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James Rose Center Rehabilitation Project |
Projects
Sunderland Veterans’ Memorial and Park
Durfee Gardens
A Strolling Garden
A Plastic Garden
A Kettle Hole Garden
Bartlett Court
The James Rose Center
Private Access
Clark's Passage
Complete List of Projects
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For its unique modern spatial language, its expression of an alternative
approach to conventional post-war suburban residential development
and as the constantly changing laboratory of one of landscape architectures
most inventive minds, the Ridgewood home of James Rose is one of the
twentieth centurys most important landscapes.
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Begun in 1953, it was conceived of to accommodate rapid twentieth
century change. It would be "a metamorphosis," Rose wrote,
"such as we find commonly in nature." |
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Consistent with this, the design changed dramatically during the
almost forty years Rose lived here. |
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By the mid-1980s, however, neglect, fire and water damage threatened
complete destruction. |
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As Rose approached his death in 1991, the rehabilitation of his
"magnum opus" began with a vision for establishing a not-for-profit
educational foundation dedicated to improving the environment. The
James Rose residence would be reincarnated as the James Rose Center
for Landscape Architectural Research and Design. |
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We established the foundation after Rose died in 1991 and the
physical rehabilitation began in 1993. The problem of how to preserve
something, the essential characteristic of which is change was engaged
as a design problem. The vision for the James Rose Center needed to
be strong enough to preserve what Rose had begun, but flexible enough
to accommodate its new life. |
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Support systems were revamped. Fire damage was repaired. The leaking
roof was rebuilt and Roses roof garden was reconstructed with
only minor changes to aid its continuing survival. |
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Consistent with Roses aesthetic, nothing that was not broken
or still of use was discarded. Salvageable wood from rotting fences
was reconditioned and woven with new lumber to create a new expression
of an important edge first conceived of by Rose in response to limiting
zoning regulations. |
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Roses outdoor mural, "River of Hospitality," was
reconditioned, leading ones eye again through the open door
into the shelter and reinforcing Roses important conviction
about the relationship between two-dimensional, architectural and
landscape space. |
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Garden pools were rebuilt and important planting edges re-established
so space could again be defined and serve the purposes of the center.
Much work was (and is) performed by carefully supervised student
interns who stay at the center during the summers as part of its
educational program. (For a more complete discussion of the James
Rose Center, and of Rose himself, please visit our web site at www.jamesrosecenter.org.)
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Through its ongoing rehabilitation and reincarnation as a landscape
research and study center, Roses enduring creation has entered
a new stage of its metamorphosis. But it remains consistent with its
origins as an important modern work and serves the same larger purpose
it always had for Roseto pose for us elemental questions about
the nature of design. "Change is the essence," Rose observed.
"To reveal what is always there is the trick. The metamorphosis
is seen minute by minute, season by season, year by year. Through
this looking glass, finish is another word for death." |
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The James Rose Residence/Study Center has been recognized for
its original design, its rehabilitation and its educational programs.
It has received numerous prestigious awards including the American
Society of Landscape Architects Classic Award and Centennial Medallion.
It has been published in a vast array of periodicals and books including
"Progressive Architecture" and Landscape Architecture"
magazine. |
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