Things were different after World War II. Super Glue was invented, Mr. Potato Head was patented, and, fusing the two together perfectly, Ray Kroc opened the first McDonald’s.
Aren’t potato heads and super glue the first two ingredients in McDonald’s french fries?
Things were changing rapidly on the architecture front, as well. Gone were the days of ornate buildings and monstrous brick mills, eschewed in favor of structures relying on glass, steel and concrete and featuring little ornamentation and smoother, sleeker surfaces. The New Hampshire Department of Employment Security building on South Main Street is one local example, though the Executive Council in October approved the sale of the building, and it faces an uncertain future.
The debate over that future sparked a recent survey of New Hampshire’s public buildings designed in that mid-20th century modern style (between 1945 and 1975), initiated by the New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources, and preservation consultant Lisa Mausolf was on hand at the Concord Public Library on Feb. 12 to make a presentation on her findings.
Mid-20th century modern buildings began sprouting up quickly throughout the state after the war, with a flurry of schools, hospitals, churches and government buildings leading the charge. Concord has several examples of its own, including the home of Concord Group Insurance on North State Street, the New Hampshire Legislative Office Building behind the State House and the building on North State Street that used to house NHPR.
But it was the Employment Security building and the potential that it could face an overhaul that really got the ball rolling on the survey project.
“I think for a variety of reasons it hit a lot of the key themes of that period,” Mausolf said. “First of all, it was a state building, and state government was growing and starting to build new buildings all over the city. And it had the aluminum-clad construction typical of the period, because there was a lot more aluminum available, and that stark modern look that architects were looking for.”
The fate of the building remains unclear as it faces the potential sale and perhaps a more dramatic facelift thereafter, but it’s clear those fond of the period of architecture would prefer people consider the history of the building and buildings like it before making any changes.
“It had a really neat history in that it was really a redesign and one of the first new buildings on that part of South Main Street. It had been St. Mary’s School, and they were kind of wrapping a new building around an existing building,” Mausolf said. “It has a lot more to it than maybe people that drive quickly by it would think. It’s certainly not one of the best loved buildings in Concord, but it may be one of the most misunderstood.”
