Unbuilt America: Forgotten architecture from Thomas Jefferson to the space age

Dr. Strangelove

Banned
I found this book at the library of my new school, and thought it would be interesting to share. It was published in 1976 by avantgarde group SITE and consists of a torough index of unbuilt architectural projects in the United States, ranging from the banal to the batshit insane. I thought of putting this in the Things that look like Alternate History but aren't thread, but thought that didn't quite fit the theme. I've scanned some of the most interesting projects:


Thomas Jefferson's entry in the White House design contest. If you think you've seen it before somewhere else it's because you have.

Proposal for a United States summer capitol in Colorado, 1915. It was turned down by Woodrow Wilson because he didn't like the style:




Proposal for the 1893 exposition in Chicago of a giant steel tent to cover the entire exposition area. Those specks in its surface? Those are electric trains. I can totally see DoD's USA building this.




Daniel Burnham's 1907 proposal for a new Civic Centre in Chicago:

[URL=http://img69.imageshack.us/i/img010ys.jpg/] [/URL]



1911 proposal for New Versailles, New York, a huge-ass residential complex. It would even have a Grand Canal in front of it like the real Versailles:

[URL=http://img718.imageshack.us/i/img011.jpg/] [/URL]

The book is fascinating. I took those from the first pages only- I wasn't going to scan the whole thing-, but maybe I will put a couple more when I finish reading it.
 

Zyzzyva

Wow. :eek::cool: That last one looks very Soviet, somehow.

It was turned down by Woodrow Wilson because he didn't like the style:
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(And yet more evidence of what an evil bastard Wilson was. :mad:)
 

Eigenwelt

catboy637 said:
Yes, because every nation needs a nice summer cottage to visit.
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Obviously Wilson had never watched Death Race 2000. Everyone knows the US summer palace is in Beijing...


And I too am looking forward to more scans. By chance, is the Centennial Tower in there? It was planned for Philadelphia during the 1876 centennial. Original plans came out around the end of the civil war and were for a feasible steel observation tower of 1000'. Rather ugly, but a marvel of the age no less. While the funding never came through, the plans of it did inspire a certain Frenchman to build his own...
 

freodhoric

Archangel Michael said:
Words cannot describe just how much I want that book.
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Me, too!

Dr. Strangelove said:
Proposal for a United States summer capitol in Colorado, 1915. It was turned down by Woodrow Wilson because he didn't like the style:
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Got any more on that?

Iori said:
Would'nt that giant Steel tent turn into a giant oven at some point?
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Not necessarily. I, personally, am basing that on having seen plenty of barns and other large buildings with metal roofs that don't get appreciably warmer than asphalt. Including my mom's old house, which doesn't have and doesn't need AC. For a bit more objective proof, Wembley Stadium.
http://www.wembleystadium.com/buildingwembley/statsandfacts/ said:
Area of roof: Metal Roof = 40,000 m2, Single Ply Roof = 12,000 m2
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That's a lot of metal, eh? Material of roof makes less difference than ventilation. If it's well ventilated, it'll be fine.
 

Orioes

Eigenwelt said:
And I too am looking forward to more scans. By chance, is the Centennial Tower in there? It was planned for Philadelphia during the 1876 centennial. Original plans came out around the end of the civil war and were for a feasible steel observation tower of 1000'. Rather ugly, but a marvel of the age no less. While the funding never came through, the plans of it did inspire a certain Frenchman to build his own...
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It's rather interesting and all the more impressive if the background buildings weren't just for scale.

The_Centennial_Tower_Philadelphia_1876.jpeg
 
Thande

Thande

Donor
maverick said:
So, Despite what we AH.commers have been saying, Woodrow Wilson was not in fact Count Dracula.
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I was thinking the same thing :D

It would appear that American architects do not understand republicanism. Or perhaps they've got the bit about it coming from Greco-Roman roots, but seem to have neglected the whole "go easy on the gigantic palaces obviously inspired by the pet projects of French and Italian absolute monarchs" part.
 

Susano

Banned
Thande said:
I was thinking the same thing :D

It would appear that American architects do not understand republicanism. Or perhaps they've got the bit about it coming from Greco-Roman roots, but seem to have neglected the whole "go easy on the gigantic palaces obviously inspired by the pet projects of French and Italian absolute monarchs" part.
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Meh, Republicanism is just not having a monarch. And Republcian Architecture? I tink we can leave it to the Soviets and other totalitarian ideologies to try to subvert the arts and crafts...

But what I find annoying is that every legislative building looks the same. These days, Americans probably think looking like the capitol is a function of legislative buildings, and not just a fashion:rolleyes::rolleyes:
 
Thande

Thande

Donor
Susano said:
But what I find annoying is that every legislative building looks the same. These days, Americans probably think looking like the capitol is a function of legislative buildings, and not just a fashion:rolleyes::rolleyes:
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Yes, and the more provincial and small-town the capitol, the bigger it is (compensating for something)?

The biggest is apparently Texas's (what a surprise) which is ever so slightly taller than the actual federal Capitol in Washington DC :rolleyes:

450px-Texas_capitol.jpg
 

Eigenwelt

Orioes said:
It's rather interesting and all the more impressive if the background buildings weren't just for scale.

The_Centennial_Tower_Philadelphia_1876.jpeg
Click to expand...

Fascinating yes, but I never found the design all that inspiring.

And I'm a huge fan of so-ugly-it's-beautiful industrial aesthetic. That tower just strikes me as a weird compromise between 18th century shot towers and early 20th century smoke stacks. Which in retrospect actually makes sense for a 19th century supertall...

Interestingly, the Centennial tower is a scaled up version of the Sparks Shot Tower which still stands along the south Philadelphia waterfront.
 
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