On Tuesday, April 20th, Eric Inman Daum will deliver his lecture on Swedish Architect Martin Hedmark.  The talk was originally scheduled for Design Week Boston in conjunction with the Scandinavian Cultural Center in Newton for April 2020 but was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.   The talk will be given via Zoom, and a recording of the talk will be available in the future through the ICAA.  The talk is free, though registration is required. See the link below.

Martin Hedmark was a young Swedish architect who came to the United States in late 1924 to launch his career, primarily as an ecclesiastical architect for Swedish congregations and cultural institutions in America. His first commission was for Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Providence. This unique building is an expression of two distinct early 20th Century Nordic architectural styles, the first, National Romantism was being supplanted by the second, Nordic Classicism, or Swedish Grace, around the time that Hedmark emigrated to the U.S. The lecture  will explore in depth Hedmark’s designs for Gloria Dei and touch upon other projects in New York, Worcester, Philadelphia and suburban New Jersey.

Eric Inman Daum served as a juror for the Palladio Awards in 2021.  The Palladio Awards, held annually, recognize outstanding work in traditional design in commercial, institutional,  public, and residential architecture categories. "All winners enhance the beauty and humane qualities of the built environment through creative interpretation and adaptation of design principles developed through thousands of years of architectural tradition."

The jury, including Barbara Eberlein and David Andreozzi, met virtually on March 25th to select the outstanding projects in the the many residential categories.  This marked Mr. Daum's third appearence as a Palladio Awards juror, having previously served in 2015 and 2019.

The upcoming news alluded to in an earlier post is that Eric Daum has joined the award-winning firm of Carpenter & MacNeille.  Eric will serve in the role of Design Director of C&M's Wellesley office and is delighted to have this opportunity to join a number of old colleagues in a new venture.  The Office of Eric Inman Daum Architect will continue to maintain a small presence in Andover in order to wrap up outstanding projects and continue research and writing on the career of Martin Hedmark..

Carpenter & MacNeille

Eric Inman Daum's Private Chapel received a 2020 Tucker Design Award from the Natural Stone Institute during an online ceremony on August 18, 2020.  The project was nominated by NSI member Kenneth Castellucci and Associates and also recognized the the contribution of fellow NSI member Coldspring.

Tucker Design Awards

Tucker Design Award Video Clip

Beginning with Governor Baker's Stay at Home Order in March in reaction to the Covid-19 crisis, Eric relocated his office to his home. In the interim, the lovely Georgian Revival building in Shawsheen Village where the office has been located has been sold and will be converted into apartments.  As of mid-June 2020, the office of Eric Inman Daum Architect, LLC has been moved to a new space in Downtown Andover at 11 Main Street.  Begininng July 6th, there will be more news.  Stay tuned...

Eric Daum was scheduled to speak at the Scandinavian Cultural Center in Newton, Massachusetts on April 2nd about the American work of Swedish Architect Martin Hedmark.  Hedmark came to the United States in late 1924 and his first American project was the completion of the design for Gloria Dei Evangelical Lutheran Church in Providence, Rhode Island.  This building displays many direct quotes from then contemporary National Romantic and Nordic Classical buildings in Sweden and the other Nordic nations.  In late February, Eric was able to visit Hedmark's projects in New York City, Northern New Jersey, and Philadelphia.  The lecture will be rescheduled for a time when it is safe to gather again.   In the meantime, please be safe and isolate, and enjoy the images below.

My wife and I took a trip to Berlin and Vienna in November and Architectural Critic David Brussat kindly posted my thoughts about our trip on his Blog, Architecture Here and There.

Daum: Four Days in Berlin

Our Private Chapel Project, completed in 2018, is featured in the December 2019 issue of Traditional Building. The article discusses in depth the historical and formal precedents that contributed to the design of this unique project.

