Category Archives: Classical Architecture

Palladio as Paradigm for Education and Practice Today

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Lecture delivered at the University of Notre Dame’s conference: From Vernacular to Classical: The Perpetual Modernity of Palladio, June 10-12, 2011

Dean Lykoudis, faculty, alumni, students, and colleagues it is a pleasure to be back at Notre Dame for this remarkable conference and exhibition. I offer my sincere thanks to the School of Architecture and Lucien for organizing the conference, to Lucien and Ali for their thoughtful and thought-provoking New Palladians, to the RIBA for their inspirational exhibit celebrating 500 years of Palladio, to Calder Loth for his inimitable contributions to Palladio’s Transatlantic journey, and last to my fellow Institute of Classical Architecture & Art trustee, Anne Kriken Mann, for ensuring that the Palladio made it to America.

Reflecting upon the conference theme of the “Perpetual Modernity of Palladio,” I began to question Palladio’s value today. What lessons can Palladio teach us?

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Colonial Revival Style

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With population expanding, immigrants arriving, rapid industrialization, and urbanization, it is little wonder that late-19th century Americans viewed their simpler colonial past as a Golden Age. Emerging wearily from Reconstruction, Americans patriotically celebrated their past and future at Philadelphia’s 1876 Centennial Exhibition.  The “New England Farmer’s Home and Modern Kitchen” was a particularly popular exhibit.   Inside this log cabin, women in colonial dress exhibited artifacts such as a Pilgrim’s cradle and spinning wheel, idealizing an America heroically hewn out of New England by hard-working colonists.

Colonial Revival Style house
Colonial Revival
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Comments Delivered at “After the Crisis: Is This a New Era for Traditional Design.” Art Workers Guild, London, INTBAU/TAG Conference

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February 9, 2011

My dear friends and colleagues,

I wish I could be with you today, but it is a good sign I could not be, since a lecture to over 200 architects in Boston yesterday meant I could not make a late evening flight to London. Indeed, while the years beginning in the fall of 2008 have been terrifyingly slow, over the last six to eight months there has been a palpable optimism that we will recover.

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Historic Fort Worth 2010 Award for Excellence in Preservation awarded to The Brent Hull Companies and Christine G. H. Franck, Inc.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Fort Worth, TX – September 20, 2010

Historic Fort Worth has awarded the Byrd Residence its 2010 Residential Award recognizing excellence in the rehabilitation of historic homes.  Fort Worth homebuilder and master-craftsman Brent Hull of The Brent Hull Companies collaborated with New York-based design firm Christine G. H. Franck, Inc. to restore this historic home to its original charm.

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Fort Worth Home Restored to its Colonial Revival Charm

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When an historic Colonial Revival home in Fort Worth, Texas needed a gentle facelift to restore its original beauty, the homeowners called on Brent Hull of Hull Historical to head up the renovations. For classical expertise in renovating the facade, Hull Historical turned to Christine G. H. Franck, Inc.

Byrd Residence after renovation

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Franck featured in “New Palladians” Book Launch at RIBA, London, May 17, 2010

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I’m so pleased the new publication New Palladians featuring the work of my friends and colleagues, as well some of my own, will be released on May 17, 2010 at the Royal Institute of British Architects in London.

Image by Carl Laubin. Composite image of Palladio’s works

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Lecture on Traditional American Rooms, ICAA Texas Chapter

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Winterthur Style Sourcebook: Traditional American Rooms
a lecture by Christine G. H. Franck and Brent Hull
Thursday, April 22, 2010, Gilliland Residence, 3720 Beverly Drive, Dallas, TX

978-1-56523-322-5

The lecture will explore the Winterthur Museum’s period rooms, the role of the Colonial Revival throughout America and the South, and their relevance for the best of design and craftsmanship today.

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Designing in Atlanta

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Last night at the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation in Atlanta, Brent Hull and I lectured on our new book Winterthur Style Sourcebook: Traditional American Rooms. The event was organized by the ICA&CA Southeast Chapter, and sponsored by Randall Brothers. Thank you! Today we’re teaching a seminar on classical design and good practice in millwork at Historical Concepts’ wonderful office. High up on the 4th floor, our students are hard at work on an esquisse for a classical interior. The deadline is an hour away! It’s great to see such talent and focus from these terrific architects and designers.

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Lecture and Booksigning, ICAA Interiors Seminar, Atlanta February 5-6, 2010

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Christine G. H. Franck and Brent Hull lecture on The Winterthur Style Sourcebook, Traditional American Rooms: Celebrating Style, Craftsmanship, and Historic Woodwork. 

Friday, February 5

Lecture & Book-signing for Winterthur Style Sourcebook: Traditional American Rooms – Celebrating Style, Craftsmanship, and Historic Woodwork.

The book has been called “an extremely useful design guide and tutorial on the creation of classic interior architecture,” by Period Homes, and the authors’ lecture will present fascinating information about stylistic origins that will be of great interest to architects, design professionals, and the general public.

6:30 P.M. Reception; 7:00 P.M. Lecture

Location: Rhodes Hall – Headquarters for The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation, 1516 Peachtree Street, NW Atlanta, GA 30309 

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Architecture Students at Work

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This past Friday, in nine straight hours of intense work, my graduate architecture students at Notre Dame completed their first esquisse, en loge, designing a hypothetical urban residence which they will develop over the next four weeks.  Being well-taught by Professor Richard Economakis and the other dedicated Notre Dame faculty, these first year graduate students with only a semester of architectural education under their belts, performed admirably!  What a rare joy it is to have an architecture school that teaches students architecture, instead of abstract, incomprehensible, inconsequential, personal expression.  Hope you enjoy these pictures of my delightful students hard at work creating beautiful, meaningful, appropriate architecture.