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This is a story about the Carmel Fallon Building that underscores the reality that even some twenty years after Robert Venturi's "Complexity & Contradiction in Architecture" and some thirty years after the first high profile preservation battles such as the effort to save Pennsylvania Station, the practice of using applied ornament in architecture still seems illicit, immoral and unnecessary to many people.
On March 7, the Community Center Project voluntarily presented an update on the status of the restoration work on the Fallon building to the Landmarks Preservation Advisory Board (LPAB). Towards the end of that presentation, the architect Jane Cee mentioned that the plaster ornament on the friezes around the building would not be restored or replaced. The frieze at the top of the second and third floors had been originally been made up of a series of plaster garlands of leaves and ribbons. These had been largely in place when the Community Center Project (CCP) took possession of the building, but many had fallen off in the periods before and after construction started.
Ms. Cee maintained that Nibbi Brothers (the contractor) had quoted the CCP a price in the tens of thousands of dollars to replace the ornament and that this was beyond their budget. She also was of the opinion that the ornament was not important and that no one would notice its absence. The Landmarks board position was that they "encouraged the project sponsors that if there are any savings in the budget or additional fund raisings, that [it be used so that] the replacement of the appliqué (garland) will not be allowed to fall out, and be given some priority attention and be saved, if possible. The Board feels that the appliqué (garland) is an important part of the aesthetic of the building." (from the minutes of the LPAB, March 7, 2001)
The Friends voiced their support for the restoration of the plasterwork at the hearing and subsequently contacted various plaster specialists to get other opinions on the cost of replacement. By chance we contacted one of the people who had bid on the job who said it could definitely be done for less than $8000. The Friends lobbied the LPAB over several months to encourage them to act, arguing that the ornament was an essential part of the exterior architecture of the building:
"We feel that the plasterwork ornament (the continuous row of ribbon garlands) is an extremely important part of the look of the building. This style of architecture is to a great extent a system of ornament. This building, although Victorian, uses an Italian Renaissance Classical system of ornament. Small fluted pilasters frame the windows and a horizontal beam (the entablature) appears to be supported by them. An ornamental band (the frieze) is the enriched part of the entablature.
"When friezes, or other larger members, are to be enriched, the ornaments may be significant, and serve to indicate the destination, or use of the building; the rank, qualities, profession, and achievements of the owner" American Builder's Companion, 1806, page 29.
Carmel Fallon, by having an enriched frieze was communicating to the world her wealth and position. To remove the frieze changes the essential nature of the exterior, changing it into a plainer, less important building. It is as if you took a painting and decided that you didn't really need all the reds because they were too bright, or decided to cut the loud notes in a piece of music because they were too imposing. You completely have changed the nature of the work."
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