MAAR 56/57, 2011/2012 1. An American Architect in Rome I n 1948, the sixty-two-year-old George Howe (1886–1955) was enjoying himself thoroughly as the American Academy in Rome’s first Architect in Residence (fig. 1). Howe described his residency to his daughter with characteristically colorful hyperbole: “I lie in a toga, while Maria (the cook) makes proper pasta, eating and drinking like a true Roman. When I overeat or -drink, like a true Roman, I throw up and start all over again!” 1 But for all this playful, Bacchanalian imagery, Howe’s stay in Rome was a very serious matter for the Academy. In March of 1947, its newly appointed director, Laurance Roberts (1907–2002), struck a note of palpable excitement in his first letters to Howe regarding his upcoming involvement: Your presence there [in Rome] is a guarantee that the Academy will be a force in contemporary architecture, and gives it a distinction it could have in no other way . . . . how excited and pleased Mrs. Roberts and I are that you will be in Rome, and how really fortunate the Academy is to have you. 2 Two weeks later Roberts reiterated that: [W]hat you are giving the Academy through your reputation, your knowledge, and your presence there is of enormous value. If the Academy is to mean anything to contemporary architecture, it will be due first of all to you. . . . thank you again for accepting our offer. It means everything to the Academy. 3 Roberts’s language makes it clear that, for the officers of the Academy, Howe’s imtended residency was viewed as a potentially transformative event in the institution’s history. As the Academy sought to restore and refashion its image to match the requirements of a postwar world, it was clear that its architectural profile required a radical facelift. From now on, its number one priority was for the Academy to be perceived as a force in contemporary architecture. This would not have been a plausible claim in 1940, when the Academy had closed its doors in re- sponse to the outbreak of World War II. Founded in 1894 by a group of architects centered on Charles F. McKim (1847–1909), the Academy’s early architectural program made it a bastion of Beaux-Arts era ARCHITECTURAL AMNESIA: GEORGE HOWE, MARIO DE RENZI, AND THE U.S. CONSULATE IN NAPLES Denise R. Costanzo, Pennsylvania State University The author wishes to thank the following for support of this research: Sheryl Neely, Adrienne Miller, and Jane Loeffler; Jonathan Blyth, Angelina Rotella, and Kevin Sarring of the U.S. Department of State; Ilaria della Monica of the Berenson Library; Janet Parks of the Avery Library; and Craig Zabel, Brian Curran, and the anonymous reviewers for their com- ments on earlier versions of this paper. 1 West 1973, 58. 2 Laurance Roberts to George Howe, 4 March 1947, Howe Papers. 3 Laurance Roberts to George Howe, 17 March 1947, Howe Papers.