Warnecke married Grace Cushing in 1945, with whom he had three sons and a daughter.[1][14][15] His oldest son, John C. Warnecke, Jr., died in 2003.[8][23] The marriage ended in divorce in 1961. Warnecke married Grace Kennan (daughter of George F. Kennan) in 1969,[1][5][14][24] which also ended in divorce.[1][5][8]
He established a solo practice in 1950,[14][18][26] and incorporated as a firm in 1956.[18] At first, he set a goal of applying Modernist architectural principles to major types of building.[4] His work soon reflected a desire to harmonize building designs with the environment in which they were set as well as their cultural and historical setting,[3][4] an architectural theory known as contextualism.[27] Warnecke won national recognition in 1951 for the Mira Vista Elementary School in East Richmond Heights, California (a small residential community which overlooks the northern part of San Francisco Bay).[4][5][8][18][28] Other schools in the San Francisco Bay followed, earning him much praise.[11][15][29] Warnecke became an internationally recognized architect after submitting a design for a new U.S. embassy in Thailand in 1956, which was never built.[1][3][4][11][15][18][30] He reorganized his firm in 1958 under the name John Carl Warnecke & Associates, the name it would be best known by.[31] He was named an Associate of the National Academy of Design the same year.[32] He won additional notice[2] for buildings at Stanford University (built in the 1960s)[10] and the University of California, Berkeley (built in the 1960s and early 1970s).[33]
Warnecke designed seven of the buildings at the 107 acres (43ha)Asilomar Conference Grounds located in Pacific Grove, California, adjacent to Asilomar State Beach. The Asilomar Conference Grounds Warnecke Historic District consists of 22 buildings and related landscape features after the State of California acquired the property in 1956. The Warnecke buildings include, Surf and Sand Complex (1959); Corporation Yard (1959); Crocker Dining Hall Additions (1961); Sea Galaxy Complex (1964); Housekeeping (1965); Long View Complex (1966); and View Crescent Complex (1968).[34]
Lafayette Square
Northeast corner of Lafayette Square. The Howard T. Markey National Courts Building (in red) stands behind the historic Cutts-Madison House (yellow) and former Cosmos Club (tan).
Warnecke's reputation as an architect received a substantial boost when he was asked by the administration of President John F. Kennedy to save the historic buildings surrounding Lafayette Square.[1][3][14] The controversy over Lafayette Square can be traced back to 1900, when the United States Congress passed a resolution establishing the U.S. Senate Park Commission.[35] The Park Commission's proposals, which came to be known as the "McMillan Plan", proposed that all the buildings around Lafayette Square be razed and replaced by tall, Neoclassical buildings clad in white marble for use by executive branch agencies.[36] Little action was taken on these proposals over the next 50 years. However, plans were made in the late 1950s to raze all the buildings on the east side of Lafayette Square and replace them with a white modernist office building which would house judicial offices.[37][38] Opposition to the demolition of the Cutts-Madison House and other buildings on Lafayette Square began forming shortly after the decision to raze the structures was announced.[39] The newly elected Kennedy administration indicated in February 1961 that it was anxious to retain the existing historic homes on Lafayette Square.[40]
In February 1962, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy lobbied the General Services Administration to stop the demolition and adopt a different design plan.[41][42] "The wreckers haven't started yet, and until they do it can be saved", she wrote.[42] Jacqueline Kennedy enlisted architect Warnecke, who happened to be in town that weekend,[43] to create a design which would incorporate the new buildings with the old.[11] With this project, Warnecke was one of the first architects to receive a commission from the Kennedy administration.[44][45] Warnecke conceived the basic design over that weekend,[11] and worked closely with Jacqueline Kennedy over the next few months to formalize the design proposal.[46] The design was presented to the public and the Commission of Fine Arts (which had approval over any plan) in October 1962, and with Jacqueline Kennedy's backing the Commission adopted the revised Warnecke design proposal.[42][46][47]
Warnecke's design for the square was based on the architectural theory of contextualism.[48][49] Warnecke's design build the first modern buildings on Lafayette Square and they were the first buildings in the city to utilize contextualism as a design philosophy.[48] Warnecke's design for the Markey National Courts Building was to create tall, flat structures in red brick which would serve as relatively unobtrusive backgrounds to the lighter-colored residential homes like the Cutts-Madison House.[48] The Cutts-Madison House, Cosmos Club building, and Benjamin Ogle Tayloe House were joined, and a courtyard built between them and the National Courts building.[48]
