December 2012 - Art Deco Society of Washington

Trans
Trans--Lux
January 2013
2000
September
ART DECO SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON
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Volume 30 no. 4
Volume 30 No.4
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In This Issue:
News and Notes From the Decophiles
Deco Discoveries: Havana Art Deco
World Congress
Westclox Prototypes
3
5
24
25
ADSW
Board of Directors
President—Jim Linz
Vice President—Vacant
Treasurer—Lou Simchowitz
Secretary—Barbara Varvaglione
At Large Members:
Linda Lyons
Jonathan Mazur
Steve Knight
Isabelle Yerger
Silver Spring—Richard Striner
Visit us on the web at
www.adsw.org
Webmaster—Jim Linz
Wanna Be a Member?
Join online at
www.adsw.org
Or call 202-298-1100
And request an
application
Trans-Lux
Trans-Lux is published four times a year
by the Art Deco Society of Washington,
P.O. 42722, Washington, D.C. 200152722. Phone (202) 298-1100.
ADSW is a non-profit organization incorporated to foster public awareness
and appreciation of the Art Deco period
through volunteer actions to preserve the
era’s decorative, industrial, architectural, and cultural arts.
Editor/Publisher—Jim Linz
Book Reviews Editor—Vacant
Calendar Editor—Vacant
Contributors:
Jim Linz
Clive Foss
Dale Abrams
Trans-Lux is looking for a few good
writers. Please submit manuscripts
and photographs to Jim Linz, PO
Box 221011, Chantilly, VA 20153.
Please enclose a self-addressed
envelope for return of material. Submission of letters/articles implies the
right to edit and publish.
©2013 ADSW
On the Cover:
The Hecht Company Warehouse on
New York Avenue
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News & Notes
From the Decophiles
Hearing Scheduled on Plans
For Hecht Warehouse
The Historic Preservation Office (HPO) scheduled a hearing January 24,
2013, on a proposal by developer Douglas Jemal and architects Antunovich Associates to redevelop the historic Hecht Company warehouse
on New York Avenue and the surrounding property. Included in the proposal is the replacement of a significant portion of the glass block exterior
with casement windows.
ADSW, which sponsored the building’s National Register listing, plans to
testify in opposition to the proposal.
The Hecht Company Warehouse, one of the gems of Washington Art Deco
architecture, is featured on the cover of Hans Wirz and Richard Striner’s
1984 Washington Deco: Art Deco in the Nation’s Capitol.
Demolition Planned for London’s
Earl’s Court Exhibition Center
Oliver Wainwright, architecture and design critic for The Guardian reported November 21, 2012, that the Kensington and Chelsea boroughs had
approved plans to demolish the Earl’s Court Exhibition Center and replace
it with thousands of homes.
Photo by Gary Weaser of
the Guardian
According to Wainwright, the exhibition center was “Designed by Detroit
architect C Howard Crane, conjurer of fanciful picture palaces across
(Continued on page 4)
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America, the exhibition hall was the biggest indoor space in Europe when it
opened in 1937. A deft feat of engineering, spanning four different railway tracks, the gargantuan column-free arena was designed to seat
23,000.”
Although the center played host to such rock groups as the Rolling Stones
and the Spice Girls, I remember it as the home of the Earl’s Court Motor
Show.
Mullin Museum Opens Exhibit of Voisin Vehicles
Three years ago, Peter Mullin, a fan of all things art deco, opened the
Mullin Automobile Museum in Oxnard, California, about 60 miles from Los
Angeles. The museum’s newest exhibition, La Vision de Voisin pays tribute to
Gabriel Voisin with an exhibition of 17 cars that shows this genius through
his own words, and those of his growing list of admirers. This collection of
Voisin vehicles and rarely seen artifacts will be open from November 2012
through April 2013. http://www.mullinautomotivemuseum.com/
Also on display at the museum is the exciting 1936 Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic.
Harlem’s Lenox Lounge Closes
Great jazz legends like Billie Holiday, Miles Davis, Frank Sinatra and John
Coltrane once performed in the infamous Zebra Room.
