Rediscovering Alexander Girard’s Architecture—from Motown to Midtown
October 30, 2018 |
The multi-faceted midcentury designer Alexander Girard is synonymous with Santa Fe, New Mexico. However, many of his most cohesive projects—especially the architecture—were done in Metro Detroit, where he lived from 1937–1953, and in New York City, where he was born and opened his first design studio. Known for his boldly colored and patterned textiles for Herman Miller, Girard’s architectural training was the foundation for every aspect of his career. The residences designed for himself and the Jackson, McLucas, and Rieveschl families (1947–1951) in the traditional Detroit suburb of Grosse Pointe, MI, demonstrate Girard’s expansive conception of architecture, integrating site, structure, and interior into a cohesive whole. The same can be said for his 1960 New York City project La Fonda del Sol, an iconic, Latin America-themed restaurant in the then newly-erected Time Life Building. Girard designed everything from structural elements to table settings.
Deborah Lubera Kawsky, author of Alexander Girard, Architect: Creating Midcentury Modern Masterpieces, will present Girard’s lost Detroit and New York masterpieces through drawings, blueprints and archival photographs, with particular focus on the McLucas house, the only surviving home designed entirely by Girard, now restored to its midcentury glory with the help of Detroit/Knoll design icon, Ruth Adler Schnee.
This event is hosted by DOCOMOMO New York/Tri-State. Reception to follow.
Tickets: $15 DOCOMOMO Members; $25 General Admission. Capacity limited, advance registration required.
|
| |
| Location Information |
|
Knoll Showroom |
1330 Avenue of the Americas (at West 54th Street)
Second Floor, enter through building lobby
New York, NY 10019 |
| Website:
www.docomomo-nytri.org/event/695/ |
| |
| Contact Information |
| Email:
rsvp@docomomo-nytri.org |
|