Setting the Modernist Record Straight
Symposium set to backtrack the inspiration for California’s modern architecture from Chicago to San Diego and back again via Irving J. Gill
(San Diego, CA, September 29, 2016) From the Walter L. Dodge House in West Hollywood, to the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, Southern California has been dotted with reasons to call it the birthplace of Modern architecture. And while many of the clean-lined modern buildings we now take for granted have long been attributed to the influence of European architects, an upcoming symposium is set to track their origins all the way back to Chicago, via the influences that city had over one of San Diego’s most renowned architects.
Over the course of his multi-faceted career, Irving J. Gill (1870- 1936) evolved into one of America’s most original and innovative architectural designers, producing a body of work that has influenced generations of Southern Californian and American architects. His unique, formal vocabulary became the basis of forms used by successors including the De Stijl and International Style architects. His revolutionary ideas in building technology became Southern California standards, including its “thin wall,” stud and stucco, and concrete tilt-slab methods. Thursday, October 20, 2016, the Irving J. Gill Foundation, a not-forprofit corporation launched to preserve Gill’s work and legacy, presents “Irving J. Gill and the Chicago School,” evidencing how Gill’s Chicago-based experiences influenced the design of his “buildings of amazing modernity,” leading in part to California’s modernist movement.
Held in partnership with the La Jolla Historical Society and the American Institute of Architects, San Diego, and set amid one of Gill’s most renowned landmark buildings (La Jolla Woman’s Club on Draper Ave), the symposium is one of many events forming “Irving J. Gill: New Architecture for a Great Country,” a collaborative project of exhibitions and tours honoring and exploring his legacy across thirteen Southern California organizations. A series of presentations, panel discussion and question and answer sessions will be led by James B. Guthrie, AIA, the foundation’s founder and president, and a San Diego-based architect who hails from the University of Illinois and the architectural center of Chicago. Panelists include: Tim Samuelson, a 40-year architectural and cultural historian of Chicago, with first-hand knowledge of the city’s Chicago and Prairie Schools of architecture; Paul Kruty, Ph.D., professor emeritus of architectural history at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and founding member of the Griffin Society of America; and David Jameson, cultural archivist, founder of ArchiTech Gallery in Chicago’s River North district and author of two books highlighting Gill’s formative relationships from both California and Chicago.
The event, which is free and open to the general public, begins with a reception, including light refreshments from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m.
Irving J. Gill and the Chicago School Thursday, October 20, 2016 5:00 to 8:30 p.m. (reception with light refreshments 5:00 to 6:00 p.m.; symposium to follow)
The La Jolla Woman’s Club, 7791 Draper Ave., La Jolla, CA 92037
For further information, visit: www.irvingjgill.org
About Irving J. Gill Foundation Founded in 2015, the Irving J. Gill Foundation is a California-based not-for-profit corporation that preserves the work and legacy of renowned architect Irving J. Gill (1870-1936). Through a mega exhibition consisting of public programming, panels, lectures, architectural tours and newly produced publications, the foundation and its members educate architects and their allied professions, as well as the general public, about the pioneering advancements Gill formed in the art and science of architectural design and building. For more information on the foundation and its events, visit www.irvingjgill.org.
