CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS!

HELP WANTED: CPA is looking for volunteers to assist in oral history and survey work to document Cincinnati’s Modernist legacy.  No experience necessary.  Training will be provided in multiple sessions convenient to your schedule. 

While often thought of as an architecturally conservative city, Cincinnati boasts a significant legacy of Mid-Century Modern architecture. Long undervalued, these residences, public buildings and commercial structures of the post-World War II era are now sought after by a new generation of Modern enthusiasts.

Despite its renewed popularity, however, “Cincinnati’s Modernist legacy is a fragile one.” “[N]ever broadly ‘popular’ in Cincinnati,” it is frequently unappreciated, undervalued, and poorly preserved; many fine examples have been lost or unsympathetically remodeled, and many more are endangered” (Udo Greinacher, et al, Fifty From the 50’s: Modern Architecture and Interiors in Cincinnati [2008]).

CPA’s Documenting Modernism project proposes to raise awareness of the Cincinnati area’s great Modern buildings, while creating a permanent record for use by researchers and planners.  Volunteers will capture priceless firsthand information by interviewing surviving members of Cincinnati’s first generation of Modernist architects and builders, as well as original clients.  Because survey work is an integral part of preservation, volunteers will also assist in surveying the area’s collection of modernist buildings. 

Persons interested in volunteering should contact Rebecca Stone at 513-721-4506 or info@cincinnatipreservation.org.  Thank you for helping to make this project a success!

Posted: 8/28/09