ST. JOHN’S SCHOOL STUDENT NEWSPAPER · SJSREVIEW.COM 2401 CLAREMONT LANE · HOUSTON, TX 77019 · VOLUME 66 · ISSUE 1 · SEPTEMBER 17, 2014
‘A SENSE ARCHITECTURE TRADITION,
OF PLACE’: BLENDS LANDSCAPE
COMPOSITE PHOTO BY CURTIS & WINDHAM, JESSICA LEE, AND JARED MARGOLIS
Model School Kendall-Heaton Associates commissioned a wooden model of the Student Center, which is currently under construction. The Student Center will feature exposed beams, wainscoting, chandeliers and custom hardwood tables and chairs. The construction project, which began in March, is scheduled for completion by August 2015.
O
by Tiffany Yue
ne day in 2003, a bout of sentimentality inspired former trustee Deborah Detering (’59 ) to drive off with a car full of limestone. The pieces had been discarded during Quadrangle reconstruction and were headed for landfill. “I ended up having the workers set the old limestone aside and using it in a new ranch house,” Detering said. “I just took whatever I could carry and the rest they threw in the trash.” Farish Hall, better known as the Quadrangle building, was designed by Hiram A. Salisbury. It includes the oldest section of the school—the headmaster’s office. When alumni learned of the renovation plan, many bristled at the idea of losing a place where they had made so many memories. “I think they wanted to make sure that when they walked into that space, it would retain its sense of integrity,” Headmaster Mark Desjardins said. “That’s where a lot of the tension was: the feeling of this wonderfully sacred space to us.” Detering was the only trustee to vote against tearing the old building down, and her firmness for tradition earned her a seat on the building committee. Detering is fond of quoting the late Jim
Elkins, former trustee and chairman, who hoped that students would return to campus and say they never realized the quad had two floors. “I want the addition to feel like it belongs, and I think we did that,” Detering said. “There have been different compromises in money and function, but we want the new building to feel like the old one. There’s a simplicity in the plaster walls and lines that set a tone for learning and education.” HISTORY AND INFLUENCES
Current construction has rekindled the issue of maintaining tradition through architecture. Alan Lake Chidsey, the school’s first headmaster, helped guide the initial efforts of St. John’s in 1946 with the hope of establishing a high-quality educational institution in Houston. Out of that vision developed an architectural style reminiscent of Oxford, Cambridge and Eastern prep schools. “Oxford is obviously the epitome of academia. When the founders of SJS started building they kept that in mind,” art and architecture teacher Dan Havel said. The first structure built was Farish Hall, later remodeled to include a second floor.
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NEWS..................2 FEATURES...........4
CULTURE.............8 IN FOCUS..........10
The Hall, or Quadrangle, encompasses one of the school’s quintessential features—the so-called storied cloisters. Cloisters are a feature of “monastic architecture where they have an open garden area surrounded by a covered portico where the monks could do their walking meditation and sitting in the garden,” Havel said. The original plans for the building also drew influence from cultural circumstances. “This was during the late 40s and 50s in Houston, and there was segregation going on,” Havel said. “They had designed this new building to accommodate the school’s African-American staff.” The segregated bathrooms were omitted in later plans. “A lot of people don’t know that many faculty lived on campus where the English rooms are now,” football coach Stobie Whitmore (’68) said. “The current technology area was also an apartment.” SJS eventually moved away from on-campus faculty accommodation. Despite the changes, the campus location itself has always been designated for education. “[Mitchell] Westheimer came here in the late 1860s, and he built his house and a school for his 16 kids at and around this
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freshman siblings navigate SJS seas
P7
BEYOND............13 SPORTS.............14
OPINIONS..........17 ODD & ENDS......19
property,” Dean Stephen Popp said. “It’s kind of neat that there’s been an institution of education at the intersection since the late 1800s.” DESIGN PROCESS
Fast forward to December 2010. The Board of Trustees and key administrators chose two firms, Curtis & Windham Architects and Kendall-Heaton Associates, to design the Student Center, which will sit atop the site of the former Winston building. Curtis & Windham is renowned for their traditional architectural designs. “We are well-versed in the language of that particular style of architecture,” project manager Mark Ofield said. “We felt that [with Kendall-Heaton] each firm had strengths to bring as a team, so we went in as a joint venture.” In their initial presentation, the team stood apart from others because their sketches showed consistency with the rest of the school. “They would argue that the original building [Farish Hall] should be the thesis statement, or the DNA sample, that should run throughout the entire school,” Desjardins said. Continued on Page 3
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