Posts by clare lise kelly
Sligo Adventist Elementary School (1963), Ronald Senseman, architect
Montgomery County in the mid-century era experienced great change. Montgomery was the fourth fastest growing county in the nation. The population grew from less than 90,000 in 1946 to nearly 580,000 by 1974. Change also came in the pace of life, as cars and new highways enabled ever increasing speeds, but also in the scale of the perceived environment, as space exploration made the universe seem to be the limit. A new era called for new building forms, made possible with innovative technologies. By the early 1960s, architects were experimenting with a variety of roof forms.
The zigzag roof of the Sligo Adventist Elementary School must have been a striking contrast to the traditional flat roof schools that had been built for decades in the county up to this time. Architect Ronald Senseman, a Silver Spring resident, designed Sligo Adventist Elementary School. Flanking the entry’s geometric roofline is warm-toned, stone facing. This sets a contrast between manmade shapes and materials and the organic shapes and materials of nature—a dichotomy found on many modernist projects of this era. Senseman continued the stone in a series of column-like piers found on each side elevation.
Ronald Senseman designed many modernist projects in the region, including schools, churches, and motels. For more information on Senseman, see a recent Montgomery Modern post.
The zigzag roof was fairly popular in the early 1960s, yet most original examples have been demolished or remodeled. Another example, also designed by Senseman, was the Park University Motel (1962), 7200 Baltimore Road, in Prince George’s County. Here’s a photo from a c1963 ad for Ruberoid roofing.
The dramatic roofline today is obscured through remodeling for the facility, now Quality Inn & Suites.
Incidentally, according to the ad, the Park University Motel project used Ruberoid T/NA 200, which the company marketed as “the industry’s first prefabricated, prefinished, built-up roofing system”. The lightweight, pliable product was composed of polyvinyl fluoride film and a durable asbestos felt.
The same c1963 Ruberoid Company ad enticed architects to stretch their imagination in roof design.
Many examples of such modernist geometry are still found in our area, if we look closely.
Groundbreaking for Sligo Elementary School was September 22, 1963, and the school opened one year later. More information on its history may be found on the school website.
Montgomery Modern explores mid-century modern buildings and communities that reflect the optimistic spirit of the post-war era in Montgomery County, Maryland. From International Style office towers to Googie style stores and contemporary tract houses, Montgomery Modern celebrates the buildings, technology, and materials of the Atomic Age, from the late 1940s through the 1960s. A half century later, we now have perspective to appreciate these resources as a product of their time.
This sleek blue building, constructed in 1963, is another mid-century modern gem in downtown Silver Spring. Built three years after the American National Bank Building, the Operations Research Institute building was designed by prolific local architect Ted Englehardt. Previously we blogged about Englehardt’s Weller’s Dry Cleaning. For the Operations Research Institute, Englehardt designed an International Style office building with beautiful turquoise spandrel panels made of porcelain enamel.
Developer Carl M. Freeman moved his offices here in 1964. The firm occupied the first and part of the second floors. Freeman, who pioneered the modernist garden apartment in the DC area, was at this time one of the top 12 builders in the country.
Washington Post, October 30, 1963
Some part of the ground floor was originally open, as seen in this historic photo. Today, the west section retains a ground floor drive-through to connect the parking area with Spring Street entrance.
Architect Ted Englehardt’s trademark signature block may still be seen on the building, near the parking lot underpass.
Green marble skirts the perimeter of the building’s exterior and also enlivens the interior lobby.
The spandrel panels are made of porcelain enamel.
Some window units are hinged on top and can be opened with a special tool. Our historic preservation unit of the Planning Department had offices on the top floor of this building in 2011-2012. The space was well-lit and open (and the building is very well maintained). It has held up well over the years!
Montgomery Modern explores mid-century modern buildings and communities that reflect the optimistic spirit of the post-war era in Montgomery County, Maryland. From International Style office towers to Googie style stores and contemporary tract houses, Montgomery Modern celebrates the buildings, technology, and materials of the Atomic Age, from the late 1940s through the 1960s. A half century later, we now have perspective to appreciate these resources as a product of their time.
Case Study House, Los Angeles, Architect: Pierre Koenig; Photographer Julius Shulman, 1960. Source: Getty Museum
This post is not specifically about Montgomery County, but it’s about a great film I recently saw that really sets modernism in context. It’s Visual Acoustics, the documentary of a man helped bring modern American design into the forefront: architectural photographer Julius Shulman (1910-2009). Through his spectacular photos, it is said that Shulman defined the way we look at modernism. His photos of works of Richard Neutra, Frank Lloyd Wright, and other modernist designers great and small appeared in architectural journals and books throughout this era.
