One hundred years ago a local banker and a world-renowned architect came together to build a striking new facility for The Home Building Association Company in Newark, Ohio. The Old Home celebrates the centennial of this collaboration by exploring the parallel lives of the banker, Emmet Baugher, and the architect, Louis Sullivan, and by reviewing the history and legacy of the remarkable building they created in downtown Newark. In addition, two chapters place “The Old Home” and its aesthetics in the context of Sullivan’s time and his philosophy of “form follows function.” The Old Home is the first comprehensive account of the Newark bank, one of eight small-town banks built by Louis Sullivan in his twilight years. Dismissed by Frank Lloyd Wright as the remnants of Sullivan’s genius, these banks are now considered to be the magnificent culmination of his career. The Old Home examines the built environment that surrounded the bank when it was built in 1914–1915 and again, as this book was being written, in 2013-2014, and it integrates newly recovered documents, including Sullivan’s original cost estimates, with other historical evidence to tell the story of Newark’s architectural “jewel box.”
Joseph Tebben, author of The Old Home: Louis Sullivan's Newark Bank, was born in Columbus, Ohio, but was raised mostly in Pennsylvania. He attended Holy Ghost Preparatory School in suburban Philadelphia, and his higher education is resulted in a B. A. in Philosophy at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh; an M. A in Linguistics at the University of Pittsburgh, and a Ph. D. in Classics from The Ohio State University. Joe has taught Greek and Latin, Mythology, and ancient civilizations and their literatures in translation, at The Ohio State University in Newark and in Columbus. He introduced computerized instruction in medical terminology in 1973 on the Columbus Campus, and with technological modifications along the way that computerized instruction continues now in its 40th year. In retirement since 2007, he has applied his lifetime of writing and research in an academic background to the recovery of the history of what may be Newark, Ohio’s, most significant architectural structure. Joe and his wife, Mary, a registered nurse, have six grown children and ten grandchildren. They have been residents of Newark since 1971.
Updates Available: Updates Available: Update available for Picture Gallery Module