eBook - ePub
The Belgian Friendship Building
From the New York World's Fair to a Virginia HBCU
- 336 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub
The Belgian Friendship Building
From the New York World's Fair to a Virginia HBCU
About this book
A singular architectural landmark bridging western Europe and the American South
How did the Belgian Friendship Building, originally constructed for the 1939 New York World’s Fair—and one of only a few surviving buildings from that celebrated exhibition—end up on the campus of an HBCU in Richmond, Virginia? In this richly illustrated book, Kathleen James-Chakraborty, Katherine Kuenzli, and Bryan Clark Green relate the fascinating story, spanning three continents, of a distinctly modern structure that has towered over Virginia Union University, in a city characterized by its traditional architecture, for more than eighty years. It is a structure whose original purposes—to present modern Belgian design and to extol its racist, colonial regime—stand in stark contrast to its dedication in 1941 to Robert L. Vann, longtime editor of one of America’s most illustrious historic Black newspapers. The Belgian Friendship Building is an enduring example of prewar modernism designed by a team of Belgian architects under the direction of Henry van de Velde that has until now been all but forgotten in histories of modern architecture. This indispensable, multifaceted account ties together the history of modern European architecture, colonial exploitation, and African American achievement in a brilliant and compelling case study.
How did the Belgian Friendship Building, originally constructed for the 1939 New York World’s Fair—and one of only a few surviving buildings from that celebrated exhibition—end up on the campus of an HBCU in Richmond, Virginia? In this richly illustrated book, Kathleen James-Chakraborty, Katherine Kuenzli, and Bryan Clark Green relate the fascinating story, spanning three continents, of a distinctly modern structure that has towered over Virginia Union University, in a city characterized by its traditional architecture, for more than eighty years. It is a structure whose original purposes—to present modern Belgian design and to extol its racist, colonial regime—stand in stark contrast to its dedication in 1941 to Robert L. Vann, longtime editor of one of America’s most illustrious historic Black newspapers. The Belgian Friendship Building is an enduring example of prewar modernism designed by a team of Belgian architects under the direction of Henry van de Velde that has until now been all but forgotten in histories of modern architecture. This indispensable, multifaceted account ties together the history of modern European architecture, colonial exploitation, and African American achievement in a brilliant and compelling case study.
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Yes, you can access The Belgian Friendship Building by Kathleen James-Chakraborty,Katherine M. Kuenzli,Bryan Clark Green in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Architecture & Architecture General. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.
Information
Topic
ArchitectureSubtopic
Architecture GeneralTable of contents
- Cover
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Foreword
- Acknowledgments
- A Note on Terminology
- Introduction
- 1. Belgian Modernism: From Art Nouveau to the World of Tomorrow
- 2. Displaying Modern Belgium: Design, Diplomacy, and Colonial Propaganda
- 3. Diplomacy and Propaganda at the Pavilion after the Fall of Belgium
- 4. The Belgian Pavilion’s New Home: African American Richmond
- 5. Raising Money and Raising Steel: The Challenges of Reconstituting the Belgian Friendship Building
- 6. Postwar Campus Architecture, Campus Activism, and City Planning
- 7. The Temporary Becomes Permanent: The Challenge of Extending the Life of Impermanent Construction
- Conclusion
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index