Adolf
Cluss (1825-1905), Architect: From Germany to America
Shaping a Capital City Worthy of a Republic
--a
project to enhance public understanding of the architect’s work in Washington
during the Gilded Age by interpreting the impact of Cluss’s revolutionary
roots and his social vision on the city’s architecture and life.
NEWS FROM WASHINGTON:
Schools for All!
By Harriet Lesser, Exhibition Coordinator
 A
newly configured exhibition, "Schools for All," opens at the
Charles Sumner School Museum and archives this fall. It highlights Adolf
Cluss's role in designing eight public schools and three private schools
in Washington.
Featuring elements
from the former exhibit, Cluss's innovative concepts for design, ventilation,
light and decoration which fostered an elevated status for public education
can be revisited. It was in his school design that Cluss incorporated
his ideas about the intrinsic and central status that education should
have in an enlightened republic.
For further information,
please contact:
Nancye Suggs, Director
Charles Sumner School Museum and Archives
1201 17th Street, NW
Washington DC 20036
202-442-6060
Cluss Exhibit at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library
By Mark Greek, Photo Archivist
A portion of the Cluss exhibit will be on permanent display in the
Washingtoniana reading room (room 307) at the Martin Luther King, Jr.
Memorial Library. An additional panel for the exhibit will direct viewers
to the other locations of Cluss panels in the District. An announcement
of the arrival of the exhibit will also be placed in the Library's newsletter,
"Beyond Word."
Team Cluss is proud
that new audiences will see this part of the Adolf Cluss exhibition at
the Martin Luther King Library, itself built by another German-born architect,
Mies van der Rohe.
UPCOMING EVENTS
:
 Calvary
Baptist Church Celebrates
Friday, June 2, 5 pm
Sunday, June 4, 10:45 am
Calvary Baptist Church
755 Eighth St NW
The congregation and resident partners of Calvary
Baptist Church invite the public to this weekend of celebration!
With the completion of a three-year  historic
preservation and construction project on this beautiful Cluss building,
Calvary Baptist Church marks the beginning of an expanded effort to provide
programs and outreach to their neighbors. Join them for the building dedication
on Friday, June 2, with a screening of the documentary The City that
Cluss Built, and performances by Kid Power-DC, the Theatre Lab School
of the Dramatic Arts, and the Washington Youth Choir. An open house and
organ concert will follow the worship service on Sunday, June 4.
Cluss lives on at Calvary, home for the three exhibition panels on churches
and the large reproduction of the Mathew Brady photograph which was used
for the Heilbronn exhibition.
Lower image: Historical Society of Washington, D.C., John Wymer
Downtown Libraries
and Research Facilities:
Their German Immigrant and Neighborhood Histories
Thursday, June 29, 5 - 7:30 pm
Historical Society of Washington, D.C.
801 K St. NW entrance (north side)
Mount Vernon Square
 The
Historical Society of Washington, D.C.'s Kiplinger Research Library, which
is located in the old Carnegie Library building, and the Washingtoniana
Division of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library, are indispensable
facilities for local research.
Washington, DC guide
and historian Alice Stewart will show photographs and documents from both
libraries to illustrate how they can shed light on the history of specific
buildings and former residents in the neighborhood. She will also update
visitors as to the status and future uses of both library buildings.
The tour will begin
at the former Carnegie Library, stop by the Goethe-Institut, where visitors
will learn about its programs, research facilities and services, and will
end at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library. A reference librarian
in the Washingtoniana Division will give a special presentation for the
group.
Limited to 20 participants
RSVP to 202-289-1200,
ext. 510
Cost: $5.00
Free for members of Friends of the Goethe-Institut, the Historical Society
of Washington, D.C., and Friends of Washingtoniana
PROJECT NEWS
FROM HEILBRONN:
Stone, Wine and
Beer
A New Exhibition in the Wine Villa in Heilbronn
By Peter Wanner, Stadtarchiv Heilbronn
On April 21, 2006 a new exhibition opened in the Wine Villa in Heilbronn,
the former house of Henriette Faisst, the sister of Adolf Cluss. Five
cases display the history of the Cluss family - Heinrich Cluss and his
children Adolf, Henriette and August. The family album created by Carolyn
Cross is also part of this exhibition.
Adolf Cluss visited the house of his sister during his 1898 stay in Heilbronn.
Today the Wine Villa in the former Villa Faisst, restored to its original
glory, is the marketing center for Heilbronn wine producers and a frequently
visited restaurant.
Where have all
the Cluss things gone?
