When city planner
Léon Krier was awarded the first Richard H. Driehaus Prize
for Classical Architecture last March, he received what is believed
to be the largest cash prize ever given by Notre Dame to honor
the achievement of a single individual: $100,000.
Although the University
dispenses monetary awards in the forms of scholarships and endowed
professorships, a University spokesman had no recollection of
Notre Dame ever having given away a cash prize close to that amount.
The annual Laetare Medal, honoring an American Catholic, has no
cash award attached. The Notre Dame Award for Distinguished Public
Service in Latin America, nearest equivalent to the Driehaus Prize,
carries a cash award of $10,000 with an equal sum going to a Latin
American charitable organization chosen by the recipient.
The Driehaus Prize
is sponsored by the School of Architecture and Chicago businessman
and preservationist Richard H. Driehaus, and it's a logical pairing.
For several years the advisory council for the school -- known
internationally as a leader in classical design -- had wanted
to establish a prize to honor a classical architect. Driehaus
has a history of supporting classical architecture and preservation
projects, including restoration of the Ransom Cable House in Chicago.
The conduit was Matthew Walsh '68, chairman of the Chicago construction
and development firm The Walsh Group and a member of the advisory
council.
The Driehaus Prize
appears to some to fill a void left by another $100,000 architecture
award, the Pritzker Prize, considered architecture's highest honor.
That's because the Pritzker Prize has been awarded almost exclusively
to modernists for 20 years.
Michael Lykoudis,
chair of the School of Architecture and a member of the Driehaus
selection jury, acknowledges the parallel between the two awards
but denies any rivalry exists and says the identical dollar amount
is mostly a coincidence.
The Driehaus Prize
is described as a lifetime achievement award for traditionalists.
Krier has spent most of his working life as a theorist and master
planner and, in fact, has designed only one house (in Seaside,
Florida) and a handful of other buildings that have actually been
built.
According to plans,
in future years the Driehaus Prize may not necessarily go to an
architect, but to a scholar, preservationist or individual in
any field who has demonstrated a strong commitment to the ideals
of classical architecture. In fact, if he were not sponsoring
the award, Driehaus himself might be a candidate.
(January 2004)
