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Letters
Supporting Preservation of
Richard Neutra's Cyclorama Building at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
Despite the following
letters of support from leading architectural experts worldwide and
two trustees of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the National
Parks Advisory Committee refused to grant the Cyclorama Building National
Historic Landmark status (although they approved the listing of three
other Mission 66 visitor centers at the same meeting in November 2000).
The National Park
Service and the Department of the Interior are moving ahead with their
plans to demolish this architecturally and historically significant
building, not to build again on the same site but to "restore"
the open field to its 1863 condition--an impossibility in consideration
of massive private developments and the profusion of post-Civil War
monuments and roads in the immediate area.
Alphabetically listed
by author's last name. All letters public record. Link
to PDF images to view original document (will open/download automatically).
Full typed text of any letter available by request from Christine Madrid
French.
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| From
the Public:
"I
am writing to support your efforts to save the Gettysburg Cyclorama
Center that has been slated for demolition by the federal government.
By choosing to save this landmark building, the government will
demonstrate a commitment to preserving an architectural, historical,
and artistically-significant link to the past. Moreover, we will
retain an important link to the Age of Cyclorama painting, an
art form to which the building can claim heredity. ..." From
Graham F. Watts, Toronto, Canada. Read
more of Mr. Watts letter here.
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| American
Institute of Architects (AIA) Resolutions to Preserve the Cyclorama
Building
15 March 1997, Washington, D.C.
AIA Historic Resources Committee, adopted unanimously
"We find the determination of eligibility report to be much
more complete and balanced in the areas reflecting Civil War activities
in the area of the Visitor Center and the Cyclorama Building,
than in the section concerning the building and its architects...Considering
the internationally important status of the architect, Richard
Neutra, FAIA, and the very small number of his commissionis built
in the Mid-Atlantic region, the building assumes an importance
greater than the reviewer allowed...In view of this we request
a rethinking and reevaluation of the determination [of eligibility]"
Link to PDF Image of Letter
16 March 2000,
Washington, D.C.
AIA Historic Resources Committee
"[We view] with alarm the pending demolition of the Visitor
Center and Cyclorama Building at Gettysburg...it was, and is one
of the most important buildings constructed by the NPS during
the 20th century....This Committee...cannot condone the demolition
of this nationally important 20th century icon, designed by an
internationally acclaimed 20th century architect, and urge that
the decision to demolish the building be reconsidered and reversed."
Link to PDF Image of Letter
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| J.
Carter Brown, Chairman,
The Commission of Fine Arts,
and Director emeritus, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.,
to Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, 17 March 1999 Link
to PDF Image of Letter "The
theme-park concept of falsely recreating a landscape that can
never be put back to 1863 is an unconscionable intellectual travesty....
Every conceivable effort should be made to protect and restore
this exceptional building." |
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Susan Eisenhower,
Co-Chairman,
White House Millennium Council
and the National Trusts' Save America's Treasures program; Trustee,
National Trust for Historic Preservation, Chevy Chase, MD, to Secretary
of the Interior, 23 January 2000 Link
to PDF Image of Letter
"Are we willing to tear this monument down simply because it
was built by our generation and therefore is somehow disposable?
If left standing, I have no doubt that our grandchildren will see
the significance of Neutra's expression, just as we appreciate today
the impulse that prompted the construction of other battlefield
monuments in times past." |
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Arthur C.
