An architectural walking tour will be followed by a screening of ‘My Architect.’
By: Susan Van Dongen
On a spectacular autumn morning, Roosevelt resident and historian Allan Mallach walks a visitor down the middle of the village’s streets, discussing the boxy little concrete homes along the way. They may not look like much to a passerby indeed the entire town could be easily missed by motorists but the structures are of historic significance.
Blue jays call to each other and swoop from the abundant pine trees and brush that surround the flat-roofed houses, and a chipmunk scoots across the wooded path that leads to Roosevelt Elementary School, created in the 1930s by architect Louis Kahn (1901-1974). According to Mr. Mallach, Mr. Kahn was instrumental in envisioning the planning and design of Roosevelt, originally called Jersey Homesteads.
Many of the structures are undergoing a transformation from their Bauhaus-inspired design. There are modest updates a peaked roof and some aluminum siding to aid in the difficult heating and cooling of the homes, for example.
Others have added faux fieldstone to the exterior, or something a little more elegant, re-imagining the homes in cedar siding, for a look that might befit a place in the Pacific Northwest. One abode even resembles a Swiss chalet.
Mr. Mallach cautiously applauds the stamp of individuality placed on his neighbors’ homes. What troubles him, however, are the houses that have gone from single-story modesty to near-McMansionesque stature.
Even twin homes attached by a common wall aren’t immune. On a nearby street, one twin remains fairly true to its original form while its neighbor is growing upward and outward, sprouting a façade Tony Soprano might admire.
Before they’re gone forever, Mr. Mallach would like more people to see these houses and understand their significance. That’s why he’ll lead a walking tour of Roosevelt’s architecture Oct. 15, followed by a screening of My Architect, the 2003 documentary that looks at the cryptic life of Mr. Kahn. Sponsored by the Roosevelt Arts Project, the event concludes with a roundtable discussion of Roosevelt’s history and architecture.
"What we’re trying to do is to get people to know more about Kahn as well as enjoy the film," Mr. Mallach says. "But we’d also like to use the event as a hook to get people to think and understand more about Roosevelt’s own architecture and architectural history. It’s being lost as we speak, because of the way people are changing the houses, in increasingly drastic fashion."
Roosevelt has been designated a national historic district, but this doesn’t mean people are prohibited from changing their houses. Mr. Mallach remarks that this has been happening all over New Jersey. "In fact there’s a big flap in Princeton changing smaller homes and rebuilding them to make them twice as big," he says.
"There’s always been a fair amount of modification in Roosevelt," he continues. "Ever since these houses were built, people have looked at them and said, ‘They’re small, they’re funny-looking, they don’t work very well,’ and have made changes. But recently it’s been happening more often and faster. It’s important that people know that these houses have an awful lot of value."
My Architect was directed and produced by Nathaniel Kahn, the son of Mr. Kahn and landscape architect Harriet Pattison. Mr. Kahn is considered one of the most important architects of the 20th century, with work that stands alongside the creations of Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe.
"If you had to name the half-dozen greatest architects of the 20th century in America, he would definitely be on the list," Mr. Mallach says. "The film talks about his work, but what makes it interesting is that it also addresses his (troubled life)."
When Mr. Kahn died, deeply in debt, the address was crossed out on his passport, so his body lay in a morgue unclaimed for two days. Mr. Kahn’s "official" family consisted of his wife, Esther, and their daughter, Sue Ann. But two other lovers came to his funeral. One was Anne Tyng, a partner in his architectural firm who had a daughter by Mr. Kahn named Alexandra. The other was Ms. Pattison.
Twenty-five years after the death of his father who was found lifeless in the washroom at New York’s Penn Station the younger Mr. Kahn interviewed his half sisters, other relatives and even some cabbies who recalled the elder. He also spoke with other eminent architects including I.M. Pei, Frank Gehry, Philip Johnson and Edmund Bacon.
Jersey Homesteads came into being during the Roosevelt administration, when the President was leading America out of the Depression through agencies such as the Works Progress Administration. The community was under the auspices of the Resettlement Administration and was meant to house 200 families of unemployed garment workers, mostly Jewish immigrants from Russia.
Hamburg-trained architect Alfred Kastner was named chief designer of the project, while his assistant was Mr. Kahn, then a young architect from Philadelphia.
"I don’t think Kastner ever trained at the Bauhaus, the school for architects and designers, but he was a part of that in spirit," Mr. Mallach says. "What he tried to do here was to create a community in the Bauhaus spirit, which was the only time this was done in the United States, and one of the few times anywhere in the world, as far as I know. Kahn, who was into modernism, was very much a part of this.
"I don’t think he was even a licensed architect then," he continues. "But he played a significant role in the design of Roosevelt. He was particularly responsible for the design of the school."
Mr. Kahn was to establish a visual coherence to the community, which can still be seen, even through the many modifications. Heavily influenced by the Bauhaus tradition but also constrained by a Depression-era budget, he employed simple but sturdy materials as well as a few things that would have been luxuries to working class families oil furnaces, hardwood parquet floors and plenty of windows and closet space.
Instead of a city hall or town center, Mr. Kahn envisioned the school as a central meeting place for Roosevelt, a role it still partially holds today. In 1936, in celebration of the utopian ideology of the community, artist Ben Shahn painted a magnificent 12-by-45-foot mural that still graces the school. The walking tour will include a visit to the mural.
"We’re tying these two things together, Louis Kahn and this wonderful movie," Mr. Mallach says. "And although there’s nothing in the movie that explicitly makes the tie-in with Roosevelt, he’s very much a part of this community’s history. This architecture has a valuable historical tradition."
My Architect, a film by Nathaniel Kahn, will be screened at Roosevelt Borough Hall, North Rochdale Avenue/Route 571, Roosevelt, Oct. 15, 3:30 p.m. A walking tour of the village, led by Allan Mallach, begins at Borough Hall at 2 p.m. Roundtable discussion of Roosevelt’s planning and architecture follow the film. Free admission. For information, call (609) 448-4616.

