Alexander Benjamin Craghead
Ph.D. Student - History of Architecture and Urbanism with a Concentration in Urban Geography
- Research Interests/Specializations
I research the cultural intersection of meaning, change, and place, through both form and representation. I therefore study the built environment, the rhetoric that surrounds changes in that environment, and the visual depiction of place. I am particularly interested in the relationship between newness and age, especially in the processes of urban renewal, redevelopment, and gentrification, as well as the history and culture of the historic preservation movement.
The nature of my work is interdisciplinary, in that it combines history, geography, and art history. Presently, I study sites on the U.S. West Coast, as here, in the youngest of Euro-American cities, the constructed nature of age and obsolescence is more easily seen.
I am particularly interested in the ways that buildings, both intentionally and unintentionally, become arguments in larger cultural struggles, as well as exist as tangible evidence of real winners and losers in the making of place.More broadly, I am interested in architecture as media, the role of the urban imaginary, and cities as cultural landscapes.
- Degrees
- M.S., Architecture, University of California at Berkeley
- B. A., Communications, Marylhurst University
- Certificate in Conflict Resolution and Mediation, Marylhurst University
- Biography
I am a PhD. student in the Department of Architecture at the University of California, Berkeley, where my research focuses on the role of arhcitecture in mid-century American urbanism. I received my Bachelor of Arts in Communication from Marylhurst University, where I studied the interesection of political processes, public administration, and conflict theory.
My experiences prior to berkeley include journalism, communications consultancy, and public policy formation. Additionally, I was hired as adjunct faculty by my alma mater, Marylhurst, to teach strategic communications, as well as to consult on academic and non-academic digital initiatives.
- Courses Taught
- (Spring 2017) Geography C160B / American Studies C112B American Cultural Landscapes, 1900-Present (Instructor)
- (Fall 2016) American Studies 10 America At Play (Graduate Student Instructor for Christine Palmer)
- (Spring 2016) American Studies 10 At Home in America (Graduate Student Instructor for Kathleen Moran and Christine Palmer)
- (Fall 2015) American Studies 10 Frontiers in American History and Culture (Graduate Student Instructor for Mark Brilliant and Christine Palmer)
- (Spring 2015) American Studies 101 The Birth of Consumer Society (Graduate Student Instructor for Kathleen Moran)
- (Fall 2014) Geography C160A American Cultural Landscapes, 1600-1900 (Graduate Student Instructor for Paul Groth)
- (Spring 2014) American Studies C112A American Cultural Landscapes, 1900-Present (Graduate Student Instructor for Paul Groth)
- (Winter 2012) Communications 474A Civic Advocacy: Influencing Government for Positive Change at Marylhurst University (Co-taught with Louise Nielson)
- (Winter 2012) Communications 376E Intermediate Social Media at Marylhurst University (Co-taught with Joanne McCall)
- (2010-2012) Communications 366E Introduction to Social Media at Marylhurst University (Co-taught with Joanne McCall).
- Awards + Recognition
- Draper Research Fellow, Joan E. Draper Architectural History Research Endowment Fund, 2016
- Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges, 2010
- Knight Scholar, Knight Opportunity Scholarship, 2009-2010
- Selected Publications
Railway Palaces of Portland, Oregon: The Architectural Legacy of Henry Villard (Charlotte, NC: The History Press, 2016). 208 pages. This book describes the story of three building projects connected with financier Henry Villard in Portland, Oregon: the unbuilt Grand Central Passenger Station, the now-lost Portland Hotel, (both designed by McKim, Mead & White) and the extant Portland Union Station (Henry Van Brunt). Each structure is interesting in its own right, but collectively they also serve as a lens for exploring the rapid, 20-30 year transition of Portland from a colonial-style outpost to a fully formed modern metropolis.
“Amenities, Not Enemies: The Once and Future San Francisco,” Boom: A Journal of California, LA Review of Books Channel, July 29, 2014. http://boom.lareviewofbooks.org/amenitiesenemies-future-san-francisco/
“The Modern Streetcar: Transit, or Time Machine?” National Railway Historical Society Bulletin, Fall 2013: 4-39. A comparison between the characteristics of modern streetcar systems and those built near the turn of the 20th century, with special emphasis on urban form implications. Examines whether or not the modern streetcar movement is, as some critics argue, retrograde.
“Temples to a Forgotten Religion: The American Railway Depot,” National Railway Historical Society Bulletin, Fall 2010: 4-43. Interpretive text relating to photographer Joel Jensen’s work on active, abandoned, and demolished American railway structures. Explores the cultural meaning of these structures at their peak; the story of how, as a class, they faced 20th century decline; demolition and repurposing movements.