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Frank Lloyd Wright visited the School of Design at NC State University in 1950, one of school's many well-known guests such as Lewis Mumford, Buckminster Fuller, Mies Van der Rohe, and Richard Neutra.
Kamphoefner put this personal label on each book in his library. (example supplied by Richard Hall)
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HENRY LEVEKE
KAMPHOEFNER, FAIA
Kamphoefner was born in 1907 in Des Moines IA. He graduated in architecture from the University of Illinois and in 1931 received a Masters in Architecture from Columbia University. Kamphoefner entered private practice in 1932 in Sioux City IA and developed a specialty in designing outdoor music pavilions. In 1936, he was associate architect for the Rural Resettlement Administration in Washington DC til 1937. From Washington, he moved west to teach architecture at the University of Oklahoma, 1937-1948. In 1948, he was appointed first dean of the School of Design at North Carolina State University, a position he would hold until 1972. During that time, he elevated the school from obscurity to national prominence. A passionate modernist, Dean Kamphoefner’s ultimate goal was “the development of an organic and indigenous architecture... to meet the needs and conditions of the southern region.” Kamphoefner’s changes at the beginning of his tenure were swift and effective. He sacked most of the old faculty and brought in a handpicked team including Matthew Nowicki, George Matsumoto, Terry Waugh, Duncan Stuart, and Eduardo Catalano; instituted a distinguished visitors program (see list at left); raised admission standards; and placed the school on the leading edge of modernism. Throughout his administration, the school expanded its range of programs including a Department of Product Design in 1958 and a graduate program in 1968. In 1960, on the recommendation of Catalano, he hired thirty-one-year-old Brian Shawcroft, an Englishman, who had just completed his Masters in Architecture at MIT and Harvard. A renowned photographer, Shawcroft closely shared Kamphoefner’s architectural philosophy and never yielded to the eclecticism of postmodern trends. In 1988, the peppery Dean (now Emeritus) Kamphoefner declared that Shawcroft’s “buildings provide the only good architecture in . . . [Raleigh] which is blighted by so much architectural trash.” Other new hires included the nationally known Harwell Hamilton Harris, former dean of the school of architecture at the University of Texas, and Robert Burns, whom Kamphoefner appointed as head of the Department of Architecture in 1967. Burns was a devoted Kamphoefner protégé. Kamphoefner had an unparalleled impact on the architecture of the State and the Southeast. He was awarded the North Carolina Medal in 1978 and the Topaz Medallion for Lifelong Achievement in Architecture by the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture in 1977. In 1989, the NCSU School of Design named their 1978 addition Kamphoefner Hall. Yet, to Kamphoefner’s later and bitter disappointment, the impact of his design ideals on architecture was secondary at best. Just two years before his death in 1990, he bitterly acknowledged the downward trajectory of modernism—the design and philosophical ideal to which he had devoted an entire educational career. Writing in the magazine of the AIANC, he lamented that prominent architects were “selling out for a neo-modernistic populism” and that the famous maxim of Louis Sullivan, “form follows function,” was being replaced by “form follows money.”To counteract this movement, at least in part, he established the Kamphoefner Prize, a gift of $150,000 to the AIANC from which they would award $10,000 each year to an AIANC member who exhibits excellence in the Modern Movement of architecture. Kamphoefner defined the criteria for this award very specifically: "The donors and the Selection Committee for this award anticipates that the chosen architect has demonstrated a consistent integrity and devotion over an acceptable period of time to further the modern movement in architecture without yielding to any of the undesirable current cliches, neo-modernistic mannerisms, or artless historicism that have flawed the building culture of today." Here is a 1998 brochure on the Kamphoefner Prize. Pages one, two, three, four. These are the recipients of the $10,000 prize.
1988 J. Norman Pease, Jr., FAIA In December 1983, Kamphoefner wrote an article on Buckminster Fuller in the NC Wataugan, an intimate profile into Fuller but even more so into the recently "retired" Kamphoefner. Also includes comments on Fuller by his colleague T. C. Howard. Pages one, two, three, four, five, six, or the entire document (12 Meg), scanning courtesy of Perry Cox, AIA. View NC Archivist Dr. David Brook's excellent dissertation on Kamphoefner. |
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1938 - The Oleson Park Music Pavilion, 1400 Oleson Park Avenue, Fort Dodge IA. The Oleson Park Music Pavilion is nationally significant for its close association with American Bandmaster and Composer Karl King, a prolific composer of music for concert and military bands known the world over. It was the home base of this bandmaster and his music from construction until his death in 1971. |
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1948 - The Henry and Mabel Kamphoefner House, 3060 Granville Drive, Raleigh. Designed with George Matsumoto. Built by J. M. Thompson. Charles R. Lawson (Henry’s nephew) inherited the house and rented it for a number of years. T. Connor Murray bought it in 1996. Daniel and Virginia Petrocella bought it in 2000. In 2003, Kamphoefner’s protégé, architect Robert Burns, did a renovation. Renovation construction by David Ballard of Ballard Construction. |
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