You Say to Brick

by Wendy Lesser

  “superior excellence”: Arthur Spayd Brooke Memorial Prize, Louis I. Kahn Collection.

  “He quickly … especially for Lou”: Norman Rice quoted in What Will Be, p. 294.

  “Russian intelligentsia.… it was Lou”: Videotape of Esther Kahn interviewed by David Brownlee on April 27, 1990, The Architectural Archives. [Hereafter cited as Brownlee video.]

  “Being an impatient person … spellbinder”: Esther Kahn quoted in Latour, p. 23, and speaking in Brownlee video.

  “The next Friday … not even you are going to keep me back”: Esther Kahn quoted in Latour, p. 23.

  “scars on face”: Louis Kahn’s 1928 passport, displayed in the Vitra exhibition Louis Kahn: The Power of Architecture, London Design Museum, 2014, and other venues.

  “She made … I felt incompetent”: Berkeley creativity study.

  “A very interesting … helpful”; “Dear Mom & Pop … Love, Lou”: Unsent postcards, Collection of Sue Ann Kahn. Most of the material about Kahn’s Grand Tour comes directly from William Whitaker, who has compiled a detailed itinerary of the 1928–29 trip, complete with quotations from the postcards. It was Whitaker, too, who pointed out to me the gap between the modernist buildings Kahn visited for architectural purposes and the ancient ruins he nonetheless found himself attracted to.

  “I went to visit … taken everything away … daughters and sons … much moved by it … used to speak of”: Louis Kahn quoted in What Will Be, p. 225.

  His name does not appear: An email from Olavi Pesti of the Saaremaa Museum, dated March 3, 2016, informs the author: “There was no regular passenger shipping traffic between Riga and Kuressaare in the end of 1920s, but the steamships ‘Vasa’ and ‘Kalevipoeg’ of the regular line Riga-Pärnu sometimes in the summer season steamed also through port Roomassaare (Kuressaare) when a lot of passengers wanted to travel here to the resort.” Another email, from Heie Treier, dated March 2, 2016, adds: “People of the Louis Kahn Estonia Foundation have searched for Kahn’s name in the lists of passengers of the ships that traveled between Riga and Kuressaare. Kahn’s name was not found in these lists.”

  “Typical mountain … avalanches”; “Compared to other countries … source of”: Unsent postcards, Collection of Sue Ann Kahn.

  “The Value and Aim of Sketching”: The text (though without Kahn’s sketches) is reproduced in Writings, Lectures, pp. 10–12.

  “The article … own handiwork”: Letter from Bertha Kahn to Louis Kahn, July 17, 1931, Collection of Sue Ann Kahn.

  “He didn’t write … I got nothing … you bore me … different from ours”: Esther Kahn quoted in Latour, p. 23, and speaking in Brownlee video.

  “very little English … from Russia … When you came to my family … someone they could control”: Esther Kahn in Brownlee video.

  “I saw Lou … magnificent performance … three months later”: Esther Kahn quoted in Latour, p. 23.

  “secondary, completely routine”: Berkeley creativity study.

  “This is the first … in a respectful way”: From the unpublished journal of Esther Kahn, quoted with permission, Collection of Sue Ann Kahn. [Hereafter cited as Esther Kahn’s journal.]

  “lovely honeymoon”: Esther Kahn’s journal.

  “After we got … bother anyone”: Esther Kahn quoted in What Will Be, p. 282.

  “Lou came home … walked out”: Esther Kahn quoted in Latour, p. 23.

  “allowances”: Esther Kahn’s journal.

  “I could go … done for me”: Esther Kahn quoted in Latour, p. 23.

  “I say there were … and myself … thought he was great”: Esther Kahn quoted in What Will Be, p. 280.

  “We are just this Thursday … palm trees … a bit much for her eyes … wonderfully illuminated … don’t write!”: Undated postcards and letters in German from Bertha and Leopold Kahn to Louis and Esther Kahn, 1930–31, translated from the German by Martin and Barbara Bauer, Collection of Sue Ann Kahn.

  “You refer … quite worried”: Letter from Bertha Kahn to Louis Kahn, June 17, 1931, Collection of Sue Ann Kahn.

  “with great regret”: Zantzinger as quoted in the Chronology compiled by William Whitaker for the Vitra exhibition catalogue, Louis Kahn: The Power of Architecture, Karlsruhe: Vitra Design Museum, 2012, p. 23. [Hereafter cited as Vitra Chronology.]

