Woollen, Molzan and Partners (WMP) is a U.S.-based second-generation architecture, interior design, and planning firm that Evans Woollen III founded in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1955. The firm was previously known as Evans Woollen and Associates and Woollen Associates. It remained in business for more than fifty-five years before closing its doors in 2011. Woollen began by designing mid-century modern residences, but the firm's design projects expanded to include a diverse portfolio of designs for libraries, worship facilities, museums, performing arts centers, private residences, public housing, and correctional facilities, among other projects.
St. Maria Goretti Catholic Church / Westfield, Indiana / Photographer: Kevin F. Huse
The architectural firm was founded in 1955 and was known as Evans Woollen and Associates and Woollen Associates before it incorporated as Woollen Molzan and Partners in 1982. The firm was small in size, but it designed a wide range of projects that included commercial, religious, and government buildings, as well as academic buildings and correctional facilities, among other works. It ceased operations in 2011.[1][2]
In 1968 Woollen formed a partnership with Lynn Molzan, a Tacoma, Washington, native who joined the Indianapolis-based firm in 1965. Evans Woollen and Associates incorporated as Woollen Associates in 1968; after the addition of more partners, it was incorporated and renamed Woollen, Molzan and Partners in 1982. In addition to Woollen and Molzan, the principals of the firm included, among others, Laurence R. O'Connor; William Brady, who joined the firm in 1980; and Kevin Huse, who joined the firm in 1985 and later served as its president. The firm remained in operation for more than five decades. Woollen sold his interest in the firm and retired from the practice around 2001. Woollen Molzan employed as many as nine licensed architects during the 1990s; by 2006 it had only four. The architectural firm was dissolved and closed in April 2011; architects Molzan, Huse, and Mike Brannan joined Ratio Architects Inc., a local competitor.[7][8][9]
Woollen initially maintained an office on Indianapolis's Monument Circle in downtown Indianapolis. In 1980 the firm's leaders acquired the historic Majestic Building, restored it, and maintained its offices there for several years. When Woollen Molzan closed in 2011, its headquarters were located on South Kentucky Avenue in Indianapolis.[9]
Design projects
The firm's wide range of modern building designs included banking facilities, libraries, office buildings, and churches, as well as academic buildings, performing-arts facilities, and correctional facilities. It was also involved in numerous historic preservation and urban-redevelopment projects.
1960s residential designs
Initially, Woollen specialized in designs for private homes, but the firm's work soon expanded to include commercial and urban-design projects.[7] Woollen's early commissions were primarily mid-century modern residences, such as the International-style home (ca. 1960–63) he designed for the Perlov family in Indianapolis. The project was featured in House and Garden magazine.[10] For the Leibman residence (ca. 1962–64), another of Woollen's early residential commissions that was featured in House Beautiful and House and Garden magazines, he created a modern interpretation of an old peasant farmhouse in southern Italy. The cluster house had two circular structures with conical roofs.[11]
1960s commercial projects
Woollen's notable early commercial projects that were built in Indianapolis included Fesler Hall (1962), an addition to the John Herron Art Institute, and Clowes Memorial Hall (1963), which he co-designed John M. Johansen. Clowes Hall was built on the campus of Butler University.[12][13] These two buildings are notable for their exposed concrete slabs, which are typical of the Brutalism architecture style. The $3.5 million Clowes Hall project, which included a 2,200-seat concert hall for the university and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, was the firm's first major work. Since its opening in 1963, the architectural community has praised its bold design,[14] and its success led to other major commissions, including the design of other performing-arts facilities. Another of the firm's early projects was the modern design for the Marian University library (1966) in Indianapolis. It was the firm's first academic library, which also became a specialty of the firm.[15]
In addition to these works, the firm designed the twenty-floor John J. Barton Tower (1967) in Indianapolis. The estimated $3.5 million project was the first high-rise apartment building in the city that provided low-cost housing for senior citizens.[5] Some of its critics described the tower as "ungainly" and "awkward," but it received international coverage in architecture journals for its "inventive take on public housing."[16] The firm also designed several banking facilities for the American Fletcher National Bank (a predecessor to the present-day Chase Bank in Indianapolis) and became known for designing religious buildings. One of its notable early churches was Saint Thomas Aquinas Church (1968) in Indianapolis. It received an Indiana Society of Architects award for its bold, geometric design.[17][18]
