WE ARE PLEASED TO BE OFFERING BOTH IN-PERSON AND VIRTUAL ATTENDANCE OPTIONS FOR THIS EVENT! PLEASE SEE BELOW FOR DETAILS TO JOIN EITHER VENUE.
Although it is all but forgotten today, the United States was the scene of a veritable roof garden frenzy in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Countless numbers of them were built, on private structures such as homes, public buildings like libraries, and especially semi-public places like hotels and theaters. Intense debates raged across the nation as to their origin, character, and value. They were described as radiantly modern, but also as ancient—they crowned great cities, but were also invested with rural and suburban qualities. Roof gardens were heralded as quintessentially New York, even on Boston and Washington rooftops, but they also offered the illusion of escape to faraway lands. They were places of decadence or virtue, pleasure or sacrifice. What was a roof garden, after all? It was a dream—"life in the clouds," according to one journalist. That dream disappeared, and yet it haunts us still...
About the Speaker
Nathaniel Robert Walker, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Architectural History at the School of Architecture & Planning at The Catholic University of America. Nathaniel specializes in the history of urban form, public buildings and spaces, and the cross-pollinations of architecture, literature, movies, and other media. His studies and teaching often focus on the ways that people have used architecture to imagine and shape their dreams of a more beautiful, fairer, and healthier world, in which they are better connected to the divine, to nature, and to each other.
Nathaniel's publications include an award-winning book on science-fiction architecture from the 1800s and the Anglo-American fear of cities entitled Victorian Visions of Suburban Utopia: Abandoning Babylon (Oxford University Press: 2020). He co-edited a book with Elizabeth Darling on powerful female interventions in public space and life entitled Suffragette City: Women, Politics, and the Built Environment (Routledge: 2019). His research has also been published in the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Buildings and Landscapes, Utopian Studies, Arris, a number of edited volumes, and was featured in an exhibition he co-curated with Jessica Renee Streit entitled The City Luminous: Architectures of Hope in an Age of Fear, at Charleston's City Gallery in 2019, and at the show Building Expectation: Past and Present Visions of the Architectural Future, which he curated in 2011 at Brown University's David Winton Bell Gallery.
IN-PERSON ATTENDANCE
The lecture will take place at The First Congregational United Church of Christ, Second Floor, 945 G Street NW, Washington, DC. Reservations are not required. $10.00 for Latrobe Chapter members, student members (full time) free with ID, $15.00 for non-members. Doors will open at 6:30 pm for socialization and refreshments; lecture will begin at 7:00 pm.
VIRTUAL ATTENDANCE
Virtual attendance is free but advance registration is required to participate. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the lecture. Virtual lecture will begin at 7:00 PM. Please note that this event will not be recorded. TO REGISTER VIA ZOOM, CLICK HERE.