My Father’s House

Hello my fancy friends! Thank you so much for tuning in today! In honor of Father’s Day this past week, we are taking a look at the most iconic father/son design duo in the design and furniture world. Eliel and Eero Saarinen are responsible for so many classic design pieces, especially when it comes to mid-century modern aesthetics. If you listened to the episode “Ray of Light,” all about Ray and Charles Eames, this name may sound familiar, but you may heard it many another places. Colloquially, we operate in a world that often reduces credit and authorship to simple one word last names, it's easy to overlook that, just like with the Eames, the name Saarinen can refer to one of two people, father or son. And while one’s work set up precedence for the other’s, their styles are significantly different. So today, we are going to look at the lives and work of both Eliel and Eero Saarinen, how to easily tell their work apart, and the key design factors are that you can incorporate into your home’s design, in any room.

But first, let’s talk about the color of the week. I’m back on my flower kick! But how could I not be, after all, here in New York City we have been graced by the presence of Hydrangea. Yes, that’s right, the flower loathed by Madonna, and often labelled a commoner’s shrub still holds a special place in many hearts. Translating roughly from Greek as water vessel, these flowers correlated to the planet Mercury and symbolize understanding between two parties. Hydrangeas come in a wide variety of colors including white, green, pink, and dark purple, but the most common variety are the soft blue, bordering on periwinkle. That’s why our Color of The Week is Pantone 7451.  This color is surprisingly sophisticated and classic, evoking the appeal of Wedgewood china and antique cameo pins. Try pairing it with a jewel toned golden rod yellow, deep hunter green, or a serious oxblood to create a full color scheme that makes any room feel as vibrant as June in Brooklyn.

We can’t really talk about the history of Eliel and Eero without getting into a little bit of drama. As I’ve mentioned on previous episodes; famous architects’ lives are often messy. But let’s start at the beginning. So our friend Eliel Saarinen was born in 1873 in Finland, one of seven children to a minister. Eliel was on the straight and narrow, studied architecture and by the age of 23 had started his own firm with two fellow designers, Gesellius and Lindgren. GLS, their initials, worked together, passionately for ten years. They focused on public competitions and infused their entries with a unique alchemy of the current trend of Art Nouveau, combined with a distinctly Finnish twist. For anyone not intimately familiar with what Art Nouveau looks like, imagine streamlined curves. This was the dawn of the modern age, and an intentional rebuttal to the historical Beaux-Arts styles that had been prevalent for so long and mimicked outdated building techniques. Art Nouveau looked to new technology, rationalism, and nature for its’ inspiration.  This style will often look organic and industrial at the same time, and was a trend that showed up everywhere from Paris to Mexico City. 

GLS worked on many projects in their 10 years together, but two have distinctly stood the test of time. Their live-in compound Hvitträsk, and the Finnish pavilion for the turn of the century World’s Fair in Paris.  The pavilion was a celebration of all things specifically Finnish, and a collaboration between GLS and other artists to distinguish the country with a unique design vernacular. While the planning emulated a simple church layout, the design and decorative details were cultural celebrations of Nordic natural wonders and local folklore, including full-size bear sculptures and a giant pinecone corbels. These whimisical touches appeared where traditional Greek and Roman detailing would otherwise be found.

Their other major undertaking was the collective home and office, where all three architects and their wives lived together, named Hvitträsk, after the lake next to the home. Many Scandinavian countries iterated on the concept of Art Nouveau and repackaged it in the term National Romanticism. This style prided itself on making social and political statements, questioning the nature of ornamentation, incorporating human factors, and playfulness. In Hvitträsk, this included elements such as Whiskey Rings, metal loops welded to a sturdy column, meant for someone who had over-served themselves and couldn’t stand up properly, but still wanted to spend the night chatting and debating away. There were other charming elements like exposed wood ceiling beams, turned wood furniture legs, local tapestries, and of course lots of natural sunlight. There was a real appreciation for handmade furniture and textiles, everything felt approachable and humble, but still thoughtful and planned. This aesthetic enjoyed a resurgence recently with the Hygge trend that was so popular a few years ago.

This home/office space served as an all encompassing hub for the firm and their families- removing the need for long commutes and the stress of city life. However, living as one big happy family was a little more complicated than anyone could have planned. In 1904, just a few months before GLS disbanded permanently, Eliel left his wife Mathilde, and married Loja. Loja was the wife of Saarinen’s partner Herman Gesellius, and after they divorced, Herman married Mathilde. It’s basically the story of Fleetwood Mac set in the early 1900’s. So after the partner swapping was complete, GLS decided not to work together anymore, which is just another documented historial event in the favor of work/life boundaries.