The firm's major commissions in the 1970s included the Indiana University's Musical Arts Center (1972) in Bloomington and the Minton-Capehart Federal Building (1976) in Indianapolis.[7] The IU project, another example of Woollen's interpretation of the Brutalist style, includes work and storage spaces arranged around a cylindrical, 1,500-seat opera house. The $20 million Minton-Capehart Federal Building, which fills in the east side of the Indiana World War Memorial Plaza, was also designed in the "Brutalist architecture style. The federal building includes a rainbow-colored mural by graphic artist Milton Glaser that wraps around the exterior's base. Some have called the block-long, six-story building a "pigeon coop" and "the ugliest building in Indianapolis."[19][20] However, architects consider the massive building as one of the city's few "cutting-edge designs from the 1970s."[21] In addition to these projects, the firm designed the 45-room New Harmony Inn (1975) at historic New Harmony, Indiana.[22] and the renovation of a community auditorium.[citation needed]
Urban-redevelopment projects
Community redevelopment became a major area of focus for the firm in the 1970s. The firm's design for the $2.5 million Pilot Center (1972–84) in the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio, was a milestone in its professional development. It was here that Woollen and O'Connor first initiated the firm's "live-in" approach to its design process that encouraged client and community stakeholder participation.The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development provided funding to build the Pilot Center, which was a grouping of four, mixed-use buildings (a recreational center, a senior citizens center, a Montessori school and daycare center, and a meeting and event space) within a two-block area.[23][24]
The firm was also involved in several major renovations that repurposed older buildings in Indianapolis into inner-city housing. Its adaptive reuse projects turned the former Saint Agnes Academy, a former headquarters of the Carpenter's Union, and the former Saint Vincent's Hospital on North Illinois Street into apartment buildings and saved the aging structures from demolition. The hospital renovation, whose construction cost was $3.5 million, was the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's largest rehabilitation project in Indiana. Renamed the Weyerbacher Terrace, the project's 296 units opened for rental in 1975.[25] (The hospital building was later remodeled and became part of the present-day Ivy Tech Community College campus.)[26]
1980s projects
Churches, libraries, museums, historic renovations, and performing-arts facilities continued to be hallmarks of the firm's work in the 1980s, which included several major projects. In 1979 the firm began design work at St. Meinrad Archabbey, a Benedictine monastery in Spencer County, Indiana. The archabbey is one of only two s in the United States. The firm's architectural designs included a new monastery and academic library, in addition to renovation of the historic archabbey church.[27] Saint Andrew's Abbey Church (1985–86) in Cleveland, Ohio, another of the firm's major works in the 1980s, has an asymmetrical exterior and striking modern sanctuary of exposed steel, concrete walls, and an upward-sloping ceiling.[28] The firm also designed churches in Indianapolis, including Saint Phillip's Church (1986) and a modern addition (1983–89) to Christ Church Cathedral, an Indianapolis landmark on Monument Circle.[7]
The firm also designed the west atrium entrance (1989) to The Children's Museum of Indianapolis as part of a multi-phase update to make it less intimidating for children, but still capable of handling more than a million visitors annually. In addition to a new entrance, the four-story addition included gallery space, a gift shop, a restaurant, a box office, and an information desk.[31]
Moody Music Center / University of Alabama - Tuscaloosa / Photographer: Balthazar Korab
The 1990s began with the completion of the historic renovation of Hall Auditorium on the campus of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. The firm also began work on the Wabash Valley Correctional Facility, the first all-new prison facility in Indiana in over a hundred years.[32][33] This project started the firm's work in the correctional market.[citation needed] Other major work in the 1990s included churches such as Holy Cross Lutheran Church (1990) and Saint Monica's Church (1993) in Indianapolis and a contemporary design for the White River Gardens Conservatory (1999) at the Indianapolis Zoo.[34]
