Watch This Watch List

The World Monuments Fund placed "Main Street Modern" on its 100 Most Endangered Sites for 2008. The Grosse Pointe Library, along with a photo of our business room, is a featured example. From their website:

The primary threats faced by Modern architecture are demolition or inappropriate renovations, and the technical challenges of conserving the experimental materials and innovative building systems used in their construction. The great threat, however, is perhaps public apathy -- a lack of consensus or confidence -- that buildings of the recent past can be important enough to be preserved for the future. There are a number of significant "Main Street Modern" buildings currently threatened with demolition or degradation, including …Marcel Breuer's Grosse Pointe Public Library (1953) in Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan.

The World Monuments Fund is interested in possibly committing $50,000 toward the preservation of Central Library under certain conditions. This was discussed at the August board meeting, and will be further discussed at the meeting in September. Mr. Henry Ng, Executive Vice-President of the WMF will be briefly visiting the library at the end of August.

September Meeting Plans

Our hardworking custodians will be schlepping the furniture out of the way and clearing a space in the main reading room of the Central Library for the September meeting of the building committee. We have done this many times in the past for programs, especially before the new branches were built. Unlike the National Library Week author programs where a sea of small students sat on the floor, there will be chairs to sit on. So, mark your calendars for Wednesday, September 19 at 7:00 p.m. at Central. It should be a real treat to have the architects presenting their ideas in the main reading room.

August Meeting

The Building Committee will meet on Wednesday evening, August 15, 7:00 p.m. at the Woods Branch Library. DesignLab architects will be there with their latest plans. Take a break from the boat/beach/barbecue/babes/babies/baseball or other summer pursuits and join us for an informative evening.

Upcoming Breuer Exhibit in D.C.

The National Building Museum in Washington D.C. is planning an exhibition on Breuer to open this fall.

Marcel Breuer: Design and Architecture
November 3, 2007 – February 17, 2008
First floor galleries

Marcel Breuer: Design and Architecture will focus on Marcel Breuer’s extraordinary achievement in furniture and interior design. At the same time, the exhibition will provide an opportunity to reintroduce Breuer’s long-neglected architectural work and examine its significance in the history of modern architecture.

Developed by the Vitra Design Museum in Germany (which houses one of the most extensive and comprehensive collection of Breuer’s furniture designs in the world), Marcel Breuer: Design and Architecture is the first exhibition to treat all facets of his work with equal weight from the small scale of a coffee table, through sleek residential and commercial interiors, and to large-scale buildings. The exhibition will trace the incremental development of Breuer’s daring departure from traditional wood furniture and his pivotal contribution to the history of design, with the “invention” of tubular steel furniture.

Twelve models produced exclusively for this exhibition will highlight Breuer’s extensive architectural work from residential homes to religious, cultural, and civic institutions. In addition, drawings, floor plans, photographs, models, video projection and interactive computer terminals will shed light on Breuer’s long and varied architectural career. A catalogue with more than 450 illustrations will accompany the exhibition. The National Building Museum will be the show’s exclusive North American venue.