Granite Frieze at Cardoza High
24 09 2009It’s those little architectural details around every corner in this city that can turn every time we go out into an exciting treasure hunt! Many of the greatest details are on government buildings which we have discussed in the past, but the districts public high school are also a virtual cornucopia for the architecturally inclined.
George Julian Zolnay’s allegorical “Academic, Business & Manual Education” Granite Frieze At Francis L. Cardozo High School is a very interesting. The sculpture created the neoclassical figures of the frieze to look like among others, the architect of the building; Snowden Ashford, the architect of the District of Columbia; and Emory M. Wilson, the principal of the school.
Unfortunately, many of the newer buildings being built in the District have forgone these great details for a more modern vanilla look. There is a message being sent when public buildings feature art and details which set them apart!
Nice post. Unfortunatley, “communicating” with the public is frowned upon by architects because it puts them at the laymans level (in their view) and that is not what they are taught in schools. Clearly there are exceptions to this, but by and large the faux mysticism of the medieval monks has been replaced by the faux mysticism of academia. Ironic that it was academia that cast a light into the dark corners of the church to only find the darkness a convenient cover for incompetence. It’s no wonder the architectural world went gaga for Venturi when he spoke about the possibilities to communicate with a building’s form and decorations. Now if more architects could be less ironic, all pedestrians would be the richer for it.
Um, it’s Cardoz-O…not Cardoz-A