Architectural Agents: The Delusional, Abusive, Addictive Lives of Buildings

320 Pages·2015·7.4 MB·English

by  Annabel Jane Wharton

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ARCHITECTURAL AGENTS
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ARCHITECTURAL
AGENTS
The Delusional, Abusive, Addictive
Lives of Buildings
A n n a b e l Ja n e Wh a r t on
U N I V E R S I T Y O F M I N N E S O T A P R E S S
M I N N E A P O L I S • L O N D O N
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The University of Minnesota Press gratefully acknowledges fnancial assistance
for the publication of this book from the Department of Art, Art History and
Visual Studies, Trinity College of Arts and Sciences, Duke University.
All photographs and illustrations are by the author, unless credited otherwise.
Copyright 2015 by the Regents of the University of Minnesota
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior
written permission of the publisher.
Published by the University of Minnesota Press
111 Third Avenue South, Suite 290
Minneapolis, MN 55401– 2520
http://www.upress.umn.edu
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Wharton, Annabel Jane.
Architectural agents : the delusional, abusive, addictive lives of buildings /
Annabel Jane Wharton.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-0-8166-9338-2 (hc : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-0-8166-9339-9 (pb : alk. paper)
1. Architecture. 2. Architecture—Human factors. I. Title.
NA2540.W475 2015
720.1—dc23
2014032695
Printed in the United States of America on acid- free paper
The University of Minnesota is an equal- opportunity educator and employer.
20 19 18 17 16 15 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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Dedicated to
Te s s a A n n a b e l a n d Ve s p e r J a m e s R a m s d e l l ,
who animate every space that they occupy
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Content s
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction Architectural Agency xiii
PART I. DEATH
1 Murder 3
2 Spoils 31
PART II. DISEASE
3 Amnesia 59
4 Urban Toxicity 85
PART III. ADDICTION
5 Gambling 119
6 Digital Play 151
Conclusion Buildings/Things, Bodies/Texts, History/Theory 185
Notes 21
Bibliography 253
Index 283
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Acknowledgments
Everywhere I worked on this book I benefted enormously from the knowledge and
generosity of those who lived there. Most providentially at home, as has been the
case for nearly a quarter of a century, my partner, Professor Kalman Bland, read and
reread what I wrote, always with remarkable equanimity and new insight. Abroad,
colleagues and friends shaped my experiences of the local and, consequently, my
thoughts on it. This is particularly true of Jerusalem. Dear friends Dr. Rajai Dajani
and Fadwa Dajani, Rami Dajani, and Hidaya Dajani introduced me to remarkable
places in Jerusalem and Ramallah. Dr. Yoram Tsafrir provided me the experiences
of recent archaeological undertakings and small Palestinian eateries. Dr. Sy Gitin,
director of the Albright Institute, Dr. Khader Salameh, director of the Islamic
Museum, and Dr. Thomas Neu, Middle East Representative of American Near
East Refugee Aid, ofered me access to otherwise impenetrable spaces. I very much
appreciated my frank discussions with James S. Snyder, the Anne and Jerome Fisher
Director of the Israel Museum. I also received collegial help from Avner Amiri,
architect and restoration expert, with whom I collaborated in a study of the fabric
of the American Colony in Jerusalem; Paul Vester, president of the board of direc-
tors of the American Colony; Michael Schwartz, current overseeing architect of
the American Colony Hotel; and the late Val Vester, who generously shared with
me both memories and a prepublication manuscript of her “Family Album: A Brief
History of the American Colony.” I am also indebted to Professor Oleg Grabar
who in Princeton revealed to me some of the secrets of institutions in Jerusalem.
I am very grateful to the archivists who have made the work that I did in their
archives pleasurable as well as productive: Lee Hiltzik, archivist at the Rockefeller
Archives in Tarrytown, New York; Michael K. Carter, the head of the Cloisters
Library and Archive; the staf of the Philadelphia Museum of Art Archive who
ix
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