Architecturally influenced by the father of industrial design, Raymond
Loewy, the Lenox Lounge was birthed in 1939. Its distinctive facade,
graphic signage and comprehensive design are hallmark examples of one of
the few original art deco structures left in New York City.
Although the lounge closed December 31, new owner Richard Notar plans
to reopen in March and says that he will not change “a thing about how it
looks.” But, it will be renamed the Notar Jazz Club.
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Deco Discoveries:
HAVANA ART DECO
by Clive Foss
With the Art Deco World Congress in Havana impending, this seems a
good moment to give those who are attending a hint of the delights that
await them, and the rest a taste of what they are missing, for Havana can
boast one of the most spectacular treasures of Art Deco and Streamline
Moderne architecture in the western hemisphere. The city adopted the
Deco/Moderne style as the symbol of modernism and used it for every
purpose. Havana is not like Miami, with its Deco buildings concentrated in
one section, nor does it have the grand 1930s skyscrapers of New York.
Instead, it offers a rich abundance of eye-catching buildings scattered in
every district, rather like Los Angeles. Since 1959, Cuba’s urban policy has
focused on clearing slums and building rings of functional apartment blocks
around most large cities, but deliberately neglected the central parts of
Havana, once the home of the rich and middle classes. The result is that
much has been preserved, even if often in a deteriorated state, in the midst
of an exceptionally attractive urban landscape, unspoiled by parking lots,
shopping centers or freeways. Faced with such abundant material, this essay will present a few high points to give an idea of the rich Deco heritage
that awaits.
Rhythm, Rum and Romance was the theme of Havana’s deco age, the
Roaring Twenties when Americans flocked to this playground of the West
to escape the rigors of Prohibition. They arrived in the Cuba of president
Gerardo Machado, a businessman whose government invested heavily in
public works and the beautification of Havana. This was an exuberant time
of great prosperity, open to new ideas. Consequently, the 1925 Paris exposition of Modern Decorative Arts made a powerful impression. In Art
Deco, Cuban architects found a truly modern style that would represent the
spirit of the age and project a new and dynamic image. They rejected the
more radical `machine worship' (as they called it) of le Corbusier, preferring the humanistic and adaptable Art Deco.
Paris inspired the first building in the new style, the house of a sugar baron,
Francisco Argüelles, designed in 1927. It occupies a corner lot on the main
street of the elegant suburb of Miramar that was being developed in the
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twenties, along the lines of the American garden city movement. The house
was directly modeled on the spectacular Galeries Lafayette Pavilion at the
1925 exposition, a building that incorporated classical elements into a
radical design. Like the pavilion, the Argüelles house has its rounded entrance set back between two projecting wings whose large windows are
flanked by fluted pilasters
The fine abstract, floral and symbolic decor, octagonal windows and careful attention to detail are typical of the French deco, where each building
was an elegant and highly individual monument.
Despite this promising start, mansions rarely adopted the new style. There
are a few real gems, but most of the rich preferred more traditional (and
respectable) styles, at least for the exterior. Some houses, though, have
spectacular art deco interiors which would never be imagined from the
outside.
Havana's greatest example of Art Deco is an office building, appropriately the headquarters of the Bacardí rum company, built in 1930 at the
edge of Old Havana, the colonial center of the city. The original plan
called for a renaissance style building that would fit in with the surroundings, but the architects made a trip to Paris. When they came back, they
adopted a radical new plan.
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The Bacardí building is a classic example of Art Deco. It follows the `rule of
threes' - the central part projects from the flanks to make a tripartite facade, and the street level and tower are sharply differentiated from the
main body. Tall projecting white pilasters adorn the facade to emphasize
the vertical aspect and draw the eye up toward the tower whose setbacks
culminate in a pyramidal roof. Everywhere, the straight line and sharp
angle are dominant; the building has no curves.
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Following the French model, it employs a brightly colored applied decoration, with floral designs and symbolic human figures.
And, like the highest form of European deco, it uses expensive materials:
the whole street level is sheathed in granite - all of it imported - and every
detail of the lanterns, window grills and the lavish interior decor is executed with great care.
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The elegant facing of the ground floor, by separating it visually from the
rest of the structure, integrates with the street, while the strong vertical lines
and tower combine to give the impression of a much taller building: the
main block is only eight stories high. In all this, the building avoids historical
reference, making a firm statement of modernity.
