Antonin Nechodoma, Architect, 1877-1928
The Prairie School in the Caribbean
by Tomas S. Marvel
Foreword by H. Allen Brooks
University Press of Florida, 1994
ISBN 0-8130-1269-4
FOREWORD
The architectural career of Antonin Nechodoma holds special interest for anyone concerned
with the modern movement that emerged early in the twentieth century. First of all
there is the work itself, as carefully document ba Thomas S. Marvel in the following text, and then there is the larger perspective into which this episode nicely fits
and by so doing increases our knowledge and undertanding of a development thet, while
purely American in origin, was international in its ramifications. The greater than
local significance of Nechodoma's work is recognized in the subtitle, The Prairie School
in the Caribbean, and it is this broader theme that adds yet another later of interest
to the career of this architect practicing in Puerto Rico.
Although the Prairie School originated in the American Midwest and owed much to the
inspiration and guidance of Louis H. Sullivan and
Frank Lloyd Wright, it was also
deeply andebted to the social, intelectual and artistic climate of the times. There
existed a desire to create a fresh and original architectural expression that responded
to the regional needs rather than to past precedent and which simultaneously accepted
the values espoused by the Arts and Crafts Movement thet by the early century dominated
middle-class taste and was being promulgated by thenewly founded homemaker magazines.
Architecturally this was the heyday of the bungalow that was first popularized in
California and revered for its lack of ostentation as well as for its 'homey" qualities
which were emphasized by the broad sheltering roof, natural (often unpainted) materials,
and the manner in which it hugged the ground. Robust Craftsman furniture, then in
vogue, complemented the rustic interior of these bungalow homes. Several well-known
writers of the time actually classified the Pairie School as a regional, Midwest variation
of the bungalow style, and although there is a certain kinship the bungalow never
possessed an equal degree of refinement, sophistication, or brilliance in the quality of its designs or the organization of the interior space.
The Prairie School, like any great movement in the creative arts, enjoyed a life of
its own and ultimatly left its imprint in various parts of the world, whether Nechodoma's
Puerto Rico, Walter Burley Griffin's Australia (where he also created the plan for the federal capitalcity of Canberra in addition to his architectural works), Wright's
renown construtions in Japan or his more global impact through the publication of
his famous Wasmuth folio in 1910 that would influence architects as disparate as
Ludwig Mie van der Rohe in Germany and Antonin Nechodoma in Puerto Rico.
Just how these forces - whether bungalows or publications or the Arts and Crafts -
impacted on the architecture of Antonin Nechodoma and resulted in the unique response
to this time and place is the fascinating story of this book.
