Walter Farley House listed as one of “Florida’s 11 to Save”

Docomomo International would like to draw your attention that Florida Trust for Historic Preservation listed the Venice home once owned by “The Black Stallion” author Walter Farley on “Florida’s 11 to Save” this summer at a virtual conference hosted in conjunction with Florida Main Street. Each year, the Florida Trust for Historic Preservation announces its 11 to Save program as part of its Florida Preservation Conference. The program is designed to increase the public’s awareness of the urgent need to save Florida’s historic resources, and to empower local preservationists and preservation groups in their efforts to preserve Florida’s rich history. Inclusion…

Central tower of the Hospital San Juan de Dios

The City Mayor of Bogota, Colombia has decided to demolish the Central tower of the Hospital San Juan de Dios, an iconic building of the healthcare modernist architecture in Latin America. The building its part of a healthcare complex with an eclectic architecture dating from 1918, this barbaric action it is an attempt to the architecture patrimony and exemplifies the lack of understanding and respect for the modern movement architecture in Bogota, Colombia. The history of the San Juan de Dios Institution start in 1603 when by Royal order of the Spain Kingdom the “San Juan de Dios Catholic Fraternity”…

Sign the petition – Save the River Pavilion

Docomomo International is now appealing to your foremost interest and concern regarding the situation of the River Pavilion in Fairfield Park by Carter Couch. “City of Yarra is set to demolish a significant portion of the important River Pavilion to Fairfield Park to build a large storage shed. An important piece of our modern architectural heritage, carefully designed by significant local architects to support the adjacent bluestone amphitheatre while maintaining public space and views to the river, the River Pavilion has been nominated to the Victorian Heritage Register. Currently slated for demolition, the River Pavilion was originally commissioned by the…

Finsbury Health Centre

Docomomo International is now appealing to your foremost interest and concern regarding the situation of the Finsbury Health Centre. The building, opened in 1938 and now listed Grade I, is recognized internationally as a beacon of social and architectural progress that anticipated the foundation of the NHS by a clear decade. The building was largely the brainchild of two immigrants, Dr. Chuni Katial (1898-1978) a local ward councillor and chairman of Finsbury Council’s Public Health Committee, and architect Berthold Lubetkin (1901-1990) who had arrived in England in 1931 after experiencing the Russian Revolution and being fired with visions of modern…

Szombierki Power Plant under threat of demolition

Docomomo International is now appealing to your foremost interest and concern regarding the situation of the Szombierki Power Plant in Bytom, established in 1920. “The ‘cathedral of industry’, designed by the Zillmann brothers (Georg and Emil), is still an impressive symbol of the Industrial Revolution. This Modernist power plant, with huge potential for reuse and locally registered as a monument, is threatened by the risk of demolition. Szombierki operated for almost 80 years and was one of the last hard-coal powered electric power plants in Europe. Over the past two decades, the building has been empty. Despite several attempts to…

Demolition of the MLC Building. Sign the petition!

Docomomo International became aware by Docomomo Australia about the worrying situation of the current heritage-listed MLC Building. The MLC Building is set to be demolished under a development application for a new commercial office building submitted to North Sydney Council. The MLC Building has been an important part of the history and streetscape of North Sydney for over 60 years and remains one of the few buildings in the North Sydney CBD possessing any good civic or aesthetic qualities. The design of the MLC North Sydney building commenced early in 1954 and by mid-1955 Council approval had been obtained for…

Former Kindergarten in Visaginas under threat of demolition

Docomomo International is now appealing to your foremost interest and concern regarding the situation of the former first kindergarten in Visaginas, Lithuania, which is now under the threat of demolition. “Visaginas (formerly named Snechkus) is a relatively new town (44 years old). It was built as a satellite town of Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant (almost identical to Chernobyl NPP). The whole town is a monument of soviet modernist architecture. In the 1970s an original ensemble of two twin buildings was designed for Sniechkus settlement: Vilties str. 3 (former kindergarten nr. 1, put into operation in 1978) and Vilties str. 1…

Xenia Hotel in Arta under threat

Docomomo International became aware by Docomomo Greece that the Xenia hotel in Arta, an important modern site, is under threat. Xenia Hotel in Arta (1958) was designed by architect Dionysis Zivas (1928-2018), a Professor at NTU Athens’s School of Architecture since the 1970s, Dean of the School for many years, and a renowned scholar in the field of architectural heritage (Europa Nostra medal, Gottfried von Herder Preis etc.). The hotel was built inside the Byzantine fortress of the city, which then functioned as a prison. In addition to the small and discreet 40-bed hotel, the design included a new small…

In defense of the Brazilian National Historic and Artistic Heritage Institute (IPHAN)

Docomomo Brazil shared with Docomomo International the letter concerning the future of the National Historic and Artistic Heritage Institute (IPHAN). “The FORUM OF ENTITIES IN DEFENSE OF THE BRAZILIAN CULTURAL HERITAGE, comprising several social entities that gather professionals and researchers from different areas engaged in preserving cultural heritage, together with IPHAN Council Members Representatives of the Civil Society, and IPHAN former Presidents, expresses its concern with the Brazilian Government’s actions on the National Historic and Artistic Heritage Institute (IPHAN). Since 2016 and, more critically, after the beginning of the current Brazilian government, in 2019, Brazil underwent a period of many…

Save the Foyer Maurice Ravel

Docomomo International would like to draw your attention to the alarming situation of the Foyer Maurice Ravel, Nanterre, France, and express its full support to all the initiatives conducted in order to preserve this building. A remarkable place, located between Nanterre and La Defense, which since 1979 has welcomed hundreds of student-musicians from around the world, enrolled in the most prestigious music schools and conservatories in Ile de France. Its Auditorium was not only a work and rehearsal space for residents, but it also hosted many music festivals between 1979 and 1990 where great musicians played. Design by Jacques Kalisz,…