Special thanks to Silver Lining, Inc.

The Institute of Classical Architecture & Art (ICAA) is a nonprofit membership organization committed to promoting and preserving the practice, understanding, and appreciation of classical design. Learn more at classicist.org.

Over the course of the ICAA's Classicism at Home dispatches, we've been thrilled to share the home viewing recommendations of a diverse array of classicists, including architects, academics, designers, writers, and more! With selections ranging from Last Year at Marienbad to Paddington 2, there is something for everyone among the recommended productions.

At last, we are pleased to present the full list of recommended films and reviewers, sorted for your convenience below. (Additionally, we look forward to inviting the next round of suggestions for 2021 and welcome submissions!)

Please join the ICAA for a screening of the latest entry in the Design in Mind series: Bunny Williams – Not a House but a Home, which explores the life and work of renowned interior designer Bunny Williams.

With her trademark warmth and geniality, Bunny leads viewers on a tour through many of her iconic spaces, from a classically inspired country estate that she designed for a client, to her Upper East Side apartment and her office in New York City, and finally to her lovingly renovated home and gardens in pastoral Connecticut. Featuring unprecedented access to one of America's most acclaimed designers, Bunny Williams – Not a House but a Home draws a vivid portrait of a wildly influential entrepreneur, offers her practical insights into creating beautiful interiors and gardens, and highlights the art and architecture that inspired her celebrated designs.

Design in Mind is a series of documentaries produced by the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art (ICAA) that provide a behind-the-scenes look into the work of acclaimed architects, designers, and artists.

THE 20TH ANNUAL MCKIM LECTURE

The Institute of Classical Architecture & Art (ICAA) is proud to partner with the University Club and the One West 54th Street Foundation to present the Annual McKim Lecture, named in honor of renowned architect, Charles McKim. Ben Pentreath will deliver the 2021 virtual lecture entitled "Lessons from History" and examine how crucial it is to have a harmonious union between modernity and classicism.

Ben Pentreath is one of the United Kingdom’s leading architectural and interior designers. His London-based design studio has established a powerful reputation across a wide-ranging variety of disciplines. With a background in Art History, which he studied at the University of Edinburgh before attending HRH the Prince of Wales’s Institute of Architecture, Ben worked for five years in New York and then with the Prince’s Foundation, before starting his own practice in 2004. In 2008, Ben opened a tiny eponymous design store, Pentreath & Hall, which has become one of the most influential design shops in London.

The ICAA Summer Studio in Classical Architecture is a four-week, immersive program that introduces skills, knowledge, and resources essential to the practice and appreciation of classical design. Build a foundation in classical architectural design while exploring, drawing, and learning from the rich architecture of New York City.

Applications & Scholarships: Thanks to The Richard H. Driehaus Charitable Lead Trust, the ICAA is able to offer both scholarships to offset tuition costs plus assistance to help with housing costs while in New York to ensure accessibility to the program for students of all financial backgrounds. If you would like to apply for a scholarship and/or housing assistance, please indicate so on your application form. 

All decisions regarding scholarships and awards are made solely at the discretion of the ICAA in accordance with established policies and procedures. Please inquire with education@classicist.org for additional information. 

Lead Sponsor for Continuing Education courses: Uberto Construction.

The age-old impulse to build a villa is a fundamentally paradoxical one which, nevertheless, strikes at the heart of what it means to build and what it means to dwell on this earth. A villa, set, as it inevitably is, in a garden, is a “home away from home.” Why do we seek such a place? What ultimately, does the villa and its garden represent? How have architects and landscape architects addressed these over the centuries? This two-part lecture program will explore the villa and garden tradition from antiquity to the present.

This course is presented as part of the Bunny Mellon Curricula at the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art. The ICAA is very grateful to the Gerard B. Lambert Foundation for its generous support of this program, along with the Curricula's Lead Co-Sponsor Edmund D. Hollander Landscape Architecture Design and Continuing Education and Public Programs Co-Sponsor Charlotte Moss.

This practical hands-on drawing course covers the third subject in the Introduction to the Elements of Classical Architecture sequence - the nomenclature, grammar, and proportional relationships of the canonical Doric order. The course is centered around freehand drawing of the Doric column and entablature. All instruction is live and on-line. This introduction forms part of a foundation for understanding all of the classical orders from the practitioner’s perspective, and lays the groundwork for exploring their use within an architectural composition.

