Art Moderne With a Bubbly Personality

The Art Moderne commercial building at 2201 East 46th Street in Indianapolis is currently undergoing renovations that uncovered its original limestone facade with striking cursive font and delightful bubbles for Sutho Suds, a former Indy-based detergent brand that did frothy sales during WWII but was all washed up in the years following the war. Founded in 1943 by husband and wife team of Paul and Frances Towsley, the company quickly outgrew their factory at 1201 Cornell Avenue and began planning to double their factory space. 

 

When the building was erected in 1945, the company was doing very well and had the capital for a much expanded space and even had plans to build a factory in Chicago. However, due to the rise in new competitors during the post war period, sales quickly spiraled down the drain and the company went into receivership just a few months after moving into their new building.

The building housed a lot of other businesses since 1945. Most recently it was the headquarters for Double 8 Foods. Before that it held 7-11 Super Markets and even the architecture firm Odle/Burke Architects.

But the question on everyone's mind when Mark Dollase from Indiana Landmarks posted the Sutho Suds facade photographs to Facebook this week was: who was the architect who designed bubbles for limestone pilasters on this building? That architect was no other than Joseph Cezar, whose collection can be found at the Drawings + Documents Archive. He may be the greatest Indianapolis architect that no one knows about. The Sutho Suds drawings, however, were a mystery in the collection. Without an address or location on the drawings, we didn't know where the building was located. Because the sign was covered with a subsequent facade, no one else knew where it was, either. Thanks to inquisitive architecture fans and social media, we now have a complete record in our database and Indianapolis architecture fans now know a little bit more about Joseph Cezar's work!

Many thanks to Sharon Butsch Freeland who helped piece together this puzzle and graciously provided the newspaper clippings regarding Sutho Suds and the building.

Images: Sutho Suds building photograph by Mark Dollase, 2016; Sutho Suds building and signage drawings by Joseph O. Cezar, 1945; Sutho Suds advertisements from the Indianapolis Star, 1944, collected by Sharon Butsch Freeland, 2016.

Drawings + Documents Archive: The Movie!

Learn about the Drawings + Documents Archive by watching our new, LEGO stop-motion movie on YouTube! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8wSirnkAYo) Follow Sarah, a student at the College of Architecture and Planning, as she navigates primary source researching at the archive and learns about all of the resources available to her--from original architectural drawings to 3-D prints.

Archives staff is incredibly grateful for the talents of its graduate assistants, particularly Raluca Filimon who directed the project, and for the enthusiasm of our narrator, Paul Jones, who stopped in one morning to remind us to buy donuts in the atrium and became an integral part of the project. 

Relax, it's still summer!

 

 

 

Despite the back-to-school sales seen cropping up at the stores, according to the calendar it's still July and nearly a month before students return to classes here at Ball State University. It's still summer! Spend some time outside in the hammock, on the Adirondack, or a really cool mid-century chair before tackling that shopping list of pencils and Trapper Keepers.

Images: Russell Walcott patio photograph by Jessie Tarbox Beals, ca. 1935, Trowbridge and Beals Photographs; O. C. Catterlin house photograph for Fran Schroeder, 1952, Fran Schroeder Architectural Records; Lawn chair design drawing by Joseph Cezar, 1943. Drawings + Documents Archive, Ball State University.

Architectural Holidays

Architect Joseph Cezar highlights the banner proclaiming Peace on Earth Good Will to Men that was such an important part of Edward Pierre's early holiday displays on Monument Circle, and adds a personal message on a separate banner to make the scene fitting for this 1952 holiday card from him and his wife, Betty. The card is a reprint from one of Cezar's pencil drawings.


Image: Christmas card from Joe and Betty Cezar, 1952. Joseph O. Cezar Architectural Records, Drawings + Documents Archive, Ball State University.

Indianapolis Home Show

The Indianapolis Home Show has played a vital role in the development of architecture and design as well as promoting home ownership in Indianapolis from its beginning in 1922. Many of the architects reflected in the collections (Richard Bishop, Edward Pierre, Fran Schroeder, Leslie Ayres, Joseph Cezar, among others) participated in the event and therefore we have architectural drawings, ephemeral materials such as brochures and newspaper clippings, photographs, and other material related to this yearly Indianapolis event.