There are still some traces of the Cluss exhibition project in Heilbronn:
The stations of the Historical Path through the city center are still
in place, including the baptistery in front of the Kilian's Church and
the red brick wall in the Deutschhof, and people love to look at the pictures
and to read about Heilbronn and Adolf Cluss.
The exhibition panels
from the Cube and the objects from the Sumner School are now shown in
the Lapidarium, the collection of historical stones of the City of Heilbronn,
located in an old industrial building near the station. And the research
into Adolf Cluss and his family still continues: The latest discovery
is a church in Züttlingen, a village 20 km from Heilbronn which now
belongs to the city of Möckmühl.
It was built by Louis de Millas, the husband of Caroline Cluss, Adolf's
sister. In the church can be found a baptism basin and a pitcher with
the inscription: "In remembrance of my wife Caroline born Cluss from
Heilbronn, who took part in the dedication of the new church in Züttlingen
and died on March 18, 1858. Louis de Millas, master builder".
Image:
Construction is under way on the Adolf Cluss Bridge, which will span the
Neckar River.
CHOICE Magazine
Reviews Cluss Book
In the April 2006 issue of the magazine, R. W. Liscombe (University of
British Columbia) praised the book with these words, "Cluss exemplified
those competent if conventional architects who built the fabric of the
US in its second Republic.... His work is of particular interest due to
its wide range of typology and style, spanning the change in urbanism
toward higher density and technology in building. The essays form a fascinating
narrative of midmodern social formation... The text recovers the rambunctious
environment of post-Civil War Washington DC, and the beginnings of a more
comprehensive understanding of city planning. The narrative is supported
by an excellent range of illustrations and based on solid research and
a commendable sense of the work of architecture in contextualizing a diversity
of practical and symbolic intention."
Cluss Book Receives
Hitchcock Award
 On
May 20, 2006, the Victorian Society of America presented Christof Mauch
(German Historical Institute) and Cynthia Field (Smithsonian Institution)
the 2006 Henry- Russell Hitchcock Award on behalf of the Mr. Mauch and
Allan Lessoff, editors of the book Adolf Cluss, Architect: From Germany
to America. The presentation was part of the Society's 40th annual
meeting, held in St. Louis, Missouri.
The award reads,
"For its international collaboration as well as its introduction
of an important architect to the national canon, this book should serve
as a model for future scholarship in the field of architecture in the
United States." - Ingrid Steffen, Book Awards Committee
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FEATURED
BUILDING :
Project researchers
continue to discover new information about Cluss, his clients, and his
buildings. In April 2006, Joe Browne rode his bike down M Street NW between
4th and 5th Streets to see the site of a residence built by Cluss in the
late 1880's. Much to his surprise, he found the building had not been
demolished, as previously thought. We're happy to provide this initial
report on this building, which has come back from the dead.
Are there more Cluss
buildings out there? Keep reading the project website, www.adolf-cluss.org,
for the latest information (click on "Washington" and then "Cluss
Buildings.") And
let us know if you make new discoveries.
H. H. Wells, Jr.
Residence 
By Joseph L. Browne, Project Director
In 1887, Adolf Cluss and his partner, Paul Schulze, designed this duplex
for Henry Horatio Wells, Jr. It was one of the last residences designed
by Cluss and Schulze.
Born in Michigan,
Henry Wells Jr. and his mother and sister settled in Alexandria, Virginia,
during the Civil War, where Henry Wells Sr. served as Provost Marshall
for the Union Army. After the senior Wells served two years as the military
Reconstruction governor of Virginia, President Grant appointed him U.S.
Attorney for Eastern Virginia and his twenty-two year old son, H.H. Wells
Jr. Assistant U.S. Attorney. In 1875, Grant appointed both men to the
same positions for the District of Columbia. In 1879, the father and son
resigned to start a Washington law firm.
Cluss and Schulze designed the duplex at 428-430 M Street for the Henry
Wells, Jr. family. Although Wells and his wife died in the early 1890s,
some of their four children continued living at 428 M Street until 1909.
The duplex at 428-430 M Street is the only extant residential building
designed by Adolf Cluss. The house of Henry Wells, Sr. (not designed by
Cluss), 901 M Street NW, also survives.
You can now view
previous "Featured
Buildings" stories in the Adolf Cluss Newsletter.
FUTURE OF
CLUSS BUILDINGS :
Arts
and Industries Building on Most Endangered List
By Joseph L. Browne,
Project Director
The National Trust for Historic Preservation has added the Smithsonian
Institution's Arts and Industries Building to its Most Endangered Buildings
list. Richard Moe, President of the National Trust, described the building
as "an enormously significant building. It is the best preserved
example of 19th-century exhibition architecture in the country."