Warnecke continued to contribute to architectural design in Washington, D.C. He opened an office in the District of Columbia in 1962.[5] He was made a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects the same year.[50]
Warnecke was appointed to an important federal post and received two important commissions from the Kennedy family in 1963. On June 21, 1963, President Kennedy appointed Warnecke to the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts.[8][14][51] Warnecke's first important commission from the President was the design for a presidential library. Plans and sites were discussed in May, and on October 19, just 34 days before his assassination, President Kennedy (with Warnecke by his side) chose a site next to the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration.[8][14][15][52] As Warnecke and Kennedy had only discussed general themes for the design, I. M. Pei was selected by the Kennedy family to be the library's actual architect.[15][53]
President Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963, and Warnecke was chosen by Jacqueline Kennedy to design John F. Kennedy's tomb six days later on November 28.[54][55][56] Coincidentally, the President and Warnecke had visited the site which was to become Kennedy's tomb in March 1963, and the President had admired the peaceful atmosphere of the place.[55][57][58] On November 24, Jacqueline Kennedy told friends that she wanted an eternal flame at the gravesite.[59][60]
Warnecke visited the grave with Jacqueline Kennedy and Attorney GeneralRobert F. Kennedy on Wednesday, November 27, to discuss themes and plans for the grave.[54][61] He concluded that the permanent grave must be simple and must incorporate the eternal flame.[54][61] A few days later, Warnecke agreed that, although it was not required, he would submit the design for the permanent Kennedy grave site to the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts.[61]
The grave design process was placed under tight secrecy.[44][62][63] An extensive research project was conducted in which hundreds of famous tombs (such as the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus and Grant's Tomb) as well as all existing presidential burial sites.[64] Warnecke discussed design concepts with more than 40 architects, sculptors, painters, landscape architects, stonemasons, calligraphers, and liturgical experts[55][65]—including the sculptor Isamu Noguchi, architectural model maker Theodore Conrad, and the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts.[44][62] Noguchi counseled Warnecke to add a large sculptural cross to the site and to eliminate the eternal flame (which he felt was kitschy).[44] Warnecke consulted with Jacqueline Kennedy about the design of the grave many times over the following year.[58] Hundreds of architectural drawings and models were produced to explore design ideas.[55][65] On April 6, 1964, Warnecke sent a memorandum to Jacqueline Kennedy in which he outlined his desire to retain the eternal flame as the centerpiece of the burial site and to keep the site's design as simple as possible.[66] In the course of the research and conceptualization effort, Warnecke considered the appropriateness of structures or memorials at the site (such as crosses, shafts, pavilions, etc.), the history of Arlington National Cemetery, the vista, and how to handle ceremonies at the site.[66] By August 1964, Warnecke and his assistants had written a 76-page research report which concluded that the gravesite was not a memorial nor monument, but a grave.[64][66] "This particular hillside, this flame, this man and this point in history must be synthesized in one statement that has distinctive character of its own. We must avoid adding elements that in later decades might become superficial and detract from the deeds of the man," Warnecke wrote[64] For some time in the spring and summer of 1964, the design process appeared to slow as Warnecke and his associates struggled to design the actual graves. But in the summer of 1964 Sargent Shriver, President Kennedy's brother-in-law, forcefully told Warnecke that "There must be something there when we get there."[64] This spurred the design effort forward. In the late summer and early fall, Warnecke considered massive headstones, a sarcophagus, a sunken tomb, a raised tomb, and sculpture to mark the graves.[64] Very late in the design process, two abstract sculptures were designed but ultimately rejected.[64]
As initially envisioned by Warnecke, the site would be accessed by a circular granite walkway which led to an elliptical marble plaza.[55][63][66][67][68] The downslope side of the elliptical plaza would be enclosed by a low wall inscribed with quotes from Kennedy's speeches.[66][67] Marble steps led up from the plaza to a rectangular terrace which enclosed a rectangular plot of grass in which the graves would reside.[55][66][67][68] A retaining wall formed the rear of the burial site.[66][67][69] The eternal flame would be placed in the center of the grassy plot in a flat, triangular bronze sculpture intended to resemble a votive candle or brazier.[55][66][67] The original design won near-universal praise.[70] The U.S. Department of Defense formally hired Warnecke to design the approaches (although this was a fait accompli).[55][71]
Slate headstone and Eternal Flame marking the grave of John F. Kennedy.
