Neutra at 85
Reunion Remarks
April 9, 2011
Remarks made by Dion Neutra on the occasion of the reunion celebrating 85 years of practice by the Neutra architectural family; first started by his father and continued on by him since 1970, an additional 41 years to date. The remarks were made on Saturday afternoon, April 9, 2011 at the Eagle Rock Recreation Center at 1100 Eagle Vista Dr.
Welcome to the third event of Neutra at 85. This weekend is "Neutra Practice at 85 weekend in Los Angeles" as proclaimed Friday in a council meeting at which was presented a proclamation of this honor! We've displayed this over there on the table. Some honor!
I had the idea of this event last year as the work on the new revised edition of Neutra Complete Works book was nearing an end. I realized that much of what we were illustrating in that tome, had already passed into history. Original owners were selling and dying off, and I was presiding over what appeared to be the end of an era. I said this already 10 years ago in a similar celebration at that time in the Neutra office Building.
I again wondered what could be done to save something of this legacy. The practice would be marking its 85th year in existence in 2011, as would I. I checked the calendar and noted that my dad's 119th birth anniversary fell on Friday, April 8. What better time to convene a celebration. And so Neutra at 85 was born, and after months of preparation and hundreds of hours of effort, the big weekend is finally here; WE'RE HERE! And the sun is out! How many of you joined in here last night for the big birthday bash?
Before we get started, let's pause for a moment to remember yet another birthday, TODAY is my eldest son Greg's 59th. Can you believe I have a son nearly 60 years old? Greg, at this moment is traversing from his home in Old Mexico towards the one he and wife Joni have in New Mexico. It was just not possible for them to join us on this occasion. Also celebrating his 55th birthday is my stepson Hiag Fisher on Monday; he was here last night when we celebrated my dad's 119th. Also my mother would have turned 110 next Thursday. May we raise a virtual glass and drink a toast to them, wishing them MANY HAPPY RETURNS.
Settle back in your seats and let me tell you a bit about the background that led up to this day; what it took to create it, and what we hope to accomplish by convening you all here today. I'll conclude by making some introductions, giving greetings by those who could not attend, awarding some prizes and continuing the silent auction of three Neutra sketches. We'll try to conclude this by 3:30 so late comers will still have a chance to join in. Plan to stay later to join City Leaders as they commemorate the 57th year of service of this building; right here!
Last year at this time we commemorated the 40th anniversary of the death of my father Richard Neutra. I was full of hope that this would become the first of a series of open houses for the Research House leading to it's being embraced by the public and creating an atmosphere of support for its restoration. Unfortunately that hope has yet to be realized I hope under a new Dean, there can yet be ways found to integrate volunteer help on that site to move things forward and to find ways to hold that house more open to the public on a reliable and regular schedule.
As mentioned, as we concluded work on the book, I did a rough assay, and concluded that fully a third of all the gorgeous images you see therein no longer represent what happens at the address given in the book. This is NOT, therefore, to be used as a guide if you wish to see representative examples of the work.
About this same time, I decided to mount a special exhibition which I called 'The Amazing Neutras in Orange County'. It's main purpose was to hope to attract a deep pockets patron to rescue our Newport Beach project, Mariners Medical, from a death of a thousand cuts, which it was undergoing at the time. I surveyed some 20 projects we had planned for the county over the past 60 years; most of which have not been treated kindly over the years. That show just closed in Santa Ana with a panel discussion on February 12. As a result of this effort, a Facebook Page has been started. We still await the emergence of that Patron.
I determined to see if I could use the occasion of this anniversary to attract as many Neutra site owners as possible to come together and form the nucleus of a sort of 'Neutra Community' unified by the notion that they preside over icons of history; the last remaining examples of a remarkable practice. A practice whose work is only now achieving its due recognition, long after its founder is gone, as is so often the situation. In this case, I have the rare privilege of having lived long enough to witness this on behalf of my father and the firm.
Will Neutra Site Owners please stand and be recognized? I can count the number on one hand.
Does this mean people don't care? Who knows. One of the new Institute projects then has to become: "Personal contacting of last known Neutra Site addresses to complete our Data Base." We need as much help as possible on this, and I welcome volunteers to visit, photograph and ring the doorbells of known Neutra buildings. At this point, I'd like to recognize one such volunteer who has for the last five years or more faithfully photographed more than 100 Neutra sites; Les Katow, can you take a bow? You can see his work on Picassa.com, Also working here this weekend are videographers representing Thom Andersen films and Zack Horton productions, if you gentlemen can stand to be recognized along with Naruki Nagata, who is running my own personal camera; gentlemen?
Another purpose for this celebration is to focus on the Institute as a means of carrying forth into the future the philosophy of the Neutra practice after I have left the scene. There is no official third generation architect standing in the wings to take over the firm as I depart. The only hope is this Institute, which was formed in the 60s. It represents the greatest hope for the future of what I'll call 'the Neutra movement'. I would say this movement is characterized by its interest in the application of scientific insights to the built environment with a special emphasis on responsiveness to the needs and health of the user.