  “In the 2 years … still working … things we want … a better life”: Esther Kahn’s journal.

  “Dearestest … Regards to Kit … It turned out to be … love and kisses, Lou”: Undated letters from Louis Kahn to Esther Kahn, Collection of Sue Ann Kahn. (Note that in these letters, as throughout this book, Louis Kahn’s eccentric spelling and syntax have been preserved without correction.)

  “Louis I. Kahn … Philadelphia Penna”: Printed heading on handwritten undated letter from Louis Kahn to Esther Kahn, Collection of Sue Ann Kahn.

  “nothing to be ashamed of”: Vincent Scully, Louis I. Kahn. New York: George Braziller, 1962, p. 14. [Hereafter cited as Scully.]

  “assistant principal architect”: Vitra Chronology, p.24.

  “both cried like Babies … very much”: Letter from Leopold and Bertha Kahn to Louis Kahn, February 28, 1936, Collection of Sue Ann Kahn.

  “So much has … ill all the time”: Esther Kahn’s journal.

  “She forgets … she doesn’t … Aunt Katie”: Undated letter from Esther Kahn to Louis Kahn, Collection of Sue Ann Kahn.

  “adult children … Responsible Relative”: Letter from County of Los Angeles Department of Charities (Bureau of Indigent Relief) to Louis Kahn, September 26, 1938, Collection of Sue Ann Kahn.

  “Lou is not … will be soon”: Esther Kahn’s journal.

  “the baby’s room”: Sue Ann Kahn interview.

  IN SITU: KIMBELL ART MUSEUM

  “The building does dictate … on that wall”: Eric Lee’s interview with the author on January 17, 2014, in Fort Worth.

  “It has that … down the middle”: Nancy Edwards’ interview with the author on January 17, 2014, in Fort Worth.

  “I think … I don’t know … painting out there”: Eric Lee’s interview with the author on January 17, 2014, in Fort Worth.

  “One thing … other museums … sweet spot”: Claire Barry’s interview with the author on January 17, 2014, in Fort Worth.

  roughly five foot six: Kahn variously reported his own height as five foot seven (on his 1928 passport), five foot six (in the anecdote told by Louise Badgley about dangling his feet in a roomette), and five foot six and a half (in the Personal Data Blank he filled out for the Berkeley creativity study).

  “It is no mean feat … limits of a place”: T. J. Clark, Picasso and Truth, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2013, pp. 108–9, 281.

  “This building feels … a premise constructed … There’s something … truth to begin with”: Louis Kahn quoted in What Will Be, pp. 177, 27–28.

  BECOMING

  “Lou felt … adored him”: Esther Kahn quoted in Latour, p. 25.

  “The Prince”: Nick Gianopulos’s interview with the author on October 19, 2015, in Gladwyne. [Hereafter cited as Gianopulos interview.]

  “Oscar was … a kisser”: Peter Arfaa’s interview with the author on November 4, 2013, in Philadelphia.

  “they were both … primadonna”: Esther Kahn quoted in Latour, p. 25.

  1941 income figures: All income and expenditures figures for this and other years, including itemized deductions and other specifics, derive from the Kahn tax returns—both business and personal—archived in the Louis I. Kahn Collection.

  “Well, in those days … in great form”: Peter Blake quoted in What Will Be, p. 303.

  “All of us … in the suburbs”: Oscar Stonorov and Louis Kahn, Why City Planning Is Your Responsibility, New York: Revere Copper and Brass, 1943.

  “in terms that … to finish it”: Oscar Stonorov and Louis Kahn, You and Your Neighborhood: A Primer, New York: Revere Copper and Brass, 1944.

  “Monumentality in architecture … intentionally crea
ted”: “Monumentality,” in Essential Texts, pp. 21, 27, 30, 23, 22.

  “Whenever he came home … as a hugger”: Sue Ann Kahn interview.

  “longingness … write soon”: Letter from Leopold and Bertha Kahn to Louis, Esther, and Sue Ann Kahn, January 7, 1942, Collection of Sue Ann Kahn.

  “Your letter was … heard from him”: Letter from Bertha and Leopold Kahn to Esther, Louis, and Sue Ann Kahn, January 20, 1942, Collection of Sue Ann Kahn.

  “I have never … often to you”: Letter from Louis Kahn to Anne Tyng, December 24, 1953, published in Anne Tyng (ed.), Louis Kahn to Anne Tyng: The Rome Letters, 1953–1954, New York: Rizzoli, 1997, p. 80. [Hereafter cited as The Rome Letters.]

