Are pattern books worth reviving?
As chair of the School of Architecture at the University of Notre Dame, I took great pleasure in building up the Rare Book Collection within the School Library, including many 19th-century American pattern books. Because I found such books so useful, I wrote illustrated introductions to new reprints of The Carpenter's Assistant by John Hall (1996); The Modern Style of Cabinet Work Exemplified by Thomas King (1995), and The Builder's Guide and Practice of Architecture by Asher Benjamin (1994). I enjoyed working on these three reprints by Arcanthus Press, Dover Publications, and Da Capo Press, respectively, because these publishers make these works, and many others, widely available. Has living in the Midwest influenced your work?
We are here in provincial South Bend, but we have connections and access to all kinds of people and things. I used to brag that I built nothing that wasn't at least 150 miles away; then I designed a series of buildings for Notre Dame—the Bond Hall School of Architecture, Carole Sander Hall, and four mausolea for the Cedar Grove Cemetery on campus, so I had to give up that inconsequential distinction of distance! But yes, I have been influenced by the Midwest. Its dire weather requires greater effort to provide durability in construction. Its clients require more sober patience. Its masons are ubiquitous, proud, capable, and enthusiastic to carry out complex and exacting details in brick and stone. To go back to "timeless," do lineages matter in architecture? Are they unavoidable if you work with someone good who takes an interest in your work? I mean this in both directions, of course.
Now that I have retired from practice and teaching, it gives me enormous satisfaction to know that the ideas I have shared are being carried out in the work and teaching of many students. My legacy is now in the hands of those I taught in studios and mentored in my architectural office. I am proud of them and appreciate seeing their work. And I hope my influence will also reside in those who read my books or look at my buildings!
38
