SW Oregon Architect Emeritus

Sunday, March 3, 2024

Urban Growth Strategies: Homes & Jobs for 2045

I participated this past Thursday in the kickoff meeting for the City of Eugene’s Urban Growth Strategies project. The goal of the project is to identify the essential tools, actions, policies, and land required over the next two decades to support housing and living wage jobs in our community. Given the number of ongoing projects related to housing and economic development, City staff reached out to a broad list of housing and development experts, employers, and business owners to help inform the Urban Growth Strategies project’s priorities and outcomes. They saw fit to include me among those they invited to be a member of the project’s Housing and Development Working Group.

Our homes are essential for providing us with shelter, safety, gathering, and comfort. They are the foundation upon which any stable, livable community is built. As we know all too well, securing affordable housing in Eugene has become progressively challenging. The simple fact is an insufficient number of new homes have been added to Eugene’s residential stock in recent decades, which in turn has spurred a crisis of affordability. A comprehensive understanding of the problem is essential, and in turn the crafting of efficient strategies and policies that will optimize land use and address the desperate need for more and diverse types of housing.

The kickoff meeting introduced the Urban Growth Strategies project and its components. The meeting included the presentation of some eye-opening data regarding housing needs and the barriers to the provision of affordable housing in Eugene and Lane County.(1) Additionally, we reviewed the various statewide mandates related to urban growth, as well as recent policy work directed by the City Council.

Beth Goodman of ECOnorthwest explains the City's role in housing development.

The State of Oregon requires municipalities to provide enough buildable land within their urban growth boundaries to accommodate estimated housing needs for 20 years. Moreover, House Bill 2003 requires cities with populations greater than 10,000 to update their housing needs and capacity analysis every eight years, while HB 2001, known as the Oregon Housing Needs Analysis (OHNA), directed the Department of Land Conservation and Development to implement rules to increase housing production, affordability, and choice. On top of this, the Department established the Climate Friendly and Equitable Communities Program, which requires Oregon cities to comply with requirements for the establishment of compact, walkable development standards.

Crucial to the Urban Growth Strategies project is an evaluation of whether Eugene's Urban Growth Boundary (UGB) will require expansion to meet land needs over the next two decades. The City’s technical analysis will provide insights into the current adequacy of land within the UGB and explore additional tools to address any unmet land needs. The project will help identify a supply of land for residential use for the next twenty years by integrating housing capacity analyses, residential efficiency measures, and the current inventory of buildable lands. Importantly, it will also help establish a 20-year supply of land for non-residential use, incorporating data from an economic opportunities analysis, employment efficiency measures, and urban land needs.

Each Oregon municipality has its own unique challenges when it comes to the provision of an adequate inventory of affordable housing. These include constraints on how accessible federal funding is, infrastructure and site development needs, the lack of development-ready tracts, neighborhood resistance and the threat of delayed processes and appeals, and of course national market factors (high costs for labor, land, materials, and financing). The City of Eugene’s role in housing development is restricted to public policy matters related to the use of land and infrastructure, as its influence on market feasibility is limited. Nevertheless, the development of favorable city policies is crucial to helping address the housing crisis.

The desired policy outcome is revisions to the Envision Eugene Comprehensive Plan (EECP) and draft amendments to the Eugene Code, including creation of new parcel-specific land use designation maps and new chapters dedicated to housing, compact development & urban design, community health, and community engagement. The revisions to the plan—that the Working Group will influence—will provide Eugene with a roadmap toward market stability and long-term systemic change.

I found the kickoff meeting encouraging. In addition to the valuable background information that provided me with a much-needed contextual understanding, the opportunity to discuss current barriers to housing production in breakout groups was very welcome. How can the City support production of more housing affordable to households with incomes at 60% of the Area Median Income (AMI) or below? What about incomes in the 60%-120% range?