The Indianapolis Central Library addition and atrium project (2007) was Woollen Molzan's largest commission and the final one before Evans Woollen III retired from the firm. The project included restoration of the Indianapolis Public Library's historic Central Library, which was designed by Paul Philippe Cret and built in 1917, and a new, six-story curved-glass and steel structure that connected to the Cret building through an expansive atrium.[35] The firm was commissioned in 2001 to design the new building, but work was temporarily halted in 2004 due to construction problems and subsequent lawsuits. The Woollen Molzan firm was eventually released from the project, which cost an estimated $150 million; however, the library addition was completed in 2007 using its design. Woollen Molzan's lawsuit with the library was settled in 2006. The firm paid the library $580,000, but denied accusations that the building had design flaws, and the library paid the Woollen Molzan firm $130,000 in fees.[9][36] The library's structural consultants "were exonerated in court" in 2009; "it is generally accepted that the innocence extended to Woollen, Molzan too."[36]
Charles V. Park Library, Central Michigan University
David L. Rice Library, University of Southern Indiana
Although it was a small firm, Woollen, Molzan and Partners developed a diverse portfolio since its establishment in 1955. Its major work focused on libraries, worship facilities, and academic buildings. The firm was considered one of Indianapolis's "foremost modernist architectural firms."[4] Its projects were featured in numerous local, national, and international publications.[38]
Noted for its bold, contemporary buildings and historic-preservation projects, the firm also took the structure's setting and history into consideration when developing its designs. Some of Woollen Molzan's most distinctive modern buildings in Indianapolis are still in use, including Clowes Hall, Barton Tower, the Minton-Capehart Federal Building, the White River Gardens Conservatory, and the addition to the Indianapolis Central Library, among others. Some of the firm's modern designs were criticized, such as the Minton-Capehart Federal Building and Barton Tower, but most of them were praised, especially Clowes Hall.[4] Outside of Indianapolis, the firm's notable projects included libraries, such as the Cushwa-Leighton Library at Saint Mary's College in Notre Dame, Indiana; the David L. Rice Library at the University of Southern Indiana; the Grainger Engineering Library at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; and the Morris Library at Southern Illinois University, in Carbondale.[29][39][40]
The firm's notable designs for churches included Saint Meinrad Archabbey's monastery and library in Spencer County, Indiana, and Saint Andrew's Abbey Church in Cleveland, Ohio. Its major designs for performing arts centers included Indiana University's Musical Arts Center in Bloomington and the Moody Music Center at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa.[7][41]
The Woollen Molzan firm also managed the renovation and preservation of several historic structures that remain in use. Notable projects include the Indiana Theatre (the home of the Indiana Repertory Theatre), Union Station, the Majestic Building, and several historic apartment buildings such as the Blancherne, Link-Savoy, Hoosier, and Blackburn Terraces, all of which are in Indianapolis. The firm also contributed new design ides for mixed-use urban neighborhoods, including those featured in Cincinnati's Over-the-Rhine Pilot Center.[42][43]
Honors and awards
Kinlaw Library, Asbury University
In 1964 Fortune magazine named Clowes Hall as one of the ten most important buildings completed between 1962 and 1964.[44]
The firm was the recipient of at least twenty awards from the American Institute of Architects, in addition to other awards it received nationally and internationally.[45]
American School and University magazine recognized the firm's projects in three of its annual Architectural Portfolio competitions. (The Kinlaw Library and Kirkland Learning Resources Center at Asbury College was recognized in the Outstanding Buildings, Specialized category in 2003; the Charles V. Park Library and Information Services Center at Central Michigan University in the Outstanding Design, Renovation/Modernization category in 2004; and the David L. Rice Library at the University of Southern Indiana in the Outstanding Designs, Post-Secondary category in 2006.[46])
Christ Church Cathedral addition (1983–89), Indianapolis, Indiana[4]* Church of Our Lady of Loretto, Saint Mary's College, Notre Dame, Indiana[citation needed]
Clowes Memorial Hall, Butler University, Indianapolis, Indiana[3][50]
Cushwa-Leighton Library (1981–82), Saint Mary's College, Notre Dame, Indiana[7]
^ abcdefMary Ellen Gadski, "Woollen, Molzan and Partners" in David J. Bodenhamer and Robert G. Barrows, ed. (1994). The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press. pp. 1453–54. ISBN0-253-31222-1.
