Charles Haertling - an architect’s lineage

In my further study of Charles Haertling’s work in and around Boulder, I have looked into his background and tried to understand the architectural and historical context within which he was working. A number of years ago, Marcy Cameron and I put together a talk that attempted to describe the social landscape in Boulder in the post-WWII era and what made it such furtile ground for the blossoming of innovative residential architecture that was built in the late 1950s through the early 1970s. I don’t want to repeat that work here, in either depth or length, but I do think it is interesting to look at some other works that were being built in Boulder during Haertling’s most creative period.

The chart below is in no way a complete list of the architects working in Boulder during that period, but it does list most of the major players. As you can see, because of the apprentice system, young architects work for older architects and there is an echo of work that resonates over time.

Haertling worked with Tician Papachristou while they were both teaching at CU. And, I feel sure, there are lot more social and professional connections than I have shown here. What is interesting is that Haertling’s output of excellent work in roughly ten years far surpassed most of his colleagues. That may be a sign of a number of things, but most likely it is a combination of being a talented, energetic architect at the right place and time during a building boom.

Note that in 1968, Haertling is working on the Acacia Fraternity House, Boulder Eye Clinic, Jorgensen, Wilson, Matheson, Kahn, Leaneagh, and Northstar Court houses simultaneously, either in design or construction.

All of this is in pursuit of trying to shed some light on Haertling’s motivations, influences and inspirations when he was designing the Matheson House. We have been asked to make some changes on that house and we have a great opportunity to not only craft forms that are compatible with Haertling’s original work, but maybe to channel his design process to create forms that don’t mimic his work, but are formed with the same inspirations and influences.