Two connected Point Access Blocks, showing unit diversity and typical vertical circulation. Source: Point-access block policy brief by Michael Eliason (Larch-Lab-PAB_Policy-Brief.pdf )

I am by no means an expert on affordable housing, but from my perspective as an architect, I see the building typology limitations baked into the current version of the International Building Code as a significant barrier to the production of more and varied types of housing. Specifically, the code does not allow multi-story “point access blocks” of more than three stories in height. Taller point-access block buildings—such as those up to six stories in height now allowed by the City of Seattle in its modified version of the IBC—are organized as compact plans around a single stairway and elevator core, as opposed to the dual-stairway and double-loaded corridor layouts typical of all new multifamily developments in Eugene. The benefits of point-block developments include the fact that they minimize the need for parcel assemblage, a process which increases costs and the time of development.(2) Whether the City of Eugene (or the State of Oregon) will implement similar code revisions to those adopted by Seattle remains to be seen, but doing so would undoubtedly improve the odds of meeting the housing affordability challenge.

I plan to attend the full series of Housing and Development Working Group meetings. Future events will address gaps in existing housing policies, discuss potential strategies for housing production, and review draft revisions to the EECP. By prioritizing community input, technical analysis, and policy integration, the Urban Growth Strategies project aspires to shape a future for Eugene that is not only resilient but also responsive to the diverse needs of its residents. For your own opportunities to engage and contribute to this transformative endeavor, be sure to follow the project on Engage Eugene.

(1) Among the more shocking statistics are that at 60% of the AMI ($53,460 per year), a family in Eugene can afford a monthly rent of only $1,340 or a home priced in the $134,000 to $160,000 range; however, the average monthly rent is $1,829 and the median home sale price is $479,500. Even households at 120% of the AMI are priced out of the Eugene market. The source for these figures is the US Department of Housing and Urban Development and are correct as of December 2023.

(2) Michael Eliason, an architect and urbanist based in Seattle, is the leading evangelist for and proponent of point-block housing in the U.S. In recent years, he has written extensively on the topic, as well as penning pointed critiques about the current state of multifamily housing development in North America. In response to a piece I wrote a few years back regarding 5-over-1 construction, he unleashed a flurry of tweets on Twitter (now “X”).

Sunday, February 25, 2024

1,000 Blog Posts!

Yes, it’s true! This post marks my one thousandth entry since I started SW Oregon Architect back in 2008. Though the accomplishment hardly ranks up there with the greatest of human achievements, I will pat myself on the back for my dedication to writing on a regular basis.

I embarked on my blogging journey with only modest goals. Initially, SW Oregon Architect primarily served as a means for me to communicate with the membership of the Southwestern Oregon Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (now the Eugene Section of AIA Oregon) on chapter matters during my tenure on the SWO board of directors. Since then, I have turned to a broad range of topics related to architecture and urban design, while maintaining a weekly writing cadence.

It seems many of the prolific architecture-oriented blogs that flourished during blogging’s heyday (roughly the mid-2000s to the early 2010s) have become inactive, including several of those listed here on my sidebar. With the rise of social media and a concomitant reduction in attention spans, long-form blogging lost its appeal for some audiences, prompting many bloggers to abandon the platform in favor of alternative outlets for their content.

For me, blogging is not about garnering followers and page views, but rather about being an enjoyable and satisfying hobby. I do not intend to give it up anytime soon, especially now that I am on the glide slope toward retirement. Writing is good exercise for my brain. Regular blogging will support my cognitive health as I age, so I figure the more words I write, the better.

Assuming an average of 600 words per post, my cumulative word count has now reached approximately 600,000.(1) For some perspective, that is more than such prodigious works of literature as Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace (587,287 words), Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged (561,996 words), and the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien (481,103 words). If I continue blogging as I plan to, my word count will one day surpass that of the King James version of The Bible (783,137 words), if it hasn’t already.

While my musings across 1,000 posts do not rise anywhere close to the profundity of renowned authors, I occasionally surprise myself by generating a piece I’m particularly pleased with. This is mostly the case when I avoid being too guarded about expressing my thoughts on a subject. It has been good to stick my neck out on occasion.

To commemorate achieving this milestone, I offer the following selection of posts because they offer a sampling of my views on architecture and urban design. Consider this an immodest list of SW Oregon Architect’s “greatest hits." I invite you to randomly read a few of them if you have some time and missed the opportunity to do so when they first appeared (click on the title you select, which will appear in a new window):

The ride SW Oregon Architect has taken me on has been both humbling and invigorating. What began as a channel for communication with the local architectural community is now increasingly a repository for my personal thoughts, topical insights, and occasionally whimsical digressions. I look forward to continuing this adventure, exploring new topics, and—with good luck and health—reflecting again upon reaching the 2,000-posts mark.