^Jim Morris (Summer 1994). "Evans Woollen: The Man Behind the Landmarks". Arts Indiana. Indianapolis: Art Indiana, Inc. 16 (5): 24.
^ abcdefg"Biographical Sketch" in Woollen, Molzan and Partners, Inc. Architectural Records, ca. 1912–2011; and Gadski, "Woollen, Molzan and Partners" in The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis, pp. 1453–54.
^Philip J. Trounstine (May 9, 1976). "Evans Woollen: Struggles of a 'Good Architect'". [Indianapolis] Star Magazine. Indianapolis, Indiana: 24. See also: Megan Fernandez (June 2010). "The Pillar: Evans Woollen". Indianapolis Monthly. Indianapolis, Indiana: 73. Retrieved December 18, 2017. Also: "Designing Library and Archives Spaces". Southwestern Archivist. Gaithersburg, MD: Society of Southwest Archivists. 32 (2): 8. May 2009.
^"Wrapped Up in Itself". House and Garden. New York City: Conde Nast. 123 (5): 156–61. May 1963.
^ abJames DeLong (June 1965). "Phenomenon of the Cluster House". House Beautiful. New York City: The Hearst Corporation. 107 (6): 121. Also: "Architectural Changes Forecast New Adventures in Living". House and Garden. New York City: Conde Nast. 122 (4): 159. October 1962.
^Johansen, a modernist architect with a national reputation, was one of Woollen's professor at Yale. See Fernandez, p. 68.
^Mary Ellen Gadski, "Clowes Memorial Hall" in David J. Bodenhamer and Robert G. Barrows, ed. (1994). The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press. p. 453. ISBN0-253-31222-1. Retrieved July 13, 2010.
^ ab"Biographical Sketch" in Woollen, Molzan and Partners, Inc. Architectural Records, ca. 1912–2011; Gadski, "Woollen, Molzan and Partners" in The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis, pp. 1453–54; and Trounstine, p. 23.
^Fernandez, p. 72, and "Recent Work of Evans Woollen" in Architectural Record, pp. 142–43.
^Gerald Allen (April 1976). "The New harmony Inn: A Triumph in Modesty". Architectural Record. 159: 101–06. See also:
"New Harmony Inn". New Harmony Inn. Retrieved July 13, 2010.
^"Pilot Center-Filling in Over-the-Rhine". Architectural Record. New York: McGrall-Hill. 158 (5): 81–86. October 1975.
^"Urban Apartments". Indiana Architect. 17 (5): 7–9. September 1974. See also: Joel G. Cahn (November 1976). "From Hospital to Apartment at Half the Cost of New Housings". House and Home. New York, New York: McGraw-Hill. 50 (5): 68–70. Also: Fremont Power (September 5, 1977). "They Like Old St. 'V'". Indianapolis News. p. 19.
^Margaret Gaskie (April 1985). "Continuity Amid Change". Architectural Record. 173: 130–37. See also: "Wie eine feste Burg: Ein neues Koster in den USA". Steinmetz+Bildauer. 102: 9–11. March 1986.
^Fernandez, p. 72, and Margaret Gaskie, "Climbing Jacob’s Ladder," in Architectural Record, pp. 134–35.
^ ab"ALA/AIA Award-winning Libraries for 1983". Library Journal. 108 (13): 1300. July 1983. See also: "Five Libraries Win Architectural Awards". American Libraries. 14: 455–56. July 1983.
^"Library Tech". Engineering Outlook. Urbana: University of Illinois. 35 (2): 2–5. Spring 1994.
