Modern Architecture

* Charles Moore, 68, a leading figure in postmodern architecture, died of a heart attack Thursday in Austin, Texas. He argued against the abstract quality of modern architecture, with its reliance on austere geometric forms. Instead, he insisted that buildings reflect their setting and their purpose. At Sea Ranch, a resort along the Pacific Coast, he created pitched-roof, redwood clad houses that resembled an outcrop of the cliffside. He won the American Institute of Architects' highest honor in 1991.

Usually, local buildings must be at least 50 years old to be designated as national landmarks. But for only the second time in its history, Baltimore's preservation commission has made an exception. The panel voted this month to add Highfield House, a 16-story condominium building in Baltimore's Tuscany-Canterbury neighborhood, to the National Register of Historic Places - even though it's just 43 years old. The only other Baltimore building individually listed before reaching 50 was One Charles Center, a 1962 office tower at 100 N. Charles St. It was added in 2000.

Before last week, the most notorious example of the willful destruction of modern architecture in the United States was the demolition of the Pruitt-Igoe public housing towers in St. Louis. Three 14-story buildings at Pruitt-Igoe were blown up in 1972 after public housing authorities denounced them as a high-rise slum --"a complete and colossal failure from a social, moral and economic standpoint." Photographs of that demolition, published in newspapers across the country, became a symbol of the shortcomings of modern architecture and foreshadowed the subsequent razing of high-rise public housing in many cities, including Baltimore.

Philip Johnson, a brilliant but controversial architect who helped introduce "modern architecture" to America in the 1930s and then led a movement against it 50 years later, died Tuesday at the site of his famous "Glass House" in New Canaan, Conn. He was 98. During a career than spanned seven decades, Mr. Johnson designed buildings in a wide range of sizes and styles, to suit the times and his changing interests. During his "postmodern" phase, he concocted as many different looks for high-rises as Madonna had costumes, and clients ate it up. Featured on the cover of Time magazine in 1979, Mr. Johnson will be remembered as one of the first "star-chitects" to show corporate patrons that eye-catching architecture can be used to market buildings and give owners an edge over competitors with blander designs.

The past year has not been especially kind to the memory of modern architect Richard Neutra, who died in 1970. One of his best known residences, the 1962 Maslon House in Rancho Mirage, Calif., was torn down in March. The National Park Service threw its support behind a plan to demolish Neutra's 1961 Cyclorama Center at Gettysburg National Military Park. But at least one Neutra building is ending the year in better shape than it began. St. John's College in Annapolis has completed a $12.9 million restoration and modernization of Mellon Hall, the 1959 classroom and laboratory building that the California-based architect designed for its campus.

Philip Johnson, a brilliant but controversial architect who helped introduce "modern architecture" to America in the 1930s and then led a movement against it 50 years later, died Tuesday at the site of his famous "Glass House" in New Canaan, Conn. He was 98. During a career than spanned seven decades, Mr. Johnson designed buildings in a wide range of sizes and styles, to suit the times and his changing interests. During his "postmodern" phase, he concocted as many different looks for high-rises as Madonna had costumes, and clients ate it up. Featured on the cover of Time magazine in 1979, Mr. Johnson will be remembered as one of the first "star-chitects" to show corporate patrons that eye-catching architecture can be used to market buildings and give owners an edge over competitors with blander designs.

Paul F. Iams, 89, a self-taught animal nutritionist whose pet foods bearing his name are sold in 70 countries, died Oct. 26 in Chappaqua, N.Y., of complications from a broken hip. Mr. Iams started the Iams Food Co., now a division of Procter & Gamble, in 1946, having once worked as a dog food salesman during the Depression. Not even severe economic hardship, he learned, could deter pet owners from paying the price to feed their companions. Over the course of three decades, Iams introduced Iams Plus, one of the first meat-based, high-protein dog diets; Iams Chunks, designed for adult dogs; and Eukanuba, a high-end line made with fresh meat and named after an expression of the singer Hoagy Carmichael.

Usually, local buildings must be at least 50 years old to be designated as national landmarks. But for only the second time in its history, Baltimore's preservation commission has made an exception. The panel voted this month to add Highfield House, a 16-story condominium building in Baltimore's Tuscany-Canterbury neighborhood, to the National Register of Historic Places - even though it's just 43 years old. The only other Baltimore building individually listed before reaching 50 was One Charles Center, a 1962 office tower at 100 N. Charles St. It was added in 2000.

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia - Here in this bastion of all that is traditional, all that is classical, modern architecture may soon rear its deconstructivist head. "It's the crucial moment for St. Petersburg," warns Simeon I. Mikhailovsky, an architectural historian with horn-rimmed glasses, gamely striving to remain calm as the barbarians gather their forces. What haunts Mikhailovsky and his allies are blueprints being drafted in offices around the world. Eleven of the world's leading architectural firms are vying to design a $100 million, 2,000-seat theater for the Mariinsky Theater, home to the world-renowned Kirov opera and ballet companies.

NEW YORK -- On the Upper West Side of Manhattan, a remarkable new museum has been fashioned from the simplest of geometrical forms. Its exterior is a 12-story-high cube, with two outer walls made of colorless glass. Centered inside, as if it's floating on air, is a white aluminum sphere, 87 feet in diameter. The glass is so clear and the sphere is so large and luminous, especially at night, that it practically forces people to stop and look inside. The building is the Rose Center for Earth and Science, a $210 million exploratorium that opens tomorrow as the latest addition to the American Museum of Natural History.