(1) I am not going to bother to accurately tally my total word count. I may not make the most of my free time, but I do value it enough not to undertake the task. A 600-word per post average is a fair guess; if anything, this number might be on the low side.

Sunday, February 18, 2024

COTE Book TALK: People, Planet, Design

I attended the latest Committee on the Environment (COTE) book talk hosted by AIA Oregon back on February 8. The virtual presentation, produced by Island Press, featured author Corey Squire, AIA and his new book People, Planet, Design: A Practical Guide to Realizing Architecture’s Potential. Corey’s compelling presentation, along with the subsequent question-and-answer period moderated by AIA COTE Leadership Group member Lyndley Kent AIA, focused on the idea that successful buildings should not only be beautiful but also positively impact the community, the planet, and the people who use them.

Corey Squire is an architect and nationally recognized expert in sustainable design who has empowered multiple award-winning design firms to achieve high-performance projects across their portfolios. He lectures nationally on a range of sustainable design related topics and was a lead author of the American Institute of Architects Framework for Design Excellence, a resource that is actively redefining excellence in the built environment. Corey is presently an Associate Principal and Director of Sustainability at Bora Architecture and Interiors in Portland.

Corey Squire, AIA

People, Planet, Design is a guide for designing change, making the case for how every design choice affects the community, the planet, and the people who will use a given building. The book (which I have yet to read) aims to simplify complex ideas by providing architects with a framework for transforming their practices to meet the needs of a carbon-neutral future.

Fundamentally, Corey’s thesis revolves around the factors that empower high-performing architectural firms. He sees these as inextricably tied to the declaration of an urgent and sustained climate imperative, the consequent need to transform day-to-day professional practice, and in turn aligning and using external messaging to leverage support from peers, clients, and the broader populace. He believes some projects perform better than others precisely because the offices who designed them are thriving environments in their own right.

Helena Zambrano, AIA, furnished the illustrations used in the book.

To excel in sustainability, a firm committed to sustainability goals needs two things: 1) the right culture; and 2) the right knowledge. Corey asserts that our profession already has all the knowledge and technology it needs. If the right culture additionally exists within a practice, implementing a unified vision for design excellence through an understanding and prioritization of what matters is achievable.

One clear mechanism for reaching these goals is to redefine what design excellence means. It can no longer simply be defined by aesthetic trends or by the starchitects of our world. The impact of buildings is too great for the planet to withstand designs whose virtues solely lie in their idiosyncrasy. Instead, we need to define the right outcomes, align those outcomes and systems with effective design strategies, and create an environment—the right culture—within a practice to make them happen.

It really was this aspect of Corey’s talk that was my biggest takeaway. The vision thing lies at the crux of the matter for firms who want to do the right thing but do not know where to start. Under even the best circumstances, cultural change takes time and requires effort and patience. Firm leaders must be the ones to establish the necessary vision. They often know what they need to do. How to do it is the challenge. To date, there has been a notable gap in professional literature addressing this. I will reserve judgment until after I have read People, Planet, Design to gauge the extent to which Corey has bridged the gap.

I am hopeful the book directly addresses the challenges posed by the exponential growth of things we need to focus on when we design buildings and the limited time within which we are afforded to do so. The sheer volume of knowledge needed to align outcomes and systems with effective design strategies is overwhelming. I asked Corey whether he believes we can ensure that architects—all design professionals—can acquire the necessary knowledge within a reasonable period of development and experience. We all know students enter professional practice with woefully inadequate skill sets, so the problem seems particularly pronounced for the emerging generations of designers. Corey responded by saying his hope is that People, Planet, Design can be part of the solution by promoting a holistic approach to sustainable design that avoids the need for an exhaustive knowledge base. He believes the key is to provide every architect with a baseline understanding of what is important and with guidance about how to proceed when applying that baseline of information to every project.

As I said, I have not yet read People, Planet, Design, but hope to soon. If you’re likewise interested in the book, it is available for purchase directly from the Island Press or from Amazon in both e-book or hard-copy (paperback) formats. I am confident my time reading the book will be amply rewarded.

Sunday, February 11, 2024

Construction Site Tour

The Robertson/Sherwood/Architects team during our construction tour of the new Lane Community College Health Professions Building.