Eliel continued to work on his own for another 20 years, completing total works of art in the form of municipal buildings like the Helsinki and Vyborg Railroad Stations, both of which embodied the playful Art Nouveau style. The Vyborg Railroad Station was destroyed in World War II, unfortunately, but the Helsinki Station still function today, with an adjacent plaza named in Eliel’s honor. 

Eliel and Loja had two children, and they started to get interested in the United States. Seeing the work of Frank Lloyd Wright in the midwest, and participating in a designcompetition for the Chicago Tribune Tower was inspiration enough, and the Saarinen family moved to Illinois. A few year later, a guy named George Gough Booth wanted to create the US version of the Bauhaus, like a real forward thinking, all encompassing, American Design school, called Cranbrook, and he asked Eliel to design the whole campus in Michigan. He basically planned it like a city, because this wasn’t just a college campus, this had schools for different ages and subjects of study, sports fields, houses of worship, an art museum, and dormitories. Eliel also designed  many of the buildings on the campus, most notably the K-12 boy’s school. The whole campus celebrated a mix of tactile Arts and Crafts with geometric Art Deco style, so think lots of fun and textured brick work.

After designing the school, Eliel went on to teach and mentor so many design greats, including the Eames and Florence Knoll, and of course his son Eero. Eero only took a few classes at Cranbrook and sought to broaden his studies elsewhere, completing his degree at Yale. He naturally was able to build on his father’s connections and knowledge base to quickly create a name for himself in the design world. He worked directly for his father for a number of years, and designed a whole library of iconic furniture pieces that were distributed by Cranbrook alum Florence Knoll’s major furniture company. The tulip chair and table set is one you’ll likely recognize, with it’s typically white, smooth, fiberglass base that flairs out like the end of a trumpet. This piece has become a hugely coveted symbol of modern design and it is still in production, both by Knoll and it’s many copy cats, today. Eero also design the Womb chair, a cozy and sleek iteration of a high back lounge chair and ottoman. 

So we established that Eero worked for his dad, and clearly learned so much from him – there are so many similarities in the way they approach projects. You know, they even share the same birthday of August 20, not surprising, the architecture profession is full of Leos. But, there is a distinctive and easy mnemonic device that I use to tell the two architects works from one another. And I didn't make this up, in fact I believe my architectural history professor is the one who passed this on to me at some point, the incredible Jerry Larson, who is an expert and devoted researcher on the history of modern architecture in the midwest United States.  If you like to learn about iconic buildings and how they were created and shaped by the historical events of the time, you can follow Jerry on Instagram, his account is the TheArchitectureProfessor. He's always doing deep dives into buildings and architects particularly around the Chicago area. 

So, back to the mnemonic device. While Eliel focused on making buildings responsive to human proportions, highlighting handmade craftsmanship, Eero’s designs tend to look “Eerodynamic”. While Eliel designed many train stations, Eero designed buildings related to plane travel, including the Dulles Airport in Washington DC, and the TWA terminal at JFK airport in New York. The latter of which despite being closed for many years once TWA had gone out of business, has been restored and reused as a hotel that gets major traction on social media today. It still looks exceptionally modern. Both of these buildings utilize catenary curves in their design, and Eero felt passionately that buildings should have an element of gravity defying aesthetics. As opposed to his father’s embrace of nature for inspiration, Eero designed elements to look specifically manmade, using fiberglass and steel to soar upward into the sky like a spaceship.He embraced the idea of using machine made details and innovated on construction techniques including designing lightweight cladding panels, self oxidizing steel, and gasket windows that needed no frame. Aerodyaminc. Eero Saarinen. 

Now, this is most dramatically expressed in his design for the Gateway Arch in St Louis. The 630 foot tall monument was developed to help activate the St Louis waterfront, and serves as a memorial to the country’s westward expansion. But Eero’s philosophy is also apparent in his design for the North Christian Church in Columbus, Indiana, with a spire stands twice as high as the building itself, giving total UFO vibes. It’s a very different look than the Hygge vibes his dad created. 

So there you have it, if you like the cozy, handmade, whimsical Art Nouveau look - Eliel Saarinen can provide much inspiration for you on your design journey. But if you love the look of aviation, death-defying, risk and peril implications, and the drama of curvilinear spaces, Eero Saarinen can be your muse. Who’s your favorite of these two classic architects? I couldn’t pick between the two of them - they are both so different! I hope you have a great day and I will see you in the next episode.