Depicted above is the souvenir booklet for the 1941 Indianapolis Home Show, which showcased three homes: the $5,000 All-American Four-Star Home by Pierre & Wright and built by Thelma D. Schaffner (the first woman builder at the Home Show); the Homemaker by architect Charles D. Ward and built by Bridges & Graves; and the Manor House by architect Leslie F. Ayres and built by S. E. Arvin, which is depicted above. All three houses were landscaped by James H. Lowry.

Typically the show organizers created just one full-scale home. In 1940, the year prior, the show organizers had also created three full-scale homes and were building on the success of that show. 1940 and 1941 would be the only years with three full-scale homes on display. The following year, the organizers decided to discontinue the show during World War II and wouldn't have another display until 1946, after the war ended.

The life of the display homes extended well past their short life on display for the thousands of visitors that flocked to the tour the homes every year. All three of the 1941 homes were dismantled after their exhibition and reconstructed throughout the city. The All-American Four-Star Home now resides at 2708 E. 58th Street, the Homemaker is at 5805 N. Oxford, and the Manor House is at 6085 N. Olney, all in Indianapolis.

The All-American Four Star Home would later be featured in the 1947 holiday issue of Popular Home magazine, shown below. The Pierre & Wright firm had disbanded earlier, in 1944, but Edward Pierre revisited the original design and created ten variations on the floor plan of the popular ranch-style house. Potential home builders were directed to order plans from Pierre at his office in the Architects' and Builders' Building in downtown Indianapolis.

You can find digitized items regarding contributions to the Indianapolis Home Show from the architecture firm Pierre & Wright, as well as Edward Pierre's work after the Pierre & Wright partnership dissolved, online in Ball State University Libraries' Digital Media Repository. Other items are available to view in the archives. For those intrigued by the history of the Indianapolis Home Show homes, you can read Indianapolis Home Show: Its History, Evolution, and Centerpiece Homes, an impressive and informative thesis written by Shannon L. Hill, for her Master of Science in Historic Preservation from Ball State University. Copies are available in Archives and Special Collections, as well as in the Architecture Library.

Images: Indianapolis Home Show booklet, 1941. Fran E. Schroeder Architectural Records, Drawings + Documents Archive, Archives and Special Collections, Ball State University Libraries.

Popular Home, 1947. Pierre & Wright Architectural Records, Drawings + Documents Archive, Archives and Special Collections, Ball State University Libraries.

Old Powder House, Arsenal Tech High School

Before the campus became a school it was the site of a U.S. Arsenal established by Civil War-era Indiana Governor Morton to supply troops west of the Cumberland Mountains. Construction was authorized by Congress on July 11, 1862, less than two weeks after the Confederate victory of the Seven Days battles in Virginia where thousands of soldiers perished and a month before the horrific Second Battle of Bull Run, also a Confederate victory in Virginia.

The U. S. Arsenal would replace the state arsenal, which was located elsewhere in the city. In 1863, General Buckingham chose the 75 acre site located half of a mile east of downtown Indianapolis which would eventually host the impressive Arsenal Building, barracks, commandant's residence, guardhouse, powder magazine, and barn. The original state arsenal site was discontinued when the U.S. Arsenal took over in 1864.

By 1903 the site was no longer needed by the U.S. Government and it was sold at auction for $154,000 to Winona Group, which operated the Winona Agricultural and Technical Institute on the campus until it went bankrupt in 1909. After that, a receiver was appointed for the property and in 1912 the Indiana Supreme Court decision placed title in the Indianapolis Board of School Commissioners with the condition that the grounds must be used for educational purposes.

Above is a pencil drawing from 1932 of the "Old Powder House" by Joseph O. Cezar, an Indianapolis architect who often drew sketches of city landmarks for use in Christmas cards or, seemingly, for his own amusement. From the amount of these types of sketches in his collection, he clearly seemed to be an architect that very much enjoyed the process of drawing. He was likely inspired to create this drawing due to the extensive remodeling to the Arsenal Building that was taking place that year by the local architecture firm D. A. Bohlen & Son.


Image: Old Powder House, [Arsenal] Tech High School, drawing, 1932. [21-32] Joseph O. Cezar Collection, Drawings + Documents Archive, Archives and Special Collections, Ball State University Libraries.

Recources: Arsenal Building, Indianapolis, Historical American Building Survey documentation, 1971. [DOC-71.012], Drawings + Documents Archive, Archives and Special Collections, Ball State University Libraries.

