This is the third of my Eugene/Architecture/Alphabet series of blog posts, the focus of each being a landmark building here in Eugene. Many of these will be familiar to most who live here but there are likely to be a few buildings that are less so. My selection criteria for each will be threefold:
- The building must be of architectural interest, local importance, or historically significant.
- The building must be extant so you or I can visit it in person.
- Each building’s name will begin with a particular letter of the alphabet, and I must select one (and only one) for each of the twenty-six letters. This is easier said than done for some letters, whereas for other characters there is a surfeit of worthy candidates (so I’ll be discriminating and explain my choice in those instances).
This week’s selection begins with the letter C, for which the Central Lutheran Church is my selection.(1)
Central Lutheran Church
AIA Gold Medalist Pietro Belluschi (1899-1994) was an internationally renowned and celebrated proponent of Modern architecture during its mid-20th century heyday. Born in Italy, Belluschi would first make his professional mark in Portland, notably designing the Portland Art Museum and the Equitable Building, before moving east in 1950 to serve as dean of the M.I.T. School of Architecture and Planning. Despite his eminent stature during this phase of his career, Belluschi continued to work on relatively modest projects throughout Oregon, including a series of geometrically simple and unpretentious churches. These include St. Thomas More Catholic Church (1939-1940), Zion Lutheran Church (1945-1955), and Central Lutheran Church (1948-50) in Portland; First Presbyterian Church in Cottage Grove (1948-51); and the subject of this post, Central Lutheran Church (1945-55) here in Eugene.
Central Lutheran Church is located immediately south of the University of Oregon campus at the corner of 18th Avenue and Potter Street. Belluschi’s design is characteristically unassuming. The volume containing the main sanctuary is a straightforward box, its plainness only relieved by an artful use of building materials (brick and wood), texture, and proportion. Like his other Pacific Northwest church designs, Belluschi used wood as the primary structural material, exploiting the properties of glued-laminated arches, which at the time provided an economical, regionally appropriate, and expressive means to support the roof over the sanctuary.
Belluschi referred to his philosophy of architectural understatement as “eloquent simplicity.” His approach was rooted in a deep understanding of the design problem at hand, as opposed to an ego-driven need to make an architectural statement. He believed in the “good reason of taste and restraint.”
A series of events during 2019 celebrated Pietro Belluschi’s contributions to Oregon architecture on the 120th anniversary of his birth. Among the historians and architects who remarked on his legacy was PIVOT Architecture associate Scott Clarke, AIA, who spoke of Central Lutheran Church in the following excerpt from an article for The Oregonian/OregonLive:
Architect Scott Clarke said he has “the good fortune” to pass by Belluschi’s Central Lutheran Church in Eugene on a regular basis.
“It sits at the south edge of the University of Oregon, confronting 18th Avenue with its unapologetic boxiness. Perhaps it remains unnoticed by many, as its form suggests that it might be a somewhat modest affair. Those that look deeper and longer are rewarded with a building that conveys much about where we are and what we value," he said.
“The box, as it turns out, is a highly articulate thing. Like a good painting, the wood and brick walls are composed with the greatest care, being divided into smaller segments and strata in ways that break the whole into a composition of meaningful parts,” he continued. "These parts are all made of ordinary stuff, nothing extravagant. But each part realizes the full potential of the ordinary materials from which it is made. This building, like so much of Belluschi’s work, is a product of an architect who fully embraced and understood his adoptive home: it is innately of Oregon.”
Clarke also praised the church’s excellent acoustics. “Its proportions of height, width and length are suspiciously like the best concert halls, and the laminated wood structural system resembles the stone arches of Gothic churches.”
“How fortunate we are to have this building and others by Belluschi to remind us of what is special and important about the place where we live and the merits of being thoughtful about the way we choose to inhabit the place we call home,” he said. “This building reminds of what might be a kind of Oregon ethos: make the most of modest means."
“The design of a church begins with a structurally convincing volume made meaningful by subtle manipulation of light and shadows, by providing multiple visual experiences through suspense and mystery, through textures and colors, through fine proportions, and exploitation of natural materials—all brought together in harmonious relationship.”
Like Scott, I regularly pass by Central Lutheran Church and have ventured inside once (though I can’t recall exactly what the occasion was for my visit). I admire the building because of its eloquent simplicity and essential modesty: Good architecture isn’t defined by a need to draw attention to itself. Instead, the hallmarks of good architecture should be an attentiveness to the essence and uniqueness of each project, design intentions that translate those unique needs in a synthesized and comprehensive manner, and responsiveness to the natural, historical, and physical context of which it is a part.
(1) I considered several other buildings whose names begin with “C.” These included the Citizens Building in downtown Eugene, and Collier House on the University of Oregon campus. Ultimately, I selected Central Lutheran Church because of Pietro Belluschi and his significance to the emergence of a uniquely Pacific Northwest strain of Modern architecture.
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