Landis Gores
Encyclopedia
Landis Gores was an American architect, native to Cincinnati, Ohio
. Landis was known for his modernist Gores Pavilion, the Gores Family House, and the House for All Seasons.
. In Landis’s opinion, Harvard had the best architectural department. While at Harvard, Landis became close with fellow student Philip Johnson
and professor Marcel Breuer
, who would all later become members of the Harvard Five
modern architectural group (which included John Johansen
and Eliot Noyes
).
After graduating in 1942, he served in World War II
. Gores took part in a top-secret operation known as Ultra
that broke the code of the German
high command. By the time he completed active duty he had been awarded both the Legion of Merit
and the Order of the British Empire
. He continued on in the United States Army Reserve
at the rank of Major.
, the Rockefeller townhouse, the MOMA
garden, and the famous Glass House
. Upon complaints that Johnson had not yet passed his New York architectural exam and therefore could not practice in New York state, the two left their office in NYC and relocated their practice to New Canaan, Connecticut
. In 1951 Johnson and Gores parted professionally, and on November 1 Gores opened his own architectural practice, a date that corresponded with the birth of his fourth child.
In 1954, only three short years later, Gores was stricken with polio. It was just a year before the US government approved the distribution of the polio vaccine. Gores was initially confined to an iron lung and for the rest of his life and doctors informed him that his physical activities would be severely restricted. Nevertheless, he slowly began to resume his work with the help of a close friend John Irwin (for whom he later built the famous Gores Pavilion) who fashioned Gores a special electric typewriter so that he would be able to continue his architectural career.
However, Landis’s work was limited, according to his wife Pamela, “people didn’t want someone in a wheelchair. It made them nervous.” To help her husband continue with his love for architecture, Pamela became involved in his work and even once acted as contractor for one of his projects.
Mr. Gores’ work is characterized by several unique traits. An oversized Prairie fireplace is a common denominator in almost all of his residential buildings. For example, the Gores Pavilion, the Close House and Gores own house all contain styled large fireplaces. Also, like many other modern architects of the time period, Landis included large amounts of natural light by incorporating grand glass windows into his building designs.
Gores was inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright
and Walter Gropius's
embracement of the International Movement. He visited Gropius’s buildings as a student so as to fully appreciate the works of art that Gropius constructed.
In 1991, Landis Gores died. He had no contact with Philip Johnson in the last years of his life, but Johnson nonetheless admired his fellow architect. “…I remember the extraordinary brilliance of Landis in school, his command of English, the amazing ability of his mind…” Philip Johnson wrote in a letter to Landis’s widow Pamela Gores.
The Gores family house was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places
as Landis Gores House
in 2001.
.
Today, the town of New Canaan owns the Irwins' property and has converted it into a public park. The pool has been filled in, and the neglected Pool House was threatened with demolition. In 2007 the Friends of the Gores Pavilion, with the help of the New Canaan Historical Society, convinced the town to lease the pool house to them as a museum for the modern architecture movement in New Canaan and the surrounding areas. A fundraising campaign has been initiated for its renovation as the "Gores Pavilion." Tom Nissley, co-chair of the Friends of the Gores Pavilion, sums up the rescue of the structure by stating, “The pool house represents the moderns in a very nice way…and it’s a public park, so people can come and see it without interrupting someone’s home.”
, as well as the middle school and science buildings of the New Canaan Country Day School. WG Harris Residence, Richmond, Virginia
1962 Close House: New Preston, Connecticut
1965 Mrs. G. Gores House: Norfolk, Connecticut 1965
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...
. Landis was known for his modernist Gores Pavilion, the Gores Family House, and the House for All Seasons.
Early life
After growing up in the Midwest and graduating Summa Cum Laude from Princeton in 1939, Gores continued his education at Harvard Graduate School of DesignHarvard Graduate School of Design
The Harvard Graduate School of Design is a graduate school at Harvard University offering degrees in Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Urban Planning and Design.-History:...
. In Landis’s opinion, Harvard had the best architectural department. While at Harvard, Landis became close with fellow student Philip Johnson
Philip Johnson
Philip Cortelyou Johnson was an influential American architect.In 1930, he founded the Department of Architecture and Design at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, and later , as a trustee, he was awarded an American Institute of Architects Gold Medal and the first Pritzker Architecture...
and professor Marcel Breuer
Marcel Breuer
Marcel Lajos Breuer , was a Hungarian-born modernist, architect and furniture designer of Jewish descent. One of the masters of Modernism, Breuer displayed interest in modular construction and simple forms.- Life and work :Known to his friends and associates as Lajkó, Breuer studied and taught at...
, who would all later become members of the Harvard Five
Harvard Five
The Harvard Five was a group of architects that settled in New Canaan, Connecticut in the 1940s: John M. Johansen, Marcel Breuer, Landis Gores, Philip Johnson and Eliot Noyes...
modern architectural group (which included John Johansen
John M. Johansen
John MacLane Johansen is an architect and member of the Harvard Five. Johansen took an active role in the modern movement.- Early life :Johansen was born to two accomplished painters in New York in 1916...
and Eliot Noyes
Eliot Noyes
Eliot Fette Noyes was a Harvard-trained American architect and industrial designer, who worked on projects for IBM, most famously the IBM Selectric typewriter and the IBM Aerospace Research Center in Los Angeles, California...
).
