NEWSLETTER NUMBER EIGHT

APRIL 2005

--an exhibition 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.

Charles Sumner School Museum, Washington DC,
and Stadtarchiv Heilbronn,
September 2005 - February 2006

To join our mailing list and be kept informed about the progress of planning for the exhibition, please send your name, address, and email address to cluss@washington.goethe.org.

CHARLES SUMNER SCHOOL DETAIL:

Detail above the original entrance on M Street NW.

PROJECT NEWS:

Edelman

The Washington, D.C. office of Edelman Worldwide, the international public relations firm, has agreed to donate their services to the project. We are enjoying working with them!

Humanities Council Grant

The Humanities Council of Washington, D.C. has announced a grant of $2,000 in support of the the Adolf Cluss exhibition's focus on the history of public education in Washington. Prof. William Reese (University of Wisconsin-Madison) will give a public lecture about public education, the Cluss schools, and Washington seen as national models in the 19th century. Thanks to a previous grant from the Humanities Council, Prof. Reese advised the Cluss project during the planning phase.

Dupont Circle Conservancy

A special thank you to the Dupont Circle Conservancy, Inc. and its president, Michael Beidler, for its recent gift in support of the Adolf Cluss Exhibition Project.

WHY ADOLF CLUSS? Remarks from the editors of the forthcoming book about Adolf Cluss

Christof Mauch, Director, German Historical Institute, Washington

From today's perspective, Cluss is fascinating as an example of an alternative form of architecture. Over the course of the twentieth century, Washington has become ever more monumental. From the Lincoln Memorial to the newly-dedicated World War II Memorial, the architecture of the capital has been dominated by neo-classicism. Often with reference to ancient Rome, neo-classicism was seen by planners as the right style to give expression to America's weighty new role in the world. Cluss, by contrast, embodies an architecture of humble origins -- small but proud airs and graces rather than imperial pomp, a planner's authenticity rather than theatrical display.

As an immigrant from Europe, Cluss brings a transatlantic perspective to light, one whose creative potential is once again apparent to us in view of the monotonous grandiosity of Washington's buildings. In the twenty-first century, when the United States is the sole remaining superpower, Cluss appears more "un-American" than ever before. His general social consciousness and, especially, his engagement for the working class and the education of the masses points to ideals and values which have faded into the background over the last few decades.

In many respects, what seems to us now as so foreign about Adolf Cluss was what made him ahead of his times. His concern for the improvement of the sewage system in the nation's capital and for the greening of its streets defined him as an environmentally aware engineer and architect.

Dr. Alan Lessoff, Department of History, Illinois State University

The generation that Cluss represents was largely responsible for developing the basic professional structure of architecture and the basic principles and practices of municipal engineering and urban public works. Yet these nineteenth-century personalities had, like Cluss, unusual backgrounds that don't fit well with present-day notions of what architects and engineers are like and how one gets to be a member of those professions. Collectively, the people who contributed to the book and to the Cluss project overall have helped a great deal in explaining the mindset and perspective of the people who began the effort to improve urban environments and make cities attractive and modern in Europe and the Americas nearly 150 years ago.

In the various efforts to renew cities in the twentieth century, we destroyed much of what Cluss's generation created without putting more engaging and attractive buildings and urban landscapes in their place. Although nostalgia is usually a counterproductive sentiment for historians -- who should try to understand the past on its own terms -- in this case the hankering after what was there before the dreariness of the contemporary city has led us to a dramatic personality well worth the attention he is receiving now.

MORE NEWS:

Book Announcement

The forthcoming books Adolf Cluss, Architect: From Germany to America and Adolf Cluss - Revolutionär und Architekt. Von Heilbronn nach Washington, edited by Alan Lessoff and Christof Mauch, can be pre-ordered now. The books will be available in September (English version ISBN 1-84545-052-3, $24.95; German version ISBN 3-928990-92-6, €17.80).

Cluss Fellows

Several young people from Germany and Washington are following the path of Adolf Cluss. The Adolf Cluss Team announces four Cluss Fellows who will be participating in an exchange to work on components of the Exhibition. Each fellow will complete an internship for three months, and will receive a stipend from the Project to cover some expenses.

Two students from the United States - Sarah Dixon from Georgetown University and Kate Pierce McManamon from The College of William and Mary - will be traveling to Heilbronn this summer. Sarah and Kate will be working with the Stadtarchiv Heilbronn and Peer Friedel of CreativTeam on exhibition planning.

In July, Verena Herrmann and Manuel Carrara will fly to Washington to provide support for the exhibition there. Verena studies Culture and Recreational Management and will assist The Design Minds with planning the Washington exhibition. Manuel is preparing his thesis in Software Engineering, and will work at the Sumner School on technological components of the exhibitions and websites.

The team on both sides of the Atlantic welcomes these fellows and looks forward to their contributions and insights.

The team would also like to thank its two interns, Ines Müller, who is working at the Stadtarchiv Heilbronn, and Béatrice Demenet, who completed an internship through Friends of the Goethe-Institut Washington, for their dedication to and enthusiasm for this project. Since the beginning of April, Ines has been working at the Stadtarchiv Heilbronn to create the historical waystations that will connect the two sections of the Heilbronn exhibit. She is studying Culture and Recreational Management at the Hochschule Heilbronn-Künzelsau. Béatrice worked at the Sumner School and the Goethe-Institut on researching, writing, and translation for the Exhibition's websites and assembling public relations packets and image files. Their efforts have proven invaluable as preparation continues.

FEATURED BUILDINGS:
MASSACHUSETTS AVENUE HOUSES

This month we feature private houses designed by Cluss along Massachusetts Avenue.

