who knew?
..."Stone was introduced to Frank Lloyd Wright by Howard Myers, editor of The Architectural Forum, and drove to Taliesin in Spring Green, Wis. in 1940 for a visit with the master."...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/j-michael ... 95116.html
Edward Durell Stone
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Paul Ringstrom
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- Location: Mason City, IA
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Roderick Grant
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Stone started out as a very promising architect in the new style of the 30s (after Radio City's Deco), but sold out, in a way, to cash in on the big bucks, designing flashy, marble-clad, red-carpeted, crystal-chandeliered buildings that critics love to hate. His early residential work (including one of the Life Magazine projects FLW designed the prototype of Schwartz for) was excellent, but much of his later work -- GM, Huntington Hartford Museum, Perpetual S&L in Beverly Hills, and the JFK Center for the Performing Arts, the lobby of which one critic called the largest whore house in the world -- was regarded as crass and vulgar. But it brought him wealth and fame. My favorite Stone work is the Bruno Graf House in Dallas.
Was Ed Stone the architect of the Huntington Hartford Museum in Manhattan -- or am I having a senior moment ? And what are we to make of a comparison of Stone's "modern classicism" (as exemplified by the embassy in New Delhi, et al) and that of Philip Johnson (and, for instance, his co-conspirators Abramovitz and Harrison, in their combined effort at Lincoln Center, also in Manhattan) ?
SDR
SDR
I recently was at a presentation by Hicks Stone, son of Edward Durrell Stone, on his father's work, as documented in a new book, "Edward Durrell Stone, a Son's Untold Story of a Legendary Architect". For someone who grew up thinking of Ed Stone as the Huntington Hartford Museum and the Kennedy Center, it was a revelation. Opening his office in 1945, Stone did scores of excellent International Style buildings (including the original Museum of Modern Art building), and many houses. Here was one talented designer. (see link in prior post by SDR from "Trainglemodernhouses" for a few photos).
I first learned about the FLlW connection in Edgar Tafel's "About Wright" book (1993) where there is a chapter by Stone's wife Maria. Knowing Wright did not suffer fools gladly, I was always curious that these two architects were friends. It turns out Stone learned and used a lot from Wright, and had a substantial Usonian period of his own. He did a series of hospitals in California and other buildings using patterned concrete blocks, owing some to FLlW's patterned block ideas.
Far from the reputation of brille soleil over everything, they were little used. Courtyards and arcades were. And of course symmetrical formal classicism. And a penchant for the greatest sin of all, "surface decoration", the same thing Wright was viciously excoriated for in my 1960s architecture classes.
As has been noted, Stone turned to neoclassicism later in his career. It worked wonderfully at the American Embassy in Delhi, where it is a restful, quiet, refreshing, dignified presence in a sea of chaos. However, things went awry when Stone's office grew dramatically and his architecture did not scale up to large buildings, a phenomena not that uncommon. One can never attribute motivation to another, but it appears this was a conscious stylistic decision. Unfortunately, it is this period is what many of us remember. It is as if all we remembered of Wright were the Whichita State University buildings, Grady Gammage, the Lindholm Service Station, the Marin County Post Office, the Taliesin Visitors' Center…we would have a very different overall impression.
I also realized that many bad 1960s arcaded buildings that I vaguely associated with Stone are not his at all, but just the very bad copies by less talented designers.
This book presents a new and interesting chapter in the history of 20th century architecture.
I first learned about the FLlW connection in Edgar Tafel's "About Wright" book (1993) where there is a chapter by Stone's wife Maria. Knowing Wright did not suffer fools gladly, I was always curious that these two architects were friends. It turns out Stone learned and used a lot from Wright, and had a substantial Usonian period of his own. He did a series of hospitals in California and other buildings using patterned concrete blocks, owing some to FLlW's patterned block ideas.
Far from the reputation of brille soleil over everything, they were little used. Courtyards and arcades were. And of course symmetrical formal classicism. And a penchant for the greatest sin of all, "surface decoration", the same thing Wright was viciously excoriated for in my 1960s architecture classes.
As has been noted, Stone turned to neoclassicism later in his career. It worked wonderfully at the American Embassy in Delhi, where it is a restful, quiet, refreshing, dignified presence in a sea of chaos. However, things went awry when Stone's office grew dramatically and his architecture did not scale up to large buildings, a phenomena not that uncommon. One can never attribute motivation to another, but it appears this was a conscious stylistic decision. Unfortunately, it is this period is what many of us remember. It is as if all we remembered of Wright were the Whichita State University buildings, Grady Gammage, the Lindholm Service Station, the Marin County Post Office, the Taliesin Visitors' Center…we would have a very different overall impression.
I also realized that many bad 1960s arcaded buildings that I vaguely associated with Stone are not his at all, but just the very bad copies by less talented designers.
This book presents a new and interesting chapter in the history of 20th century architecture.
Jim
Stone
We have Stone's residential works archived at:
www.trianglemodernisthouses.com/stone.htm
George Smart
Triangle Modernist Houses
www.trianglemodernisthouses.com
www.trianglemodernisthouses.com/stone.htm
George Smart
Triangle Modernist Houses
www.trianglemodernisthouses.com
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Roderick Grant
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The casual elegance of the Booth Compound (1936-1938) has always appealed to me. Everyone should have a bowling green. I wonder if the monks bowl.
Of the 1959 Embassy in New Delhi, the Ambassador who first occupied the house said the constant noise of the fountain reminded him of a malfunctioning toilet.
Of the 1959 Embassy in New Delhi, the Ambassador who first occupied the house said the constant noise of the fountain reminded him of a malfunctioning toilet.