I have been doing some catching up on this (I haven't checked the main European/North American thread, maybe will do it between today and tomorrow). Therefore, I am quite unsure about the proceeding to nominate sites in this region.
However, I have some ideas that may be of interest (focusing for the moment mostly on the US)
nfmungard:
History of Music: Jazz, Blues, RocknRoll
I am thinking of the
Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Sheffield, Alabama where an outstanding number of important records have been recorded, even there are mentions of a "Muscle Shoals Sound". The original studio is in the National Register of Historic Places. There could be a case made for the original
Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, where many seminal recordings in the 1950s were made and that is a National Historic Landmark; as well as the former
Chess Studios in Chicago, that launched American blues on to a wider public. Of those studios, it seems that most of them passed through periods in which they ceased to be functioning studios, but they have been restored to their original layout and equipment. I don´t know if something of note remains in Tin Pan Alley, New York City.
winterkjm:
- Death Valley National Park
- Joshua Tree National Park
- Anza-Borrego Desert State Park
- Mojave Desert National Preserve
- Mojave Trails National Monument
- Sand to Snow National Monument
- Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument
I am in favor of a serial nomination of the most significative components. Definitely Death Valley NP and Johua Tree NP are among those.
winterkjm:
Colonial sites
For me, clearly Savannah (GA), Charleston (SC),
Annapolis (MD) and Newport (RI) take the lead here.
Williamsburg (VI) could be argued and is stunning, but I understand part of it is a reconstruction, so I don't think Icomos would see that very positively. Additionally, it is practically a "colonial era theme park".
Outside of English colonial sites, I think there is a possible site of Great Potential: the Mississipi river French settlements of Ste.Genevieve (MO) and Kaskaskia (IL), particularly their XVIII-early XIX century substantial remains.
Ste. Genevieve is regarded as the "the first organized European settlement west of the Mississippi River in present-day Missouri", it even has a designated historic district with buildings from the age of French colonization. The remains in Kaskaskia and surroundings are less substantial, specially because most of the town (which came to be the first capital of Illinois) was swallowed up by the Mississipi river, but still the
Pierre Menard house and the Creole house, as well as the archaeological sites of Fort Kaskaskia and Fort de Chartres (partly rebuilt), in its vicinity, are witnesses to that era.
Regarding
Why not the historical parts of
Los Alamos National Laboratory (rather than the insubstantial Trinity Site). A controversial nomination, for sure, and one that the US Government would not let happen, but one of great historic importance.
winterkjm:
City Planning/Historic Districts
Regarding 20th century Urbanism, I think
Columbus, Indiana is definitely something that could merit WH-status. "The relatively small city has provided a unique place for noted Modern architecture and public art, commissioning numerous works since the mid-20th century; the annual program Exhibit Columbus celebrates this legacy"
winterkjm:
Modern Post-WWII Architecture
I have five proposals. In order of merit:
1.
Major works of Louis Kahn: simply you can't miss one of the great masters of Modern Architecture, together with Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Alvar Aalto. These would include his most accomplished works, namely:
-
Richards Medical Research Laboratories (Philadelphia, PA)
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The Salk Institute (La Jolla, CA)
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Trenton Bath House (Trenton, NJ)
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Yale University Art Gallery (New Haven, Ct)
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First Unitarian Church (Rochester, NY)
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Indian Institute of Management (Ahmedabad, India)
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Phillips Exeter Academy Library (Exeter, NH)
-
Kimbell Art Museum (Ft.Worth, Texas)
-Jatiyo Sangshad Bhavan (Dhaka, Bangladesh). I understand it was nominated in the Asian-Pacific thread, I don't remember if it was seconded, but it could be subsumed into this nomination.
2. Works of Mies van der Rohe in the US (3 select buildings): after going to the U.S., Mies explored and deepened his purist vision of modern architecture, taking it to newer extremes. It also reflects the triumph of Modern Architecture after WWII and how it became the architectural language adopted throughout all the world.
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S.R. Crown Hall (Chicago, IL): nothing short of revolutionary, it was a first in its kind in architectural history. Mies designed most of IIT, but this building takes the lead.
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Farnsworth house (Plano, IL): Tugendhat house is extremely full of ornament, in comparison. It simply is one of the most minimalistic and famous houses in architectural history.
-
Seagram building (New York City, NY): it could be argued that the evolution from modern architecture to "international style", a style that became repeated throughout the world and redefined cities from the 1950s onwards, was spearheaded by this skyscraper. It sits in front of the Lever House (not by Mies, but SOM), another extremely influential skyscraper.
3.
Vanna Ventury House (Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, PA): by Robert Venturi and designed for his mother, this 1964 house singlehandedly launched Postmodernism, a movement that criticized Modern Architecture to its core, and reflecting the language of "complexity and contradiction" that Venturi proposed in the book "Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture". It is considered one of the most influential works of the 20th century.