Neutra in Gettysburg

The purpose of this message is to alert those who live in Baltimore/DC/Philadelphia area, or plan on being in the area some time this year, of a possible last chance to see a historic modern building.

I spent much of this past Monday with my parents in Gettysburg, and took the opportunity to once again visit one of my favorite modern buildings, the Richard Neutra Designed Cyclorama Building. This landmark building, constructed in 1961, is simply fantastic to walk in - lots of curves, a great spiral ramp, and a space-age look -- it reminds me a bit of the Ecounter Restaurant at the L.A. airport.

Sadly, the building will likely be demolished soon, as it sits near a key spot of the Gettysburg battleground, and there is a strong movement to tear down the various structures in this area and revert the area back to the more natural setting that existed during the battle of Gettysburg.

I'm not sure exactly when the building will be torn down. The Cyclorama painting that resides inside will be taken down this November, so my guess is that the building could be taken down any time after that, and probably sooner rather than later.

Images of the Cyclorama building can be found at this site .....
http://www.mission66.com/cyclorama/history/

Ultimately, I feel that the decision to revert back to the natural state is the proper one, as I feel the historical significance of the battlefield outweighs the value of a single building - but that doesn't mean that I'm not going to miss this building when it is gone.

If you live nearby, and appreciate modern buildings, and are looking for a weekend adventure, a trip to say Goodbye to the Cyclorama might be a good possibility.

Those who are ambitious might be able to visit both the Gettysburg Cyclorama building and Wright's Falling Water in the same day.

Vern

time passes on... but the cyclorama is a great space age artifact.

similar conflicts will continue to arise for the next couple decades. buildings built in the 60's and 70's are behind the 50-year period required to designate a building as historic. that period can be over-ridden by cultural significance, however.

we are likely to see many more great modernist buildings from the 60's and early 70's destroyed in our lifetimes.

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.