200 ATTEND DOCOMOMO/AIA JACKSONVILLE SYMPOSIUM AND TOUR, MARCH 13, 2010

Two hundred interesting people appeared for our third annual event, jointly sponsored with the Jacksonville chapter of AIA.

The featured speaker and exclusive subject of the tour was Robert C. Broward. Other speakers included John Howey on the Sarasota School of Architecutre, David Laffitte on lighting, Dole Kelley on his career as a structural engineer and the Cathedral of Faith Church of God in Christ building, where the symposium was held, and Ann Baird and Kim Del Rance on St. Augustine's Davis Shores.

The tour visited three of Broward's most outstanding residential projects, the Mead House, Davidson House, and Westminster Woods retirement village. The latter project (originally Wesley Manor), has been threatened with demolition.

The tour began with a large one-man office and garage for luxury automobiles and finished with the Unitarian Universalist Church (1965), one of Broward's best-known projects.

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30 ATTEND JACKSONVILLE EVENT ON NATIONAL TOUR DAY

On a sweltering Saturday, 30 people attended the Jacksonville event on National Tour Day -- one of four DOCOMOMO/US Florida events.

The four-hour event began with an introductory presentation in the former private screening room of the Florida Theatre. Tour goers then headed out for a tour of that city's Police Memorial Building, which was designed by William N. Morgan and completed in 1975.

As originally designed, the building included extensive landscaped public areas on its multi-level rooftops. Security and maintenance concerns subsequently restricted access to these zones, but October 10th tourgoers got a rare opportunity to sense the original experience.

The group next headed to another Morgan structure, the former Daniel state office building, a 1979 edifice which is now part of the Hyatt Hotel.

From there, they headed north to the former Haydon Burns Library (designed by Taylor Hardwick and completed in 1965), which is now undergoing conversion into a mixed-use project.

DOCOMOMO/US Florida wishes to thank Joel McEachin of the Historic Preservation Section of Jacksonville's Planning and Development Department. Gary Dickinson with the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office arranged a super tour of an amazing building. Thanks also go out to Matt Graham of the Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront Hotel.

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NILS M. SCHWEIZER FELLOWS JOIN DOCOMOMO

The Nils M. Schweizer Fellows, Central Florida's leading voice for preservation of the Modern Movement, voted to join DOCOMOMO. DOCOMOMO/US Florida welcomes NMS to the fold and looks forward to working with them to expand awareness all over the Sunshine State.

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SECOND JACKSONVILLE SYMPOSIUM AND TOUR HIGHLIGHTS BEACH MODERNISM

DOCOMOMO/US Florida and the Jacksonville chapter of the American Institute of Architects teamed up again on March 7, 2008, to highlight outstanding works of Modernism in Florida.

The focus of the day was on Modern architecture at coastal communities in Northeast Florida. DOCOMOMO/US Florida officials Enrique Madia, Jean-François Lejeune and Jan Hochstim provided interesting preservations on a range of topics. Architects Blake Ellis and Ted Pappas offered presentations on their work since the 1960s. The talks were held at Ellis's 1966 St. Paul's by the Sea Episcopal Church in Jacksonville Beach.

The tour included stops at the Milam House, the last Florida residence designed by Paul Rudolph, the Robert Ernest House in Atlantic Beach, and three different residences by noted Jacksonville architect William Morgan.

As in '08, the program was well-attended with 200 on hand for the presentations and 100 filling two tour buses.

L to R: John Howey, Enrique Madia & Jean-François Lejeune admire the Milam House.

100 visitors tour Milam House interior.

Robert Ernest's 1960 residence is one of three Duval County buildings completed by this genius before his untimely death.

William Morgan's Dickinson House, built in 1973, was inspired by the Governor's Palace at Uxmal, Yucatan.

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UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA WORKSHOP TO DEFINE GUIDELINES FOR EVALUATING THE RECENT PAST.

The three-day program of discussions, lectures and events also produced a document outlining the criteria for historic designation for these sites -- built and/or socially significant -- specific to the State of Florida. 

The workshop coincided with the exhibition of “Promises of Paradise: Staging Mid-Century Miami,” a show earlier exhibited at the Bass Museum of Art in Miami Beach with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities.  Other partners of the workshop are DoCoMoMo/US Florida, the Alachua County School Board, and the Jacksonville, Gainesville, and Sarasota chapters of the AIA.

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GAINESVILLE FESTIVITIES HONOR 92ND BIRTHDAY OF ALFRED BROWNING PARKER.

A series of activities honored the birthday of Alfred Browning Parker, architect and professor emeritus at the University of Florida's College of Design, Construction & Planning. (For a biography of Alfred Browning Parker, click here.)

Events included a reception at the University of Florida's Smathers library, tours of Parker-designed houses in Gainesville, lectures by Monica Penick (Univ. of Texas) and Jan Hochstim (Univ. of Miami), and an exhibit at the University's Reitz Union.

