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LEC 02.2 Gürel - Anthony
LEC 02.2 Gürel - Anthony
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Education (1984-)
Architectural history books play a significant role in conveying the culture, norms, and val
the architectural discipline to newcomers. In recent years, numerous publications have spotl
the importance of women and African Americans as critics, creators, and consumers of the
environment. Yet, to what extent is this recent discourse on gender and racial issues include
architectural history texts? And how gender or racially inclusive are they? Are twenty-first-
architectural educators presenting newly uncovered architectural histories from the ninetee
and twentieth centuries? Building upon prior research, this article seeks to address these
issues by examining history texts currently assigned at fourteen leading architectural schoo
accredited by the National Architectural Accrediting Board. In textbooks with multiple editi
we compared relevant information in both earlier and later versions. Our analysis of these h
texts revealed that contributions of women remain only marginally represented in the gran
narrative of architecture. And for the most part, African Americans are omitted altogether.
We challenge authors to reassess the next generation of architectural history texts and sugg
ways to do so.
perspectives.
Architectural history books play a significant role in conducted a comparative content analysis of "pop-
Inevitably, this provides only a partial
conveying the culture, norms, and values of the
view since the built environment in its totality ular"
is architectural history survey texts required in
architectural discipline to newcomers. In recent shaped
years, by diverse groups of people. If buildings are
architectural history classes in several American
to be interpreted as sociocultural objects and archi-
numerous publications have spotlighted the impor- architectural schools accredited by the National
tecture as an artifact of social, cultural, economic,
tance of women and African Americans as critics, Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB). We used
creators, and consumers of the built environment.
and political phenomena that mirror societies at
a chronological analysis, comparing earlier and later
Yet, to what extent is this recent discourse on gender editions, to chart the influence of gender and racial
certain points in time, architectural history must
and racial issues included in architectural history
recognize how diverse groups of people contribute to on architectural history survey books over
research
the built environment.
texts? And how gender or racially inclusive are they? the past twenty years.
In this spirit, this paper examines how gender Architectural history textbooks are a primary
Architectural history relies upon the analysis of great
monuments to explain the development of theand
built
racial issues are addressed in architectural history
part of survey courses that introduce students to the
survey textbooks. The study focuses on twentieth-
environment.1 Whether interpreted primarily within canonical premises of the discipline. Not only do they
formalistic, stylistic, or aesthetic concerns or, more
century architecture, spilling marginally into the late
transmit the culture and normative precepts of
recently, sociocultural contexts, buildings encom-
nineteenth and early twenty-first centuries, as architecture
this to newcomers but they also "offer a case
passing the traditional boundaries of the canon by which to explore how to sustain communication
period coincides with the entry of women and African
reflect traditional Eurocentric patriarchal Americans into the field. Within this framework, we different branches of knowledge and to allow
among
No. of schools
using book Title Author(s) First edition Second edition
No. of schools
using book Title Author(s) First edition Newer editions
5 Modern Architecture Since 1900 William J.R. Curtis 1982 1983, 1987, 1996
2 Modern Architecture: Kenneth Frampton 1980 1985, 1992, 2000 (reprint),
A Critical History 2004 (reprint)
2 American Architecture Leland M. Roth 2001
of Lafayette Square and the revitalization of Penn- of a few early leading women architects were who have been elevated to star status. It also has
sylvania Avenue in Washington, DC, and Beverly acknowledged - up to a point- even during their potential to expose "the collaborative nature of
Willis and her catalytic role in the adaptive reuse of lifetimes. For example, Henry-Russell Hitchcock and modern architecture and the success of bringing
historic Victorian structures on San Francisco's Union Philip Johnson included the interior designs of Lilly different values to the design process."95
Street.90 A subsequent section could also discuss the Reich and Charlotte Perriand, along with the archi- The almost total exclusion of African American
pioneering preservation work of Ann Beha. A search tecture of Mies and Le Corbusier in The International architects in the texts analyzed here poses new