The Robertson/Sherwood/Architects staff recently toured the new Health Professions Building (HPB) project under construction on the Lane Community College main campus. As the design team’s project manager, I led the tour, helping to explain what is now coming together very quickly.

For emerging design professionals, the opportunity to visit projects under construction—particularly those they were involved with during the design phase—is of immeasurable benefit. Seeing construction in progress provides them with a tangible link between what they do in the office and its practical application. Construction site tours help them understand why coordination, communication and teamwork are so important, why mastering fundamental building technology principles is critical, and why even relatively modest jobs are more complex than they may seem at first blush.

Kyle Stucky of Fortis Construction (right center) demonstrating the in-field use of OpenSpace AI to compare actual construction progress with the coordinated BIM model.

Joining us on our tour were Kyle Stucky, superintendent for Fortis Construction, and Mike Zimmerman, project coordinator for Lane Community College. The two provided invaluable insights into the project’s challenges, nuances, and opportunities from the Contractor’s and Owner’s perspective, respectively. They mentioned how the entire HPB team has been able to adapt and find solutions to unforeseen issues as they arose—real-world examples of the inevitable challenges posed by construction projects. Having Kyle and Mike on hand helped stress the importance of our relationships with all members of the project team.

Office site tours certainly provide a beneficial feedback loop between the design and construction phases. Every design decision directly impacts the construction outcome, so seeing actual construction in progress (ideally at key intervals), provides an iterative process that contributes to a holistic understanding of the entire project lifecycle. The fact so many different building systems are currently being installed in the HPB project was especially helpful.

Me explaining details of the exterior envelope mockup.

If anything, given how much there is to learn from each tour, we fail to conduct as many of them as we should. The value inherent in the practical insights gained strongly favor them. Visiting construction sites provides our team members with not only an education, but also a sense of accomplishment as they see their designs come to life. This firsthand experience contributes to personal and professional satisfaction, motivating our staff to continually strive for excellence in their work.

Another shot of the RSA team, this time in front of the new LCC Health Professions Building under construction.

The HPB project is on its home stretch now, with completion targeted for this May. The RSA staff will likely visit it together one more time, perhaps just prior to the building’s occupancy, to see how everything has come together. Again, there will be lessons to be learned as we’ll be able to gauge how well the design has achieved its goal of being an exemplary facility for the LCC Health Professions Division.

Sunday, February 4, 2024

A Splendid Torch: Henry Mercer’s Historical Connections (Part 2)

Moravian Pottery and Tile Works (photo by Concord, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

The following is the second of two posts devoted to a lengthy passage from Bill Kleinsasser’s 1981 edition of his self-published textbook, SYNTHESIS. (Read Part 1 here). His fascination with the work and interests of Henry Chapman Mercer is perhaps no more evident than in this reading. Like Mercer, Bill disdained the downsides of modernization and industrialization upon design and construction, particularly the primacy of standardization and the loss of rich diversity associated with many historical buildings. Like other followers of the Arts and Crafts Movement, Mercer sought to extol the virtues of vernacular architecture, patterns inspired by nature, and the work of the craftsman-designer; however, what sets Mercer apart is the extent to which legend, literature, Americana, and archaeology influenced his approach to architecture.

Henry Mercer’s three major building designs—Fonthill Castle, the Mercer Museum, and the Moravian Pottery and Tile Works—are peculiar and idiosyncratic, but they are also distinctive, evocative, and highly personal. In this regard, it’s not surprising Bill would be fascinated by their appearance, the lessons to be learned from them, and their eccentric author.

Part 2: Layering, Light, and Caves

Layering

The second kind of imagery appearing in Mercer’s stories concerns the layering of places and objects in space, the effect of this visual complexity, and how that effect is heightened under certain circumstances.

He wrote in Castle Valley:

“The boughs frame the picture. Look under them. They give distance to the meadow, the bridge, and the hill yonder. The scene has a curious effect on me. I hardly know how to describe it.

“When I awoke I found myself lying upon a pile of straw on the floor of a barn, through the open door of which I saw a red glow, with clouds of smoke, and moving figures of men.”

In The Blackbirds:

“He was standing by an open window, looking out across the city roofs and river at the magnificent up-rolled clouds that deepened the distant blue and cast their majestic shadows over the far-off suburb of Fairfield.

