Four Buildings Under the Gun

by Russell Boniface
Associate Editor

Summary: AIArchitect received four intriguing essays each arguing in favor of the preservation of a different Modern building, each located in a separate city. The four structures sit on the bubble of being razed, preserved, or neglected, while ongoing efforts from various parties look at preservation and restoration options for each structure.

Three AIA members and one political science instructor wrote persuasive essays arguing for the preservation of these four Modern buildings:

• The C&I Bank Building, Memphis
• Breuer Tower (The Cleveland Trust Tower)
• Bergrisch Hall, City University of New York (CUNY)—Bronx Community College
• IBM Building 25, San Jose, Calif.

The C&I Bank Building, Memphis
The C&I Bank Building was completed in 1974, designed by Francis Gassner, FAIA (1927–1977) of Gassner, Nathan, and Browne Architects. The innovative design used tubular truss framing and butt glazing to shape the building and enclose its atrium. When completed, the C&I Bank was applauded for its geometry and light-filled atrium. The C&I Bank was recognized by both state and local AIA Awards, and, in 1979, the Museum of Modern Art included the building in its exhibit of the 400 buildings that “have had a significant influence in the recent directions of architecture.” In 2000, the C&I Bank building was recognized by the Memphis Chapter of the AIA as the Design of the Decade (1971–1980). The C&I Bank building was purchased in 2004 by the Memphis Regional Chamber of Commerce Foundation for use as its headquarters. Memphis architects, commercial realtors, and developers are now working together to identify a viable user for this building.

Keith S. Kays, AIA, consulting architect of Memphis-based Askew Nixon Ferguson Architects, wrote in his essay that the C&I Bank building is the best example of Modernist architecture in Memphis and should be preserved. “During the1960s and 1970s, the work of Memphis architects was nationally recognized,” Kays writes. “Designs focused on expressing a building’s function and supporting structure using steel, concrete, and glass as primary design elements. The beauty of these buildings was in the articulation of form and the creation of significant internal and external spaces. The C&I Bank Building is a prime candidate for renovation as a signature office building, or for adaptive re-use as an upscale residential development.”
(Photo © Otto Baitz Photography.)

Breuer Tower (The Cleveland Trust Tower)
Marcel Breuer’s 28-story tower, built in 1971, served as the headquarters for the Cleveland Trust. Constructed with a steel frame, the tower is clad in precast concrete with deeply recessed glazing, with detailing to give it a sculptural character. Abandoned by the bank in the mid 1990s, it was purchased several years ago by Cuyahoga County with the intent of developing the large site as its administrative offices. In the summer of 2006, the County invited six architecture teams to prepare designs for its complex but ultimately believed the Breuer building should be demolished along with adjacent commercial structures, citing shallow floor-to-floor heights, single glazing, and the necessity for asbestos abatement. A symposium related to the building’s fate was eventually organized by local architecture groups, and independent proposals for the re-use of the building have appeared. The county has announced that its plans are on hold and that the sale of the building was being considered.

“The tower is a robust structure,” writes Nathan C. Hoyt, AIA, principal and director of interiors of New York City-based Davis Brody Bond Aedas, the only one of the six firms that proposed saving the Cleveland Trust Tower. “Although the tower was designed to different standards than many of today’s commercial buildings, its configuration did not preclude creating office space that meets today’s needs.” Hoyt adds that the tower has more than 250,000 square feet of floor area along with the potential to meet today’s sustainability needs. “Most dramatically, we envisioned encapsulating the existing precast façades with a second skin of glass and improving its thermal performance by creating an interstitial zone that could be shaded and vented in summer and allow the concrete to act as a solar collector in winter,” Hoyt writes.
Photo David H. Ellison ©2007.

Bergrisch Hall, City University of New York (CUNY)—Bronx Community College
Marcel Breuer also designed Bergrisch Hall at the Bronx Community College. Bergrisch Hall consists of four Modern buildings constructed between 1960 and 1970, when the campus was part of New York University. The four buildings—Meister, Polowczyk, Colston, and Bergrisch Halls—literally stand in the shadows of three Stanford White Neoclassical buildings.

James Freeman, instructor of Political Science at CUNY Bronx Community College, believes the four Breuer buildings—of which Bergrisch Hall is his personal favorite—are largely overlooked. “Bronx Community College houses many significant architecture buildings, the most famous being those by Stanford White. Neglected in the efforts to preserve and improve these magnificent structures are four equally beautiful Modernist buildings designed by Marcel Breuer,” he writes in his submission. “The four Breuer buildings play an important yet terribly overlooked role in the design of this architecturally rich campus.”

Freeman points out that the four buildings are some of Breuer's most important, and some of New York's most significant remaining Modernist structures. “Sadly, the allure of Modern architecture is no match for those of the older classical era,” Freeman continues. “As a result, while the White buildings receive praise and assistance, the Breuer’s languish in relative obscurity.

“Modernism, currently out of favor with the general public, is in need of an educational effort to highlight its contribution to contemporary architecture,” he adds. “I’m currently working on a few grant proposals to bring attention to these wonderful buildings, educate the students here on the Bronx campus about the importance of architectural appreciation, and hopefully find professionals who are willing to devote their time and energy to creating a master plan for these wonderful Breuer buildings.”
(Photo courtesy of James Freeman.)

IBM Building 25, San Jose, Calif.
City of San Jose Historic Landmarks Commissioner Justine M. Leong, AIA, LEED-AP, submitted a call for preservation of IBM Building 25 in San Jose, Calif. The Modern building is seen as significant to San Jose because it is a forerunner of high-technology campuses to come in Silicon Valley. A proposed project for a 129,000-square-foot Lowe’s Home Improvement Warehouse would demolish the IBM Building 25, also known as Advanced Research Building 25. The one-story building, completed in 1957, was designed by John Savage Bolles of Berkeley, a noted Bay Area architect who went on to design 33 buildings at IBM’s San Jose campus. IBM Building 25 has been closed since 1995.

“IBM Building 25 is a mid-century Modern gem,” writes Leong in her essay. “Since 2003, a battle has waged between San Jose’s preservation community and developers of Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse, which plans to demolish Building 25 for a big-box store.”

The structure’s floor-to-ceiling windows, tilted facades, and symmetry were a departure from the industrial design of its day. Offices and laboratories had glass walls that integrated with the landscaping of sculpture and courtyards. “The building can be compared to an oversized Eichler house with natural light, high ceilings, and cross ventilation,” Leong writes, referring to California-based developer Joseph Eichler, known for building Modern homes. Bolles’ integration of the glass windows with the landscaping provided an inspiring environment that earned the campus “Plant of the Year” in 1958. It was also a pioneer in Silicon Valley. “The Modernist structure housed IBM's top data-storage researchers who made history with the flying disc drive,” Leong writes.

According to the Final Environmental Impact Report for the project, the building "has been determined to qualify as a Candidate City Landmark under the city’s Historic Preservation Ordinance and has been determined eligible for listing on the state and national registers." The City of San Jose's Historic Landmark Commission is championing reuse of the building, perhaps as office space, as an alternative to demolition. “It is one of the finest examples of Modern Industrial architecture in Santa Clara County,” states a report by the Historic Landmarks Commission.
(Photo courtesy of Justine M. Leong, AIA.)