Events & Meetings | Past Tours | Past Lectures
May 11, 2010
THE CUBA REPORT
Is there a Cass Gilbert connection with Cuba? Dewey Berscheid, then the editor of the Cass Gilbert Society Newsletter, did additional research and headlined the next issue of the Newsletter, “Our Man in Havana?” in which described his unsuccessful efforts to verify the attribution.
Dewey’s article was the inspiration for a Cass Gilbert Society research trip to Cuba. The
organizational effort of several years was undertaken by Jim Hirsh. Last July the U.S. Department of the Treasury issued a license for six members of the Cass Gilbert Society to visit Cuba to investigate the possible role of Cass Gilbert and other American architects in the construction of the Cuban capitol and related buildings. Wendy Weimer, president of the Cass Gilbert Society, is a Spanish speaker and assisted with translation. Cindy Stephani, vice president of the Cass Gilbert Society, is a tour guide at the Minnesota State Capitol. Tom Blanck, an architect, is an expert on the architecture of Cass Gilbert and a founding member of the Cass Gilbert Society. Marjorie Pearson is an architectural historian, historic preservation consultant, and past president of the Cass Gilbert Society. Jim Hirsh, who was the chief organizer of the trip, is the general counsel of the Cass Gilbert Society. Carol Highsmith is a nationally known architectural photographer. She has recently donated thephotographs she has taken of the Woolworth Building to the Cass Gilbert Society and to the Library of Congress.
Five of the six members of the group will be reporting on the Cuba trip, what they observed and researched, and the Cuban architects and historians with whom theyconsulted. The talk will be illustrated with the photographs of Carol Highsmith and other tour participants. While the focus of the evening will be the Cuban capitol, El Capitolio, and its environs, other topics will include a brief overview of Cuban history and the country’s relationship with the United States; the role of American architects in Cuba, including several contemporaries and associates of Cass Gilbert, and their buildings; and historic preservation efforts in Havana.
Admission to the lecture is free for members of the Cass Gilbert Society and the University Club as well as students. There is a $5 charge for non-members. Refreshments will be served following the presentation.
January 26, 2010
Report on Oberlin College Tour
Participants in the Oberlin tour last September will present their impressions and analyses to Cass Gilbert Society members and friends at the University Club, 420 Summit Avenue, Saint Paul, on January 26, 2010, at 7 p.m. Refreshments will be served following the presentation.
Cass Gilbert had a relationship with Oberlin College that stretched from the opening of Finney Chapel in 1908 to the completion of the Quadrangle for the Graduate School of Theology in 1931. As consulting architect to the college, Gilbert also designed the Cox Administration Building (1915), the Allen Memorial Art Museum (1917), and the Allen Memorial Hospital (1925). Working in collaboration with Oberlin President Henry Churchill King and the Olmsted Brothers, he devised a long-range campus plan that would have arranged the college buildings around Tappan Square, the Oberlin town green. While his plan was never executed, it is interesting to compare to Gilbert's plans for the University of Minnesota and the University of Texas.
Tom Blanck and Marjorie Pearson will discuss Gilbert's architecture in Oberlin, as well as the Welzheimer/Johnson House, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and built in 1948-1949, and now owned by Oberlin College. Vincent Platt, Carolyn Nayematsu, Jim Law, Jean Velleu and Wendy Weimer, other tour participants, will also offer their impressions.
November 22, 2009
150th BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION FOR CASS GILBERT
The Cass Gilbert Society will host a celebration to honor this nationally recognized architect whose buildings are an important part of Minnesota history.
The 150th birthday celebration will be held on Saturday, November 21, 2009, and feature a free tour of the Minnesota State Capitol. Guides from the Minnesota State Historical Society will focus on the Cass Gilbert story and the architectural details of the capitol. The free tours, which begin at 2pm, require reservations by calling 651-296-2881. A LEGO™ model of the capitol will be on display to delight visitors young and old.
An exhibit highlighting buildings designed by Cass Gilbert over 50 years will be on display in the North Corridor of the capitol building and will continue to be available for public view for two weeks following the celebration.
Festivities will include a birthday cake that will be served in the capitol’s Rathskeller at 3:30 p.m. This event is free and open to the public.
The celebration will continue on Sunday, November 22, 2009, with a champagne reception at the Gilbert Building, 413 Wacouta Street, St. Paul, Minnesota, between 4 and 6 p.m. Welcoming remarks and a birthday toast will be made at 4:30 p.m. Tours will be given of the building at 5 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. This event, which is also free, is being sponsored by Charlie Neimeyer, Edina Realty, and the McCullough Companies.
For more information contact Cindy Stephani at 612-719-8419.