Centuries of Hands - Hooker, Van Dorn

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Résumé :
St. Francis of Assisi Church in Taos, New Mexico, is one of the most widely recognized buildings in the United States. It has been photographed by thousands of people who have visited it including professional photographers, and painted by scores of artists in various media. Its image has appeared in books, magazines, newspapers and travel brochures. But the church did not always look like it does today. Since its original construction in the early nineteenth century, it has gone through many periods of remodeling. In the recent past, St. Francis of Assisi Church has been the focus of historic preservation by a devoted congregation and the priests who led them. Their united effort saved the church from serious deterioration and abandonment. An annual program of replastering with mud in addition to repair and repainting are keeping the church in better condition than ever before. The writing of this book was inspired by this effort....

Biographie:
Van Dorn Hooker II was born in 1921 in Carthage, Texas. After serving in World War II as a ground radio operator in India, he studied architecture at the University of Texas, Austin, and did graduate work at the University of California, Berkeley. He and his wife, Peggy, also an architect, eventually settled in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Van Dorn at first worked for John Gaw Meem, whose firm had designed several early buildings at the University of New Mexico in the Pueblo Mission Style. Van Dorn established his own private practice on Canyon Road, where he became a recognized expert on restoring historic adobe churches. In the early 1960s, as it was about to undergo a huge expansion, the University of New Mexico hired Van Dorn as its first University Architect. One of his favorite and at the time most controversial projects was overseeing the landscaping of a dirt faculty parking lot on the Main Campus, the centerpiece of which is the now beloved Duck Pond. He was elected a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects. Van Dorn's watercolors and many articles and books, including Memories, Memorials, and Monuments, reflect his appreciation for New Mexico's natural environment, its architecture, its people, and their stories. He died in 2015.

Sommaire:
Van Dorn Hooker, a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, was the university architect for the University of New Mexico from 1963 until he retired in 1987. Prior to that he was a partner in the architectural firm of McHugh and Hooker, Bradley P. Kidder and Associates, Santa Fe, architects for many churches in New Mexico including Our Lady of Guadalupe in Santa Fe and St. James Episcopal Church in Taos. He followed the restoration of St. Francis of Assisi Church for many years and his collection of notes and photographs made this book possible....