|
These are not really "best" and "worst" lists.
They are my idea of noteworthy architecture – either because
they advancing the quality of the built environment in Northern
New England or because they are setting it back. This is no exhaustive
survey – as you’ll see, I tend to focus on buildings that
lie along my life’s path.
| The
criteria for getting on the list: |
| |
Must
be in Maine, New Hampshire or Vermont |
| |
Must
have been constructed or renovated after 1950 |
| |
Must
be accesible for public viewing and scrutiny
(thus the many innovative homes I’ve seen are not listed) |
| |
Must
have been intended as "architecture" – mass-produced
commercial structures are excluded |
 |
Tip-Top
Building,
White River Junction, VT
Matt
Bucey (and friends)
|
|
| |
Edward
T. Gignoux U.S. Courthouse renovation,
Portland, Andrea Leers |
| |
Haystack
Mountain School of Crafts,
Brooklin, Edward Larrabee Barnes |
| |
Hopkins
Center at Dartmouth College,
Hanover, Wallace K. Harrison |
| |
Hunger
Mountain Food Co-op,
Montpelier, Gossens Bachman |
| |
Kelleher
Samitz Volk Annex,
Burlington, John Anderson Studio |
| |
Payson
Wing of Portland Museum of Art,
Portland, Henry Cobb |
| |
Performing
Arts Center at Middlebury College,
Middlebury, Hardy Holtzman Pfeiffer |
| |
Philips
Exeter Library,
Exeter, Louis Kahn |
| |
Rauner
Special Collections Library at Dartmouth College,
Hanover, Venturi Scott-Brown |
| |
State
House Addition,
Montpelier, The Burley Partnership |
| |
Zimmerman
House,
Manchester, Frank Lloyd Wright |
| Hall of
Blame |
|
Berry Library
at Dartmouth College, Hanover
One entered the library like a god – one scuttles in now
like the oppressed workers of the Amoskeag Mills in Manchester
that the architects used as inspiration |
|
Bicentennial
Hall at Middlebury College, Middlebury
Imagine building what looks like a maximum security prison in
the rolling fields between the Adirondacks and the Green Mountains. |
|
Cumberland
County Courthouse addition, Portland
Windowless, cheaply made courtrooms – civic architecture
for the age of avarice. |
|
Department
of Transportation Building addition, Concord
The original, early 1960s building has an international-style
integrity; the addition does not even pretend to harmonize. |
|
Morrill
Library renovation, University of Vermont, Burlington
A great H.H. Richardson building, reduced to dusty uselessness. |
|
Ohrstrom
Library at St. Paul’s School, Concord
So beautiful and opulent it’s evil – a monument to
privilege and elitism. |
|
University
of Maine School of Law, Portland
All it needs is a giant statute of V.I Lenin on the roof and
it’s a dead ringer for for the 1933 competition-winning
design for the (never built) Palace of Soviets adjacent to the
Kremlin in Moscow |
|
Verizon
Arena, Manchester
A hulking momument to thoughtless urbanism – classic chamber-of-commerce
thinking. |
|
Warren T.
Rudman U.S. Courthouse, Concord
Remember the Alamo? Well, what’s it doing in New England? |
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