  “Advertising Ideas … Dear Lou … Much Love, Oscar”: Letter from Oscar Kahn to Louis Kahn, undated but postmarked April 9, 1945, Louis I. Kahn Collection, catalog number 030.II.A.60.38. (Note that all misspellings in this and other Kahn family letters, diaries, and notebook entries have been left uncorrected and appear in precisely that form in the originals.)

  “Oscar was … shiny things”: Ona Russell’s interview with the author on August 7, 2013, in La Jolla. [Hereafter cited as Ona Russell interview.]

  “Oscar was naturally … bases in life”: Alan Kahn’s interview with the author on August 3, 2013, in Whittier, California, with a follow-up phone conversation on September 20, 2014. [Hereafter cited as Alan Kahn interview.]

  “When my father died … Kahn that became famous”: Rhoda Kantor’s interview with the author on August 3, 2013, in Whittier, with follow-up phone conversations on August 13, 2013, and September 20, 2014. [Hereafter cited as Rhoda Kantor interview.]

  “He never talked … not Oscar”: Sue Ann Kahn interview.

  “is unable to make … two brothers … subsiding into material”: Louis Kahn delivering the lecture “Architecture and Human Agreement,” as filmed by Duncan White, 1971, The Architectural Archives.

  “likened the emergence … spent light”: “I Love Beginnings,” in Writings, Lectures, pp. 285–86.

  “By chance … I promptly accepted”: The Rome Letters, p. 28.

  “The more established … women architects”: The Rome Letters, p. 27.

  “My first impression … aspect of him”: Anne Tyng quoted in Latour, p. 41.

  “I found it … drew and talked”: The Rome Letters, p. 31.

  “The space … think like a man”: The Rome Letters, p. 28.

  “Stonorov was very … things clarified”: Anne Tyng quoted in Latour, p. 41.

  “The office was … live together”: Galen Schlosser quoted in Latour, p. 111.

  “We were both … life of its own”: The Rome Letters, pp. 34, 37.

  “shadow joint … wood and stone”: Anne Tyng quoted in Latour, p. 43.

  “the joint is the beginning of ornament”: Writings, Interviews, p. 295; Latour, p. 43.

  “concept of a ‘giant pointillism’”: Anne Tyng quoted in Latour, p. 43.

  “inglenooks”: George H. Marcus and William Whitaker, The Houses of Louis Kahn, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2013, pp. 62, 144, 197.

  “Communist sympathies”: David B. Brownlee and David G. De Long, Louis I. Kahn: In the Realm of Architecture, New York: Rizzoli, 1991, p. 45.

  American Society of Planners and Architects: All of my information about Kahn’s involvement in the ASPA comes from Andrew M. Shanken’s informative article “Between Brotherhood and Bureaucracy: Joseph Hudnut, Louis I. Kahn and the American Society of Planners and Architects,” Planning Perspectives 20 (April 2005), pp. 147–75.

  “talked a good deal … Harpo Marx”: Scully, p. 16.

  “On ways … conditions … to the designer”: Undated notebook with unnumbered pages, Louis I. Kahn Collection, catalog number 030.VII.4.

  “When I finished … blind all together”: Undated letter to Louis Kahn from Leopold Kahn, Collection of Sue Ann Kahn.

  “My dearest children … a little improved”: Undated letter to Louis and Esther Kahn written jointly by Leopold and Bertha Kahn, Collection of Sue Ann Kahn.

  “They were a … whatever I was playing”: Sue Ann Kahn interview.

  “She appreciated … songs in German”: Rhoda Kantor interview.

  “singing … diffused it around her … tea with her”: Alan Kahn interview.

  “She was like a guru … I foresee”: Rhoda Kantor interview.

  “make-shift”: Berkeley creativity study.

  “I knew … discussion about it”: Rhoda Kantor interview.

  “They sort of … lot of languages”: Alan Kahn interview.

  “Grandpop … closer to her father … below her”: Rhoda Kantor interview.

  “She spoke … like an aristocrat”: Alan Kahn interview.

  “Esther was not … have to work”: Rhoda Kantor interview.

  “Dearest Esther … Europe unfolded itself”: Undated letter from Louis Kahn to Esther Kahn, on stationery printed in English and Hebrew with the heading “Hotel Ben-Yehuda, 000 Western Carmel,” Collection of Sue Ann Kahn.

  “She always made … about Lou’s”: Sue Ann Kahn interview.

