Joseph A. Connell Architecture

Joseph Connell designed this residence as a sole-practitioner only eight years after completing his professional education and locating to upstate New York.  Consciously following the “binuclear house” typology developed by Marcel Breuer, the house is organized in two wings, and is entered from a courtyard between the wings. The house plan uses axial relationships, and orthogonal geometry, and exemplifies the modernist values of open flowing spaces.

In 1970, Joseph A. Connell was commissioned by the City of Corning to design a new swimming pool building and basin for the historic Denison Park.

Denison Park dates from 1906. It was designed by the renown landscape architect Harold A. Caparn. A children’s wading pool was built in 1910. The first swimming pool and bath house followed in 1919. Today the park survives its bisection by a highway in 1950, yet has continued as a key recreational asset to the City of Corning.

Joe Connell’s 1970 design is a remarkable example of modern architecture. The Denison Park Pool Building showcases innovative use of modern materials and expressive architectural detailing.

The main construction material is a terracotta block, recalling the tradition of terracotta - historically produced and used in the Corning region.

The floor plan has smooth and economical flow, meeting the design criterion at the time of commission for separate entrances by gender. Staff offices with excellent views of the basin include storage for locker baskets and general office functions. Privacy is incorporated into the design seamlessly without the need for add-on barriers. 

Daylighting is from overhead “light monitors”, a device used extensively by Le Corbusier and Alvar Aalto, renown international modernist architects. At the Denison Park Pool Building, the light monitors highlight the open fretwork-like patterns of  the terracotta block.

Sited at the rise of high hill, this residence is an early example of passive solar design. The gable roof ridge is perpendicular to the long axis, forming a relatively short ridge with a profile reminiscent of the Low House (1886 – 1887) by the architects McKim, Mead and White. Open interior volumes and angular geometry played against linear form relate the house to its earlier precedents.   

Located on a steep precipice next to Keuka Lake, the steep slope was a challenge. The traditional stacking of floors by function was reversed. The upper floors – those with the best views – were for informal living, dining and food preparation. Bedrooms were located on the lower levels. The angled decks and house massing created better views of the lake. 

The lake road is close to level with the top floor of the house. The house has a pedestrian bridge or walkway from the parking area directly to the top floor, the entry level with the living room and other shared spaces. 

The Salvation Army Citadel was designed by Joseph A. Connell in 1962, and opened in 1966. The Salvation Army had been in other locations, primarily on East Market Street, since the organization arrived in Corning in 1884.

The modern design related to a built environmental context which has changed a great deal since design and construction. In 1962, Denison Parkway was the highway, old Route 17, that went through Corning, on an east-west axis, loosely parallel to the Chemung River, a few blocks to the north. It is the same highway that split Denison Park into two halves since 1950. 

In 1962, when Joseph A. Connell conceptualized the design, there were many masonry block buildings along Denison Parkway that created an urban context. 

This was a defining urban edge of two and three story buildings. Most of those buildings are now gone, including the Fox Theatre. 

This is significant because the steel framework that thrusts forward from the main body of the Citadel reached to the sidewalk edge, creating a spatial block that defined, or held, an urban edge that is no longer there. Today, the the Citadel’s westerly neighbor is a gas station. 

The original interior featured a variety of gathering spaces and offices, and a courtyard open to the sky. The expression of the exterior steel is bold and modern, and creates a “forecourt” space for users of the building. The attention to entry experience and space was a hallmark of Joe Connell’s design for all buildings, public or the private residence.

The ground-breaking was covered by the local press, The Corning Leader.

At the Shaw Residence, architect Joseph A. Connell rotated the classic American gable roof form to present the primary long side to the Keuka Lake view.  At the ground level, the placement of windows or screened areas at the corners dematerializes the traditional gable roof house form. The second floor bedrooms, thrust forward from the main mass of the house have corner balconies, further dematerializing the traditional house form.