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Arthur Brown Jr.: Progressive Classicist
Arthur Brown Jr. (1874-1957) is one of the most important, yet underpublished, architects of the twentieth century.
Celebrated by his peers for such masterpieces as the City Hall, War Memorial Opera House, Temple Emanu-El, and Coit Tower in San Francisco; the Pasadena City Hall; and the Labor-ICC block of the Federal Triangle in Washington, DC, Brown epitomized the idea that architecture not only houses society’s daily rituals and defining events but also can itself shape the sociopolitical landscape of America. Arthur Brown Jr.: Progressive Classicist , the first full study of Brown within his architectural and social context, unifies the varied strands of the architect’s life, from the architectural forms and methods of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris to the reforming spirit and self-reliant confidence of San Francisco after the earthquake and fire of 1906 to the challenging economics and changing aesthetics of machine-age America. It details the development of Brown’s major works and many other civic, commercial, religious, academic, and residential buildings. It chronicles his unflagging commitment to the classical tradition, which he employed in contemporary, forward-looking institutional buildings that emphasized continuity with the past while meeting the needs of the future. To Brown, the classical tradition was not a sacrosanct, unchanging body of knowledge; it was an expanding and evolving set of ideas about architectural design that permitted, and even demanded, change as new conditions and technologies were developed. Arthur Brown Jr. is a fascinating look at the man-captivated by the classical movement and obsessed with the slightest architectural detail-and at his buildings, at once canonical and inventive and singularly American. 30 color 200 b/w photos
Celebrated by his peers for such masterpieces as the City Hall, War Memorial Opera House, Temple Emanu-El, and Coit Tower in San Francisco; the Pasadena City Hall; and the Labor-ICC block of the Federal Triangle in Washington, DC, Brown epitomized the idea that architecture not only houses society’s daily rituals and defining events but also can itself shape the sociopolitical landscape of America. Arthur Brown Jr.: Progressive Classicist , the first full study of Brown within his architectural and social context, unifies the varied strands of the architect’s life, from the architectural forms and methods of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris to the reforming spirit and self-reliant confidence of San Francisco after the earthquake and fire of 1906 to the challenging economics and changing aesthetics of machine-age America. It details the development of Brown’s major works and many other civic, commercial, religious, academic, and residential buildings. It chronicles his unflagging commitment to the classical tradition, which he employed in contemporary, forward-looking institutional buildings that emphasized continuity with the past while meeting the needs of the future. To Brown, the classical tradition was not a sacrosanct, unchanging body of knowledge; it was an expanding and evolving set of ideas about architectural design that permitted, and even demanded, change as new conditions and technologies were developed. Arthur Brown Jr. is a fascinating look at the man-captivated by the classical movement and obsessed with the slightest architectural detail-and at his buildings, at once canonical and inventive and singularly American. 30 color 200 b/w photos
320 pages, Hardcover
First published December 12, 2005
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September 12, 2017
I've lived in the San Francisco Bay Area all my life, except for a couple years tramping around Europe. I get a lift when I walk past the SF City Hall, I love going to the SF Opera, I climbed up Telegraph Hill to see the murals in Coit Tower, the get to the top for the view. As a student at Berkeley I listened to political speeches delivered from the steps of Sproul Hall. As a student at Stanford, I went to the top of Hoover Tower to admire the view from the foothills to the Bay....Only after reading Tilman's biography did I realize that all of these experiences that enrich my life take place in buildings designed by Arthur Brown, Jr. How did I miss the connection? Well, the buildings are so diverse, the City Hall is beauxartsy, Coit Tower is deco, who knew the same genius was behind both of them. If you want an event to feel important, like signing the original United Nations Charter, you go to one of his buildings, as the UN did at the SF Opera House in 1945. In DC he worked on the magnificent federal triangle buildings. Where did he come from? His father was a civil engineer who built railway bridges, his mother was interested in architecture, they sent him to Paris to study at the Institut des beaux arts, for almost 7 years. He knew what he was doing. For the rest of the story you have to read Tilman's book, the only biography of this amazing man.
Displaying 1 of 1 review