Paul F. Iams, 89, a self-taught animal nutritionist whose pet foods bearing his name are sold in 70 countries, died Oct. 26 in Chappaqua, N.Y., of complications from a broken hip. Mr. Iams started the Iams Food Co., now a division of Procter & Gamble, in 1946, having once worked as a dog food salesman during the Depression. Not even severe economic hardship, he learned, could deter pet owners from paying the price to feed their companions. Over the course of three decades, Iams introduced Iams Plus, one of the first meat-based, high-protein dog diets; Iams Chunks, designed for adult dogs; and Eukanuba, a high-end line made with fresh meat and named after an expression of the singer Hoagy Carmichael.

Why are local preservationists so adamant about saving the Odorite building in Baltimore's Mount Vernon historic district? Do they prize its Elizabethan Tudor-style detailing? Its history as an early car showroom? Its connection to noted architects Wilson Smith and Howard May? Those are certainly valid reasons for preserving the two-story building at Maryland and Mount Royal avenues. But another strong reason for wanting to hold onto it has been the fear of the unknown -- uncertainty about what might take its place.

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia - Here in this bastion of all that is traditional, all that is classical, modern architecture may soon rear its deconstructivist head. "It's the crucial moment for St. Petersburg," warns Simeon I. Mikhailovsky, an architectural historian with horn-rimmed glasses, gamely striving to remain calm as the barbarians gather their forces. What haunts Mikhailovsky and his allies are blueprints being drafted in offices around the world. Eleven of the world's leading architectural firms are vying to design a $100 million, 2,000-seat theater for the Mariinsky Theater, home to the world-renowned Kirov opera and ballet companies.

The past year has not been especially kind to the memory of modern architect Richard Neutra, who died in 1970. One of his best known residences, the 1962 Maslon House in Rancho Mirage, Calif., was torn down in March. The National Park Service threw its support behind a plan to demolish Neutra's 1961 Cyclorama Center at Gettysburg National Military Park. But at least one Neutra building is ending the year in better shape than it began. St. John's College in Annapolis has completed a $12.9 million restoration and modernization of Mellon Hall, the 1959 classroom and laboratory building that the California-based architect designed for its campus.

Before last week, the most notorious example of the willful destruction of modern architecture in the United States was the demolition of the Pruitt-Igoe public housing towers in St. Louis. Three 14-story buildings at Pruitt-Igoe were blown up in 1972 after public housing authorities denounced them as a high-rise slum --"a complete and colossal failure from a social, moral and economic standpoint." Photographs of that demolition, published in newspapers across the country, became a symbol of the shortcomings of modern architecture and foreshadowed the subsequent razing of high-rise public housing in many cities, including Baltimore.

MOSCOW -- Maria Kiernan was just trying to take a picture of a building that seemed to her to be an interesting example of Russia's 20th-century architectural style, when a whole lot of guys in leather trench coats poured out of doorways all around. They weren't too happy, and they almost took her camera. She only saved it by whipping out diplomas and letters of introduction and an official, stamped accreditation from Russia's Society of Architects. The building, it turned out, belongs to the Federal Security Service, which doesn't look kindly on foreigners who come by wielding cameras.

One of the first and most visible works of modern architecture in Baltimore, the Alexander S. Cochran house on West Lake Avenue, caused a furor when it was built nearly 50 years ago.Now the owner wants to tear it down, raising questions about the building's significance as a local landmark and whether it is worth saving.Boys' Latin School, which owns the house and has used it since 1974 as its lower school, has received a pledge of $4 million for constructing a replacement. And school administrators want to put it exactly where the house has stood since the Cochran family built it.When Mr. Cochran, scion of a well-to-do local family, bought land in 1948 for a home for himself and his wife, residents of the exclusive Poplar Hill section of North Baltimore assumed that the neighborhood would gain a traditional-looking house.

PHILADELPHIA -- Seventeen years after his death, Louis I. Kahn remains one of the most respected American architects of this or any century. In a 1991 American Institute of Architects poll of the greatest architects of all time, he ranked fourth, behind only Frank Lloyd Wright, Louis Sullivan and H. H. Richardson (and ahead of such luminaries as Eero Saarinen, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and I. M. Pei).But of all the 20th century architects who are considered great by fellow practitioners, Kahn (1901-1974)

NEW YORK -- On the Upper West Side of Manhattan, a remarkable new museum has been fashioned from the simplest of geometrical forms. Its exterior is a 12-story-high cube, with two outer walls made of colorless glass. Centered inside, as if it's floating on air, is a white aluminum sphere, 87 feet in diameter. The glass is so clear and the sphere is so large and luminous, especially at night, that it practically forces people to stop and look inside. The building is the Rose Center for Earth and Science, a $210 million exploratorium that opens tomorrow as the latest addition to the American Museum of Natural History.

THE SCENT of soap still pervades some of the buildings at the former Procter & Gamble plant in Locust Point, even though the soap-making operation ceased five years ago.Those industrial-strength fragrances apparently have gone to the heads of the new owners, who are converting the landmark to Baltimore's newest waterfront office center.They've renamed the five major buildings in honor of products once made there. Office tenants will be able to lease space in the Tide Building, the Ivory Building, the Dawn Building, the Cascade Building or the Joy Building.