ART FOR ARCHITECTURE’S SAKE : Decorative Work by Craftsmen in Demand Again

Vince Quintana wanted to keep his three sons off the streets and out of trouble. So Quintana, a craftsman who fashioned plaster decorations that embellished buildings designed during the 1930s and 1940s, taught his craft to the boys. Soon they were going door to door, peddling handmade busts of Abraham Lincoln.

And by the 1950s, when he gave the lessons to his sons, modern designs had wiped out demand for his style of ornamentation. Quintana eventually abandoned decorative work as architects became enamored of sleeker-looking buildings.

He never imagined that decades later, architects would again demand ornamental pieces--or that his sons would use his plaster-casting lessons as the basis for a family business that creates ornamental pieces.

The rekindled interest in decorative design has been fueled by a “wave of historical restoration work that began about 10 years ago,” according to John Busby, president of the American Institute of Architects, who sees a “rebirth of public demand” for those detailed designs.

Can Get Expensive

Consequently, U.S. architects are scurrying to locate suppliers who can create the intricate ceilings, medallions, friezes and facades needed to complete building designs.

However, traditional materials such as wood, plaster and cut stone can be expensive and difficult to work with when intricate designs are required. Architects consequently are turning to craftsmen who use modern materials, including fiberglass, lightweight concrete and extruded polyurethane, to fashion convincing imitations of yesterday’s classic designs.

The growing trend to use modern materials to craft classical designs is evident at Crowe Co. in Escondido, where Alan Crowe produces French, Spanish, Colonial and traditional woodwork designs from oak, cherry and other woods.

Because wood is too expensive for some customers, the woodworking company also distributes what Crowe’s wife, Debbie, described as a “really beautiful” polyurethane substitute that is manufactured by an Atlanta company.

As customers demand aesthetically pleasing and affordable decorative elements, architects are seeing “more and more ornamental design companies popping up . . . (many of which are) going more regional in their marketing,” Busby said.

Not surprisingly, some architects debate the philosophical aspects of substituting fiberglass for cut stone, or polyurethane panels instead of more expensive oak. However, architects have always substituted available materials to create their “visual delights,” Busby said. “It’s a question of the times and what materials are available.

“Thomas Jefferson couldn’t afford stone, so he put sand in his paint and painted the woodwork on (parts of) the exterior (of Monticello) to look like stone,” said Busby, a vice president of Jova-Daniels-Busby in Atlanta. “And, we have (wood) buildings in New England that . . . have stone detailing.”

U.S. architects are not the only designers who have played tricks with building materials.

“I just returned from New Zealand where there’s a very historic Victorian building that, from 50 feet away, you’d swear was stone,” Busby said. “But it’s the largest wood structure in New Zealand.”

Closer to home, a good example of the creative use of modern building materials is found on Hollywood sets, Busby said. There, set designers create persuasive substitutes for reality.

Due in part, perhaps, to Hollywood’s influence, Southern California seems to be welcoming the return of buildings that incorporate classic designs.

“There is lots of money (in Southern California), and people want quality,” said Aldo Scomozzon, an Italian-born craftsman who moved to Los Angeles from Sacramento in 1979. He founded A&M; Victorian Decorations and crafts decorative architectural design pieces.

Old Methods, Modern Materials

When architect Dean Abbot’s design for a Westwood medical office building called for ornamental decorations, he turned to Scomozzon, who blends Old Country techniques and modern building materials to create an array of authentic-looking balustrades, columns and moldings.

Abbott, who is with the West Los Angeles firm of Richard Magee & Associates, said Scomozzon “gives you quality work that has the old, traditional, carved stone appearance.”

However, because such eye-catching details look expensive, cost-conscious customers “sometimes want to rip off all the embellishments,” said Scott Aishton, the principal architect in charge of Jerde Partnership’s San Diego office. “They want to pull the chicken’s feathers off and leave the bare bones.”

But, often, the bare bones are simply not enough.

“Early on, we made the decision that (ornamentation) was integral to our concept,” said Aishton, who spent seven years shepherding the construction of Horton Plaza, a colorful downtown San Diego shopping center that one critic described as a whimsical blend of Post-Modern and Mediterranean design.

Jerde Partnership’s design for the multistory Horton Plaza called for an array of non-structural design features that were not being produced by the companies that manufacture the concrete, metal and glass skins that cover the outside of most modern buildings.

Jerde turned to the Quintanas, who eventually crafted more than 1,600 spindle-shaped balusters and an assortment of cornices, artistic figures and ornamental devices for the archways, stairways and walkways of the downtown mall.

But even though craftsmen such as Scomozzon and the Quintanas turn concrete and fiberglass into columns, medallions and a wide array of decorative figures, they often are out of sync with the frenetic pace that drives commercial building projects.

“These (suppliers) are, in a sense, artists,” said Abbott, who must deal with Scomozzon’s secretary whenever paper work is involved. “They do good, quality work, but it’s extremely difficult working with them.”

That clash became apparent last August as the Quintanas and other subcontractors worked late into the night to complete Horton Plaza in time for a gala dedication.

“That job was a total nightmare,” recalled Vince Quintana Jr., who each night brought a meal for his crew to the job site “because if we had let them go (out), they probably wouldn’t have come back” to work.

Aishton, who has worked with craftsmen-turned-subcontractors on other projects, said “these (craftsmen) are almost always from family businesses or small, independent companies. And something of the magnitude of Horton Plaza is just beyond them.”

However, Jerde Partnership and the Quintanas since have joined forces again to renovate Fashion Island, a Newport Beach shopping center that features old-fashioned Mediterranean architecture with intricate columns and cornices.

“It’s getting more and more difficult to do these jobs,” said Jim Campbell, an architect with Jerde Partnership in Orange County. “But luckily, there are a few craftsmen like Vince who are still doing things the old-fashioned way.

“When (the 1950s) came in, it was the death knell of craftsmanship,” Campbell said. “Everyone turned to the prefabricated solution, and ornamentation was very much frowned upon. There was no call for it.”

Welcome Set of Problems

But the resurgence of designs with intricate details has spawned a welcome set of problems for the new wave of smaller companies that create decorative pieces.

Despite a venture capitalist’s offer to bankroll the expansion of Quintana Art Products outside of Southern California, Vince Quintana Jr. is not certain that the benefits generated by rapid growth would outweigh the headaches.

Because Crowe Co. prefers to concentrate on individual jobs, the husband-and-wife team has decided not to work with tract developers where quantity is more important than quality, according to Debbie Crowe.

And despite pressure to expand his shop, Scomozzon remains content to grow slowly rather than turn work over to untrained workers.

“All my men I start from scratch,” he said. “But most people we find (in California) are very sloppy people (who are) never interested in doing (work) the right way. They just want the money.

“I’m a very fussy person,” Scomozzon said. “In the Old Country, if you own the company, you’re the master. Here, businessmen and lawyers--money and talk--run the company, so most people get in trouble.”

Scomozzon has adopted a simple rule for avoiding trouble: “If I make the piece and the piece is broken, I replace for free. If something go wrong, I fix. . . . I’m not money-hungry.”

That kind of attitude continues to bring business to Scomozzon, who, like the other small to medium-size companies, advertises his business through a simple catalogue.

“I was fortunate to find (Scomozzon), because my house wouldn’t have turned out as nice as it did,” said Los Angeles builder Ray Echt, who hired Scomozzon to create ornamental designs. “The architect had called for plastic (ornamentation), but it wouldn’t have been the same as Scomozzon’s molding and pillars.”