Designer of shared spaces

The legacy of Noland Blass

CIT be? Brutalism, right here in Arkansas? Oh, wait. We’re not talking about people being mistreated, at least not physically.

This is Brutalist architecture, from the French word for “raw” as in “raw concrete” ( beton brut), the material favored by Monsieur Le Corbusier. A descendant of the modernist architectural movement of the early 20th century, it produced hulking buildings that look like defensible fortresses such as the Worthen Bank Building (now Bank of America) at Capitol and Center streets in downtown Little Rock.

That towering monolith, along with Baptist Medical Center, Arkansas Cancer Research Center at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, and Temple B’nai Israel, were all designed by Noland Blass.

The modernist legacy of Mr. Blass (1920-1998) was celebrated recently by Gordon Duckworth of Little Rock architectural firm Wittenberg, Delony & Davidson, Callie Williams of the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, and Mason Toms of Main Street Arkansas at a crowded gathering at the Arkansas Arts Center.

Mr. Blass, a member of the Little Rock family that owned Gus Blass Department Store, went to Central High then Cornell University, where he earned a degree in architecture. Following service in the U.S. Army during World War II, he joined the Little Rock architectural firm of Erhart, Eichenbaum, and Rauch. By the early 1970s he was a senior partner.

Along with corporate and institutional projects, Mr. Blass’ body of work includes residential designs, many of which can be found along Palisades and Sunset drives with views of the Arkansas River, along with a unique curved house in Wingate. There are apartments, too, such as Little Rock’s Summit House and North Little Rock’s Lakewood House.

“Nolan liked to experiment; not stick to one style,” said Mason Toms. “He was a driving force of mid-century architecture,” said Callie Williams. And in his later years, she added, he liked taking on small projects, so he could spend four months each year studying sculpture in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.

Mr. Blass was interested in reviving downtown; his firm was a force behind the pedestrian-friendly Metrocentre Mall (which broke ground in 1977 and lasted until around 1982). Following the adage that you can’t win ’em all, he also participated in the design of the Wilbur Mills Expressway, built over a two-decade period beginning in 1965, that has since been blamed for significant social alterations in the city.

There’s one social situation Mr. Blass favored in his work, according to Mr. Toms: “His self-designed houses have large public spaces; architects use [their homes] as showplaces, and they love to entertain.” Those houses, and their current residents, continue to fulfill the function of bringing people together.

Which led Mr. Duckworth to lament the title of the evening’s presentation wasn’t “People Who Live in Blass Houses.” Now that’s brutal.