News Scrapbook 1958-1961

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JAMES BRITTON: ART OF THE CITY

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IVERSIT

of S. D.

vironment or a true cxprc sion of its ma- terial and purposes. 1L alien ancestry ,s offcnsnely obviou La,k of ,n p1ra- t1 n and ingenuity results in banal, pmt- le s imitation without character r rca on." J can nly invite the reade r to look at the niversily of San Diego in the lighl of those 30-year- Id remarks by a atho- ltc an Dic:go architect. Tt would seem that e"en hack in 1929 R1d1ard R qua should have had to disapprove D\ whole appr a h to architectun It will be remembered that last month Wally Homitz reported that "Mother H il l ch c pan1sh Renaissance for the ollege for Women and thus <:t the J atlcrn for all University building ," Th,s meant among other ar hitectural limitation accepted at the tart an old-time arrangement of win- dows that offers , ry poor lighting for tlassro ms. Tt mc:ant many other "d istor- tions of plan" to suit the exterior. Most ironic of all, in the Requa frame of re- ference, it was not e,<:n a very h1p.h trib- ute to panish arch1 teclural history. Requa, out of th<: fullncs, f his ' pan- ish blood and stud,cs, wrote: " ft I in - variably the early produtti ns,

better cv ·n than the whiskey and soap tycoons. Eviden lly, that scucl has be n di ver d in Europ , where some of the most effective modern architecture i5 Catholi churlhes. cca ionally, loo, an American arch itect gets away with a sup rior design, somct11nes over lhe groans of bishop . A things stand, Dishop Buddy has reared a monument that has about it an air like th,1t of Forest Lawn. To some that may mean intimation of imm rtality, but to me it ,uggcsts th al Death dresses too prettily. Almost any archilecl y u meet will tell you th.ll USO is a pronounced architectural mistake unlcs he feels the nec

co11f111T1ed from page 54

ity of San Diego

cent high the county. Minimum in all respects, it pro- vides teacher and student plenty of psychological undertow to wim against daily, It seems to prove the contention heard from Catholic parents that so mu,h ,noney had gone mto the university itself that the parochial high schools were be- ing kimped. It 1s boxy constructi n, lik the dulle t tract homc:s. It is not impl in any subtle sense but on ly plain. It doc have a token ornamentation, quite out of place though intended lo tie it m with the re: t of the campu . h1efly this onsi t of a eries of pinnacles along the roof line, confc(t1onary 111 quality a· though exuded from a pa try tube. Mo,ing on to the central building of the ampus, we find the rnamcnt more senom and pr lifrrou , mamly in pired bv th< Pl ater squ style of Rena1ssantc: patn, so named bccau c of it· uggc:st1on of 1h erw arc tool mg. At its be t the style yieldc:d weat visual beauty, though even m ol

An Architectural Failure

IT MAY BE APPRECIATED

Thcrc ma> bc wnt111umg \al1.1nt ct. fort\ to nd.11111 the Chmti.1n scale of \ ,llub, ,ind thl· d1urche, may be rnvoh cJ 111 tlu:sc efforts, but it i5 doubtful th.it tomorrow· h1,toriJn 11111 be lharmc one tr,l\tr tn}-! the .,.n Diej.!o ,en · c,n fail to notllC th mo,lern tho- 11 m tall. t1 n proudh nsmg abo,e the m -tropol it.in slent· a ccrtamly th most fa\ orahly ltxated III t1 uti n 111 th entir r ·•:1011 Tho~c II ho .11 or th history of tlte to vn II di be d 11 •ht d tlut the en•

p.enttl1ty of pre-war Jn O1ep.o while the unn·crs,ty, at a

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SIX FOR S

TJ,e P resiJent ancl f acuities of tl,e University of San Diego AJc.iJd Park San Diego, California re'luest J,e lionour of your presence at the Conferring of Degrees Monday afternoon, J,e fifteenth of June One tl,ousand nine hnnJr.,J and filty-nine Tl,e Alcala Tl,eatre TJ,e lfonordbJe Ricl,arJ .M. Nixon 11,e Yicc PresiJent of tl,e UniteJ Stales Recipient of first Honorary Degree Doctor of Laws PreaiJing

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