11-14-2021 7:22pm

TOWSON CUTTING-EDGE ARTIST

Artist and architect James Wines (Towson High graduate ’51) was featured by the Baltimore Architecture Foundation.

This presentation dives into the history of the Best Products “Tilt” Showroom, a lost post-modern landmark in the suburbs of Baltimore. The building opened its doors in October of 1978 in the Eudowood Plaza shopping center in Towson and immediately drew praise, criticism and crowds of curious shoppers. The Tilt was built to appear as if the entire front wall of the store had been lifted by a superhuman force and precariously balanced on the edge of the roof. This eye-popping architectural illusion was more than just a publicity gimmick; it was a surrealist-inspired work of art that sought to fuse public sculpture and architecture.

The Tilt Showroom was designed by the firm SITE (an acronym for Sculpture In The Environment) which was composed primarily of young of sculptors and artists from New York with no background in architectural design. During the 1970s and 80s, SITE designed eight other avant-garde showrooms like the Tilt for the home-goods retailer Best Products. These stores shocked the public with their quirky and eccentric designs. They simultaneously became some of the most popular and controversial buildings in the U.S. and made headlines in architectural publications around the world. Sadly, the Tilt and other Best Products showrooms have since been demolished, but their legacy lives on through images and many critics now consider them post-modern architectural works of art.

About the presenter:

William Canup is a rope-access façade inspector and restoration specialist based in New York City. He received his Bachelors (2012) and Masters (2015) of Architectural History from the University of Virginia, and wrote his MA thesis on James Wines and SITE. He has served on the board of the Victorian Society New York since 2017 and has lectured for the Victorian Society and for the Society for the Advancement of Social Studies. He has had the pleasure of being suspended from the tops of the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, and dozens of other icons of New York City architecture.

Wines and Richmond, Va's The Lewises were made for each other. Sydney Lewis founded BEST in 1958 and it soon became a successful supplier of cheap home goods, camping equipment, jewelry, toys and electronics. As years went on, Sydney needed to take up a hobby for his health, he chose Art.

His wife Frances inspired this interest and soon the rest of the family followed suit. Almost simultaneously SITE (James Wines' newly established art-architecture firm) was making a business out of pithy, fearless snark. Knowingly led by a fledgling graphic designer and sculptor with street cred to match his academic precociousness. The stars of kitsch and contentiousness were set to collide.

Wines, it should be noted, was a graduate of Towson High School, just a few minutes drive away from the Tilt building which must have made the collapse more poignant. The local boy made good and nobody cared. Though if it were any consolation, no less than legendary filmmaker, Baltimore native and pencil-mustache aficionado John Waters offered an articulate condolence: “It figures anything with originality, they would tear it down.”