Prior to construction, which formally began in the spring of 1965, several design changes were made to the Kennedy grave site. The retaining wall behind the grave was removed, and the hill landscaped to allow an unobstructed view of Arlington House.[69][72] Concerned that the grass on the burial plot would wither in Washington's hot summers, in the fall of 1966 the decision was made to replace the grass with rough-hewn reddish-gold granite fieldstone set in a flagstone pattern.[69][72] The burial plot, originally designed to be raised some height above the surrounding terrace, was lowered so that it was just three to four inches above the fieldstones.[72] The bronze brazier shape for the eternal flame was also replaced. Instead, a 5 feet (1.5m) wide beige circular fieldstone (found on Cape Cod in 1965) was set nearly flush with the earth and used as a bracket for the flame.[69][72]
The permanent John F. Kennedy grave site opened with little announcement or fanfare at 7:00 AM on March 15, 1967, in a driving rain.[73] The ceremony, which took 20 minutes, was attended by President Lyndon B. Johnson, Jacqueline Kennedy, and members of the Kennedy family.[73][74]
According to Warnecke (and others), during the design work on the Kennedy gravesite he became romantically involved with Jacqueline Kennedy.[1][2][3][8][75] At one point, the couple contemplated marriage.[76] They ended their involvement in December 1966.[75][77]
Warnecke's term on the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts ended in July 1967, and he was not reappointed after President Johnson expressed his desire to have his own preferred architects on the board.[78]
Warnecke opened an office in New York City in 1967, hiring architects Eugene Kohn in 1967 and Sheldon Fox in 1972,.[5][79] By 1977, his company, John Carl Warnecke & Associates, was the largest architectural firm in the United States.[1][2][5] In 1976, Kohn left the firm after Warnecke refused him partnership,[80] taking vice-president and designer William Pedersen, manager Sheldon Fox, and a large number of clients with him and founding Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF). Several Warnecke associates subsequently joined KPF,[81] and when Warnecke's company subsequently languished, he began reducing his active involvement in his architectural practice.[5] Warnecke purposely downsized his firm as he approached retirement, not wishing for his firm to continue after his death.[4]
Warnecke retired in the 1980s and began growing grapes at a vineyard in California's Alexander Valley.[1][2] He reportedly spent some time writing about architecture.[4] He devoted efforts to establishing the Warnecke Institute of Design, Art and Architecture, a think tank which looked at the effect worldwide trends (such as global warming and resource scarcity) will have on architecture.[5] Warnecke worked on his memoirs, which he completed shortly before he died.[1][2][3][4][8]
Warnecke died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 91 at his home in Healdsburg, California, on April 17, 2010.[1][2][3][8] He was survived by his second wife, his daughter, and his two sons.[2][5][8]
Warnecke and his firm worked on and designed hundreds of buildings and projects. Among those on which Warnecke himself was sole or lead architect and which have drawn the notice of experts are the following:
multiple buildings at Stanford University, including the Post Office & Bookstore (1960), the J. Henry Meyer Memorial Library (1966), and the Nathan Cummings Art Building (1969)[82]
Roth, American Architecture: A History, 2001, p. 315; Sakamoto and Britton, Hawaiian Modern: The Architecture of Vladimir Ossipoff, 2007, p. 16; Goggans, The Pacific Region, 2004, p. 3.