  “Louis is … make money”: Letter from Annie Israeli to Esther Kahn, undated but postmarked August 14, 1949, Collection of Sue Ann Kahn.

  “He got the prize … a lot then”: Sue Ann Kahn interview.

  “overwhelmingly … monumental impact … and better”: Vitra Chronology, p. 25.

  “Roman architects … the choreography … ripple of columns … alcoves or windows”: Frank E. Brown, Roman Architecture, New York: George Braziller, 1965, pp. 19–23.

  “Dearest Esther … love to all, Lou”: Postcard from Louis Kahn to Esther Kahn et al., undated but postmarked February 26, 1951, Collection of Sue Ann Kahn.

  “greenways”: The Rome Letters, p. 45.

  “gifted designer … claim that title”: Gregory L. Heller, Ed Bacon: Planning, Politics, and the Building of Modern Philadelphia, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013, p. 99.

  “I never once … with kindness”: Gianopulos interview.

  “triangulated geometry … innovative structure?”: The Rome Letters, p. 47.

  “It could fail … canted joists”: Gianopulos interview (including Lou’s comment about visiting the Major, as reported by Nick).

  allowing the pour to proceed: See Leslie, pp. 65–68, for a detailed account of the manner in which the construction contractor, George Macomber, tested the design of the Yale Art Gallery ceiling.

  “I do not like … destroy it”: Louis Kahn quoted in Beginnings, p. 67.

  “The Pyramids try … I was made”: Louis Kahn quoted in What Will Be, p. 1.

  “I believe in frank … acknowledge this”: Patricia Loud, The Art Museums of Louis I. Kahn, Durham: Duke University Press, 1989, p. 84.

  “honesty, reality … could have done”: Scully, p. 21.

  “Architecture is the thoughtful making of spaces”: Writings, Lectures, pp. 75, 88. See also the Personal Data Blank in the Berkeley creativity study, where Kahn responds to the command “List those things which you have done which you consider innovations in the field of architecture or design” with three underlined items: The distinction in the planning of spaces between “the spaces which serve” and “the spaces served”; Architecture is the thoughtfull making of spaces; and The integration of the mechanical and electrical service with the construction to give form to the building.

  “These stairs, now … use them”: Patricia Loud, The Art Museums of Louis I. Kahn, Durham: Duke University Press, 1989, p. 84.

  “Only Lou and the doctor … love child”: The Rome Letters, p. 58.

  “Dearest Anne … By-By Honey … Lou”: The Rome Letters, pp. 66–67.

  “My best … positively hate them”: The Rome Letters, pp. 69–70.

  “Don’t fail … least worry”: The Rome Letters, p. 84.

  “ALL MY LOVE TO BOTH OF YOU—LOU”: The Rome Letters, p. 120.

  “Dearest Anny … Synagogue to design”: The Rome Letters, p
. 121. “Nature of Space … Design”: The Rome Letters, p. 72.

  “Now that I … give or take”: The Rome Letters, p. 107.

  “She is a … so loving”: The Rome Letters, p. 138.

  “WILL MEET BOAT … LOVE LOU”: The Rome Letters, p. 188.

  “sweet … like a ballerina”: MacAllister interview.

  “gentle, kind … lovely, gentle woman”: Lois Sherr Dubin’s interview with the author on May 21, 2013, in New York. [Hereafter cited as Dubin interview.]

  “almost British … she was so ‘right’”: Joseph Kuo’s interview with the author on September 28, 2014, in Philadelphia.

  Anne heard Marie speaking in Chinese: All information in this paragraph comes from Alexandra Tyng interview.

  “baffled entrances … over a year”: The Rome Letters, p. 192.

  “June 7 … symbolic of religion … satisfied with his work”: Undated notebook with unnumbered pages, Louis I. Kahn Collection, catalog number 030.VII.4.

  “Alex time”: Richards interview.

  “She would say … courthouse or something”: Alexandra Tyng interview.

  “He really adored … to anybody”: Esther Kahn quoted in Latour, p. 25.

  “squeaky … was an epiphany … going to be famous”: Richard Saul Wurman’s interview with the author on October 9, 2014, in New York. [Hereafter cited as Wurman interview.]

  “And it came to me … sure it happened … seeing another woman … her own thing”: Sue Ann Kahn interview. All of the information about Esther’s affair comes from Sue Ann Kahn, who relayed to the author the information she derived from a telephone conversation with the daughter of Esther’s lover.

  “I saw the toe … when she saw me”: Ona Russell interview.

  “I came down … saw him cry”: Alan Kahn interview.