ROMALDO GIURGOLA

717 GLENGARRY RD.

BUILT 1963

ROMALDO GIURGOLA, an Italian émigré to Philadelphia, was profoundly affected by Kahn yet designed with his own singular vision. He saw architecture as experienced in pieces, or "fragments" which were part of a larger context. Each building is a piece, or fragment, of the surroundings, and not complete on its own. Inside, the series of rooms would have their own "narrative landscape," creating a series of views and situations which would then be experienced as a full composition. Nonetheless, Giurgola's designs emphasized function and he evaluated the success of a project by "how well it promotes human accomodation."

This house, built along a gently curving drive, was originally designed for a single female author and painter. It is a dynamic composition of three cubic spaces that pinwheel around a central, two-story stair hall. The unusually large living room creates an open floor plan and achieves a grandeur rarely found in a one-story house. The architecture here, most closely identified with the International Style, contrasts sharply with the low-slung linearity of many other houses of the period.