Some officers of the Institute are present today, along with Carol Hunter, new recruit, who has been working along with me these past few weeks, would they stand and be recognized?
I've been trying to attract a cadre of young people to get involved with the activities of this Institute with varying results. All of them have made their mark and helped me immeasurably from time to time. I'd like to mention a group of them by name, with apologies for any that I've omitted inadvertently:
Devin Coleman, Chris French, Mark Rozzo, Kathleen Gleason, Reiko Ortega, Michele Echols, Jenny Visapattana, Daniella Wilson Carter, Patrick Sinclair, Rachel Gould, Kieran Sala, Christine Haenen, my son Nick; grandson Max; I'm sure I'm forgetting key people.
These are representatives of the younger generation, some of whom will represent the future of this Institute. Will those of you preset please stand?
I can't leave this without mentioning at this point my wife Lynn, who serves on the Institute Board as you've seen, and has been the paragon of patience during all these months while I was stuck on the computer trying to make all the bits and pieces of this fit together.
The Institute's aims and purposes are published on our website: Neutra.org which tracks the various activities in which we are engaged these days. Included is my earlier show called the 'Traveling Exhibition'. Altogether there are 29 such panels which comprise the show which travels with its custom crate very inexpensively to remote sites. Again, details on the website.
Another program of the Institute continued in this year of Neutra at 85 is a scholarship program to support worthy young people who wish to enter the planning field. We will be presenting six of these in June at a lunch in Pasadena. We hope to build on this in the future.
In 1970 just after the death of my father, and long before advent of the internet or microwave transmission, I had a vision. It was that the library of the future would have the technology to reach out and capture knowledge the world over and bring it back in for it's local constituency. I expressed that in my design for the Huntington Beach Library and Resource Center with a microwave tower as part of the design, altho no one yet knew what form that should take. See photos of that project on our commemorative poster which we are selling today at $10...
We continue now, 40 years later, implementing a program to digitize the Neutra collection at UCLA. We started with a few pilot projects to ascertain costs, and then applied for grant money to move into a broader coverage. This is a life-time activity of enormous cost, but of potentially great benefit to future researchers. My vision continues to be that someday a person in Australia would have the ability to know what resides in our collection by viewing documents on their home computer instead of packing up and planning a 3-5 day investment of time to come to town and view the original documents at UCLA. We have regrets today from the new director of Special Collections there, Tom Hyry, who will ultimately decide if this program gets implemented or not.Tom was unable to join us because of other obligations.
The creation of a Neutra Community similar to what has been done by the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, has been one of our major goals for some time. Enlisting you as new members will enable you to help us achieve this in any way you can imagine. We hope to start publication later this year of an E-Zine to be distributed from time to time with news of the Neutra Institute to those with computer capabilities. We have started to explore the potentials of the social networks. We need story ideas and case studies pertaining to our program, so please start sending those to us.
Preservation of our work is a metaphor for the situation in the country for the plight of all valuable historic examples. This matter emerges as one of the cornerstones of the Institute's focus. We are researching techniques to assist owners of Neutra buildings to ensure their survival in their authentic form. Included are strategies such as Cultural Monument recognition, preservation agreements, reverse mortgages, restrictive covenants. These are some of the methodologies we are exploring for various cases. I continue to offer my services in support of authentic restoration and maintenance of buildings as they age, change ownership and adapt to new situations.
Our architecture has the ability to adapt; sometimes much more than new owners can imagine, but the impulse has to flow from the original source to maintain authenticity. If you have problems to solve, give me an opportunity to consult with you. I don't bite and offer a special discount for my services on Neutra projects!
And now, I'd like to pay homage to those who have passed before, starting with my father who passed away in April of 1970 a week or so after his 78th birthday. As mentioned, yesterday would have been his 119th birthday anniversary! My mother, Dione, passed away in 1990 having lived happily and productively for an additional 20 years in the Research house after the death of her husband. Her 110th birthday celebration would have been next week, April 14! As mentioned, my son Greg's 59th is TODAY; my stepson Haig's 55th is Monday, the 11th.
Over these many years there have been draftspersons and collaborators without which the work which we admire today could never have been done. So many of these are now gone, but I wanted to pay homage to them as best we can, even at this late date.
Of the triumvirate of Neutra collaborators in the golden years of the 50s and 60s we pay respect to names like Benno Fischer, Sergei Koschin, and John Blanton. Of that group only John survives; but John is visiting this weekend with family in Oregon.
We were able to assemble today Kreso and Anna Forgiarini, and Volker and Jane Traub. We'd hoped to have Domingo Paglia. These are the last remnants of this group locally that we could find. Adolpho Mirales is in a rest home and not able to attend, nor his wife Manya. Max Starkman passed away a few years ago as have Benno and Sergei. We're down to a precious few.