Shulman’s work was not always credited at the time. My copy of Leonardo Benevolo’s History of Modern Architecture bears witness to this, with great photos of Neutra houses which are not credited (!) but are clearly Shulman’s iconic work, such as this view of the Kaufman House (1946) in California.
Kaufman House, Palm Springs, CA. Architect: Richard Neutra; Photographer Julius Shulman, 1947.
The documentary film of Shulman’s work is called Visual Acoustics (2009) and is narrated by Dustin Hoffman. Created before Shulman’s death in 2009, the film has fascinating interviews with Shulman who describes his philosophy for finding the essence of a building and technique of single point perspective.
Visual Acoustics, which was playing on PBS in recent months, is now available on Netflix. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in modern architecture, and it’s been known to change the minds of those who are not yet admirers. Here is a trailer. Go see the film!
Shulman’s photographs and papers are at the Getty Museum which had an exhibit of his work a few years ago. Check out some highlights.
This article has been corrected with two facts: the exterior panels are glass, not porcelain, and in the summer of 2012, the horizontal band over the parking lot entrance was taken down for construction of 8711 Georgia Avenue. Thanks to readers for your comments. Clare Lise Kelly 9-12-12
Designed by architect Edwin Weihe in 1960, the American National Bank Building, at 8701 Georgia Avenue, is a fine example of an International style office building. When it opened in 1961, it was the tallest building in Silver Spring and featured several design innovations.
Architect Edwin Weihe placed the building’s heating, cooling, and elevator equipment in a low roof penthouse, designed so that it is not immediately apparent from the streetview. Real estate columnist Joseph Byrne, of the Washington Star, observed that Weihe’s design followed advice of the Washington Fine Arts Commission to avoid ugly penthouses prominent in Washington’s skyline by 1961.
The structure has precast quartz mullions that are welded to the steel frame. Each mullion is 6 inches wide, 8 inches deep and 10 feet tall, and weighes 800 pounds. Two metal plates are embedded into the cast mullions and welded to metal plates sunk into the concrete superstructure.
A historic view of this building shows how little it has changed. One element that has been lost is the horizontal band at the street level that connects the parking lot entrance to the main building. This element was taken down in July 2012 for the construction of 9711 Georgia Avenue.
The modernist building with green glass panels certainly bear witness to the influence of such a landmark as Gordon Bunshaft’s Lever House which dates from 1952. Lever House, Park Avenue, New York City, was a harbinger of the glass curtain wall technology that predominated mid-century commercial buildings. Note the horizontal section next to the tower, and the Le Corbusier style pilotis, both echoed in the American National Bank building.
Architect Edwin Armstrong Weihe (1907-1994) had a major influence on the development of downtown Washington. Known as “Mr. Zoning” for his active role in modernizing city codes, he pioneered the innovative use of concrete in Washington, DC, and was known for his use of pedestrian arcades and graduated setbacks.
Specializing in office buildings, hotels, apartment buildings, mixed use buildings and other commercial structures, Weihe’s firm designed more than 90 office buildings in the K Street corridor and elsewhere in the District, and more than 100 large buildings in Crystal City, Bailey’s Crossroads, and other urban centers. In Montgomery County, Weihe designed several other mid-century projects in the Silver Spring area including a store and apartment at 7614 Georgia Avenue NW (1940); Rock Creek Gardens apartments (1948), near Grubb Road and East West Highway; and Cape Cod houses for Carroll Knolls subdivision of 200 dwellings (1948), Forest Glen; and the F. W. Woolworth & Co. store (1954), Flower Avenue Shopping Center.
A member of the AIA from 1946, Edwin Weihe received the first lifetime achievement award ever bestowed by the Washington Chapter of the AIA, when he was presented with the Centennial Award in 1991. He was recognized for being the first architect to promote flat plate concrete construction as a solution to the city’s building height restriction, as well as for his pioneering the use of precast concrete as building cladding in the District. Edwin Weihe retired from active practice in 1987. He died in 1994, at the age of 87.
In the design phase, the Silver Spring office building was originally called the Bank of Silver Spring but by the time it opened it was renamed the American National Bank, which company occupied the first and lower levels. It is now known as the Zalco Building.
Round School
The Bushey Drive Elementary School, in Wheaton, is a three-story, round school designed by Deigert and Yerkes in 1961. Â
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As noted in my colleague’s recent post on round houses, round schools were also promoted for lower operating costs, greater efficiency, and lower building costs. In this era, round and hexagonal schools were built across the country.Â
In plan, the school had a middle story with common rooms (kitchen, library, general purpose room) and offices, sandwiched between top and bottom floors of classrooms.
