Yo! I am Shelby Kendrick, the immensely grateful recipient of the Docomomo US/Northern California Travel Grant. In June, I had the pleasure of attending “Yo! Modernism,” the 2022 National Symposium in Philadelphia. Thanks to the grant, I attended many amazing tours, met a variety of fellow modernism enthusiasts, stayed at the infamous PSFS building, and absorbed much of Philly’s rich history. The Symposium introduced me to several instances where past and present value systems come to a head. It also illuminated the opportunity for historic preservation to serve as the connective tissue between them.

Philly skyline from the top of the PSFS building. [Shelby Kendrick]

The modern period bore some of our most precious works of architecture, embodying ideals of progress and rationality. However, recent awareness of systemic social injustices historically embedded in contemporary experiences requires a new look at modernism, which may no longer mean–or may never have meant–progress or rationality to those who suffer(ed) as a result of these and adjacent mindsets. The Docomomo Philadelphia chapter highlights historic preservation’s complex role in our world through case studies such as The Roundhouse, Pepper Middle School, and Richard Neutra’s Hassrick House. As both a discussion platform and tool for many ends, preservation needs careful consideration and input from all stakeholders on a site’s past, present, and future. This is especially true for modernism considering how its unique value system interacts with today’s contested and changing morals.

The most obvious example of this is the Roundhouse, a curvilinear precast-concrete building by Geddes Brecher Qualls Cunningham. Embedded within this former Police Administration Building’s walls is a dark heritage of racial injustice and police brutality. In light of the Black Lives Matter movement, preserving this heritage as-is would be at odds with the values and needs of a local community that needs emotional, social, and economic healing. In turn, panelists of The Pasts and Futures of the Roundhouse at Beth Sholom Synagogue pointed to the importance of extensive discussions between all stakeholders in determining the building’s future.

Preservation can take many forms, as shown by Thomas Jefferson University’s Hassrick House demonstration and tour. During the demonstration, tour attendees stopped at several stations to learn preservation techniques and tools ranging from LiDAR to client-developer mediation to material conservation. The last station my group visited tested the porosity of the house’s unique Pennsylvania Bethayres concrete blocks. We adhered porosity test tubes to different CMUs and learned that the blocks absorbed water at vastly different rates. Thus, each unit required a different preservation treatment.

The porosity test, the Roundhouse, and many other stories I encountered during the Symposium attest that there is no “one-size-fits-all” treatment or solution. Some are best restored and turned into a museum, some adaptively reused for today’s needs, and–dare I say–some to make way for something new. Regardless of losses, gains, and continuities, an important takeaway for me from this Symposium is how different corners of society have different porosities for history and current events. We absorb what happens around us differently from the next person, and collective actions we take going forward should reflect that. Furthermore, sensitivity to current and historical contexts sets preservation as an activity unique.

As architecture enthusiasts, professionals, and academics, however, I hope we continue to be included among the many stakeholders in these discussions. As Jack Pyburn argued in his presentation on the Roundhouse, preserving architecture does not have to mean celebrating a dark past. Just as history, values, and people are complex and ever-changing, so should be our architectural interpretations and uses. Architecture can serve as the connective tissue between past and present that allows us to move forward without forgetting where we have been.

About the Author

Shelby Kendrick is a doctoral student of architecture at UC Berkeley in the History, Theory, and Society program. Prior to her pursuit of a career in academia, Shelby was an environmental analyst and cultural resources specialist in California. These experiences inspired her academic interests in historic preservation, history and theory of modern architecture, and political ecology.

Originally from Houma, Louisiana, Shelby obtained her BA in History from the University of New Orleans before moving to California in 2014. In the following three years, she graduated from Sacramento State’s Public History program and completed numerous internships in museum studies, archives, cultural resource management, and historic preservation. Shelby currently holds a position as Graduate Student Researcher for UC Berkeley’s Future Histories Lab. She is also an editor, and the incoming co-editor-in-chief, for the university’s architecture journal, Room One Thousand.

Yo! Reflections on the 2022 Docomomo US National Symposium

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