Eric Inman Daum Architect Creates Private Mausoleum

Southshore Millwork, who collaborated on the Carriage House Project with Eric Daum, were recognized in Design Solutions, a publication of the American Woodwork Institute, for their fine craftsmanship and innovative solutions for the project.  Daum is quoted in the article:

South Shore Millwork was the ideal partner for the design and development of the Indian-themed rooms of the carriage house.  Though we had an overall design concept, Jeff Burton, Gerry Whalen and the team at South Shore integrated the antique Indian elements, newly fabricated Asian millwork, and their own supplemental pieces to re-imagine this exotic hideaway.  They brought not just skilled woodworking, but designer’s eyes to the repurposing of the antique pieces. The result was a truly collaborative dialogue; as a designer it’s a pleasure to share a vision with such creative craftspeople and have it executed so brilliantly.

Design Solutions, Spring 2019

Posted below are Eric Daum's introductory remarks for a round table discussion presented by the New England Chapter of the ICAA for Design Week, Boston, 2017.


I suspect some of you are look upon us and wonder who are theses retardataire fogeys?  These champions of the Ancien Regime, these defenders of the one true faith?  We are not lost souls wallowing in nostalgia; we are not, as many critics might say of us, trying to turn every place into Disneyland.

We believe that the purpose of architecture is to serve the needs of man.  Not only through the use of science in order to provide shelter, but to use artistry to enrich and ennoble our lives.  We believe that architecture is the Art of Building, that art is not just the idea but also the craft of its making.  We believe that there are important lessons to be learned from history: about how we build; about how we shape our cities, about how our buildings relate to one another, and what they say about us as a culture.  We believe that we have history, art, and science on our side.

The act of building is far too important to be nothing more than a financial transaction or an opportunity for wanton arrogant self expression.  James Kunstler has described that most modern of environments, automotive based suburban sprawl, as the "Crudscape".  He contends that if we persist in building places that are ugly, places that no one wishes to be, that they are not worth inhabiting and certainly not worth preserving.  In an age of limited resources and environmental degradation, should we not be building better?  Should we not be building places people wish to inhabit, places we can love, places we would be proud to leave to the next generation?

So what do we mean when we describe Classicism?

Classicism is the architectural tradition derived from Greco-Roman Antiquity.  Our understanding of this language is derived from archaeological research and close study of the writings of Vitruvius, whose de Architectura, known popularly today as the Ten Books of Architecture, it is the only treatise on Classical Architecture surviving in its entirety from Antiquity.  These Ten Books, which are the core text of classical design and construction, describe the essential criteria which must be observed in order to create a “good building”.  Vitruvius’ most well known claim is that “Good Building fulfills three conditions, firmitas, utilitas, and venustas.   According to the 1624 translation by Sir Henry Wooten, these are commodity, firmness and delight.  It goes without saying, that all buildings should embrace the first two criteria.  In fact, mere competence by a builder should satisfy them: a building must stand up and be useful.  Vitruvius claims that beauty is objective, that there are strict criteria describing beauty that a building should fulfill, rooted in rhythm and proportion, and rules of composition and ornament.

Sir John Summerson, in his collection of short radio essays for the BBC complied as The Classical Language of Architecture, describes the fundamental elements that make a building “Classical”:

First: Symmetry, either as the large scale bilateral symmetry evidenced by the human form, or as the more subtle Vitruvian theory of the harmony of the parts and their relationship to the whole.
Second:  Hierarchy, by expressing the importance of the primary spaces in a building so that their use corresponds to its architectural form.
Third:  that the building explicitly or implicitly exhibits the proportioning system of the classical orders. 
These orders, the architectural language of Greco-Roman antiquity, are described by Vitruvius, and were rediscovered during the Renaissance.  Their continued use connects us back not just to the our Classical foundations in Greece and Rome, but through the tradition of Western Architecture.  So, what does any of this that have to do with making architecture today?

I would like to digress briefly and talk about my own experiences.  I grew up outside of Providence in the 19th Century streetcar suburb of Edgewood and spent much of my time on College Hill.  I knew that I loved these places, and by walking down both sets of streets, marveling at the details of each building, and experiencing how they sat together on the street, I saw places made greater than the sum of their parts.