After graduating in 1942, he served in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Gores took part in a top-secret operation known as Ultra
Ultra
Ultra was the designation adopted by British military intelligence in June 1941 for wartime signals intelligence obtained by "breaking" high-level encrypted enemy radio and teleprinter communications at the Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park. "Ultra" eventually became the standard...
that broke the code of the German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
high command. By the time he completed active duty he had been awarded both the Legion of Merit
Legion of Merit
The Legion of Merit is a military decoration of the United States armed forces that is awarded for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements...
and the Order of the British Empire
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
. He continued on in the United States Army Reserve
United States Army Reserve
The United States Army Reserve is the federal reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the reserve components of the United States Army....
at the rank of Major.
Career
Returning from the war, from 1945–1951, he worked with Philip Johnson. They were a good team: Johnson would design and Gores would draft the ideas to a polished result. Gores helped Johnson on Early Miesian inspired houses which included the Booth HouseBooth House (Bedford, New York)
The Booth House is a single-story modernist house in Bedford, New York. Built in 1946, the house was American architect Philip Johnson's first residential commission, and is a stylistic precursor to Johnson's better-known 1949 Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut.The house's concrete block and...
, the Rockefeller townhouse, the MOMA
Moma
Moma may refer to:* Moma , an owlet moth genus* Moma Airport, a Russian public airport* Moma District, Nampula, Mozambique* Moma River, a right tributary of the Indigirka River* Google Moma, the Google corporate intranet...
garden, and the famous Glass House
Glass House
The Glass House or Johnson house, built in 1949 in New Canaan, Connecticut, was designed by Philip Johnson as his own residence and is a masterpiece in the use of glass. It was an important and influential project for Johnson and for modern architecture. The building is an essay in minimal...
. Upon complaints that Johnson had not yet passed his New York architectural exam and therefore could not practice in New York state, the two left their office in NYC and relocated their practice to New Canaan, Connecticut
New Canaan, Connecticut
New Canaan is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, northeast of Stamford, on the Fivemile River. The population was 19,738 according to the 2010 census.The town is one of the most affluent communities in the United States...
. In 1951 Johnson and Gores parted professionally, and on November 1 Gores opened his own architectural practice, a date that corresponded with the birth of his fourth child.
In 1954, only three short years later, Gores was stricken with polio. It was just a year before the US government approved the distribution of the polio vaccine. Gores was initially confined to an iron lung and for the rest of his life and doctors informed him that his physical activities would be severely restricted. Nevertheless, he slowly began to resume his work with the help of a close friend John Irwin (for whom he later built the famous Gores Pavilion) who fashioned Gores a special electric typewriter so that he would be able to continue his architectural career.
However, Landis’s work was limited, according to his wife Pamela, “people didn’t want someone in a wheelchair. It made them nervous.” To help her husband continue with his love for architecture, Pamela became involved in his work and even once acted as contractor for one of his projects.
Mr. Gores’ work is characterized by several unique traits. An oversized Prairie fireplace is a common denominator in almost all of his residential buildings. For example, the Gores Pavilion, the Close House and Gores own house all contain styled large fireplaces. Also, like many other modern architects of the time period, Landis included large amounts of natural light by incorporating grand glass windows into his building designs.
Gores was inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures and completed 500 works. Wright believed in designing structures which were in harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture...
and Walter Gropius's
Walter Gropius
Walter Adolph Georg Gropius was a German architect and founder of the Bauhaus School who, along with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier, is widely regarded as one of the pioneering masters of modern architecture....
embracement of the International Movement. He visited Gropius’s buildings as a student so as to fully appreciate the works of art that Gropius constructed.
In 1991, Landis Gores died. He had no contact with Philip Johnson in the last years of his life, but Johnson nonetheless admired his fellow architect. “…I remember the extraordinary brilliance of Landis in school, his command of English, the amazing ability of his mind…” Philip Johnson wrote in a letter to Landis’s widow Pamela Gores.
The Gores family house was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
as Landis Gores House
Landis Gores House
The Landis Gores House is an International Style house in New Canaan, Connecticut that was built in 1948. It was designed by architects Landis Gores and John C. Smith and was Gores' home....
in 2001.
Notable works
Among his most praised works is the Gores Pavilion, in New Canaan, Connecticut. Gores was hired to design the building as a pool house and personal escape lodge for prominent lawyer John Irwin and his wife Jane Watson, daughter of the founder of IBMIBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
.
Today, the town of New Canaan owns the Irwins' property and has converted it into a public park. The pool has been filled in, and the neglected Pool House was threatened with demolition. In 2007 the Friends of the Gores Pavilion, with the help of the New Canaan Historical Society, convinced the town to lease the pool house to them as a museum for the modern architecture movement in New Canaan and the surrounding areas. A fundraising campaign has been initiated for its renovation as the "Gores Pavilion." Tom Nissley, co-chair of the Friends of the Gores Pavilion, sums up the rescue of the structure by stating, “The pool house represents the moderns in a very nice way…and it’s a public park, so people can come and see it without interrupting someone’s home.”
Other works
Gores is also known for the Van Doren Hospital and Strathmore Village in Fairfield, ConnecticutFairfield, Connecticut
Fairfield is a town located in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. It is bordered by the towns of Bridgeport, Trumbull, Easton, Redding and Westport along the Gold Coast of Connecticut. As of the 2010 census, the town had a population of 59,404...
, as well as the middle school and science buildings of the New Canaan Country Day School. WG Harris Residence, Richmond, Virginia
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
1962 Close House: New Preston, Connecticut
New Preston, Connecticut
New Preston is a rural village in the northwestern corner of the town of Washington in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The village is also at the center of New Preston CDP, a census-designated place , whose population was 1,110 at the 2000 census.-Geography:According to the United...
1965 Mrs. G. Gores House: Norfolk, Connecticut 1965