6.20.2010

black mountain madness

This is probably one of the greatest
Modernist buildings you 
have never seen or
heard of.
(Well, for this crowd, maybe that's a bit of an overstatement.)
at what was at the time,

There's my Mom, always ready for a little
breaking and entering....
(I wish!)

The building is in
 pretty
good shape 
considering.
The original plans called for a collaboration
between
Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer
to build the structure
 as seen below:

(It would have been one of their first commissions for their newly formed firm.)

But there were money issues, 
and Kocher was pulled in
from
The Architectural Record.

It's totally unrespected
as an important building
though, 
and currently houses 
counselors for the Christian Boys Camp 
that owns it now.
Camp Praise The Lord or something 
like that.
Notice the cross....

Also notice the addition.
Me no like.
Bad head counselor.


Such simple materials.
It was built by Kocher
and the students
during 1940-41,
and like I said before, not in bad shape at all
from my quick
walkabout.

Carved relief by
Jean Charlot
titled
"Inspiration",
apropos, no?

Boiler stack.

So cool.

All it
needs a little pressure washing
and a 
National Historic Landmarking,
that's all...

4 comments:

  1. How come Christians always end up with the coolest buildings? Its a weird phenomenon. This one is near me: http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Mount_Angel_Library.html

    I love the materials on this one...reminds me of the Quonset huts at the university in my hometown, where my dad had his office when I was growing up. Yay for smart applications of corrugated steel!

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  2. But did you score any sweet modernist cast-off furniture from your visit??

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  3. Thanks for posting these pictures. We are linking the image to our site, designhistory.org if that is ok with you.

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  4. designtraveler: Please do! Thanks, Patrick

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