If the initial impulse for Cuban deco came from France, American influence
soon asserted itself. By 1932, the Depression had hit Cuba hard, and
transformed its political system. President Machado became so fond of his
office that he wound up tuning it into Cuba's first dictatorship. Nevertheless,
there was still money for fine building.
Although Deco found little favor as a style for rich mansions, the builders of
apartment houses readily took to it. Excellent examples can be found all
over central Havana, but the most impressive is in the district of Vedado,
immediately west of the traditional center. It became Havana's most exclusive residential district, with mansions in a variety of eclectic styles,
and a few apartment buildings, none so distinctive as the Lopez Serrano,
built in 1932.
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For obvious reasons, this building is known locally as the `edificio norteamericano': New York has replaced Paris. It typically has three projecting
sections, separated by openings that let in the light and air; and the ground
floor and tower are sharply differentiated from the main body. Tall projecting pilasters that run the whole height of the building and small recessed
windows emphasize its verticality and make it look much taller than it is,
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while the setbacks of the tower and the cubist finial strengthen the resemblance to a New York skyscraper. Such setbacks were required in New
York, not in Havana, where there was no danger of skyscrapers cutting off
the light of the street.
But the New York of the Chrysler and Empire State Buildings was the image of modernism, and imitation of it was a strong and clear statement.
This was, in fact, Havana's skyscraper; with its fourteen stories, it was the
tallest building in Cuba until the 1950's. At ground level, the openings of
the doors and windows culminate in a stepped ziggurat shape filled with
typical abstract floral elements.
Every detail is executed with care: even the flower pots have a stepped
deco design, and the lobby is richly paved with terrazzo and decorated
with a marble and a relief symbolizing speed. Here again, the straight
line, geometric step and right angle dominate; there are no curves in this
building. The whole ensemble is consistent and dramatically modern. It was
the last of its kind, for Cuba was entering a new era.
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Parallel to these grand buildings was a more humble Art Deco, visible in
all parts of the city. Sometimes it took the form of small houses that incorporated French elements, imprinting a striking image onto a simple bungalow.
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In many cases, elements of art deco adorned structures whose architecture
was basically very simple, even a square box.
The Depression eventually sapped the rich exuberance of Art Deco, and
the zigzag European style faded away after the revolution of 1933 that
deposed the dictator Machado. He was soon succeeded by Fulgencio Batista, who dominated the country until 1944, running a progressive regime
closely tied to the United States. Architecture reflects the political changes:
the Deco buildings become simpler and less European, and the characteristically American Streamline Moderne takes over as the dominant style. In
many districts, though, the zigzag forms of art deco remained popular for
domestic architecture, for Cuba’s Deco proved to be remarkably conservative. Houses sometimes manifest an unexpected combination of the curved
Moderne and straight deco, or continued to use zigzag decoration on structures of more modern styles. The effect sounds incongruous, but is often
highly successful.
Streamlined Moderne’s emphasis on the horizontal made it very suitable
for a city of low buildings like Havana. Unlike many parts of the US, where
streamline buildings tended to be grey, Havana favored strong colors. The
Cantera apartments in the commercial part of Vedado, for example, are
painted a bold maritime blue.
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Their shape and color would fit perfectly well in Miami, the closest large
city to Havana. The curved ends, pronounced horizontal lines and long balconies make the building look like a ship sailing into the centre of the city.
Its deep balconies create much needed shade as well as a play of light
and darkness. Gone are the strong verticals, the fine applied decoration,
and the subtle variation of color of the Zigzag Moderne; curves have replaced straight lines and sharp angles. This more direct, less elaborate
style was suited to a more serious age.
The social welfare policies of Batista produced one of the finest examples
of the horizontal style. The Workers Maternity Hospital was built in 1940
in the far western part of the city near the main army base, Camp Columbia, the real seat of power in this military regime. It consists of two long
low wings that curve back from the entrance, giving a feeling of movement
and breaking the potential monotony of the long facade. The simplicity of
the wings, which emphasize the horizontal, makes even more striking. The
stark ivory columns of the projecting entrance pavilion, three stories tall,
support a lintel with distinctively modern lettering and a stylized statue of
mother and child.
