NEW PENCIL POINTS
May 1943
Kenneth Reid [Editor]
Kenneth Reid [Editor]: NEW PENCIL POINTS. East Stroudsburg, PA: Reinhold Publishing Company [Volume 24, Number 5] May 1943. Original edition. Slim quarto. Side stitched printed wrappers. 116 pp. Illustrated articles and advertisments. Wrappers lightly rubbed and soiled with mild spine wear. Interior unmarked and very clean. Cover design, layout and typography by Bernard Rudofsky. A very good copy.
8.75 x 11.75 original magazine with 116 pages and numerous b/w illustrations. "Pencil Points," the forerunner of "Progressive Architecture" embraced the streamline moderne aesthetic in the arts.
- Letters From Readers
- Products Progress: New products of interest to the profession
- News: Items from many sources all bearing on the architectural front
- Editorial by Kenneth Reid
- Six Houses
- Houses by Richard J. Neutra [Palos Verdes, CA; 10 pages with 16 b/w illustrations, photos by Julius Shulman], George Fred Keck [Lake Forest, IL; 6 pages with 17 b/w illustrations], Harwell Hamilton Harris [La Jolla, CA; 6 pages with 21 b/w illustrations], Milliken and Bevin [West Texas; 4 pages with 13 b/w illustrations of the The Wallace E. Pratt House], Gardner A. Dailey [Marin County; 10 pages with 21 b/w illustrations], Eleanor Pepper and George W. Kosmak [3 pages with 7 b/w illustrations]
- Selected Details: Ernst Payer, Architect [4 illustrated pages]
- Discussions on Urbanism
- Competitions: Announcements and Results
- Books, Periodicals: Reviews by Henry G. Churchill and others
- Manufacturers' Literature
- Barrett Specification Roofs full-page advertisment presents New York City Architect George Nelson’s bold prediction for Department Store roofs after the War.
- General Advertising: an excellent assortment of vintage trade advertisments
The Wallace E. Pratt House, also known as Ship On The Desert was the residence of Wallace Pratt in what is now Guadalupe Mountains National Park in far western Texas.
Pratt, a petroleum geologist for the Humble Oil & Refining Company, had previously built the Wallace Pratt Lodge in McKittrick Canyon a couple of miles to the north in the Guadalupe Mountains. Finding the cabin site to be remote and prone to being cut off by flooding, Pratt started construction of a new, modern residence on the east slope of the mountains. Work on the residence started in 1941. The house was designed by Long Island architect Newton Bevin, who lived for a time at the site with his wife, and built by contractor Ed Birdsall. Work was stopped by World War II, but resumed in 1945 and was completed the same year. In contrast to Pratt's rustic canyon cabin, the house, which Pratt named the Ship On The Desert, is an International Style house with horizontal lines and extensive glazing.
Only 16 feet (4.9 m) wide and 110 feet (34 m) long, the house provides broad views to the east over the plains and the west to the mountains. The majority of the house is on a single level, with a "captain's bridge" over the dining room giving access to a rooftop terrace. A detached garage contained a guest bedroom. Apart from glass, the predominant material was local limestone in several shades.
Pratt and his wife, Iris, lived at the Ship On The Desert until 1963, when Pratt's health dictated a move to Tucson, Arizona.[3] The house was donated to the new park along with 5,632 acres (2,279 ha) of lands in the northern part of the proposed park by the Pratts between 1959 and 1961. It was used as a residence for National Park Service employees, and has been determined to be eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. The house is occasionally open for tours sponsored by the National Park Service.
The house was featured on the National Trust for Historic Preservation's 2018 list of most-endangered historic locations.