^Margaret Gaskie (August 1989). "Putting on a Happy Face". Architectural Record. New York, New York: McGraw-Hill: 78–81.
^ ab"Section 9: Building Specifications, Studies, and Portfolios" in Woollen, Molzan and Partners, Inc. Architectural Records, ca. 1912–2011.
^Gadski, "Woollen, Molzan and Partners" in The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis, pp. 1453–54; "Biographical Sketch" in Woollen, Molzan and Partners, Inc. Architectural Records, ca. 1912–2011; and Drawbaugh.
^Fernandez, p. 73; "Biographical Sketch" in Woollen, Molzan and Partners, Inc. Architectural Records, ca. 1912–2011; and Lawrence J. Downey, "Indianapolis–Marion County Public Library" in The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis, p. 790.
^"The Building Buck Doesn't Stop Here". Library Journal. New York, New York: Reed Business Information. 127 (20): 42–45. December 2002. See also: "A Sense of Place: New Facilities and Renovations Emphasize". American Libraries. American Library Association. 33 (4): 45–49. April 2002.
^Mary Ellen Gadski (1988). Comprehensive Bibliography of the Works of Woolen Molzan, and Partners, 1955–1987. Monticello, IL: Vance Bibliographies.
^"Morris Library". Southern Illinois University. Retrieved July 14, 2010.
^"Rice Library". University of Southern Indiana. Retrieved 2010-07-14. Also: Michell Stinnard (January 2007). "Limestone Relief makes Campus Library a Focal Point". Stone World. 24 (1): 220–22.
^ abNancy Kriplen (November 1984). "The Opera Factory". Opera News: 16–18, 20. See also: "Indiana Musical Arts Center". Architecture Française: 49–51. March 1974. Also: "Indiana Elegant New 'Opera Factory'". Architectural Record: 119–24. February 1973.
^Trounstine, p. 23; Drawbaugh; "Biographical Sketch" and "Section 2: Manuscript Materials, Historic Projects" in Woollen, Molzan and Partners, Inc. Architectural Records, ca. 1912–2011; and Gadski, "Woollen, Molzan and Partners" in The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis, pp. 1453–54.
^"Ten Buildings that Point to the Future". Fortune. Chicago: Time, Inc. 70 (4): 134. October 1964.
^Biographical Sketch" in Evans Woollen III Oral History Transcript, 2012; and Gadski, "Woollen, Molzan and Partners" in The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis, pp. 1453–54.
^"Outstanding Buildings, Specialized". American School and University. 76 (3): 220. November 2003. See also: "Outstanding Design, Renovation/Modernization". American School and University. 77 (3): 297. November 2004. See also: "Outstanding Designs, Post-Secondary". American School and University. 79 (3): 161. November 2006.
^"Park Library Virtual Tour". Retrieved July 14, 2010. See also: "Central Michigan University, Park Library and Information Services Center, Mt. Pleasant, MI, Outstanding Designs Renovation/Modernation". American School & University: 297. November 2004.
^Sibyl Moholy-Nagy (May 1964). "L'Architecture Americaine Prend Une Nouvelle Orientation". L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui. 114: 105. See also: Robert Gover (December 24, 1967). "Culture Comes to Indianapolis". The New York Times Magazine: 6–7, 10–13.
^"Rice Library". University of Southern Indiana. Retrieved July 14, 2010. See also: Michell Stinnard (January 2007). "Limestone Relief makes Campus Library a Focal Point". Stone World. 24 (1): 220–22.
^"A Church for the Revised Catholic Liturgy". Architectural Record. 147: 119–22. February 1970.
^Steve Mannheimer (September 19, 1992). "Recognition Comes in Many Forms of Gratitude for Architectural Fellow". Indianapolis Star. Indianapolis, Indiana: G6. See also: Margaret Gaskie (August 1989). "Putting on a happy face". Architectural Record: 78–81.
^"White River Gardens". Archived from the original on 2010-06-06. Retrieved July 14, 2010. See: Frank Edgerton Martin (January 2001). "Beyond the Gazebo". Landscape Architecture: 62–69.