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Decoration is minimal; the whole effect is sober but dramatic.
By the 1940's, other architectural currents were reaching Cuba, The sober
classicizing edifice of the El País newspaper, for example, was built in
1941 on a busy commercial street typically lined with colonnades and displaying examples of every style. Its facade makes abundant use of chrome
- the last word in modernity - and displays a frieze that combines a kind of
New Deal realism with elements of the zigzag Moderne, for a unique effect [Fig.11 SLIDE].
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In the case of the Solimar apartments of 1945, which stand incongruously in
a cramped downtown residential district, modernity has married the
streamline.
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Its untraditional rounded shapes and deep enveloping balconies combine
to produce a dramatically abstract play of light and dark. They also guarantee a maximum of light and air to the inhabitants of a large building
inserted into a dense urban fabric. Such novelties would gradually yield
after the war to the drab International style.
One current appropriate to a military government was the universal style
of public buildings of the 1930's and 40s - the modern classicism that
reached its most sophisticated development in Mussolini's Italy. It suited one
of Batista's largest projects, the Plaza Finlay, near Camp Columbia. This
harmonious ensemble of 1944 consists of four identical buildings arranged
in an oval around an obelisk dedicated to the Cuban doctor who discovered the cure for yellow fever. The complex was dedicated to the public
welfare: the buildings are for the kindergarten and primary school teachers, a fine arts academy, and a home for aged ladies. Their architecture
would have been at home in fascist Italy. Each consists of a simple rectangular body with rounded ends and a long heavy stone porch in the simplest
stripped down classicism.
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The rather dull sobriety of the buildings, though, is effectively relieved by a
series of symbolic concrete reliefs in a flat style strikingly reminiscent of Lee
Lawrie's sculptures on the Nebraska State capital, built twenty years earlier. Here, again, the Cuban architects showed their ability to combine contemporary and antiquated elements in a striking synthesis.
These buildings represent only a small selection of the deco delights of
Havana. Other examples could show the style continuing, barely transformed, into the 1950's. Another perspective would take in the city of the
dead, as well as of the living: Havana's great Colón cemetery also is filled
with monumental pavilions in the deco style, the most magnificent being the
tomb of a famous beauty, Catalina Lasa, designed in 1936 by Rene Lalique.
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A wider view would leave the capital for provincial cities like Cienfuegos
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Santa Clara
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or Pinar del Rio,
where equally attractive, though usually more humble, examples can be
found. In other words, Cuba, and especially Havana, is a real treasure
house of Art Deco, and one that seems likely to remain, now that it has survived into an age when, once again, it is getting the attention it deserves.
If you want to know more, have a look at the comprehensive and splendidly illustrated Havana Deco by Alejandro Alonso et al., New York: Norton,
2007.
Coming March 2013
Special “Education” Issue
Art Deco Schools
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12th World Congress on
Art Deco
Havana, Cuba
March 14-21, 2013
Organized by Habanadeco, the 12th World Congress on Art Deco offers
a variety of options, from choice of hotel, length of program, and choice of
post Congress programs:
The full 8-day, 7-night program runs from March 14-21, with choice of
single or double-occupancy hotels ranging from $2,110 single at the Hotel
Presidente to $3,115 single at the Hotel Saratoga. The packages include 7
nights accommodation, 3 days of lectures, airport transfers, 5 days of Art
Deco tours, visits to neighborhoods, museums, and public buildings, entertainment, and many meals. For a full list of covered activities and other
program options go to www.habanadeco.com/program-packages-2/
Habana Deco also offers program only registration for $1720 for the full
8-day program or $1545 for a shorter, 6 day package.
Two post-Congress programs are also offered, one a 4 day/3 night package to Cienfuegos and Trinidad for $840 including lodging, the other a 7
day/6 night package to Cienfuegos, Trinidad, Camaguey, Holguin, and
Santiago de Cuba for $1506 single, $1,410 double including lodging.
Register for the World Congress at www.habanadeco.com/registration-2/
Registration fees do not include travel expenses to and from Havana but
the website does provide some basic guidelines on the process of obtaining
necessary travel permits and booking travel.
