[building babel]

Good point about the "held in high professional esteem" boy's club - which didn't include Prii - that built those non-fab institutional and corporate structures. But I doubt if Prii would've wanted to be part of that club anyway. And I suspect they wouldn't have wanted him in it. Did he even think of himself as a modernist? He obviously despised the box. He's our Gaudi, our Hunderwasser ...

 

[building babel]

Ooooh!
Sudden fortuitous circumstances ...
My friend, who knows the good widow Prii, has arranged dinner for the three of us. I'll ask her if the Nightmare On Elm deserves to be detonated, etc. etc. and will report back ...
Y'r most humbl srvn't, Babel.

 

[ganjavih]

Tell her that you know a few people who would be willing to offer their services free of charge to help with the demolition.

 

[adma]

He's our Gaudi, our Hunderwasser ...

Or our Morris Lapidus--which may be most pertinent, as the most typical Prii-bash of yore was along the lines of "Miami Beach Modern".

And even as our Gaudi/H'wasser, there's a built-in dilemma: that is, as so-called rebels and breakers-of-the-box, they're too Andrew-Lloyd-Webber-musical middlebrow in their appeal...

 

[building babel]

... though bashes of yore often don't stand the test of time either. And Gaudi has been a huge inspiration to artists and architects in addition to being a darlin' of the masses .... so the "appeal" dilemma, if one exists, may reside with those who set themselves above those groups.

 

[building babel]

... Anyhow, on to Mrs. Prii ...

We met her last night at the RCYC dock, and boarded the little launch to the islands.

What a lovely evening. Cutting across the smooth waters of the harbour felt like a scene from "Death In Venice". All we lacked was the Adagietto from Mahler's 5th, and Tadzio in a striped bathing suit studiously ignoring us.

She didn't talk about Uno very much. Obviously they were madly in love and she misses him terribly.

They arrived by ship in 1952 and asked a taxi driver to take them to the cheapest hotel. They had very little money and Uno didn't speak any English. He studied architecture at the U of T and she studied too, becoming a librarian, though obviously not a fiendish one.

She said that Eric Arthur was very fond of Uno and, in a sense, discovered him.

They lived in several parts of town, including Castlefield Avenue ( the house is still there ), and on a large lot backing onto a ravine in East York ( his Spanish style renovations were destroyed by a later owner ), and in another couple of locations. She also mentioned another Prii designed building in Toronto that I don't believe is commonly known - though I'm keeping that to myself.

Uno Prii was obvioulsy a self confident designer who knew he was talented, was non-competitive, and had many interests beyond architecture. I don't think he needed to be part of an "in-crowd" to get a sense of his self worth. He suffered from poor health for many years, and I expect that is why we don't have more of his buildings. But he turned to his paintings and his ceramics when he wasn't designing buildings. He didn't exhibit his artwork commercially though. He expressed his artistic sensibility in many ways other than buildings.

The Prii's loved going to the RCYC, and sailing. They raced, but not competitively. Prii liked barbecueing too. He sounds like he was fun.

The clubhouse over there is solidly elegant, with a broad verandah. We sat outside for dinner, facing across the water at the city. There were about 30 diners.

Mrs. Prii loves the harbour. She went to the National Ballet and the COC at Harbourfront recently ( note: she must've arrived early to get a seat! ) and sometimes goes to the concerts at the Music garden. She surfs the net, and emails. She was interested in hearing about Spacing magazine, so I'll get her a few copies. She was touched that Uno's work is still enjoyed and I told her that 77 Elm is my favourite. I declined to tell her some members of our forum want to dynamite it.

The RCYC has a large property - which they rent of course - and my friend and I had a good walk around. Many boats are docked there and people stay over in them. There are rooms in the clubhouse too. I saw the launch 'Hiawatha' in dry dock.

At sunset the club flag and the Canadian flag were lowered and a small gun was fired. There are two large cannons on the lawn - thank goodness they remained silent. A small 'plane came in to land on the island at dusk. When it was dark we made our way along the lit dock and boarded the launch back to the city. Gulls followed us. The thin sliver of the moon was red. More gulls were bobbing in the water just off shore when we arrived.

 

[adma]

... though bashes of yore often don't stand the test of time either. And Gaudi has been a huge inspiration to artists and architects in addition to being a darlin' of the masses .... so the "appeal" dilemma, if one exists, may reside with those who set themselves above those groups.

Although IMO the kind of "bashing" Gaudi might merit these days is the polar opposite of what once might have been--that is, rather than being "irrational" and "weird", he's now a cloying kitsch icon in spite of himself.

Indeed, Gaudi's present-day fate practically reverses the from-kitsch-to-art trajectory enjoyed by the likes of Lapidus and Prii. Nothing to do w/what he's produced; more the way w/how he's embraced.

Back to Prii: I'm not dis-advocating him, so much as I'm advocating a "total picture" approach t/w his era--a slightly different way of bringing the "set themselves above" crowd back down to earth...

 

[building babel]

Prii was interviewed for "Taddle Creek" in '99. The writer, Alfred Holden, notes:

"Prii did, among other things, line drawings that appeared in 'No Mean City'. ( Eric ) Arthur was a Modernist, but as Prii sees it, his professor broke out of the box: "We have him to thank for the new City Hall," the swoopy design by Finn Viljo Revell that was landed by international competition. Perhaps a taste for curves and joyful flamboyance ran in Baltic genes: Prii was born in Estonia, which shares its language with Finland. Baltic blood ran in the veins of Morris Lapidus, one of the twentieth century's most flamboyant architects, designer of the extravagant Fontainbleu hotel in Miami beach."

"I got tired, eventually, of these straight boxes," Prii said in 1999. "I thought, 'let's have a little fun. Why not create a different style that would make the buildings more interesting to people, and more appealing, and have their own life and character?' I was painting in my free time, doing some sculptures. So it became natural to me."

According to the article, Prii admired Lapidus. The interview concludes:

"So, like Lapidus in the U.S., Prii found himself more popular than acclaimed. "I never actually won a medal or any recognition from my fellow architects," he said. "They thought my work just looked funny. 'Why would Uno Prii do such a thing?' They didn't like me. They didn't like my work at all." He didn't care. "My designs are original," said Prii. "And originality is the hardest thing to come by."

 

[building babel]

By the way, Morris Lapidus designed a Roots store here in 1997.

Does anyone know where it is? I don't.

 

[adma]

...or was?

(Surely, someone in the Budman-Bald household would know...)

 

[building babel]

Solution: Promenade Mall!

Lapidus, born 1902, designed four Roots stores in Canada in 1997, according to a little book on him in Ballenford Books.