Neutra in Gettysburg - Beyond Tiki

W WillTiki Member Joined: Apr 29, 2004 Posts: 56	W WillTiki Posted posted on Mon, May 2, 2005 10:51 AM I have really mixed feelings about this one and the tower they brought down a few years ago there (but not as much on that one). I have done the Civil War reenactor thing on and off since high school and have spent many hours at various battlefields both those that are bare and "original" (usually on private land), as well as those developed for tourists (usually publically i.e. government owned). The message is still there for me eithr way; the buildings are monuments from the 50's and 60's (1960's that is!) and were done to provide a means to honor the dead and educate visitors (and make some money of course); the period around and leading up to the centennial of the Civil War is the beginning of the real popularity of visiting the battlefield sites for tourism (and reenacting for that matter)and happened well after the old boys (the original combatants) had died off. In fact, the cyclorama painting in the building in Gettysburg was exibited in 1913 when they had a 50 year reunion there. http://www.nps.gov/gett/gettcyclo.htm Anyway, the excuse that the buiding is old and hard to maintain is an excuse to get rid of modernist architecture. If that alone is a valid excuse then let it be known that Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater was about to (fall into the water that is!) until recent restoration; and Thomas Jefferson's Monticello was about to fall in on itself (and the skylights, heaven forbid, still leak...but then don't they all). The park service and almost all other Government entities seem to want to tear down buidings from the recent past and replace them with buildings that either are modern by today's standards or else are mock historic structures that allow them to deceive visitors into believing the site is not "developed". These sites from our post WWII past are just as much a part of our history as any other supposedly more worthy site. They are just another part of the automobile based tourism that includes road to Florida tourist traps and Tiki Bars (there's your obligatory content)and all that other "Roadside America" stuff.

I have really mixed feelings about this one and the tower they brought down a few years ago there (but not as much on that one). I have done the Civil War reenactor thing on and off since high school and have spent many hours at various battlefields both those that are bare and "original" (usually on private land), as well as those developed for tourists (usually publically i.e. government owned). The message is still there for me eithr way; the buildings are monuments from the 50's and 60's (1960's that is!) and were done to provide a means to honor the dead and educate visitors (and make some money of course); the period around and leading up to the centennial of the Civil War is the beginning of the real popularity of visiting the battlefield sites for tourism (and reenacting for that matter)and happened well after the old boys (the original combatants) had died off. In fact, the cyclorama painting in the building in Gettysburg was exibited in 1913 when they had a 50 year reunion there.
http://www.nps.gov/gett/gettcyclo.htm
Anyway, the excuse that the buiding is old and hard to maintain is an excuse to get rid of modernist architecture. If that alone is a valid excuse then let it be known that Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater was about to (fall into the water that is!) until recent restoration; and Thomas Jefferson's Monticello was about to fall in on itself (and the skylights, heaven forbid, still leak...but then don't they all). The park service and almost all other Government entities seem to want to tear down buidings from the recent past and replace them with buildings that either are modern by today's standards or else are mock historic structures that allow them to deceive visitors into believing the site is not "developed". These sites from our post WWII past are just as much a part of our history as any other supposedly more worthy site. They are just another part of the automobile based tourism that includes road to Florida tourist traps and Tiki Bars (there's your obligatory content)and all that other "Roadside America" stuff.

Post #156238 by WillTiki on Mon, May 2, 2005 10:51 AM