Erickson, Architect, AIA
Gold Medalist, Vancouver, Canada, to the National Register of Historic
Places, 30 October 2000 Link to PDF
Image of Letter
"In a monument as important as this, well established in the
visitor's mind--the designation [as a National Historic Landmark]
should not be deterred by its age. Age is of little consequence
to significance....Must the National Park Service, having been lauded
for their wisdom in choosing a distinguished architect for a respected
seminal monument now renege on that promising direction to follow
old paths of mediocrity?" |
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Sir Norman
Foster, Architect, Foster
and Partners architects and designers, London, England, to the National
Register of Historic Places, 20 October 2000 Link
to PDF Image of Letter
"The legacy of modern architecture by architects of the stature
of Richard Neutra is critical beyond your shores....Once gone it
can never be returned....Here in Europe we look to you for inspiration
and leadership in more matters than heritage issues. It gives me
no satisfaction to tell you that if Neutra's building were here
in the European Union it would have been listed and preserved decades
ago." |
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Frank Gehry,
Architect,
Frank O. Gehry & Associates, Inc., Santa Monica, California,
to the National Register of Historic Places, 13 November 2000 Link
to PDF Image of Letter
"Architecture is a small piece of the human equation, but for
those of us who practice it, we believe in its potential to make
a difference, to enlighten and to enrich the human experience, and
to penetrate the barriers of misunderstanding....Richard Neutra
envisioned the Cyclorama Building as a site for solemn contemplation
of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address and a frame for the events that
inspired it. His building reflects the highest ideals of his own
time, and deserves the highest appreciation of ours." |
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| James
V. Hansen, Chairman, Subcommittee on National Parks and Public
Lands, to Honorable Bruce Babbitt, Secretary
of the Interior, dated January 25, 1999 Link
to text of letter
"It
has come to my attention that there are numerous and significant
problems associated with the Gettysburg National Military Park
and the general management plan (GMP). These problems are contained
in both the substance and the procedure of the GMP, the Environmental
Impact Statement (EIS) associated with the GMP, and the planned
construction of the visitor's center. Without hesitation, I can
tell you that there is very strong opposition being voiced by
the local government, businesses, and the community at large,
including Civil War interest groups, to the preferred alternative
found in the EIS and the way that the entire public process has
progressed. Indeed, many contend that the public process has been
purposely subverted by those Park personnel leading the GMP and
EIS process."
James V.
Hansen, Chairman, Subcommittee on National Parks and Public Lands,
to John Berry, Assistant Secretary, Policy, Management & Budget,
U.S. Department of the Interior, supporting review of the Cyclorama
Building as a National Historic Landmark by the National Park
System Advisory Board, May 26, 2000 Link
to text of letter |
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Thomas S.
Hines, Professor History and Architecture, UCLA,
and Neutra Scholar, Los Angeles, California, to the National Register
of Historic Places, 27 March 1998 Link
to PDF Image of Letter
"I am writing to endorse with enthusiasm the eligibility of
Richard Neutra's Gettysburg Visitors Center for the National Register
of Historic Places....Its bold, but uninsistent, abstractness, seems
just the right approach for a structure on the edge of the sacred
ground of the famous battlefield." |
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Ricardo
Legorreta, Architect, AIA Gold Medalist, Legorreta
+ Legorreta, Mexico City, Mexico, to the National Register of Historic
Places, 13 November 2000 Link to
PDF Image of Letter
"For all of us who admire Mr. Neutra's work this building represents
one of the highlights of his brilliant career..." |
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| Richard
Longstreth, Society of Architectural Historians Appeal of NHL determination,
to
Fran Mainella, Director, NPS, 24 February 2004 "The failure of the
National Park Service to recognize this building as a National Historic
Landmark is without foundation. Furthermore, the loss of this building,
which is scheduled for demolition in the foreseeable future, would
constitute an impairment of the first order, in direct violation
of the Park Service's stated mission..." Link to PDF Image of Letter
page 1 | page
2 |
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Reuben
Rainey, Professor, Landscape Architecture,
University of Virginia, to Christine Madrid French, 13
March 2003
"The most important reason to preserve Neutra's building is
that it is a memorial to President Lincoln. To destroy one of the
battlefield memorials is to tear apart its rich tapestry of commemoration,
which has been woven by many generations. It would be an irresponsible
act based on an inexcusable ignorance of the meaning of the building
and its significance for present and future generations." |
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Terence
Riley, Chief Curator, Department of Architecture and Design, The
Museum of Modern Art, New York to
the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, 23 March 1999 Link
to PDF Image of Letter
"While I share the view of many of my colleagues regarding
the significance of this public work by Neutra, I also find it ironic
that the Park Service considers the building a desecration of hallowed
ground which they would like to restore to its original character.
