How Times Have Changed: the Architecture of John L. Volk

                      by Saxon Henry 

Though AutoCAD and IntelliCAD have changed how architects work and store their ideas, preserving traditional,unwieldy plans is no small feat when an architect has been blessed with a longand successful career. John L. Volk, who completed over 2,000 commissionsduring a career that spanned six decades, is one of these prolific draftsmen,and his wife, Lillian Jane, believes it’s the artistry with which he approachedeach project that made him one of the premier architects in Palm Beach from the1920s to the early 1980s.

For doubting Thomases, she can easily prove herclaims by foraging through more than 26,000 architectural drawings or acatalogued collection of notes, prints, sketches and photographs, which she hasarchived since John’s death in 1984. She keeps the collection in the home thatthey shared for many years, which is just above the office he maintained inPalm Beach. “When you look at his drawings, you see the hand of an artist,” sheremarks, pointing to a finely drawn elevation of an ornate column, one of manyframed drawings that line the hallway. “These are works of art that must neverbe lost.”

Volk and his contemporaries—Addison Mizner, Marion SmithWyeth, Joseph Urban, Maurice Fatio and Howard Major to name a few—were dubbedthe inventors of Palm Beach Style. They peppered the “American Riviera” withwhat they called Spanish architecture. “I knew that he was brilliant when Imarried him, but I didn’t know he was a genius until I saw the depths of hisarchitectural talents,” says Mrs. Volk. “It bothers me that Mizner has gainedso much more attention than John—not that he doesn’t deserve attention, and heand John were certainly close friends. But I believe that John had an equal or greaterimpact on architecture in this country and that drives me to protect hisarchives so that history will eventually prove it.”

Towardthis effort, she has organized his plans—many of which are sheathed in theoriginal metal tubes, some rusty from age and the salt-tinged air of southFlorida. For nearly two decades and without hesitation, she has opened her hometo writers and scholars who want to research her husband’s work. In 2001, shecollaborated with her son and daughter-in-law, John K. and Lory Armstrong Volk,to publish John L. Volk: Palm Beach Architect. Volk was aprolific writer, and she credits her insistent nature for the preservation ofevery word he published. “I was always after him to save things and filethings,” she remarks. “At the time, he thought I was a pain. Now I think hewould be glad.”