for African American architects and their work found Style (1932); it aimed to formulate a prescription of challenges to authors revising these works and to
information for historians who may be unfamiliar with ways in which spaces define insiders and outsiders, remain astonishingly low, at less than 5%, it is all
this work.96 space as a framework for constructing racial and the more important that texts recognize their
Furthermore, criteria for inclusion in future texts ethnic identity, and the invisibility of racialized heritage and contributions.101 It is up to authors of
can be broadened to include historic significance as spaces.99 future NAAB student performance criteria as well as
well as artistic merit. In this regard, the criteria for Textbooks provide a medium through which future architectural history texts to remedy these
listing buildings on the National Register for Historic students and readers with an interest in architecture deficiencies. In order for change to occur, NAAB
Places can serve as a useful model for future histor- are exposed to the premises of architectural history. criteria regarding diversity, and gender and racial
ians to consider, thus widening the gates of archi- As a primary component of survey courses that must issues in particular, must be strengthened and more
tectural history. Among the evaluation criteria for the fulfill accreditation requirements of the NAAB, these specific. A greater measure of accountability is
National Register are buildings or structures texts play a major role in shaping how students for- needed to ensure that faculty teach and students
mulate their conceptions of the built environment. learn about the importance of gender and racial
a) that are associated with events that have For students who are not majoring in architecture, diversity in architectural history. As we have already
made a significant contribution to the broad architectural history courses are likely to be their only seen, changes in the NAAB criteria can translate into
patterns of our history; and/or exposure to the field. Faculty members at most enhanced versions of architectural history, but one
b) that are associated with the lives of persons schools included in this study supplement their need not preclude the other.
significant in our past; and/or mainstream textbooks with additional non-Western The tendency of faculty members to select the
c) that embody the distinctive characteristics material. Yet, by doing so, and because history texts, same few books, as indicated here, underscores the
of type, period, or method of construction, or for the most part, fail to fully integrate non-Western power of the canon. While conserving what has
that represent the work of a master, or that work, these suppressed histories still retain secondary been sanctioned as "great works of architecture,"
possess high artistic values, or that represent status. African Americans remain overlooked in the void remains predominantly unnoticed. Archi-
a significant and distinguishable entity whose architectural history texts. One cannot help but tectural history textbooks play a critical role in
components may lack individual distinction; wonder if the NAAB had not required the non- shaping and reshaping architectural education. They
and/or Western component, would architectural courses bear an important responsibility in exposing the
d) that have yielded, or may be likely to yield, have changed at all? students to more diverse histories, and those that
information important in prehistory or history.97 NAAB has not yet specifically acknowledged have only recently been uncovered. As Edward Said
gender issues in architectural history as a criterion for has argued, "society and culture have been the het-
Expanding the criteria for inclusion in such accreditation. Thus, it is possible for students to erogeneous product of heterogeneous people in an
a manner would allow historians to integrate mile- graduate from an accredited architecture program enormous variety of cultures, tradition and
stones in African American architectural history into without ever being exposed to women's contribution to situations."102 In the architectural sphere, women
the broader spectrum of American architectural his- the built environment. Because they remain relegated and African Americans and their contributions to
tory, for example, the role of Booker T. Washington to elective courses and small-scale seminars- still the mosaic of the built environment constitute
and the founding of Tuskegee University in Tuskegee, rarities in most architectural programs- women's a significant component of this heterogeneity. In
Alabama; the contributions of Historically Black architectural history remains segregated from the sum, the premises of the canon must continue to be
Colleges and Universities; the formation of the 'mainstream' history of architecture.100 challenged.
Space: Women and the Man-Made Environment (London: Pluto Press, Penny Sparke, "Elsie de Wolfe and Her Female Clients, 1905-15: ture,"
Gender,Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 58/3 (September
Class and the Professional Interior Decorator," in Brenda Martin 1999/2000):
and 285.