If you want to streamline the process, you can also book your travel
through the Copperbridge Foundation. It offers a package deal including
travel and lodging at the Hotel Nacional for $3,155 single ($2,995 double). I have requested further information from Copperbridge, including
the shorter program and post-Congress programs. They will be posted in
Streamlines when a response is received.
As a point of cost comparison, the Smithsonian Institution is offering a People-to-People journey to Cuba March 16-14, 2013, for $5,880.
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Westclox Prototypes
By Jim Linz
When my books Westclox Wind-Up and Westclox Electric were released in
2004, I received a surprise phone call from former Chief Stylist Ellworth
Danz. We talked extensively about Westclox’ inhouse design staff but also
about independent industrial designers like Henry Dreyfuss and George
W. Walker contributing clock and watch designs. Soon after our conversation, I received a large envelope containing pictures of dozens of proposed
Westclox models that never entered production. Danz also identified the
designers of many clocks not covered by design patents.
Below are some of the prototypes and design credits Danz shared.
Ellworth Danz (March 4, 1919—Nov. 24, 2009)
A native of Peru/La Salle, Illinois, Danz joined Westclox in 1940 and remained with the company until the 1980 closing of its Peru plant. During
World War II, he served in the Pacific Theatre.
Danz was named Styling Engineer in 1955 and Chief Stylist in 1964. He
was awarded over 30 design patents. Among his most notable designs
were the 1960 design of the “707,” the “Clock of Tomorrow,” and redesigns of the “Big Ben” and “Baby Ben.”
Danz continued designing for Westclox after his 1980 retirement, working
out of his garage.
First Version of the “Clock of Tomorrow”
Second version of “Clock of Tomorrow”
before change to final dial design
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Alternate dial design for Melody
Wall Clock
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Model of proposed Pocket Ben
A 1957 Clock model
not selected for production. The “Dynamic”
was selected for production
Plexiglas and
wood case
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Proposed Pocket Ben Design
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Above: First version of
the Pittsfield Electric
Wood case model designed by Ellworth Danz
and Max Schlenker
Left: Proposed Big Ben Electric as
originally submitted by Henry Dreyfuss.
Above: Big Ben Electric as revised by
Engineering Department and Ellworth
Danz.
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Ellworth Danz’ first clock design, drawn in
October 1946. Prototype created in
1947 but never entered production.
1949 Redesign for Big Ben
Electric. Not produced.
Above: Clay model, circa 1948.
Above: 1951 design for Big Ben Electric
Left: 1st version of proposed Big Ben
Electric, 1950-51
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1951 design for Baby Ben in ceramic case
1951 design for a replacement for
the Barry
1951 design for the Sphinx
Left: 1953 design for the Zest
1953 design for the Kendall
1953 design for the Wood Case Alarm
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Max Schlenker
A native of Wurttenburg, Germany, Max Schlenker worked in the engineering department of a clock factory in Schwenigen, Germany before
immigrating to the United States.
He joined the Experimental Department of the Western Clock Company in
1924, becoming Chief Designer in 1929 at age 24.
Schlenker received 28 design patents between the 1930s and 1950s as
well as numerous engineering patents. He retired in 1970.
Plexiglas wrapped case design by
Max Schlenker; dial by Ellworth Danz
1951 designs for Direct Numeral
Clocks. The clock on the left includes
a seconds drum.
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1951 designs for the La Sallita and La Salle
1951 design for replacement of
the General
George W. Walker
George
W.
Walker is credited with the design of over 3,000 products including automobiles, radios,
appliances, and clocks. Among his automobile designs were the 1949 Ford,
the 1951 Mercury, the 1952 Ford, and the 1955 Thunderbird.
Although best known for his Ford Motor Company designs, which earned
him the Time Magazine cover in 1957, he also worked for Peerless, Graham-Paige, and the automobile parts manufacturer, Dura. He designed
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appliances for Admiral and Kelvinator among others.
1953 design for a small synchronous alarm
clock
1953 design for a low priced
alarm clock. Not produced.
1953 design for a wall
clock. Not produced.
1953 design for the Big
Ben Electric. Not produced.
1953 design for Big Ben
Model 75.