Thesis (Ph. D.)--Virginia Commonwealth University, 2003. / Prepared for: Dept. of Art History. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 142-155). Also available online.

Lurelle Van Arsdale Guild (1898-1985) was an author and illustrator of interior decorating literature; a collector of Americana; a pioneering industrial designer; and an amateur architect. Both a popular antiquarian and a modernist, his diverse interests often intermingled in his industrial designs. This dissertation uses Guild's multifaceted and at times contradictory career, which lasted from the 1920s to the 1960s, to explore how modernism drew upon the legacy of colonial American design to create objects that appeared contemporary but were grounded in tradition. This study positions Guild as the archetypal "historical modernist" while creating a larger framework for exploring the intersection of historicism and modernism in American design. The dissertation's introduction and chapter one explore the stylistic plurality that existed in the 1920s and 1930s and introduce the term "historical modernism" as a way to define the aesthetic and ideological overlaps between the era's dominant styles: the Colonial Revival and modernism. Chapters two and three focus on Guild's early career as an author and illustrator promoting traditional taste. The persona he created of the "Itinerant Antiquer" reflected his interest in early American decorative arts and architectural elements, which he and his wife collected and installed at Milestone Village, their property in Connecticut. Chapter four looks at how Guild's personal collection informed his work as an industrial designer. In the 1930s, Guild became a leading figure in the nascent field of industrial design. He drew upon his knowledge of Americana to create hybrid objects that appeared modern but were informed by the past and reflected the ambivalence many American consumers felt towards modernism. Chapter five explores the postwar years when Guild began to retreat from modernism. Instead, he focused on historicist design projects and became an amateur architect, building series of historical fantasy houses. Most histories of American modernism have disproportionately focused on forward-looking designs. This dissertation uses the work and biography of Lurelle Guild to reintroduce the idea of aesthetic pluralism into the historiography of modernist design and explores the legacy of the Colonial past on modernism in America.

The idea of home, the ownership of property, and the impact of the home on the moral character and identity of its inhabitants were important concepts in the late nineteenth century. These views were perpetuated by a wide range of supporters including writers, religious leaders, social reformers, politicians. Architects and developers became aware of these ideas and capitalized on the hopes and dreams of middle-class North America by designing, marketing and building the right kind of houses, but perhaps more importantly, by building them in the right location which most often meant the suburban areas around major cities. Architect and writer Franklin Townsend Lent (1855-1919) is but one of many architects practicing in North America who appreciated the contemporary consumers’ sensibilities, and their attachment to their homes. Not only did Lent understand the importance of the concept of home, he was able to develop a design vocabulary that drew on the contemporary fascination with the American colonial period. In addition, he appreciated the consumer’s desire for a beautiful home in the suburbs, and took advantage of this in his work in New Jersey notably on the development of a suburban neighbourhood called Roosevelt Manor. Lent contributed to the built environment by designing and building many suburban houses, island and seaside cottages, and other structures. He also wrote three books and several pamphlets that provide an understanding of his personal contribution to architecture in suburban American, and to the early development of resort architecture in the Thousand Island region of Upstate New York and Ontario, an area that has received very little scholarly attention. This paper will focus on the domestic architecture of Lent in an attempt to construct an understanding of this unique contribution in the context of late nineteenth century and early twentieth century society by examining his published architectural writings, his advertisements, and some representative houses that he designed and built in the United States and Canada. / Thesis (Master, Art History) -- Queen's University, 2012-10-12 14:16:06.91