Cleveland Real Estate News

(I am very excited to have my friend and real estate colleague Ines guest authoring today! She is an architect besides being a Realtor®. Ines has a passion for art and is also a fabulous blogger from Miami!). She is writing about one of her passions, Modernism — you just might find some interesting Cleveland references here as well! Thanks, Ines!!!) 3C

I’m sure you guys have no idea who I am or why I’m writing here, all I can tell you is that I am honored that Carole would ask me to guest write here at Cleveland Real Estate News. I am a Miami Realtor with a passion for buildings and good space, so I hope to be able to transmit that passion to you, although I have to admit that piling Modernism in Cleveland into one single article is no easy task.

I can’t talk about Modern Architecture without defining it first, and to do that we need to look at architecture history. When it comes to learning about History of Architecture I think of Spiro Kostof’s book “A History of Architecture settings and rituals” – In the book, Spiro says the following:

“The history of modern architecture has come to mean 2 rather different things. If we take “modern” to cover a period of time stretching down to our present day, the history of modern architecture is an account of the major events, ideas, and people that shaped the built environment during this period. But “modern” has also been made to stand for something more specific – an attitude toward the built environment, a contemporary style of design thought to be unique and proper to our age. As such, it developed its own exclusive history. We speak of the Modern Movement in reference to a formalist, functional, and moral streak in the architecture of the last one hundred years, and we reach back as far as the eighteenth century to pluck instances and names that foreshadow it.”

What this means is that modern architecture has been shaped by history, events and the environment. The Modern movement, which is seen not only in architecture, but also in fashion, furniture, cars, etc., has developed from visual form changes like in Renaissance and Baroque Design, to economic and technological forces that affect building like the Industrial Revolution.

Modern Architecture and its intricacies are developing as we speak, although the true “Modern Movement” is behind us. If Cleveland Real Estate is anything like Miami Real Estate, it has been bombarded by a need for modern architecture and finishes. Everywhere you look you will see Cleveland real estate descriptions that read, “modern gem”, “contemporary space”, “modernism at its best”…….I think you get the picture.

In order to understand today’s modernism; you must go back to the modern classics to see what they produced almost one century ago. Did you know that Modern Architecture Master Phillip Johnson, designer of the famous Glass House, was born in Cleveland in 1906?

Did you know that Cleveland’s Trust Tower was designed by none other than Marcel Breuer, one of the father’s of modern architecture? (I happen to own a Wassily Chair designed by Breuer).

Some otherModern Architecture Masters include: Le Corbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright, Louis Khan, Walter Gropius, Mies Van der Rohe, Richard Neutra…….and so many more. I encourage you to look into the works of each because they inspire.

When it comes to the Modern Movement, Cleveland has had major contributions. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum was designed by one of our current Modern Architecture Stars, I.M. Pei, who also designed Miami’s World Trade Center (formerly known as the Centrust Tower).

MoCa Cleveland is also a great source for our contemporary movement. Relating art to our current world is crucial to understanding architecture. There are also events occurring throughout the year which I’m sure Carole will keep you up to date with.

The modern movement although over, is not over yet, and as confusing as that may seem, anytime you see and experience simplified cubic masses, full of asymmetry with sleek and simple finishes, that use light and shadow as crucial design elements……you will be looking at Modern Architecture – Ines

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