Architect

All Thomas Jefferson Sites

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Jefferson is more controversial than his $2 bill, but like his nickel, you rely on his legacy every day.

Not only was he one of many who signed our Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia, but Jefferson was the primary author. Do you believe in freedom of religion? Jefferson ensured that Roger Williams’ ideas were enshrined in our laws, writing that “no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious ministry or shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious beliefs, but all men shall be free to profess and by argument maintain, their opinions in matters of religion.” His words are etched in granite in the Jefferson Memorial above in DC.

Jefferson was our second Ambassador to France after fellow inventor Franklin, the first Secretary of State, the second Vice President to his friend and rival John Adams, and friend of revolutionary patriots like Kosciuszko, Lafayette and Patrick Henry. Jefferson first engaged Dolley Madison as official hostess at the White House. Jefferson designed Monticello—below and on the back of the nickel—which is now a World Heritage Site that includes the University of Virginia, which he also designed.

Jefferson, like Washington, was a surveyor. Together they planned the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal route and mapped & owned Natural Bridge. Jefferson scouted Harpers Ferry from the hiking trail there. He designated the Natchez Trace and hired Gallatin, who built the first national highway. Jefferson was the driving force behind Lewis & Clark’s secret mission to map the route to the Pacific. His timely opportunistic purchase of Louisiana Territory—including part or all of 15 states—is recognized at Gateway Arch and now includes his face on Mount Rushmore.

But Jefferson will forever be remembered for his failure to apply his ideal that “all men are created equal” to all men including Native Americans and slaves. While he wrote that slavery was despotism, that slaves should be free and both admired and learned from Native Americans, Jefferson perpetuated both slavery and forced native removal, believing that their fated freedoms should be left to future generations to fulfill. Jefferson supported nullification—the supposed right of states to disclaim laws they did not like—, and such failures are why traitors like Jefferson Davis were named after him, and such failures forever defame Thomas Jefferson’s historic reputation.

Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area (Bonus)

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California’s Golden Age architect, Edwin Neff, designed a grand ranch, above, for King Gillette of razor blade fame, in the roaring ‘20s, who sold it to Clarence Brown, who directed dozens of successful films, including National Velvet and The Yearling. Later the property had numerous colorful owners, but eventually it was saved by conservationists who won national protection for the stretch of mountains overlooking the Pacific above Malibu. The recreation area includes state and city parks, numerous film locations, horse riding trails, scenic vistas and wildlife, not far from Santa Monica and the LA basin.

This was actually the first park I visited for this blog, on the same day I picked up my EV. But I was so upset by the devastation of Paramount Ranch after the Woolsey Fire, that I neglected to take a photo. So, since I driving by on Thursday, I decided to do this redux visit to get a proper photograph or three. The visitor center is in the old Gillette Ranch carriage house, with the horse stalls and round hayloft now an exhibit space. And if you walk up the hill, you get a grand view of the Santa Monica Mountains below.

The whole recreation area is fascinating, especially if you’re a fan of scouting old TV and film locations: the Rockford Files beachfront home/ office at Paradise Cove, M*A*S*H’s camp in ‘Korea’ and Planet of the Apes, including Zuma Beach where Charlton Heston famously dropped to his knees to curse us all.

Luis Barragán House and Studio

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Luis Barragán was an architect from Guadalajara around 1930, after WWII he designed projects in Mexico City, and he produced many influential works through the 1970s. Primary colors, smooth walls, angular structures and exceptional lighting is how I would describe his style. When he purchased the land for his home and studio, it was on the outskirts of Mexico City, but now it’s central. The modern architecture tucked into a narrow upscale neighborhood south of Chapultepec park looks like some nouveau riche shoe-horned it in, instead of being the original that inspired so many followers.

OK, the photo is across the street from #14, and I couldn’t actually get a ticket to tour the inside. There are only a few tours a week, and they sell out online quickly. Even the bookstore wasn’t open when it was supposed to be. Oh well, technically I arrived at this architect’s home by electric vehicle, the Metro, which was cheap and convenient. If you are a visiting professor of architecture, you can probably arrange a tour of this World Heritage Site through your university. But there were a few disappointed common folk outside. Maybe architecture isn’t meant for the masses?

All Frank Lloyd Wright World Heritage Sites by EV

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UNESCO chose eight Frank Lloyd Wright sites for World Heritage status, and I visited them all this year by EV. An exhaustive tour of Wright’s designs could visit 100 sites, but the Heritage 8 are sufficient for me. My cross country trip went from Hollywood, to Arizona, Wisconsin, Chicago, Pennsylvania and finally to New York, but it’s easier to understand his life’s work below chronologically.

His home and studio in Oak Park Illinois showcases his various styles, influences and experiments, including his first design: his own home. While this is the one site I visited that is not on the World Heritage list, just walking the neighborhood is worth the trip.

Unity Temple in Oak Park in 1905 is a church built for his mother.

Robie House at University of Chicago in 1910 is my favorite, built for a wealthy client who only lived in it briefly.

Taliesin in Spring Green Wisconsin in 1911, later rebuilt after a dramatic tragedy, used funds from Robie to build a family country home with a school for his acolytes.

Hollyhock House in Hollywood California in 1921, was built for a theatrical oil heiress who fired him for going over budget.

Fallingwater (above) in Mill Run Pennsylvania in 1937, is his most iconic private residence, built for a wealthy department store owner whose son gave it to the park service.

Taliesin West in Scottsdale Arizona in 1937, used funds from Fallingwater to build a winter home with another school for his acolytes.

Jacobs House in Madison Wisconsin in 1937, was built to demonstrate that Wright could design something affordable on a budget.

The Guggenheim in New York City in 1959, was built to display art and to be art, for the future.

I hope you enjoyed this brief tour of 50+ years of the most widely recognized designs from America’s greatest architect.

Oak Park Studio Home

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OK, this is neither a park unit nor a heritage site, but there are a dozen Frank Lloyd Wright houses within a block or two, well worth a short stroll. And this was his working home, which he built at age 22 in 1889 and where he designed many of his best works. (Suburban Chicago ‘villages’ like this one grew rapidly after the Great Fire in 1871). Until you see the neighborhood with the fancy Victorian homes that were there when Wright began his career, it’s difficult to appreciate what he was competing against. Wright demonstrated that Americans could innovate and not merely copy European styles.

The home is notable for its Egyptian influence. At the time, Americans understood the East—near, mid & far—broadly as ‘Oriental’, and Wright even blended Mayan, Japanese and Egyptian styles together, in his own exotic mythology, not copied but stolen, reimagined and given new interpretation and life. Wright also used the home to experiment with bay windows, recessed lighting and various high ceilings and to display such modern conveniences as indoor plumbing and electricity. The home has been restored to 1907 including some rare pieces of furniture—and a Steinway built into a staircase that you have to see to believe—, to capture more of Wright’s ideas which reappear perfected in his later masterpieces.