The Smathers facility was chosen for the reception in part because it houses the University's newly developed Architecture Archives. More information on the archives and on the Alfred Browning Parker Architecture Archives Endowment is available here.

Gallery Talk at the Reitz Union Gallery (A.B. Parker, right-front).

Alfred Browning Parker entertains visitors during a tour stop at the Tench House in Gainesville.

Alfred Browning Parker breaks ground on his next home -- a self-designed house.

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March 1, 2008: "Exploring Mid-Century Architecture in Florida" -- Jacksonville.

DOCOMOMO/US-Florida and the Jacksonville chapter of the American Institute of Architects, in conjunction with the Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens, staged a symposium on mid-century modern architecture in Florida.

215 people attend the morning event while another 250 disappointed people were turned away from the SRO event. Already there is talk of a follow-up event in 2009, which certainly will occur in a larger venue.

Presenters included Jan Hochstim, Gene Leedy and Alfred Browning Parker. Jacksonville architects Robert Broward, William Morgan and Taylor Hardwick participated in a panel discussion.

An afternoon convoy of two buses toured from Riverside to Woodstock, through downtown and to Arlington, before returning to the Cummer three and one-half hours later.

Alfred Browning Parker. (Photo courtesy by Wayne Wood.)

Gene Leedy. (Photo by Wayne Wood.)

Architect Taylor Hardwick points out aspects of his Haydon Burns Library design from 1965.

Architect William Morgan outside of his 1965 Rawls house. (Photo by Wayne Wood.)

Robert Broward at his Unitarian Universalist Church (1965). (Photo by Wayne Wood.)

The symposium and bus tour marked the 50th anniversary of the 1958 exhibit "Half Century of Significant Architecture in Jacksonville."

The July, 1958, issue of Florida Architect, included an article by Bob Broward about that exhibit. This article can be viewed by clicking on the image below (4.47 mb).

To see a full-size image of the poster below, click on the thumbnail.

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"Promises of Paradise: Modernism on Display" at the Harn Museum in Gainesville, Florida.

Following its smash run at Miami Beach's Bass Museum, this exhibit highlighting architecture, planning, and decorative arts of mid-century Miami moved to the Samuel P. Harn Museum on the University of Florida campus in Gainesville, Florida -- October 11, 2008 - January 25, 2009.

The exhibit (curated in part by DOCOMOMO/US-Florida board member Allan Shulman) was the first to highlight Miami's enormous mid-20th century contributions to the decorative arts.

For additional information, click here.

The exhibit's opening in Miami in 2007 corresponded with Miami's Art Basel extravaganza.

Architect Alfred Browning Parker's buildings and furnishings are well represented in the exhibit. He is depicted here at the show's opening on December 5, 2007.

DOCOMOMO/US Florida board members, Martha Kohen, Allan Shulman & Enrique Madia, apparently buoyed by enthusiasm for the exhibit.

Gene Leedy and The Sarasota School of Architecture

Prominent architect and DOCOMOMO/US Florida Advisory Board member Gene Leedy gave a lecture at the Miami-Dade College Kendall Campus on Monday, November 12, 2007.

The lecture was sponsored by DOCOMOMO/US Florida and by the Miami-Dade College School of Architecture, Earth Ethics Institute, Architecture Club AIA Miami, and Max Strang Architecture.

For more information on Gene Leedy, click here or here. To view a full-sized poster for the event, click on the tiny one below.

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The self-guided Leedy Lifetime Works Tour in Winter Haven is available online at www.geneleedy.com. A downloadable mp3 file containing an audio version of the tour is available here.

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DOCOMOMO Florida/Wolfsonian Ft. Lauderdale Modernism Tour

Saturday, September 29, 2007.

This tour was an unqualified success. Another one is planned for this winter. Stay tuned!

On June 6, 2007, the City of Hollywood, Florida awarded the renowned Florida architect Alfred Browning Parker with the Historic Preservation Award: Architect of the Year for his prolific career and for his role in the Modern Movement in Florida. Mr. Parker selected DOCOMOMO/US Florida Florida President Enrique Madia to receive the award on his behalf.

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Docomomo/US Florida and Florida Atlantic University offered a presentation by Enrique Madia on Modern Architecture in South America at the Broward County Library in Ft. Lauderdale on February 22, 2007.

To view a full-size poster for the event, please click on the image below.

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Docomomo/US Florida and Florida Atlantic University were delighted to sponsor a talk, "Contemporary Architecture in Brasil," on February 6, 2007, at FAU.

To view a full-size poster for the event, please click on the image below.

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The fall, 2007, issue of the DOCOMOMO-US Newsletter contains more information on this and other threatened Rudolph buildings. To see it, please click here.