Episode 14 with Ralph Alley

We pick up the thread in 1965. Ralph’s solo architectural practice is getting into high gear! By this time he has moved out of his bedroom at home and into leased office space downtown. Ralph and three collaborators make a trip to Valdez to try to convince the local leaders there to modify their plans to rebuild the town. He is busy with several house projects for clients who were displaced by losing their houses in the earthquake damage in the Turnagain neighborhood.

Lowell Thomas, Jr. and his wife Tay [shown here in 1958 with their airplane] were one of Ralph’s clients whose house was destroyed in Turnagain in the 1964 earthquake.

Episode 3 with Ralph Alley

In this episode, Ralph revisits a 1955 trip to an AIA event in Washington, DC. Then, more stories from his first few months in Alaska, including a boat trip from Whittier to Valdez in 1960.

President Eisenhower in a parade in downtown Anchorage in 1960. The log cabin with the polar bear [seen first at 0:35] is the Jonas Brothers store that was on the same block as Ralph’s boarding house.

Sybil Moholy-Nagy in a photo portrait by her husband, Laszlo.

Newly completed house addition, Valdez, Alaska, 1955. Photo from University of Alaska Fairbanks archives.

1958.

Early 20th century evening street scene, Valdez, Alaska. P.S. Hunt photo, University of Alaska Fairbanks archives.

World War II era street scene, Valdez, Alaska.

Early 20th century Victorian church, abandoned at Old Valdez townsite in 1969.

Today there are only remnants of the original town of Valdez. A few of the buildings were relocated to the new townsite, nearby on higher ground after the 1964 earthquake. Photo by Clark Yerrington, 2014.

Charles Blomfield [front] and some of his neighbors outside their Bootlegger Cove condo building, downtown Anchorage, 2009. Photo by Clark Yerrington.

Additional links related to the episode…

Charles Warren Callister, Architect [who Ralph mentions as a strong influence] is featured in this 2004 San Francisco Chronicle article where he discusses contextualism and his design approach. Callister was profiled in Architectural Digest Magazine in 1981. Callister’s Red Barn House [a remodel] is shown at Curbed SF in 2009 when it sold for an astronomical sum.

Photos of ‘50s/’60s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parades including one of Hopalong Cassidy in 1955.

Unlike Callister [information about whom is relatively scarce] there is plenty in print and online about Greene and Greene and their projects. This article about the Thorsen House gets into an interesting forensic investigation.

2018 Metropolis Magazine article commemorating the Paul Rudolph centennial.

Wassily Sommer painting of three nudes [‘50s/’60s vintage?] and limited biographical info.