Pasadena Heritage to offer architectural tour and lecture May 21

Pasadena Heritage presents:“Modern Works”
A Lecture and Bus Tour of Modern Non-Residential Buildings
Designed by Architects Edward Durell Stone and Smith & Williams
in celebration of National Historic Preservation Month
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Lecture at 1:00 p.m. Guided motor coach tour from 2:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.


In celebration of National Historic Preservation Month, on May 21st Pasadena Heritage will present “Modern Works,” a lecture and architectural tour of modern, non-residential buildings designed by architects Edward Durell Stone and Smith & Williams.

An illustrated lecture by Alan Hess, entitled "Hiding in Plain Sight: Edward Durell Stone and Smith & Williams", will be presented before the tour. The lecture will begin at 1:00 p.m. at the Fran Norris Scoble Performing Arts Center of the Westridge School.

Alan Hess is a distinguished architect, architectural critic, author and preservationist. He has been especially active in the preservation of post war architecture, including assisting Pasadena Heritage in nominating Bullock’s Pasadena (1947), and the Stuart Pharmaceutical Company (Edward Durell Stone, 1958) to the National Register of Historic Places. Alan received a 1997 Honor Award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation and a 1999 President's Award from the California Preservation Foundation. We are honored to have him speak about renowned architects Edward Durell Stone and Smith & Williams and highlight some of their local work.

The guided motor coach tour will follow the lecture, departing from the lecture location at 2:30 p.m. The tour will include examples of the work of both Smith & Williams and Edward Durell Stone. Four stops will afford participants the chance to see and visit some of these buildings in more detail.

As one of the earliest American exponents of the International Style, Edward Durell Stone had a major impact upon architectural education in the United States during the 1950s. He helped transform the International Style modernism of the 1950s into the postmodernism of the 1960s and 1970s by substituting formalism for functionalism.

Stone's formalism developed during his Beaux-Arts education at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his apprenticeship in the New York office of Schultze and Weaver. In typical modernist fashion, Stone allowed his buildings to stand as isolated objects in open space. He arranged his buildings as large multi-functional central spaces ringed by smaller enclosed rooms of more definite purpose. Unlike many modernists, he used luxurious materials and a profusion of decorative details.

Featured stops on the Pasadena Heritage tour that highlight Edward Durell Stone’s designs include the Stuart Pharmaceutical Company building, 1958. Pasadena Heritage fought valiantly to keep this important building standing when it was threatened with demolition in the 1990s and nominated it to the National Register of Historic Places. After a major preservation campaign, the building was purchased and adaptively reused as part of a luxury apartment complex now known as "The Stuart at Sierra Madre Villa". Many of the original details have been left intact including the famous Stone screen wall, original landscape features including reflecting pools and dramatic hanging planters, the large interior, two-story atrium with distinctive ceiling and floating staircase, and the original swimming pool and terrace, once enjoyed by Stuart Company employees and now by apartment dwellers. The tour will also include a stop at Beckman Auditorium, 1964, on the Caltech campus.

Whitney Smith and Wayne Williams began working together in 1946 and three years later formed the partnership of Smith & Williams that lasted until 1973. They designed hundreds of houses and commercial structures, most using the then newly-popular, modern post-and-beam construction form as well as incorporating new building materials after World War II.

Architectural photographer Julius Shulman documented many of Smith & Williams' designs in Southern California and noted the partners' easy working relationships with clients. "Their work was instrumental in bringing architecture down to earth, to the level of the average client," Shulman said in a Los Angeles Times interview. "But they didn't beat their drums loud enough; that's why they didn't become world-famous."

Smith & Williams’ building philosophy allows for synergy between occupants and interaction and free exchange of information. Their designs often have a central courtyard with rooms and spaces facing into one another, which allow occupants and information to flow back into the project.

Featured stops along the tour that highlight the work of Smith & Williams include the Children’s Chapel, nursery school and education building, designed in 1948 – 1956, of the former Neighborhood Church (demolished in 1974) and currently part of the Sequoyah School. Another stop will feature the architecture offices designed by and for Smith & Williams, themselves, in 1958. Participants will also visit three significant buildings on the Westridge School campus designed by Whitney Smith after he left the partnership.

Alan Hess’ lecture is scheduled at 1:00 p.m. at the Fran Norris Scoble Performing Arts Center of the Westridge School, located at 324 Madeline Drive, Pasadena, 91105. The guided motor coach tour will follow from 2:30 – 5:30 p.m. Tickets for the lecture and tour: $40 for members, $45 for non-members. Lecture tickets only: $15 for members, $18 for non-members For tickets and information visit pasadenaheritage.org or call (626) 441-6333. Tickets go on sale April 21, 2011.



About Pasadena Heritage
Pasadena Heritage is a member-based, non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the historic, architectural, and cultural resources of the city of Pasadena. www.pasadenaheritage.org
About National Trust for Historic Preservation - National Preservation Month
The National Trust for Historic Preservation (NTHP), chartered by Congress in 1949, is a private, non-profit organization with more than a quarter million members. It provides leadership, education and advocacy to save America's diverse historic places and revitalizes communities. NTHP designates May as National Preservation Month and this year’s theme is “Celebrating America’s Treasures.” Pasadena Heritage is a proud member of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.