Up
for auction the "Father of Architectural Modernism" Paul Thiry Hand Signed TLS.
ES-4102E
Paul
Thiry (1904–1993)
was an American architect most active in Washington state, known as the father
of architectural modernism in
the Pacific Northwest. Thiry designed "some of
the best period buildings around the state of Washington during the 1950, 60s and
70s." Thiry was born in Nome, Alaska,
of French parents. He was a 1928 graduate of the architecture school at
the University of Washington and studied
at the École des Beaux-Arts in France traveled
in Europe and met Le Corbusier, before
returning to Seattle in 1935. He
designed his own house upon his return but
had few commissions in the 1930s. Those he built "showed a clear
understanding of the European International Style in
his use of spare, geometric forms, clean lines, and new building
technologies." Thiry came to national attention in 1937 with a
cement-based stuccoed residence
for a manager at Portland Cement, Frank J. Barrett. The innovative house was
published in The Modern
House in America in 1940: the garage and house formed two
rectangles, with a "smooth, undecorated exterior", its doors and
windows flush with the surface. Steel window frames were painted blue-green,
and glass-brick was used around the entry and along the walls of the partly
sunken living room. Thiry
served as supervising architect for
the Seattle World's Fair, responsible
for the overall plan and coordinating the work of contributors like John Graham Jr. (for the Space Needle), Minoru
Yamasaki, and the landscape architect Lawrence
Halprin. Thiry's own designs for the fair included the Washington
State Pavilion, now the KeyArena. Thiry has been compared to other modernists in the
Northwest such as Pietro Belluschi (1899–1994) and John Yeon (1910–1994). Thiry
is quoted as having said that "Buildings should be good neighbors." He
is credited with being "instrumental" to introducing International
Style architecture in Seattle. Thiry designed the Agnes
Flanagan Chapel, the Aubrey Watzek
Library, and the Biology-Psychology Building at Lewis and
Clark College in Portland, Oregon. The Flanagan chapel is
"a creatively designed 16-sided structure" with an 85-rank Casavant Frères organ and
seating for 600 people. According to the Lewis and Clark website the building
"serves as a meeting place for lectures,
musical performances, and religious services. The entry is a bridge flanked by
Northwest Coast Indian-style statues depicting the four evangelists (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) created by the native artist Chief
Lelooska.[