The Belgian Friendship Building - (Race, Place, and Justice) by Kathleen James-Chakraborty & Katherine M Kuenzli & Bryan Clark Green (Hardcover)

About the Book

"In their account of the design and history of the Belgian Friendship Building, a landmark of modernist architecture on the campus of Virginia Union University in Richmond, Kathleen James-Chakraborty, Katherine Kuenzli, and Bryan Clark Green tell a circuitous story spanning three continents and half a century. Originally constructed to serve as the Belgian Pavilion for the New York World's Fair of 1939-40, and one of only two surviving buildings from that exhibition, this large-scale prefabricated structure was designed by a group of architects under the direction of Henry van de Velde. It remained in the United States following the Nazi invasion of Belgium, when it was given to VUU by the Belgian government-in-exile to prevent its repatriation (and presumably its destruction). Its transportation to and reassembly on VUU's campus, and the dedication of its 161-foot tower to honor Robert L. Vann, an alumnus and pioneering editor of the Pittsburgh Courier, doubled the scale of the university's facilities and provided an important counterpoise to the statues on Monument Avenue. In this richly illustrated book, readers will learn about a modern albeit temporary structure that for eighty-plus years has towered over a city that historically embraced traditional architecture; a building whose expressed purpose, extolling European colonization, is seemingly incongruous at an HBCU whose faculty and students were in the vanguard of the civil rights movement in the 1960s; and a standing example of prewar modernism, eclipsing such lost landmarks as the Trylon and Perisphere, that has until now been all but forgotten in histories of American architecture"--

Book Synopsis

A singular architectural landmark bridging western Europe and the American South

How did the Belgian Friendship Building, originally constructed for the 1939 New York World's Fair--and one of only a few surviving buildings from that celebrated exhibition--end up on the campus of an HBCU in Richmond, Virginia? In this richly illustrated book, Kathleen James-Chakraborty, Katherine Kuenzli, and Bryan Clark Green relate the fascinating story, spanning three continents, of a distinctly modern structure that has towered over Virginia Union University, in a city characterized by its traditional architecture, for more than eighty years. It is a structure whose original purposes--to present modern Belgian design and to extol its racist, colonial regime--stand in stark contrast to its dedication in 1941 to Robert L. Vann, longtime editor of one of America's most illustrious historic Black newspapers. The Belgian Friendship Building is an enduring example of prewar modernism designed by a team of Belgian architects under the direction of Henry van de Velde that has until now been all but forgotten in histories of modern architecture. This indispensable, multifaceted account ties together the history of modern European architecture, colonial exploitation, and African American achievement in a brilliant and compelling case study.

About the Author

Kathleen James-Chakraborty is Professor of Art History at University College Dublin and the author of several books, including Modernism as Memory: Building Identity in the Federal Republic of Germany.Katherine Kuenzli is Professor of Art History at Wesleyan University and the author of Henry van de Velde: Designing Modernism, among others. Bryan Clark Green is Architectural Historian and Director of Historic Preservation for Commonwealth Architects and the author of In Jefferson's Shadow: The Architecture of Thomas R. Blackburn.