Houses by Alfred and Jane Clauss in Knoxville, Tennessee

Abstract

Houses by Alfred and Jane Clauss in Knoxville, Tennessee LAWRENCE WODEHOUSE University of Tennessee In 1932, when preparing material for the Museum of Modem Art show entitled "Modem Architecture: International Exhibition," Philip Johnson and Henry-Russell Hitchcock were required by the Director and Board of Trustees to devote fifty per cent of the exhibition to American architects. This was a difficult assignment, especially as the United States had far fewer practitioners in the modem idiom than most European countries, but Johnson and Hitchcock chose works by sixteen American architects and architectural firms, including the Philadelphia firm of Alfred Clauss (b. 1906) and George Daub.I Johnson also sought to generate American examples for the show. His admiration of the work of Mies van der Rohe in Germany, for example, led him to commission Mies to design the interior of Johnson's apartment on East Fifty-third Street, New York, and Mies recommended Alfred Clauss as a likely architect to supervise its installation. Although Alfred Clauss could be counted as an American practitioner, he was born in Munich, Germany, and graduated from the Munich Architectural School in 1926.2 His German professional experience included employment by two leading practitioners- Karl Schneider in Hamburg and Mies in Berlin- both represented in the 1932 exhibition. Until August 1928, he worked for Schneider in Hamburg; and until the end of 1929, he worked for Mies on the Barcelona Pavilion. Clauss emigrated to the United States in January 1930, and was employed by George Howe in Philadelphia and later in the New York office of Howe and Lescaze. With Howe and Lescaze he worked on the Philadelphia Saving Fund Society Building, where both Clauss and another Munich designer, Walter Baermann, have been credited with the "high level of detailing that distinguishes the PSFS."3 It was in the Howe and Lescaze office that Clauss met George Daub with whom he worked on competitions and projects.4 1 The sixteen architects and architectural firms included: Bowman Brothers, Clauss and Daub, Cory and Cory, Raymond Hood, Hood and Fouilhoux, Hood and Howells, George Howe, Howe and Lescaze, Frederick Kiesler, Kocher and Frey, William Lescaze, Richard Neutra, Stein and Wright, Thompson and Churchill, Tucker and Howell (with Oskar Stonorov), and Frank Lloyd Wright 2 Personal information throughout the article provided by Clauss in letters to the author dated August 10, 1982, September 9, 1982, November 22, 1982 and December 14, 1982. See Who's Who in America, 1982-83 (Chicago: Marquis), 598. 3 Lorraine Welling Lanmon, William Lescaze, Architect (Philadelphia: Art Alliance Press, 1987) 52. 4 George Daub's name does not appear in any biographical dictionaries or obituary listings. He was an assistant in the flll11 Mellor, Meigs and Howe of Philadelphia, and left when George Howe set up practice 50 ARRIS 1:50-62. 1989 WODEHOUSE: CLAUSS HOUSES IN KNOXVILLE 51 Having worked with Clauss and knowing about his experience in Europe and work on PSFS, Johnson decided to solicit more commissions for the young architect. Johnson persuaded his father to use his influence on behalf of Clauss and Daub in obtaining a commission from Standard Oil of Ohio for a filling station. "It was a question of finding a firm that was young enough to do International Style work," said Johnson.5 Johnson was a native of Cleveland, where his father, Homer H. Johnson, was a successful lawyer, real estate speculator, and stock holder in local companies, including Standard Oil of Ohio. Philip Johnson also persuaded his mother to become the client for a projected house, and recommended Clauss and Daub to Charlotte Young, a Cleveland friend, who wanted to build a residence. Johnson was thus responsible for a number of commissions by Clauss and Daub, two of which were exhibited in 1932: the filling station and the Johnson house. The Standard Oil filling station was a small structure consisting of eight steel columns, similar.to the Barcelona Pavilion. The grid of columns for the filling station was irregular, but the roof cantilevered beyond the columns to the eave-line where a glass curtain wall enclosed the building. It was initially planned to be one of a series of forty Standard Oil stations; ultimately, the...