Robert Ernest was an architect of rare promise and remarkable early success, whose award-winning career was cut short by cancer at age 28 in 1962. Despite the brevity of Ernests life, his education and practice were intertwined with some of the most important figures in architecture, including his interactions with Louis I. Kahn and Paul Rudolph.
Ernests exceptional architectural designs, though honored during his lifetime with three Progressive Architecture Awards and one Record Houses Award, have never been documented in a comprehensive manner, and are now almost completely lost to disciplinary history. Yet the materials in the architects personal and professional archivesupon which this book is almost entirely basedclearly indicate that Ernest was a remarkably talented and unusually gifted architectural designer, whose future promise and potential were inestimable.
Ernests two built works, both realized before he had turned 28, his one work built after his death, as well as the remarkably innovative unrealized projects documented in his archives, indicate that had Ernest lived to a normal lifespan, he would have without question been one of the most important architects of his generation, with the potential to design precedent-setting buildings equal to those realized by the most recognized architects in the sixty years after his death.
Foreword 7
Undergraduate School, European Travel, and Internship 9
University of Virginia 9
Internship at Burk, LeBreton, and Lamantia,
Architects, New Orleans, Louisiana 21
Graduate School and Apprenticeship 31
Yale University, Master Class with Paul Rudolph 31
Apprenticeship at Mann and Harrover,
Architects, Memphis, Tennessee 57
Architectural Practice 65
Robert Ernest, Architect, Jacksonville, Florida 65
Robert and Lynwood Ernest House and Studio,
Atlantic Beach, Florida, 1960-61 68
Eli Becker House, Jacksonville, Florida, 1960-61 90
Bartram School Library Addition, Jacksonville, Florida (project) 113
Robert and Martha Read House, Jacksonville, Florida (project) 116
Albert Jr. and Donna Ernest House, Jacksonville, Florida (project) 120
Circusland Shopping Center, Tampa, Florida (project) 124
Harry and Helene Baker House, Jacksonville, Florida (project) 129
Second Baptist Church Renovation / Addition, Jacksonville Beach,
Florida (project) 133
Apartment Tower, Jacksonville, Florida (project) 139
Municipal Youth Center, Jacksonville, Floridia, 1961-62 141
Legacy and Influence 155
Afterwords 163
Robert Broward 163
Carl Abbott 164
Donald Singer 165
Bibliography 166
Illustration Credits 167
Acknowledgments 169
Endnotes 171
Robert McCarter is a practising architect, author and Ruth and Norman Moore Professor of Architecture, Washington University in St. Louis; his architectural practice has realised 25 works, and he has authored and edited 24 books on modern and contemporary architecture.
