John Terence Kelly (d.2007) grew up in Elyria, Ohio. He earned a BA in Architecture at the Carnegie Institute of Technology in 1949, and a Master's degree in Architecture at Harvard University under Walter Gropius. He later earned an MA in Landscape Architecture at Harvard University under Hideo Sashi. He was named a Harvard Fellow in 1952, and was awarded Harvard's Charles Eliot Traveling Fellowship and a Fulbright Grant in City Planning to Munich, Germany in 1953. Kelly returned to Cleveland in 1954 to open his own office. He is very well known for his design of the American Society of Metals (ASM) Headquarters (1960). Kelly not only used Buchminster Fuller's famous geodesic dome design at the ASM park, but also paid careful attention to creating a relationship between technology and the surrounding countryside.

In the realm of residential design, the McDonald House of 1962 is the other Cleveland area house featured in Carol Ripkind's "A Field Guide to Contemporary American Architecture". The home's striking intersecting triple A-Frame construction reflects the pitched roofs of the Tudor-style neighborhood, but glass with dark-stained wood mullions replace the expected stucco infill and the dynamic interior space created by the roof structure make the upper floor open plan soar. Similarly, the Ford Residence of 1964 is organized by its structure - a 2 story square composed of nine 12 ft. by 12 ft. enclosed modules surrounded by an outer set of square modules which support the pyramidal roof and provide covered open areas for decks and patios. Slices are taken out of the roof structure to provide windows for the 2nd floor. The interior is dominated by the central atrium module that rises the full height of the house.

Mr. Kelly was awarded the 1968 Cleveland Arts Prize for Architecture.

 

 

previous next