David Norton Yerkes and Robert C. Deigert were partners in a Washington DC firm from about 1946 to 1966.  In Montgomery County, projects designed by the firm include numerous custom houses and the Primary Day School in Bethesda. Noteworthy local projects are the U.S. National Arboretum Administration Building (1963) and the Netherlands Embassy.
The Bushey Drive School was for many years home to a theater group organized by Montgomery County Recreation Department. The theater group survives, named Round House Theatre, for its place of origin. Today, the Recreation Department has administrative offices at the Bushey Drive School which still accommodates theatrical performances.
11161 Lockwood Drive, White Oak
The White Oak Professional Center (1965), at 11161 Lockwood Drive, is a contemporary office building that features bannerlike vertical panels rising like flags above the roofline and dipping like pennants from the wall surfaces.
This Montgomery Modern building was designed by architect Vincent A. DeGutis of Silver Spring. The four-story structure is located near the SE corner of New Hampshire Avenue and Lockwood Drive.
Stone aggregate panels add warmth to the curtain walls.
The exterior panels are composed of aggregate stones with peach-brown tones.
The developer was Realty Investment Company, which built a headquarters building the sameyear at 11315 Lockwood Drive. The chairman of RIC was Stewart Bainum who lived nearby in Burnt Mills Hills.
Geometric glass panels enliven the south wing.
Building of the Month, May 2011
The Seymour Krieger House (1958), in Bethesda’s Bannockburn neighborhood, was designed by internationally renowned architect Marcel Breuer. The structure is the only single-family dwelling designed by Marcel Breuer in Montgomery County, and is one of four residential buildings he designed in Maryland. The residence was built for Seymour Krieger, a communications lawyer, and his wife Rita. The Krieger family lived here until 1964.
Marcel Breuer's Krieger House
The resource is an outstanding example of an International Style residence.  Its transparent volumetric form, exposed steel framing, lack of applied ornamentation and balanced asymmetry are hallmarks of the style. The triangular-shaped corner lot was landscaped by prolific landscape designer Dan Kiley. The project was the first of five collaborations between Breuer and Kiley nationwide, and was one of only two projects these distinguished designers worked together on in Maryland.
The Krieger House is designated locally, on Montgomery County’s Master Plan for Historic Preservation, and is also listed on the National Register of HIstoric Places.
GEICO, Wisconsin and Western Avenues, Friendship Heights
The corporate headquarters for GEICO (1959) is an International Style complex of carefully articulated buildings designed by architect Vincent G Kling. Long low wings are contrasted by higher opaque blocks and sheathed in porcelain enamel and textured glass panels. The 26-acre landscaped campus includes flying saucer light fixtures, a Hovercraft-like fountain perched at the entrance. Terraced parking lots are shaded by mature trees. A taller office tower (left) was added in 1964.
Architect Vincent Kling of Philadelphia worked for Skidmore Owings & Merrill before establishing his own firm in 1946. His expertise was in research labs and commercial space. As he designed the GEICO building, he was engaged in creating, with Edmund Bacon, the master plan for Penn Center, Philadelphia, with the goal of bringing the middle class back to the city. Kling designed Penn Center’s major buildings and civic spaces.
The Government Employees Insurance Company was founded in 1936. Presiding over the opening of new GEICO headquarters building in Chevy Chase was investment banker Lorimer Davidson, who became Chairman and CEO in 1958.
Building of the Month
guest post: Clare Lise Kelly
Weller’s Dry Cleaning (1960) Fenton and Thayer Streets, Silver Spring
courtesy Silver Spring Singular
Built in 1960, this modernist structure is a great example of what is popularly known as Googie architecture. Defining features include a canted roofline and brightly colored porcelain panels—and a space age sign that looks right out of a George Jetson scene.
Incised in a brick is the name of the architect, Ted Englehardt (1898-1980), founder and first president of the Potomac Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.
The building is still owned by Charlie Weller who is in his 90s. This resource is not listed on the Locational Atlas or designated on the Montgomery County Master Plan for Historic Preservation.
But it is identified as a potentially eligible for historic designation in the 2002 survey of Silver Spring CBD resources.
Wellers Dry Cleaning has only recently turned 50 – the guideline for considering a building historic (note that we’re talking buildings, not people!).
A longtime planner tells me that we made the county restore the sign to its location when it was moved for Fenton Street streetscape project.
courtesy Silver Spring Singular
Thanks to the Silver Spring Historical Society for the historical data. For more on this resource, check out Silver Spring Singular.
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