“There, on mounting to the top of a flat rock, the trees opened upon an enchanting view of distant meadow, cliffs, and a village, seen across an expanse of water. The eastern sky had changed to rose color. The water’s shimmer was broken by the breeze into deep-blue paths of ripples. Clouds, more gorgeous than ever, robed in white, gold, and lavender, floated overhead.”

Descriptions similar to these appear many times in the seven stories and all of Mercer’s buildings show his response to this interest: in the deliberate creation of vistas and spatial layering inside the buildings, by preserving and emphasizing the same phenomena outside, and by uniting inside and outside through the device of in-between elements and spaces.

Mercer Museum (photo by Bestbudbrian, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

Light

The third kind of imagery brought to mind by Mercer’s short stories is about light and the effects of light, particularly on things and spatial organizations whose meaning the mystery are magnified by it, such as forms and spaces within other spaces, forms juxtaposed against other forms (layering again), ruins, junk, metal, textures, colors, water, landscape, and distance.

In North Ferry Bridge:

“The place I got into showed a vast roof space, with overhanging floors and galleries, extending back into the darkness, and looked as if it might be one of the wings of a deserted foundry.

“By the light of a hanging lamp I saw piles of lumber, rusty machinery, and casters’ flasks. Another lamp, with a half-barrel and some bottles and dishes, stood on a workbench behind me. Across the floor, near a pile of boxes stuffed with straw and close to a cupboard, I saw a long wire cage, built against a wall.

“A platform leading backwards brought us to a rotting staircase choked with rubbish, and thence upward into a long, narrow yard between high walls. Passing piles of waste iron and then a labyrinth of ruinous sheds faintly lit by the moon, we reached a gate at the end of a paved alley and pulled back its rusty bolt.”

In The Blackbirds:

“As they hurried down Merchant Street to the ferry, a lurid glare had suddenly caught the eastern house fronts. Against the deep shadows in the cross streets, it gave the city a threatening, unfamiliar look, as if the lights were out of order.

“Near a rusty derrick and some blocks of stone they stopped before a black, rotting shed, with a partly collapsed roof, built close against the rock. The dismal ruin had lost its lower wall of boards, a pile of which lay along its open front in the high grass. Its dark interior, half concealed by weeds and poison ivy, revealed faint outlines of rusting machinery and contending with the glare of an opening in the rear, the flicker of a fire.”

In The Wolf Book:

“Moments passed as he looked outward upon the evening lights that streamed across the tree tops and inward beyond the borderland of dreams. The place seemed confused with things astonishing, contradictory, casual, human feet floating in the air, a cave lit by glowworm, an ash tree, the Castle of Golubacz.

“The professor pointed at the darkening sky. ‘I believe in that, no beginning, no end. What are miracles to that?”

Descriptions similar to these appear sixteen times in seven stories. Views of Mercer’s buildings, showing elements defined by light, organization in response to light, and the consequent sensorial complexity of the buildings show his embodiment of this imagery.

Caves

As pervasive and intriguing as the imagery of light, layering, and castles in Mercer’s work, and perhaps combining all of these, is the imager of caves. This imagery is obvious in the labyrinthian arrangement of Fonthill and reappears in all three buildings. Mercer visited many caves during his archaeological days, and he was alert to literary descriptions of them. His construction notebooks contain references to the “cave temples” of Ellora and Elphanta in India, and there are photographs of caves and cave-like places from his journey along the three rivers in France.

Ellora Caves, India (photo © Vyacheslav Argenberg / http://www.vascoplanet.com/, CC BY 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

But the cave image of greatest importance to Mercer was of a gigantic chamber in Yucatan, near the Mayan ruins of Uxmal and Chichen Itza. He saw it while on an archaeological search in 1885. The Mayans call it “Loltun,” which means “rock of flowers.” Because sunlight and water come in through ground-surface openings in its roof, the cave is alive with luxuriant plants, oversized butterflies, bats and bees, and schools of birds flying fish-like in the moist, hazy air. The main room is pierced with dozens of water-seeking tree roots which drop, column-like, through the entire hundred and eighty feet of the space. Mercer was astounded by this cave. He made drawings of it. He took many photographs of it. Over 14 years he wrote several descriptions of it, each richer than the last. There is no proof, but these descriptions suggest that he found the memory of this cave to be a perfect framework for the spatial arrangements of his Museum, whose many separate exhibit spaces presented a difficult organizational problem. Here is his final description of Loltun, written in 1914 just as the museum was under construction:

“. . . the third garden of my story remains in my memory rather than as a work of enchantment than a fact, a thing as far beyond the reach of our efforts at imitation as a coral grows in the depths of ocean. I saw it as an unexpected wonder in the underground world of Yucatan, when we were searching in a maze of tropical caverns for geological proof of the presence and antiquity of the ancient people who had built the ruins of Uxmal and Chichen Itza.

“No one had told us of the sight, which we saw after a dark walk underground. It came upon us a surprise, for here at first the unfathomed cave with its white stalactites revealed by candlelight, was not more remarkable than the Wyandotte or Mammoth Caves, or Luray, or any other of the underground labyrinths of North America. But suddenly as we proceeded through the eternal gloom of a long gallery, the resemblances ceased. A brilliant expanding spot of light appeared in the distance, which for some moments seemed like a round glass aquarium full of goldfish, hanging in a dark room, upon which a ray of bright sunlight had been focused. As we came nearer, the fish turned to trees and flowers, birds and plants. We saw before us, as if looking through blue water, a vast domed room, lit only from above by a window in its ceiling, down which came the light and air of the upper world.

“Here, incomprehensible sight! Underground, out of place, was a garden, where from the subterranean soil, externally moist in a parched land, sprang a floral paradise, watered by the dripping of stalactites which unlike those other caverns, because exposed light and air, had lost their pallor and taken on rainbow hues. But stranger still, the trees of the upper forest, whose roots clasped the edge of the skylight, swung loose in mid-air like cables, or shooting down many feet, took root gain in the floor of the cave. Sounds had lost their reality by the dark doorways of this underworld. We heard the murmur of approaching voices, as of spied who had dogged our footsteps. But no one came. It was the rustling of the palm trees that reverberated in unnatural echoes, when cooled gusts of the tropical air below down from above. More real was the sight of birds that flew in and out and of butterflies that fluttered from plant to plant, while behind the light and color was a blue blackness of cave walls in fantastic shadow, as of indistinct monstrous forms of animals and reptiles sculptured in the rock. Undecipherable hieroglyphics and the massive stone bowls which stood in damp spots full of dripping water, showed that the ancient people of Yucatan had been there, perhaps as worshipers. But their hands had not made the garden. That was hewn from living rock and planted by the vast forces which make the sea and sky and roll the Earth in space.

“For many days we worked in sight of it, while it wrought its spell upon us, until at last our task was done. Then looking upon it for the last time, a feeling like regret or longing seized us, as if we might have preferred to sit down in the unearthly light forever gazing. As we hesitated, the smoke of one of the perfumed woods, which the Indians burn in the evening floated down the skylight, while it seemed that the realities of the future were slipping from our grasp. Had we, like the fabled Lotus Eaters, tasted some enchanted fruit, which lured us to forget the way home? Had the refreshing water in the stone bowls enervated us, as still waiting, knowing not why we strove as it were against an occult force, to yield at last only to the necessity, which dragged us unwillingly away.”

Loltun Cave, Yucatan (lostpylon, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

Found attached to page four of Mercer’s construction notebook for Fonthill was this poem written in longhand by Mercer’s friend and fellow archaeologist, Dr. Charles C. Abbott, dated August 14, 1910:

“Reincarnation of the storied past,

Skyward in majesty thy walls arise;

In strength assuring us that they shall last,

Not crumble as the common structure dies.

They tower mantled with the morning light

Proudly acclaims the past still alive,

Where Prose, grim visaged (O, the sorry sight)

Would have the world in soulless fashion thrive.

All honor then to him who raised the pile

Where daydreams wander through each classic room,

Where honest speech is never brought to trial

Nor trustful candor hears its certain doom.

Defying critics, faithfully thou wrought,

Thou Master Builder of a fruitful thought.”

Proudly acclaims the past still alive, indeed. Mercer’s historical connections were many and clear. Written with the poem was the notation, “. . . for HCM . . .in recollections of a pleasant day.”

(WK/1981)