Cleveland, architecture, and CWRU

James Polshek died a few days ago in New York City. His obituary in the New York Times says that he started his undergraduate studies in medicine at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. He took a course in modern architecture and changed his major. He transferred to Yale to get a stronger architecture education and stood next to Le Corbusier in a New York City elevator on his way to Yale.

When I was doing some itinerant cataloging at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson a dozen years ago, I fell in love with the Honey House, part of a group of dormitory buildings in the center of campus. I passed it every day at least once as I went about campus.

It has that wonderful balance and proportion that is so appealing to me in Palladian villas. I discovered later that the dormitory complex was designed by Polshek. He wasn't one of those architects where you saw the building and said obviously it was by him. But there is a care and quality that shows across his work.

When I was planning my 2015 road trip to Iowa City, Denver, Albuquerque, Fort Worth, and Bentonville, with other stops along the way, the Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock was clearly on the list of sites/sights. It is also designed by Polshek, some years later than the Honey House.

The presidential library and museum is along the riverfront and near an old bridge, now for pedestrians. I wouldn't mind going back to Little Rock since the Arkansas Arts Center (now Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts) is building a new building. The expansion is designed by Studio Gang, another favorite firm.

When I was reading the Polshek obituary, I was disappointed that my graduate alma mater, Case Western Reserve University, had not satisfied Polshek's educational desires. It was an art history program, not architecture studio. I can't remember clearly but I think I took a course in American architecture during my first year of graduate study at CWRU. The professor was Edmund Chapman who was professor from 1946 to 1972. I was very satisfied with my CWRU education. Perhaps it was Dr Chapman that taught the modern architecture class that led Polshek to changing his major.