My first job upon completion of graduate school was in the office of John Blatteau in Philadelphia.  In addition to teaching design, drawing and watercolor techniques at the University of Pennsylvania, his office had recently completed the Benjamin Franklin State Dining for the State Department in DC,  a project that was the the result of a winning competition entry.  It was John who first taught me that Classicism was a Civic architecture.  If we look back to the early Republic, our Founders chose the Classical as the built expression of our ideals because they wanted to make direct reference to the Democracy of Athens and to the Republic of Rome. But they referenced not just Antiquity, but the rationalism of the Enlightenment and the belief that our understanding of the Universe could be achieved through logic and reason.

Classicism  is an inherently rational building system. The clear logic of the trabeated assembly of post and beam developed into a legible and potent symbolic language through an ongoing 2,500 year process of precedent and variation. The analogy that Classicism is a language is based on the belief that a new classical building could still be understood as such by builders from Antiquity.  David Brussat, Architectural writer and a member of our Board, in his blog, Architecture Here and There, recently quoted Contemporary British Architect, Robert Adam:
Living languages are not scrapped and reinvented every fifty years. We may express ourselves a little differently from Charles II or Nicholas Hawksmoor but we can use their expressions today because what they were is part of what we are. Our civilization and means of expression are modern but they carry their past with them and we are the richer for it.

It is difficult to make the claim that Modernism is a coherent language as each new generation throws out History and starts from scratch.   The theorists of Modernism speak of the end of history. They sought to reinvent new methods of building not tied to the past.  To them, tradition was something to be discarded. They removed the human from design, and with it the belief that beauty mattered.  Design was reduced to the Scientific, the quantifiable.  What mattered was not utility, strength and beauty in equal measure, but merely utility and strength.

According to Roger Scruton in his essay, Architectural Principals in an age of Nihilism, "The substance of aesthetic judgment lies in feeling, imagination and taste". There exists a possibility and necessity for aesthetic education. The failure of "Modern Architecture stems from the misunderstanding of this education and a disposition to discard the true disciplines of the eye and the heart in favor of the intellect."

During that time I worked for John Blatteau, his right hand was Stephen Bonitatibus, a young architect of immense talent who had a great passion for the Italian Baroque. Steve was also a devout Roman Catholic.  In his mind, he had conflated Catholicism and Classicism.  He believed that if someone understood the basic rules of classical design: proportion, symmetry, and hierarchy, that even a building that was not brilliant, would be a worthy addition to its environment.  If a city is greater than the sum of its parts, a classical understanding of hierarchy will enable designers to create buildings which will sit comfortably with their neighbors.  Bonitatibus considered Modernism to be a risky proposition. In the hands of a genius, it could create magnificent unique sculptural works, but in the hands of anyone less than a genius, it could be disruptive to the neighborhood and city around it: soulless and inhuman. In the universal sense of the word catholic, with a small "c", Steve quipped, "Better a bad catholic, than a virtuous heretic." 

We advocate for tradition because building is a social act, because tradition embodies architecture that people respond to positively.  A building designed to a simple agreed-upon set of principles fits with its neighbors and contributes to a harmonious whole.  In a recent column in The Spectator, entitled Classical Architecture Makes Us Happy. So Why Not Build More of It?  Ed West contends that the most desirable places to live in the UK share a large concentration of Georgian housing...and a Waitrose.  Though I think that the presence of a high-end grocery store in a desirable affluent neighborhood could be considered a matter of cause and effect, West contends that "Beauty makes people happy."  This can be measured through house prices, which consistently show bigger increases for more traditional buildings. A study from the Netherlands showed that ‘even controlling for a wide range of features, fully neo-traditional houses sell for 15 per cent more than fully non-traditional houses. Houses with references to tradition sell for 5 per cent more.’  Clearly there is demand for historic and historically designed houses.

We believe that beauty is an essential part of architecture; that beauty is not subjective, but objective, as described by Vitruvius and refined through more than 2,000 years of Western Tradition.  We believe that people have a positive visceral response to classical design. Because beauty is desirable, it has a positive impact upon property value.  But most importantly, beauty and tradition, applied through a rigorous authentic classicism, connect us to the flow of history, both to our past, but hopefully to future generations, through the legacy of the built world we leave behind.