1984); Leslie K. Weisman, "Women's Environmental Rights: A Manifesto,"
in Making Room: Women and Architecture, special issue, Heresies 1Penny 40. America's Best Architecture & Design Schools 6th ed. (Atlanta, GA:
1 3/3 Sparke, eds., Women's Places: Architecture and Design 1860-1960
(New York: Routledge, 2003), chap. 3. Design Futures Council, 2005); Almanac of Architecture & Design
(1981): 6-8; Leslie K. Weisman, Discrimination by Design (Urbana and
Chicago, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1992). 20. Isabelle Anscombe, A Woman's Touch (New York: Viking Penguin,(Atlanta, GA: Greenway Communications, 2002 and 2004). All three
1984). publications are affiliated with Design Intelligence.
8. Jane Rendell, "Introduction: Gender, Space, Architecture," in Jane
21 . Pat Kirkham and Penny Sparke, "A Women's Place . . .? Part41.
Rendell, Barbara Penner, and lain Borden, eds., Gender, Space, Architec- 1,"Information
in was obtained from Cornell University, Georgia
ture (London: Routledqe, 2000), p. 232. Pat Kirkham, ed., Women Designers in the USA 1900-2000 (New Institute
Haven, of Technology, Harvard University, Iowa State University,
9. Ibid., p. 232. CT: Yale University Press, 2000), pp. 305-316. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Tuskegee University,
22. Hayden, The Grand Domestic Revolution, p. 183. University of California Berkeley, University of Cincinnati, University of
10. See Peter Adam, Eileen Gray: Architect/Designer (New York: H.N.
Abrams, 1987); Sara Holmes Boutelle, Julia Morgan Architect (New23. Edith Wharton and Ogden Codman, The Decoration of Houses
York: Colorado, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of
(London: BJ. Batsford, 1898). Michigan Ann Arbor, University of Pennsylvania, University of
Abbeville Press, 1988); Caroline Constant, Eileen Gray (London: Phaidon,
24. See Anthony, Designing for Diversity, pp. 65-67.
2000); Sonja Günther, Lilly Reich, 1885-1947: Innenarchitektin, Design- Texas at Austin, Syracuse University, and University of Virginia.
25. Suzanne Stephens, "Voices of Consequence: Four Architectural We Crit-
were unable to obtain many responses from faculty about
erin, Ausstellungsgestalterin (Stuttgart, Germany: Deutsche Verlags-
ics," in Susana Torre, ed., Women in American Architecture: A Historic
whichand
books were required for twentieth-century and American archi-
Anstalt, 1988); Mary McLeod, Charlotte Perriand: An Art of Living (New
Contemporary Perspective (New York: Whitney Library of Design,
York: H.N. Abrams, 2003); Matilda McQuaid, Lilly Reich Designer and 1977),While some instructors provided this information, others
tecture.
Architect (New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1996). pp. 136-143. noted that course offerings on these subjects varied- either no specific
26. Literature on race in architecture, including the contributions
course
of was offered or else a variety of courses were offered. We noted
11. See Kathryn H. Anthony, Designing for Diversity: Gender, Race and
Native Americans, Asian Americans, and Latino/a Americans hasbooks also that were cited more than once by faculty who included this
Ethnicity in the Architectural Profession (Urbana and Chicago, IL:
begun to emerge but it is outside the scope of this article. material.
University of Illinois Press, 2001), pp. 56-65.
27. Brad Grant and Dennis Mann, "Directory of African American 42. Dora P. Crouch and June G. Johnson, Traditions in Architecture:
1 2. Denise Scott Brown, "Room at the Top? Sexism and the Star System,"
Architects," http://blackarch.uc.edu/publications/introdir91.html
Africa, America, Asia, and Oceania (New York: Oxford University Press,
in Ellen P. Berkeley and Matilda McQuaid, eds., Architecture: A Place for
(accessed April 24, 2005). 2001).
Women (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1989), pp.