Yuletide Greetings, 1962

Joseph Cezar showcased his new Indianapolis Arts League building at 3103 N. Pennsylvania Street in Indianapolis for his 1962 holiday card. The small structure made a big impact due to its modernist design amongst a neighborhood of early 20th century residences. The Arts League outgrew this building 15 years later and moved north to Broad Ripple where they became the Indianapolis Arts Center.

Today, the building is an unfortunate shell of its original stylish and confident design. Here is a recent picture of it in Google Maps:

Images: Holiday card, 1962, Joseph O. Cezar Architectural Records Collection, Ball State University Libraries, Drawings + Documents Archive.

3103 N. Pennsylvania Street, Indianapolis, Ind., Accessed via Google Maps

Seasons greetings

It's often easy to forget that architects run their own business and have all the same marketing concerns that any small business owner would have. What better way to advertise your business, thank clients who have hired you in the past, and remind them that you're still around than to send out personally-designed Christmas cards. Not to mention that it gives the architects a chance to flex design skills in an entirely artistic way without worrying about pesky issues like load-bearing walls and where to install the HVAC system.


We find these cards in most of the collections here in the archive. Some depict local landmarks or important commissions the architect built that year. Others are solely focused on design, like a few that we found today while processing a new collection. We'll show those in an upcoming post.

Image: Holiday card, 1952, Joseph O. Cezar Architectural Records Collection, Ball State University Libraries, Drawings + Documents Archive.

Relax in Style: A Chair Design from the Joseph O. Cezar Architectural Records Collection

As you lounge in the backyard this summer on the lawn chair you most likely purchased through a catalog or at the local big box retailer, you might consider for a moment, in between page-turning and sips of cold, iced tea, how you would design your own perfect lawn chair. As consumers, we are typically removed from the creation of objects and are relegated to participating in the end life of a product. If you were responsible for creating a chair, what would you design? A recent discovery in the Drawings and Documents Archive illustrates one architect’s classic, yet innovative, design for the creation of the perfect lawn chair.

One of many interesting items in the Joseph O. Cezar Architectural Records Collection, this 1943 drawing Lawn Chair is an interpretation of the classic Adirondack style chair with its sloping back, plank boards and wide armrests. The history of the Adirondack chair began, not surprisingly, in the Adirondack Mountain resort area of New York. Created in 1903, its popularity quickly spread throughout the country due to its rugged construction combined with the high level of comfort it provides despite its lack of cushions. Forty years later, Indianapolis architect Joseph O. Cezar updated what was already a classic Adirondack design and incorporated two discrete wheels under the front chair legs for increased mobility. Clearly he was familiar with the design, but felt he could improve upon it by making a few alterations.

This drawing illustrates a period in Cezar’s life when he was establishing an architecture practice in Indiana and raising a growing family. Born in Austria in 1903, Cezar found his way to Indianapolis in 1938 after he graduated with a Bachelor’s of Architecture degree from Chicago Technical College. He worked in local architecture firms until he began his own practice in 1944.

Architecture and landscape architecture students and faculty can utilize design drawings such as this one to learn about the decision-making process involved in matching need, such as comfort in the out-of-doors, with a design solution, in this case a sturdy and mobile chair. The technology of creating a simple functional object like a chair that bears appropriate weight, maintains its shape, and is comfortably reliable for an extended use is communicated in the clear, concise drawing and exact specifications Cezar incorporated into his drawing.

Cezar’s creativity is evident in his creation of a chair design, but one can also see his superb artistic talents on display in other drawings within the Drawings and Documents Archive collection of his work. His architectural drawings often contain interior or exterior elevation drawings of the room or building, which serve to give the client a visual representation of the space that is often difficult to decipher solely from the architectural drawings. This extra touch must have been successful for Cezar, as the collection attests to clients who employed him for multiple jobs.

Some of the interesting, personal items in the collection illustrate Cezar’s wit and his love for his family. He drew announcements, such as the one pictured here, to celebrate the occasion of the birth of his first child.

Every Christmas he designed cards for the family with drawings of historic Indiana architecture or buildings that he designed, and these are represented in the collection by his preliminary drawings, mockups, and finished cards. The Joseph O. Cezar Architectural Records Collection will soon be available for online viewing through the Ball State University Libraries’ Digital Media Repository (http://libx.bsu.edu/).