At least one source puts the start of his solo practice at 1946, not 1950. See: "Mabel McDowell Elementary School," National Historic Landmark Nomination, U.S. Dept. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, 2001.
Lindsay, "Court Gets New Home All to Itself," Washington Post, February 25, 1960; "2 Federal Courts To Be Housed on Lafayette Square," Washington Post, September 17, 1960.
"3 Historic Buildings Befriended," Washington Post, March 2, 1960; "Senator Morse Joins Battle to Save Historic Sites on Lafayette Square," Washington Post, March 24, 1960; "Lafayette Sq. Razing Plan Termed Folly," Washington Post, April 12, 1960; "Group Formed to Save Lafayette Sq. Buildings," Washington Post, May 4, 1960; "AIA Journal Laments Lafayette Square's End," Washington Post, January 29, 1961; White, "Garden Atmosphere of Lafayette Sq. Can Be Preserved, Says Architect," Washington Post, March 3, 1961.
Anthony, Designing for Diversity: Gender, Race, and Ethnicity in the Architectural Profession, 2001, p. 43; Anthony, As We Remember Her: Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in the Words of Her Family and Friends, 2003, p. 144-147.
Hunter, "Old Homes Saved By Mrs. Kennedy," The New York Times, September 27, 1962. Thomas E. Luebke, ed., Civic Art: A Centennial History of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, 2013): 234-239.
"Fine Arts Commission," Washington Post, June 21, 1963; "Kennedy Appoints 5 to Fine Arts Panel," The New York Times, June 21, 1963; Luebke, Civic Art, Appendix B, p. 557.
Franklin, "Kennedy Chose Site at Harvard For Presidential Library Oct. 19," The New York Times, November 30, 1963; Thanawala, "John Warnecke, Kennedy Grave Site Architect, Dies," Associated Press, April 23, 2010. Due to community opposition, the library was ultimately built at Columbia Point near the University of Massachusetts Boston in Boston. See: Goldberger, "New Kennedy Library Plan Released," The New York Times, February 11, 1975.
Hamblin, "Mrs. Kennedy's Decisions Shaped All the Solemn Pageantry," Life, December 6, 1963; Robertson, "Thousands Expected to Pay Respects at Grave," The New York Times, November 22, 1964.
Author J. Randy Taraborrelli has written that the nature of this relationship may not have been as serious as other authors have reported. He wrote: "She had also dated John Carl Warnecke...on and off for the last two years. Friends of Jackie's have differing memories of her relationship with Warnecke. Some insist she truly cared for him, while others say he was merely a diversion." Taraborrelli, Jackie, Ethel, Joan: Women of Camelot, 2000, p. 319.
"Architectural Concern Selects Vice President," The New York Times, July 21, 1967; Saxon, "Sheldon Fox, Architect and Manager, Dies at 76," The New York Times, December 20, 2006.
"AIA Journal Laments Lafayette Square's End." Washington Post. January 29, 1961.
Anthony, Carl Sferrazza. As We Remember Her: Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in the Words of Her Family and Friends. Reprint ed. New York: HarperCollins, 2003.
Anthony, Kathryn H. Designing for Diversity: Gender, Race, and Ethnicity in the Architectural Profession. Urbana, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, 2001.
"Architectural Concern Selects Vice President." The New York Times. July 21, 1967.
"Artists At Odds On Kennedy Job." The New York Times. October 7, 1964.
Bednar, Michael J. L'Enfant's Legacy: Public Open Spaces in Washington, D.C. Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006.
Benét, James. A Guide to San Francisco and the Bay Region. New York, Random House, 1966.
Bradford, Sarah. America's Queen: The Life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. London: Viking, 2000.
