Three Beauties (Page 2 of 2)

Holiday Inn complex

Last on my abbreviated list are buildings almost no one likes, the Holiday Inn complex fronting on Henley Street. The grouping includes an office building to the hotel's south and the city-owned exhibit halls tucked under the main lobby. Designed by McCarty Bullock Holsaple, it was built in anticipation of the 1982 fair and sited on the east side of World's Fair Park. (Until the Candy Factory went condo this year, the hotel was the only residential use on the park.) Berated for the stark, bunker-like quality of its exposed, reinforced concrete facades that express the structure of the buildings, the aesthetic is an example of post-Vietnam War functional "brutalism" that swept the country. The plain exterior hides some lovely interior spaces, particularly at the street level. Public areas flow freely from entry to reception, from lobby to bar and restaurants, all overlooking the park through panoramic windows and cleverly connected to the convention rooms and park below by wide stairs and escalators. The spaciousness is surprising and refreshing, evidence that the "open plan" concept promoted by Wright in the early 20th century and so prevalent in later residential and commercial architecture really works.

Some say it would be cheaper to demolish the building than refurbish it to contemporary standards of access, room size, finish and decor, but in an economy of great uncertainties, just as we are reassessing the value of recycling, destruction would seem a waste of labor, energy and material. Further, it is difficult to imagine a replacement hotel of its quality and durability being built today. Hire a noted interior designer like Zaha Hadid, Karim Rashid or Philippe Starck to redo the public spaces, and watch how quickly in-the-know tourists flock to this spot.

As Angelenos were celebrating the preservation of their ’50s marquees, Knoxvillians were removing one of the last Gay Street remnants of the glitzy, glamorous, post-war era of prosperity and extravagance. The neon and incandescents of the Tennessee Theatre marquee were dimmed forever, replaced by a digitally equipped reproduction of the original 1928 marquee. Hoping the earlier, mid-period marquee could be saved, perhaps even moved to a place of honor in the Knoxville Museum of Art, I wrote a letter deploring the decision as a violation of its artistic and historic integrity and importance. The artifact was lost, except in photographs. If anything has been learned by the process, it’s the need to open our eyes a bit wider and, led by Knox Heritage and other caring civic and professional groups, take a fresh look at the buildings down the block and around the corner.

Michael Kaplan is Professor of Architecture Emeritus at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He lectures and writes on cultural aspects of architecture and design.

* The views expressed in Commentary do not necessarily reflect those of Knoxville Voice.