list of the architects whose work his career depended upon . . .

S

Tom · Post by **Tom** » Tue Dec 18, 2018 10:04 pm

Love the house.

pgharchfan · Post by **pgharchfan** » Wed Dec 19, 2018 8:46 am

Sadly the Gonzalez house was demolished last year. I think it was the only Kamrath work that Shulman photographed.

Maynard Parker photographed Kamrath's own house. It's still intact and is being restored after Hurricane Harvey. http://houstonmod.net/bldg_detail.asp?i ... %20Kamrath

(the site has an odd feature... click the B&W photos to see them in color)

Wright saw this building on his 1949 visit to Houston and deemed it "acceptable"

http://houstonmod.net/bldg_detail.asp?i ... %20Kamrath

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Wed Dec 19, 2018 11:03 am

Thanks, pgharchfan -- much appreciated !

S

Roderick Grant · Post by **Roderick Grant** » Wed Dec 19, 2018 11:05 am

That bottom photo was published by HB in one of the issues on FLW. Although Kamrath didn't apprentice at Taliesin, he got the gist of Wright's principles, as Alfred Browning Parker did.

JimM · Post by **JimM** » Wed Dec 19, 2018 12:30 pm

Nice stuff.