Desgined by Adolf Cluss and Paul Schulze in 1879 as the first National
Museum, the Smithsonian closed the building in 2004 due to the urgent
need for repairs. The Adolf Cluss Project and the Committee of 100 of
the Federal District nominated the building in hopes of facilitating its
renovation.
The Arts and Industries building is listed on the National Register of
Historic Places and is a National Historic Landmark.
Although the building welcomed 50,000 visitiors in 2003, the Smithsonian
has closed it and is moving all exhibits and staff to other locations.
It will remain closed until the Smithsonian raises funds and determines
the building's future purpose.
Support for the Arts and Industries Building
The Association of Oldest Inhabitants of the District of Columbia approved
a resolution at its May meeting urging Congress to "direct the Smithsonian
Institution to maintain this unique building entrusted by the nation to
its care." Approved unanimously and signed by AOI president William
N. Brown, the resolution points out that "decades of deferred maintenance
have caused the National Museum to deteriorate." Their resolution
argues, "further inaction to preserve this masterpiece from its roof
down would constitute 'demolition by neglect' of a locally beloved national
treasure."
Founded in 1865, the
Association of Oldest Inhabitants has worked for many generations
to preserve the prosperity, well-being, and heritage of the District of
Columbia.
Patent Office
By Cynthia Field, Smithsonian Institution
 After
the fire of 1877, Adolf Cluss rebuilt three of four of the topmost halls
of the Patent Office building. Although he matched the classical exterior,
he greatly enlivened the interior. When the building reopens (July 1,
2006) as the Donald J. Reynolds Center of American Art and Portraiture,
the halls he decorated with colorful floors of encaustic tiles and marbles
will appear again in pristine condition. The Smithsonian will also replace
the grand exterior staircase on the south side of the building designed
by Cluss in 1872-73 and demolished in 1935-36 using a drawing in the National
Archives (see illustration) and period photographs as guides.
Cluss's Lively Legacy: Eastern Market
By Stephen Ackerman, who is writing a history of the Eastern Market
 Washington's
Year of Adolf Cluss coincided with the bicentennial of Eastern Market,
housed since 1873 in the architect's liveliest and perhaps best-loved
building.
President Jefferson
authorized creation of Eastern Branch Market in 1805. A traditional open
market-cross arcade, shaped in a "U" pattern capping a central
canal, rose adjacent to Washington Navy Yard in 1806: this was the market
Cluss knew from working at the Yard in the 1850s. The Civil War strangled
the market's business; by 1873 it had degenerated into a "disgraceful
shed."
Charged with creating
a "New Washington," early in 1871 the new Territory of the District
of Columbia approved a new Eastern Market, awarding the design contract
to Cluss, engineer of its powerful Board of Public Works. Cluss awkwardly
thus supervised himself in this project. Yet it may have been a bargain
for the city.
Retained in 1869
to rebuild the privatized Center Market, Cluss toured America's finest
markets to create a state-of-the-art facility. His research toward the
then-largest market in America benefited the later design of the little
neighborhood market on Capitol Hill, a working-class backwater.
 Eastern
Market was an instant hit, with advanced lighting and ventilation through
ceiling vents and a soaring truss roof. Basement meat coolers served so
well that butchers preferred them to refrigeration well into the 20th
century. A basement refectory served as a social center and a militia
armory, while the storage area became a rifle range by 1916. A block from
Cluss's breakthrough Wallach School (1864), Eastern Market became the
anchor of a 19th-century civic and commercial complex, featuring a fire
station and a high school.
Rebounding from decline
following the advent of supermarkets, Eastern Market is today once again
the lively civic heart of its neighborhood, still a food market, animated
with weekend flea markets and community activities, and very much the
urban center Cluss envisioned.
In 2006, proposed
renovations to the Market are generating debate. The addition of proposed
skylights was rejected, and introduction of wheelchair ramps and air conditioning
ducts is proving hard to reconcile with the historic structure.
The Adolf Cluss Project
in Washington and Heilbronn, Germany, Cluss's birthplace, is a cooperative
effort among many institutions in Washington and Heilbronn.
Project Director:
Joseph L. Browne, Ph.D.
c/o Friends of the Goethe-Institut Washington
812 7th Street NW
Washington, DC 20001-3718
jbrowne@adolf-cluss.org
The Cluss Website
lives on--and keeps growing:
About the projects
in Germany and the USA:
www.adolf-cluss.org
About Adolf Cluss:
www.goethe.de/cluss
Cluss
Electronic Newsletters
Editors:
Norma Broadwater, Goethe-Institut Washington
William Gilcher, Goethe-Institut Washington
Webmaster:
Craig Childers, Goethe-Institut Washington
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