Of course, such a proposition is virtually impossible, and their
approach coupled with the proposed destruction of the Neutra building
presents a disturbing distortion of twentieth century history as
well." |
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Kevin Roche,
Architect, Kevin
Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates, Hamden, Connecticut, to the
National Register of Historic Places, 17 October 2000 Link
to PDF Image of Letter
"To think that [the Cyclorama Building] would be destroyed
and returned to a field in the name of Historic Preservation is
preposterous....Why is it that in a time when even the meanest and
most derelict turn-of-the-century outhouse warrants consideration
for historic preservation, a mid-century masterwork by one of America's
leading architects can be destroyed to create a field? There are
enough fields in Gettysburg. Let the building stand and continue
to tell its glorious story." |
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Rev. Robert
Schuller to President Bill Clinton, dated
November 19, 1999, regarding preservation of the Cyclorama Building:
Link to text of letter
"In the last two years Dion has watched the world famous Neutra
Cyclorama Center at Gettysburg be sacrificed despite numerous nominations
on National Registers and Lists. This building is considered among
the most important buildings of the Mission 66 program in the country.
Hundreds of preservation supporters have been writing letters to
you and Hillary pleading to intercede with executive authority to
change the course the National Park Service and your Interior Secretary
have elected to follow." |
| Special:
Read President Clinton's Response |
Robert A.M.
Stern, Architect,
Robert A.M. Stern Architects; Trustee, National Trust for Historic
Preservation, New York, New York, to the National Historic Landmarks
Program, 15 December 1999 Link to PDF
Image of Letter
"Neutra's work has been equaled perhaps only by that of Frank
Lloyd Wright, his mentor and one-time employer, in its contribution
toward elevating the status of American architecture on the world
stage....Just as Wright's Guggenheim Museum echoes and reinterprets
the Pantheon in Rome, so too does the Gettysburg Cyclorama, whose
main interior space, using a cylindrical form to create a spatially
impressive room, is also a modern-day Pantheon dedicated to the
interpretation of one of the most significant events in our nation's
history." |
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| Graham
F. Watts, MA (English), Researcher,
Toronto Cyclorama, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
My research into the Toronto Cyclorama Building has given me insight
into the historical gap that was left behind after its demolition.
The building is completely unknown to nearly every Toronto citizen
and historian with whom I have spoken - even those who were alive
when the Cyclorama Building stood at the heart of downtown Toronto.
Only one or two history books mention it and almost no photographs
of the building exist. It seems that the result of destroying
the building itself has affected much more than the real estate;
by destroying the building, a crucial link to Toronto’s
past was irrevocably broken. However, there is a positive lesson
that we can take from this loss. We have now gained the insight
needed to preserve buildings such as the Toronto Cyclorama and
the Gettysburg Cyclorama Center, to see beyond the present and
to preserve architecture that connects us to our past. Link
to text of letter.
Also:
Letter
from the architect regarding preservation of the Wright Brothers
National Memorial Visitor Center, North Carolina, once scheduled
for demolition, now approved for National Historic Landmark status:
Romaldo Giurgola, Architect,
Sydney, Australia, to Carol Shull, National Register of Historic
Places, 4 March 1997
Link to PDF Image of Letter
"I am sincerely saddened by the decision, acccording to the
news, taken by the National Park Service to demolish the existing
Visitor Center....the design reflected the particular period of
American architecture of the early 60s in which the rigidity of
modernism evolved into more articulated solutions integrating
internal and external spaces. This single building has been recognized
as at the forefront of that period and widely published....I believe
that this building is worthy of preservation as a document of
that moment of american architecture."
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