The Ferguson and Wilson Houses
by Joseph L. Browne, Project Director, Adolf Cluss Exhibition Project

Adolf Cluss's influence, clients, and contacts are revealed in one block of houses on Massachusetts Avenue. In 1881, Adolf Cluss designed a substantial house at 1435 Massachusetts Avenue for Major Thomas Ferguson. The house is shown on the right in the above photograph, recently found in the German Archives in Berlin. The house cost $25,000 in a block in which most houses cost $8-10,000. Ferguson worked as assistant to Spencer Baird at the Fish Commission, located further west on the block. Ferguson's property also included sizable stables to the rear of the house. In 1882, Ferguson also built a four-row house on N Street designed by Cluss, which was located on the street just north of his Massachusetts Avenue property.

In 1893, the German government purchased the Ferguson house for its embassy. With the exception of the World War I years, the house remained the German Embassy until 1941, when the U.S Government, following the German declaration of war against the United States, seized it. In 1946, the Justice Department sold it for $100,000.

In the same block of Massachusetts Ave, known as Highland Terrace, Cluss also built the J. Ormond Wilson house shown in the photograph to the left of the ballroom addition to the Embassy. Wilson was the long-time Washington, DC superintendent of schools.

Image Credit: Historical Society of Washington, D.C.

The Spencer F. Baird House
by Sabina Dugan, Office of Architectural History and Historic Preservation, Smithsonian Institution

Working as architect for the Smithsonian Institution during the 1870s brought Adolf Cluss in close contact with Assistant Secretary Spencer Baird. In 1875, Baird asked Cluss to design a residence for his family along Massachusetts Avenue that would include office space for the United States Fish Commission, which Baird headed. As a sign of their friendship and mutual trust, Baird, preoccupied in Philadelphia during the summer of 1876, left construction details entirely to Cluss by assigning him the rights of owner's agent. The large three-story brick townhouse, built during 1878-1880 at 1445 Massachusetts Avenue, featured sandstone lintels, a decorative Mansard roof and stairs which led to an elevated entrance. Somewhat unusual in its design, the residence featured a side projecting bay rather than a front one, allowing a side yard between Baird's and his sister's, Mary Biddle, residence, also built by Cluss. The block of row houses, four of which were designed by Cluss, were set back from the main road on a slight elevation. A service road called Highland Terrace ran in front of the houses, creating the effect of a boulevard with shaded trees separating the residences from the busy street. Ultimately, however, this fashionable row succumbed to development pressures during the twentieth century.

Image Credit: Historical Society of Washington, D.C.

Belgian Block

Frank Wagner, alert member of Team Goethe, spotted some old paving stones known as Belgian Block at a construction site in DC. The paving dates from the time of Cluss's work on Washington's streets. A number of these paving stones--real pieces of 19th-century Washington--are finding their way into the exhibitions in both Washington and Heilbronn.

Exhibition: Shared Sacred Spaces

"Shared Sacred Spaces: Washington, DC synagogues that became African-American churches and one that is again a synagogue," an exhibition by photographer Bill Lebovich, is now at the Charles Sumner School Museum at 17th and M Streets NW. Lebovich, who has photographed the surviving Cluss buildings and supported the Cluss project in many ways, has captured in these beautiful photographs of churches and synagogues not only shifting populations but also the preservation of important religious buildings in Washington.

Docents Needed

The Adolf Cluss Exhibition Project seeks docents to provide tours from September 15, 2005, through February 28, 2006 at the Charles Sumner School Museum. Seeking volunteers with an interest in Washington history, architecture, politics, German-American history and immigration, historic engineering, and public education. Training begins in May 2005. Contact Harriet Lesser, Cluss Exhibition Coordinator, at harriet.lesser@comcast.net or 202-442-6051.

Final Design Meeting

On April 26, Team Cluss met with The Design Minds for a formal presentation of the final design for the Washington exhibition.

Planning for the exhibition, slated to open in Washington and Heilbronn, Germany, Cluss's birthplace, in 2005, is a cooperative effort among many institutions in Washington and Heilbronn, Germany.

Exhibition Contact:
Harriet Lesser, Exhibition Coordinator
c/o Charles Sumner School Museum & Archives
1201 17th Street NW
Washington, DC 20036-3009
harriet.lesser@comcast.net

Project Director:
Joseph L. Browne, Ph.D.
c/o Friends of the Goethe-Institut Washington
812 7th Street NW
Washington, DC 20001-3718
jbrow@fcc.net

About the exhibitions in Germany and the USA:
www.adolf-cluss.org

About Adolf Cluss:
www.goethe.de/cluss

Cluss Electronic Newsletters

SUPPORT THE ADOLF CLUSS EXHIBITIONS AND RELATED PUBLIC EVENTS

"Friends of the Goethe-Institut Washington" has set up a special account to receive tax-deductible donations in support of the Adolf Cluss Project. Send your check (payable to "Friends of the Goethe-Institut Washington") to:

Friends of the Goethe-Institut Washington
812 Seventh St, NW
Washington, DC 20001-3718

This project is made possible thanks to generous support from the Transatlantic Program of the Federal Republic of Germany, with funds from the European Recovery Program (ERP) of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Labor (BMWA), the MARPAT Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Humanities Council of Washington, DC. A cooperative project of the Charles Sumner School Museum and Archives, the German Historical Institute, Washington, DC, Goethe-Institut Washington, the Historical Society of Washington, DC, the Smithsonian Institution’s Office of Architectural History and Historic Preservation and the Stadtarchiv Heilbronn.