It is amazing how many individuals have come through this practice who went on to achieve success on their own. Included are names like Gregory Ain, Harwell Hamilton Harris, Raphael Soriano, C.Day Woodford, Edward Killingsworth, Robert Kennard.
For the oldest Neutra Site occupant in attendance; please acknowledge Jason haley who is now 87! He's a candidate for one of the prizes we have today; 'Oldest Neutra Site Occupant to attend this event! My dad consulted with him on a house we did in Hollywood in the 50s! Perhaps we'll hear from him just what that relationship was later.
Of the original client group, the only one attending today to my knowledge is Janice Atzen, current owner of the Moore house in Long Beach. She gets another of our awards for her steadfastness and support over the years as a faithful steward, Janice, you get our award for the Site Owner who has traveled the furthest!
A cornerstone of our approach to practice has been from the beginning, "What does the user think?" This applies also to the gracious occupants of tomorrow's tour venues. These people are those generous souls without whom we would have nothing through which to tour. Here is the list. Ken and Betty Topper, Brian Watson, Colin Magowan, Chevon Hicks, Peggy and Michael Wong, George and Dana Grandchamp, David and Liz Netto, Sarah Schuh, Eli Bonerz, Sarah Lorenzen of Cal Poly Pomona. If any of you are present, please do stand and let us see you. Thanks so much for sharing your Neutra interiors with us all.
It occurred to me to devise a series of prizes to award to various categories of visitors.
- Prize for the oldest surviving original Neutra Client who commissioned a design.
- Prize for the client who traveled the furthest to join us here today.
- Prize for the oldest surviving draftsperson or consultant to be here today.
- Prizes for the videographers who are working with us this weekend.
And the winners are!
- Jason Haley at 87
- Janice Atzen from Long Beach
- Kreso Forgiarini; he's now early 80s.
- Thom Andersen and Zack Horton, videographers!
We will get your prize certificates to you after this program, and congratulations! Let's give all these winners a big hand?
I consider your presence here a personal recognition to me for the incredible effort that it has taken to put this glorious affair on, and I want to recognize other members of the Neutra family who are present, first and foremost my son Nick, who has worked tirelessly on managing the audio and video transmission parts of this production; Nick?
My ex-wife Vicki was in labor at this very moment 59 years ago with our eldest, Greg. He was supposed to have arrived yesterday, but when he didn't make it, she tells me she decided by golly he was NOT going to arrive on the same day as his grandfather's birthday! So she hung in with him for another 24 hours and he appeared on April 9, 1952! Let's all give a hand for my eldest son's 59th birthday which we celebrate today!
As we reach the end of this part of our day, let me bring you up to date on the status of some of our preservation efforts on behalf of the Neutra practice. We made a recent run around LA to check the status of Neutra projects. Of four buildings visited, only one could be said to be in any sort of reasonable condition; one was gone entirely, two others were in advanced stages of desecration.
I learned recently that our only major example of public design in the LA civic center is at risk, having been repurposed from its original role; that is the LA County Hall of Records of 1962; a project on which my dad lavished nearly five years of effort. In the end, Neutra and Alexander along with the other two firms involved who were still around, each had to ante up $5000 to make up the losses for the privilege of being associated with this project, and that was after more than $600K in gross fees; an astronomical amount for those days. Translated, that meant there was actually NO PROFIT for the principals of these firms! Being a county building it is not eligible for preservation under the City's monument program; what to do to save it?
The star story like this still has to be the Gettysburg Cyclorama Center. After 13 years of effort on the part of scores of dedicated professionals, the National Park Service is still resolute in its plan to demolish our building at its historic site despite the fact that nothing is to be built there to replace it. We are still considering our strategic options in the face of a new national administration.. We need funding to continue this effort into the future. Please visit our website and sign the petition that we've directed to President Obama, who has been too busy to pay attention as yet. Anyone know how to penetrate his firewalls?
As our final event of this part of the formal program, we present an opportunity to bid on archival reproductions of three original Neutra travel sketches. These are unique in that they represent a glimpse of what dad first put down as the general outline of what in most cases he would then further develop and delineate. There are very few if any examples like this that you can acquire for framing. This is the continuation of a 'silent auction' that started yesterday and will continue to Sunday eve. The winner will be notified by email and asked to produce the funds.
As we reach the end of this formal program, would all of you who we've called Neutra Docents please rise to acknowledge the miracle of life and the fact that we've all gathered together for this last time? We thank you all for having made this effort, and invite you to our house next week at 2:30 to join in to an informal reception there where we can all schmooze and really meet each other. Keep your name tag at the ready, so people can pick you out.
Again, thanks for being here, please enjoy the venues tomorrow, and if you haven't already, sign up for our Sunday tours! Hang around after this for the City segment here and later at 7; see you at the VIP at the Research House in Silver Lake blvd at 2300.
Thanks for indulging me by sitting through this lengthy reminiscence of the Neutra Practice at 85. I think I can guarantee that we won't be doing this again, any time soon!
Remember, Silent Auction; poster sales and look over the proclamations on the table!
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