| |
The Lobby's Architecture Tale:
As Told by the Architect, San Antonio-based Don B. McDonald
The building could have been considered dated and a prime candidate for demolition in Houston’s short cycled real estate market. The circa 1961 structure had been built as an important Chemical Bank headquarters on a busy stretch of Kirby Drive. By 2001, the Bank was ready to move on to updated facilities; thus, the structures continued existence on what had become prime real estate had come into question.
Greenwood King Properties, one of Houston’s leading residential real estate companies, with an eye for under appreciated properties contacted San Antonio architect Don McDonald to investigate the idea of renovating the structure into a new concept for buying and selling a home: state-of-the-art technology with the right mixture of human agents. The unique program was to construct a “real estate central” that would simplify clients complex search for a house by creating a state of the art public forum for buyers, sellers and their agents to peruse the area real estate market on constantly updated monitors. Education was at the forefront of the concept, with an archive being developed incorporating current residential data, interactive maps, school and neighborhood information, architectural history and lifestyle concerns. Mortgage and title company services were envisioned, as well as a small café. The facility, additionally, had to be large enough to accommodate educational lectures, neighborhood market research presentations and after hour client functions.
The architecture of the structure that was to house the facility was of a wildly transitional nature, combining the refined neoclassical esthetics of the 1920s with 30s and 40s stylized deco influence and a nod to the corporate Miesian 50s. The year 1961 was architecturally characterized as forward looking, but the bank had obviously been out to please a wider audience. Transitional periods in architectural evolution are often not as highly regarded as those inspired pivotal points. The fact that Houston’s own intoxicating rise had been so strong in the 50s and 60s, combined with the fact that this period of architectural expression had been largely eradicated in the 80s and 90s meant that – however unfashionable at the moment – the structure was a rare prototype and nearing extinction. A glimmer of that glamorous era in Houston’s evolution still spoke through the aging structure. The last remnant of that period, when Houston began to pride itself on its sophisticated international outlook, had been best expressed architecturally through local department stores, which had gasped their last breath in the 1980s. It was with great intrigue that the San Antonio architect proposed a project that was more restoration than renovation. The idea was to study the building through the endearing eyes of the original creators found in old photographs strewn across the vacant lobby, thus establishing a non-cynical appreciation of the architectural vocabulary from that point in time.
Years of accoutrement had to be stripped away, and the stylized classicism had to be analyzed with the knowledge that the work had been performed by classically trained architects, rather that through naïve post modern eyes. An analytical review revealed that the classical reduction was better than the heavy-handed attempts at modernism with the heavy steel grid glazing system. The core concept appeared to have been to evoke an image of the Greek temple, long a stalwart tradition of stability in East Texas and the South. The obvious problem was in the studied irreverence of the classical orders. While the 2:1 ratio of the perimeter colonnade worked nicely, the original architect took too much liberty with the deco stylization of the greatly reduced entablature and in modifying the column spacing in order to reduce the portico depth. This was done while fully expressing a bold Italianate surround at the front door. With the idea that this was all done by architects well-trained in the beaux-arts movement, one searches for deeper meaning behind the oddities. Strangely, the concept of a reduction of the broad order, while greatly embellishing the excessively pronounced doorway, was a common theme in the late 50s and early 60s. Enormous importance was put upon The Entrance, while distant elements had begun to fade to mere suggestion. The automobile passenger, could after all, absorb only so much, and the fleeting images caught by camera placed more weight on the juxtaposition of the human form against those theatrically bold elements that tightly surrounded it.
|
|
| |
The three entrances to the lobby – heroic in scale with their broad architraves, entablatures, and pediments – are the dominant elements on the interior. Set against enormous glass walls with a steel grid support structure, the entrances make for pure theater. The ever-important fascist balcony on the fourth wall could only have been inspired by Mussolini or Evita, with the great volume of the lobby completing the piazza composition. The surrounding pilaster colonnade, obviously by the same hand that detailed the door surrounds, are like the exterior colonnade – a vague suggestion in the distance. Huge literal reproduction brass chandeliers, like the door surrounds, leave little question of a strong traditional affiliation. And like the carpeting, there was some lingering confusion about the courtyard’s evolution to an interior space.
To adopt the period mindset, interior references were drawn from a diverse field, ranging from the commercial 50s work of Los Angeles architect Paul Williams to the more refined French work of Emilio Terry and Jean-Michel Frank. The balancing act between Classical and Modern references was a thin line to walk. Two well articulated classical temples, directly responding to the scale and vocabulary of the entrances were inserted into the main Lobby as conference rooms. They were however ‘painted out’ in the 50s reductionist mode. Carpeting was removed in favor of stone pavers laid in a rigid pattern that acknowledged the piazza reference, while establishing a stronger sense of order. The furnishings and cabinets incorporate exotic veneers and are generally of a more refined French deco influence. A few inspired neoclassical pieces help soften the deco severity to better reflect that of a company whose focus is the sale of residential real estate.
One troubling aspect of the original work was the resolution of the steel grid with the door surrounds. This powerful modern influence, while crudely detailed, had interesting roots in Pierre Chareau’s early 20th century industrial aesthetic. Though Chareau had totally rejected classical influences, his graceful use of industrial materials in association with refined deco veneers was the perfect springboard to make the difficult link of integrating the required technology. Modern and Classical references had failed to provide an adequate dialogue with the large monitors, interactive keyboards and associated technology that would need to be woven throughout the interior. Industrial steel monitor supports and lamp supports, often with exposed wiring speak through the Industrial vocabulary of the original steel window grid.
The Industrial approach was again tempered with the notion that the client base was that of a generally domestic residential market. Iron surfaces were waxed, and lighting was softened with simple parchment shades. An expanding collection of prints and photographs from the reference archives of historically significant local architects and builders were framed and grouped into collections displayed in the stacked atelier fashion. Architectural house models will be displayed on a rotating basis upon custom pedestals, while books, and current periodicals will further serve as additional reference tools for the company’s agents and clients, and especially the public on the ultimate commodity – The Home.
Don B. McDonald is the principle of the architectural design firm bearing his name and located in San Antonio, Texas. His office is in a restored turn of the century Atlee B. Ayres house within the Monte Vista Historic District. Since graduating from Texas A&M University in 1982 and gaining accreditation in 1986, his primary focus has been the design and construction of select projects containing an unusually high level of craftsmanship. His architectural and restoration work has won numerous design and conservation awards and has been featured in national papers, periodicals and television documentaries.
Because McDonald’s firm is research oriented, he views each new project as an essay responding to the contextual, cultural and historic environs that envelope the project. This approach has led to a series of highly regional projects that places more emphasis on the interpretation and evolution of a region’s architectural vocabulary than on period work. |
|
|
|
        |
|
|
| |
|
|
