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Theatre Design American Scene?
Submitted in the Form of Eminent Theatre Architect
type of design may have a real and lasting place in the I American contemporary architecture, there is also a j continuing place for other types of design as well.
For communities where there is no local tradition or j particular background carrying historical significance, it seems to me that the new moderne style, somewhat modified from the barren lines of the German and French types, is very satisfactory. I see no justification for copying and re-copying the mistakes and abortions I of our ancestors, represented in many of the older buildings throughout the country, simply because they ' are hallowed by age.
In Boston, Philadelphia, Williamsburg, or other communities rich in historical lore, it would be an architectural crime to place a moderne design next door to the buildings Americans have grown to love as an integral part of their national background.
; Similarly, the owners and my firm felt that for Colorado Springs, a tourist town which entertains visitors from all over the world, the pueblo type of architecture, typical of the early buildings of the Southwestern region, was most appropriate.
We are at present working on a project in which we hope to use historical material revolving about Westport Landing, which was the point farthest West from which early settlers bid civilization goodby and took the Santa Fe trail for adventure in the Northwest and California. We also hope to recall some incidents of the Battle of Westport in interior treatment. The exterior we are planning is in the early Colonial style so popular in the older mansions and churches of the Midwest.
While I do not care for "functional" moderne, I do believe that in the classic moderne we have found a sim! plicity which is timely. It makes some of the older styles seem fussy and overdone. The greatest lesson moderne exponents have taught us is that gingerbread and unnecessary ornament are things which belong to the past, and that there is beauty in simple line and mass.
Nevertheless, to throw away the infinite variety which is possible in architectural design, and to repeat year after year the same barren, machine-like, "stream-line" structures which we are now having foisted upon us as the "latest," would be to court the destruction of an artistic and aesthetic appreciation of beautiful buildings— a taste which undoubtedly needs further cultivation in America".
With every good wish, I am,
Sincerely yours, ROBERT BOLLER.
July 25, 1936
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