Robert Stacy-Judd

Benjamin Robert Stacy - Judd ( born June 21, 1884 in Greater London, † February 10, 1975 in Canoga Park, California ) was a native of the UK architect who was also active as a writer. After moving to the U.S., where he eventually settled in Los Angeles, he designed churches, theaters, hotels and other commercial buildings in the style of Mayan Revival architecture to its popularization in the 1920s and 1930s, he made ​​decisive contributions. Stacy - Judd's stylistic synthesis of elements of Maya architecture, Aztec architecture and Art Deco set standards in the development of this style.

Stacy - Judd's passion for the cultures of the Ancient Mesoamerica is also reflected in his literary career. So he published in 1934, after he had in 1930 made ​​a first expedition to Yucatán, a comprehensive trip report in which he entered in detail both the archaeological remains of the old Maya and their modern descendants. Play a central role in the Maya, which he regarded as descendants of the inhabitants of the mythical and legendary Atlantis, in Stacy - Judd's best-known book, " Atlantis - Mother of Empires ", which appeared in 1939.

The Aztec Hotel

Stacy - Judd's probably most famous building in the Mayan Revival style built in 1924, the Aztec Hotel in Monrovia, Southern California. In addition to the First Baptist Church of Ventura ( Ventura, California ) is one of the two architects certainly attributable to buildings which have been added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. Both the facade and the interior up to the furnishings of the original U.S. Route 66 located building have its typical handwriting. About the Name of the hotel remarked Stacy - Judd himself: " When the hotel project was first announced, there was the word ' Maya ' the layman unknown. The theme of the Mayan culture was only of archaeological importance [ ... ] Since the word ' Aztec ' [ against it ] was pretty well known, I called the hotel on this name, although all decorative notive to the Mayan belong. "

Other famous buildings

  • Atwater Bungalows, Los Angeles, CA - 1931
  • Krotona Institute of Theosophy, campus map, Ojai, CA - 1924
  • La Jolla Beach and Yacht Club, La Jolla, CA - 1926-1927
  • Masonic Building, Lodge, North Hollywood, Los Angeles, CA - 1952
  • Sisson House, Los Angeles, CA - 1926
  • Soboba Hot Springs Indian Village Hotel, San Jacinto, CA - 1925

Stacy - Judd and Atlantis

In his monumental, comprehensive 346 pages work well with the misleading title " Atlantis - Mother of Empires " took Stacy - Judd - analogous to Plato - a cyclical view of mankind and civilization history. Long before the known high cultures of the Holocene period, there had been developed cultures of humanity, which he then assigned to the Atlantis of our culture directly preceding the development cycle. He was next to Lewis Spence one of the first Atlantis authors who brought the putative culture of Atlanteans in the context of an overall argument with the Late Palaeolithic man of Cro -Magnon in direct connection. As Spence also represented Stacy - Judd the now obsolete geologically idea of ​​Atlantis as a great zentralatlantischer land mass, the decay continues over many thousands of years due to repeated cataclysmic events and was eventually absorbed almost completely. The three main disasters within this process dated Stacy - Judd to approximately 23,000 BC, around 14,000 BC, and by 9600 BC

In addition to this katastrophistischen tenor also a diffusionist attitude is characteristic of Stacy - Judd in the tradition Ignatius Donnelly's Atlantis research. So he rejected as a result of its comparative cultural considerations ancient tribes west and east of the Atlantic ( with focal points such as Mesoamerica, South America and Iberia ) largely the possibility of independent parallel developments. Interestingly appear here Stacy - Judd on his professional core competencies based historical architectural considerations. Rather, he continued - as previously Donnelly and later eg Otto Muck - a radiating out from Atlantis diffusion of cultural elements in both the Old and in the ' New World ' ahead.

Remarkably finally appears the fact that Stacy - Judd, 1939, during a period of unbroken racism in the U.S., clearly against the claim allegedly higher capacity for culture or cultural superiority ' white ' people moved position, James Church Wards tend to be racist primitive culture scenario (compare to also: Mu ) criticized as " unscientific " and expressed the presumption that culture carrier of an even older, präatlantischen civilization cycle were probably negrid.

Writings

  • Robert B. Stacy - Judd, The Truth about the Mayans, 1932, manuscript ( typewritten, with handwritten corrections), Robert B. Stacy - Judd Archives, Architecture and Design Collection, University Art Museum, University of California at Santa Barbara
  • Robert B. Stacy - Judd, The Reason Why the Ancient Mayas in Yucatan resorted to Substitutes Building Materials Etc.. , And the Origin of the So-Called Maya Arch Deductions and Conclusions. , 1934, manuscript ( typewritten, with handwritten corrections), Robert B. Stacy - Judd Archives, Architecture and Design Collection, University Art Museum, University of California at Santa Barbara
  • Robert B. Stacy - Judd, Atlantis: Mother of Empires, Los Angeles ( De Vorse & Co. ), 1939; 1999 reissue as a reprint of the original at Adventures Unlimited Press ( Kempton, Illinois), ISBN 0-932813-69-0
  • Robert B. Stacy - Judd, A Maya Manuscript, Los Angeles ( Philosophical Research Society ), 1940
  • Robert B. Stacy - Judd, The Autobiography of an Architect, c. 1944, unpublished. Manuscript ( typewritten ), Robert B. Stacy - Judd Archives, Architecture and Design Collection, University Art Museum, University of California at Santa Barbara
Maya civilization Cro-Magnon Trans-cultural diffusion Mu (lost continent) Negroid Integrated Authority File
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