Lead Annual Public Programs Sponsor: RINCK

Seasonal Public Programs Sponsor: Dell Mitchell Architects

Seasonal Public Programs Sponsor: Hyde Park Mouldings

For over fifty years, Robert A.M. Stern Architects has designed extraordinary houses and residences around the world, each suffused with a rich understanding of traditional architecture and an intuitive sense of how to shape a home to the needs of modern life. Many of the firm’s important early commissions were houses, and while RAMSA has since evolved into an internationally renowned firm with an extraordinarily broad portfolio, an unflagging dedication to timeless residential design has remained a cornerstone of its practice.

Join four of the firm’s distinguished residential Partners and coauthors of the new book Houses: Robert A.M. Stern Architects—Roger Seifter, Randy Correll, Grant Marani, and Gary Brewer—in conversation with Architectural Digest Features Editor, Sam Cochran, for an in-depth look at some of their recent and most exciting projects from around the country in a variety of different architecture styles, many of which have never been seen before.

Please join award-winning landscape architect and author, Janice Parker for a virtual lecture on Tuesday, March 30, as she shares her insights on the collaborative design process. Janice will delve deep into the reasoning and methodology of the collaborative spirit that has formed the foundation for her most successful projects. This process has many aspects, beginning with providing patrons the support and guidance they need to make informed choices. As a landscape architect, it is essential to unite the talent, vision and aesthetic sensitivity of the architect, interior designer, and lighting designer to achieve the most distinguished finished project. Janice will explore the core philosophies of collaboration, developed over a lifetime learning, that have led to successful outcomes and discuss strategies that can help designers avoid common missteps.

Presented as part of the Bunny Mellon Curricula at the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art. The ICAA is very grateful to the Gerard B. Lambert Foundation for its generous support of this program, along with the Curricula's Lead Co-Sponsor Hollander Design Landscape Architects, Film Series Co-Sponsor Janice Parker Landscape Architects, and Continuing Education and Public Programs Co-Sponsor Charlotte Moss.

For architect Andrew Cogar, president of Historical Concepts, and renowned interior designer Steven Gambrel, the most successful collaborations are those that intentionally blur the lines between architecture and interior design until they become one seamless design process. After years of working together, they’ve achieved that goal, honing their partnership to express a common vision while creating homes that are inventive and original.

Join Cogar and Gambrel on Wednesday, April 7th at 6:00 PM as they open the doors to three incredible projects—each featured in the new Historical Concepts’ book Visions of Home—and walk you through a synergistic design process that incorporates regional precedents with client sensibilities to craft homes that honor history, style and creativity. This event will be moderated by Jackie Terrebonne, Editor in Chief of Galerie Magazine.

If your membership is due for renewal, or if you would like to join and support the ICAA, you can do so on our website.

The centerpiece of the newly opened, highly-anticipated Moynihan Train Hall is a monumental Art Deco clock, designed by Peter Pennoyer Architects and inspired by the Jazz Age architecture of New York City and the golden age of railroad travel. The clock, which has been praised by the New York Times, Architectural Digest, and many others, was a late addition to the development of the train hall and required intense work in the architects’ office and in the factories of Hyde Park Moldings and Americlock Inc. to meet the Governor’s New Year’s Eve deadline.

How does a team design, coordinate, and create a 12 foot by 6 foot clock that will be suspended 25 feet in the air in six months? Join Peter Pennoyer, Steven Worthington, and Colin Richardson—the team at Peter Pennoyer Architects that led the effort—for a behind-the-scenes virtual tour of the design and construction of the clock, from inception to installation. They will share their early inspiration, discuss the challenges they faced, and talk about what it means to have a public commission at the center of a New York City landmark.

PLINTH is an active and energetic young members group of the National Chapter of the ICAA comprised of students, emerging professionals, and all those interested in developing and advancing the appreciation of classical tradition. If you are interested in joining PLINTH, please reach out to programming@classicist.org.

The Classicist No. 18

The Classicist is an annual, peer-reviewed journal dedicated to the classical tradition in architecture and the allied arts. Featuring professional and student portfolios as well as academic articles authored by leaders in the field, this beautiful, color-illustrated journal serves as a forum for contemporary, classical practice as well as a source of inspiration and information for students, practitioners, teachers, patrons, and enthusiasts.

The ICAA invites submissions for the Professional Portfolio of the Classicist No. 18, which will be published in the fall of 2021 and is focused on the Mid-Atlantic region. If you are a practitioner who has completed work in the region in the past 10 years, please submit your projects for inclusion by filling out this form. 

The Classicist No. 17, edited by Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk and focused on Florida, is now available for purchase here.

There is so much more available online at classicist.org: filmed lectures and public programs, panel discussions, and numerous online articles provide an opportunity to stay connected with the ICAA.