so today i'm trolling the internet and come across the following image of a building i'd never seen before--where and what the hell is it?
turns out it had been right under my nose at one time--the first pasadena state bank building, circa 1962 [this particular pasadena being a suburb of houston--the city in which i'd been living at the time this building came to be--rather than the more well-known pasadena near which i currently reside].
i'm smitten--obviously its author was a wright disciple who knew what the fuck he was doing. i wanna see more, so i google.
here's what comes up next (embiggen if you wanna appreciate the full horror):
all that beauty, forlorn and abandoned.
it's the next image that really gets to me, though--the other, better side of the building (which, through its sad, broken facade, its essential goodness still shines):
i take it all in at a glance--a skilled, passionate architect on a mission who a half-century ago somehow managed to talk a conference room fulla tight-fisted bankers into financing his extravagant vision (because lemme tell ya, this was was not an inexpensive project--each articulation, each projection, each reveal added boucoups of bucks to what a simple square box would've otherwise cost). i see passion and virtuosity in every graceful line of this building.
i mean, even if you're not an architect, you gotta love this detail:
a little research revealed the story--read it if you want.
bottom line: there's no money to fix this. even if the building weren't in a currently economically-depressed area, the cost to remove the goddam asbestos alone would preclude its rehab--cheaper to just tear it down.
hurts me to think about it--easier to just mix another drink.
7 comments:
To judge by most of what got put up in the 60s made out of concrete slabs here on the east coast (I believe the term Brutalist Architecture applies) the Pasadena State Bank architect was bucking a trend and had some real taste. Your first picture, particularly, shows a building to which the term elegant can reasonably be applied.
Ah, asbestos problems. I remember in high school we would all punch the wrapping around the heating pipes and watch as the plume of white powder would come out.
Little did we all know the consequences of that now.
Asbestos used to be everywhere...and I think we were all oblivious to just how dangerous it is. If you ever talk to people who have come down with asbestosis, not a pretty picture indeed.
It's a really beautiful building that shouts elegant modernist 60's style. Too bad no one can afford to own it. But, there is a lot of old land that used to be gas stations and the lot that no one will buy now because they are scared of the liability from past chemical contamination.
will: ah yes, paul rudolph--would that he had merely stuck to producing superb two-dimensional renderings of his work, rather than using them to launch a whole new style.
and yeah--elegant's a good word.
noblesavage: yeah, i figured the liability angle of this post would appeal to you--i also figured that, knowing how you feel about wright's work, you'd probably appreciate this one. it's as good an homage as any i've seen.
I met Paul Rudolph in the early 1970s in Boston. He was architect for a new church inside the burned out shell of an 1880s Victorian Gothic one in the Back Bay, diagonally across from Emerson College where I was Head of Scenic Design. The meeting was to see if Emerson could collaborate with the church as to performance space.
Rudolph, who had just flown in from Germany, had a tiny office in a section of the reconstruction that was sort of finished. He revealed to me that all plans were off until a financial crisis could be ironed out. He said there had been some sort of translation glitch with his contract. He had signed on for a drei million dollar budget, but the church in reality was offering only zvei million. It all sounded a bit bogus to me but stranger things have happened.
Bottom line: he was revising his plans and materials as quickly as possible and told me that he no longer envisioned being able to provide spaces suitable for music recitals or theatrical performances--there would be a level of underground parking instead. In all, he was NOT a happy man. I saw his original plans and rendering--a year or so later I saw the result which was a serious disappointment..
will: thanks for that insight. i always imagined he must not be a very happy guy--you can see it in his work
Ah, a very wonderful building indeed. It would be a great relief if the city renovated the building. After all, it IS a historical landmark of Pasadena. :| I would know, I was was born and raised there.
stephen: i couldn't agree more--lemme know of any future developments in this sad story, would you?
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