San Juan Capistrano

Over the weekend we were in Southern California for a wedding. While there, we spent an afternoon in San Juan Capistrano, home to some of the oldest buildings still in use in California. We wandered through the Los Rios Street Historic District along the railroad. Huge trains rolled by tiny board and batten structures, some of which still house descendants of the orignal families. We had lunch in the old train depot and then went over to the Mission. Built in the auspicious year of 1776, Mission San Juan Capistrano became a bustling complex of adobe buildings and a large stone church. Tragically, the church was destroyed by an earthquake in 1812, killing the congregation. The church has been left as a ruin to memorialize the event but the adobe buildings are restored and the site "romantically" landscaped. Always a treat to visit examples of California's fragile Mission-Era history.

Free films at the MOMA

The films shown today at noon at the SFMOMA were very appealing. The first one was filmed in New York in 1921 by Charles Sheeler and Paul Strand and though grainy, showed impressive urban views of architecture. The most stunning was by Laszlo Moholy-Nagy. Well preserved, the film depicted Berlin in 1931 and focused less on the urbanism and more on the urbane. Those first two films were silent and while the second films were meant to have sound, they were not able to make it work, which wasn't much of a loss. I rather enjoyed the silence. Rudy Burckhardt's 1955 film showed a large industrial brick building under the Brooklyn Bridge being taken down, literally brick by brick. And the final film was on San Franicsco in 1968 and while I was looking forward to some hippie footage set to Pink Floyd, it was actually rather jarring with the images blurred and sped up to the point that it was a little unnerving.

Free Museums Tomorrow

Tomorrow, the first Tuesday of the month, there is free admission to museums in San Francisco. At the MOMA they are also showing a series of short films at noon. They describe them as "cinematic events that evoke urban space and pace through kaleidoscopic imagery and dynamic visual rhythm." One of the films is by Laszlo Moholy-Nagy of Berlin in 1931!

South Mission

There are a few times a year that working from our rental in the Sunset is unbearable due to heat. Yesterday I worked at EpiCenter Cafe which has truly delicious coffee. Today I headed over to Haus in San Francisco's latest survey area, the South Mission. The Planning Department made some really fun maps of the survey results which I highly recommend checking out.

Victorianized

Today I came across this image. It has a small insert showing "view of cottage in 1872 before additions." That's quite a Victorian remodel!

This week

Lots of interesting events happening this week. San Francisco Architectural Heritage continues their lecture series with Therese Poletti presenting The Art Deco Architecture of Timothy Pflueger. The lecture will no doubt promote her recently published book and will be Thursday at 6pm at Pier 1. San Francisco Architectural Heritage is also holding a concert series at the Haas-Lilienthal House on Tuesday.
Architecture and the City continues their film series and though I was not able to get tickets for last weeks film, I will certainly attend Wednesday's A Necessary Ruin. The film is about a geodesic dome in Baton Rouge. The title seems to allude to J. B. Jackson's essay The Necessity for Ruins which I have read and reread over the years. Jackson identifies the now fairly widely held opinion, that Americans have transitioned from an interest in the history of the hero to a history of the masses, or our "vernacular past." Jackson concludes that for this type of history to present itself it must be forgotten and then "restored." I am curious if the film will incorporate any of Jackson's essay or just the title.

Burnham

Make No Little Plans, was shown last night at the San Francisco Main Library as part of the Architecture and the City Festival. The movie was very educational and I learned many little facts about Daniel Burnham. Most surprising was his involvement in the Philippines. There is a Burnham Park in Baguio City with a staute in his honor! I was already familiar with his plans for San Francisco but I always enjoy looking at the maps and imagining what might have been.

One of my favorite books features Burnham as one of the characters. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson is truly creepy and a wonderful read. I highly recommend it! 

Coxhead's House in San Mateo

Recently I wrote a National Register Nomination for a house designed by Ernest Coxhead. Intrigued, I decided to drive around and visit other Coxhead buildings in the area. This one is in San Mateo and was built in 1891 as his residence. It is now used as a bed and breakfast.

Film Tomorrow

Tomorrow the Architecture and the City Festival will be showing its second free film at the San Francisco Main Library. The film is entitled Make No Little Plans and is about Daniel Burnham. The show starts at 6:00pm. Last week the film was about Frank Lloyd Wright's Park Inn, located in Mason City, Iowa. It documented the life of the building and the current struggle to try and preserve it. The conclusion left the building still unrestored and was slightly unsatisfying but one can only hope that the documentary has helped garner widespread support that will lead to a happy ending.

New York Times

Today I was quoted in the New York Times Bay Area Section about the Appleton & Wolfard libraries. Four of us were invited to walk around the North Beach branch library with the reporter; Brian Bannon, Chief of Branches, Marsha Maytum, Architect, Howard Wong, Architect and myself. We spent over an hour and a half talking! I walked away wondering how the reporter, Zusha Elinson, was going to condense the conversation down into a "short article." The reporter was most interested in what made the building important, landmarkable. He was not impressed with the "look" of the building calling it "bland" and "non-descript" in his article. However after hearing about its history, he seemed to understand its importance. Just because a building style isn't popular doesn't mean that it isn't important. I think that the mere fact that the building can still get people's blood boiling after fifty years makes it far more interesting, far more important, than any of the others.

Frederick Evans

Today I read a review of an exhibit at the Getty Center of the photographs of Frederick H. Evans. His photographs are truly beautiful and he is my new favorite person. I wish I had been able to see the exhibit!

Maps

I've always really liked looking at maps. The web has some pretty clever maps out there now. One that I find particularly mesmerizing is Trulia Hindsight which basically takes their real estate data and shows housing construction over time. Zoom into an area and watch how it takes shape. The other map I like is the urban forest map for San Francisco which shows all the trees. Check it out.

Upcoming Movies

Been awhile since I've blogged but I'm hoping to get back into it. Several documentary premiers are coming up. The first is Remembering Playland at the Beach. It will be shown at the Balboa Theater on March 16 and is about Playland, an amusement area located near Ocean Beach that was demolished in the 1970's. The second movie is Designing with Nature: Arts and Crafts Architecture in Northern California. It will be shown at The Hillside Club on March 31.