237-246. 28. Several bibliographic sources on the historical contributions 43.
of Leland M. Roth, Understanding Architecture: Its Elements, History,
13. Gwendolyn Wright, "A Partnership: Catherine Bauer and William and Meaning (New York: Icon Editions, 1993).
African American architects can be found in Anthony, Designing for
Diversity, 2001, pp. 81-91. 44. Kingsley, "Gender Issues in Teaching Architectural History."
Wurster," in Marc Treib, ed., An Everyday Modernism: The Houses of
29. Christopher B. Steiner, "Can the Canon Burst?" Art Bulletin45.
78/2
Marvin Trachtenberg and Isabelle Hyman, Architecture, from Prehis-
William Wurster (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1995),
(June 1996): 217. tory to Postmodernity (New York: H.N. Abrams, 2002); Spiro Kostof, A
p. 188; Cited in Beatriz Colomina, "Collaborations," Journal of the Society
30. Ibid., 213. History of Architecture: Settings and Rituals (New York: Oxford University
of Architectural Historians 58/3 (September 1999/2000): 467-468.
Strip- from supermarket parking lots, service stations, and billboards H.N. Abrams in association with the Library of Congress and the distinguished by your thunderous silence and your comple
to the neon marquees of gambling casinos." Kostof, A History of Vitra Design Museum, 1997). Pat Kirkham, Charles, and Ray Stephanie Stubbs, "Breaking through a Thunderous Sile
Architecture, 1995, p. 751. Eames, Designers of the Twentieth Century (Cambridge, MA: Institute of Architects Memo (December 1992): 4.
60. Moffett, Fazio, and Wodehouse, Buildings across Time, 2004, pp. MIT Press, 1995). 99. These themes and others were the subject of a sym
433-34. Note that some architectural history faculty indicated that 75. Ibid., p. 562. "Constructing Race: The Built Environment, Minoritization
they selected this book in large part because, compared to other texts, it76. Ibid. the United States" held at the University of Illinois at Urb
pays greater attention to non-Western architecture such as indigenous 77. Ibid., p. 246. March 5-6, 2004. The symposium forms the basis of a f
architecture in the pre-Columbian Americas, Islamic architecture, the of Landscape Journal (Dianne Harris, ed.).
78. Kenneth Frampton, Modern Architecture: A Critical History (London:
traditional architecture of China and Japan, and the architecture of Thames and Hudson, 2000), p. 50. 100. The second author teaches such a seminar. This article is a collabo-
ancient India and Southeast Asia. 79. Ibid., pp. 243-244. rative outgrowth of that course. Several reference materials can be found
61 . Ibid., pp. 457-460. 80. Ibid., p. 334. on the following Web site: "Architecture/Gender & Women's Studies
62. Thomas Neat, Part Seen, Part Imagined: Meaning and Symbolism in 81 . Susan R. Henderson, "A Revolution in the Women's Sphere: Grete
424- Professor Anthony- Gender and Race in Contemporary Architec-
the Work of Charles Rennte Mackintosh and Margaret Macdonald Lihotzky and the Frankfurt Kitchen," in Debra Coleman, Elizabeth Danze,
ture," http://www2.arch.uiuc.edu/kanthony/arch424FA04/ (accessed
(Edinburgh: Canongate Press, 1994), p. 18. and Carol Henderson, eds., Architecture and Feminism (New York: August 15, 2005).
63. Alice T. Friedman, Women and the Making of the Modern House Princeton Architectural Press, 1996), p. 245. 101. "Data Collection," Arch Voices (June 25, 2004), http://www.
(New York: H.N. Abrams, 1997), ch. 2; Alice T. Friedman, "Not a Muse: 82. Such is the case in Curtis, Modern Architecture, 1982. However,archvoices.org
this (accessed August 17, 2005).
The Client's Role at the Rietveld Schroeder House," in Diana Agrest, was corrected in the 1996 edition. 102. Edward Said, "Politics of Knowledge," Raritan (Summer 1991), 25.