I always thought I would be an architect until the day I died, and in spirit that still may be true, but in the spring of this year, I turned my back on my successful architectural practice (in part due to the economy), and hung out a new shingle – on my way to becoming a writer. Was my emergence as a writer easy? For me, yes, it was easy, for reasons I will explain below. From an early age it was evident I had many talents and over the years the moniker, Renaissance Man, was used to refer to me and to my easily acquired skills in many areas.
But my switch from a forty-five year career in architecture and interior design to my current emergence as a writer was a dramatic one, and so the title of this piece—Rebirth of a Renaissance Man—seemed appropriate.
I was asked to write this short essay to inspire you to have your own rebirth, whether you have many talents or just one, and to consider switching to something you’ve long wanted to do, but were afraid to try. This may be your moment to let the bird out of the cage because I trust the wisdom of the subconscious. If at an early age (or any age) you feel a calling to be a chef, or a cosmologist, or a musician, or a writer, then listen to that internal voice. Follow your heart; go for what resonates inside you. That’s the bird locked in the cage that is you. If you have any doubt about trusting your instincts, read the book Blink by author, Malcolm Gladwell. Then trust.
My first career goal, around the age of twelve, was to be a farmer…but my father lied to me and said there were no Jewish farmers. He was a lawyer and wanted a son who was a professional. I think he may have been right in directing to me to another field because I think I would have preferred looking out over my crops from a rocking chair on my porch than getting up at four in the morning to start a rigorous workday.
Then came my first interest in wanting to be a writer, roughly around the age of fourteen. Little did I know at the time that my father’s half-brother had been a mildly successful writer of mysteries who died of syphilis facedown in a gutter. It was the age before antibiotics and there was no hope for a cure. So when I mentioned my interest in writing, my father probably pictured his poor son also in the gutter, starving and diseased, and so with urgency he suggested I first have a profession I could rely on.
I recall he made a list (which may still be stuffed somewhere in my burgeoning shelves of memorabilia) and went down it with me, one respectable profession at a time. When he hit architecture, a current of electricity went through me and there and then I decided that’s what I’d be. It hasn’t exactly been a profession I could rely on financially because I practiced architecture [and also interior design] more as an art than a business. The fruits of that career are visible at jla@jladesign.com and I’m pleased to report my designs have been preserved by the Architectural Archives at the University of Pennsylvania. But every opportunity to write something creatively was an opportunity I took, and so when the economy nose-dived and with my first novel begging me to complete it, I made the change, gave up architecture and switched to writing.
At age 73, I will have successfully made a career change and an emergence as a writer. In just a few days (mid-September, 2012) my first novel, The Reluctant Hunter, will be published. It’s a tragic love story that takes place against the background of the Bosnian War. It was voted Editor’s Choice by my publisher, iUniverse, an imprint of the Penguin Group. The novel, a tragic love story, is a gripping account of horrific circumstances experienced by innocents in a war of ethnic cleansing that never should have been fought
I will admit that a small nest egg made that transition easier than if I had nothing to fall back upon, but writing was pulsing in me. I had to write! I knew I was good and decided to take the leap. If there’s anyway for you to take the leap and do something you need to do, something that is the real you, I urge you to open that cage door and fly. My next goal is to direct or write the screenplay for the movie that I hope will be produced using my book as a point of departure. Why not, I believe anything is possible!
Originally posted in 2012
“Time does not change us. It just unfolds us” Max Frisch
Joel Levinson – Bio
Joel Levinson is a 1963 graduate of the School of Fine Arts at the University of Pennsylvania. He began working as an architect in 1966, and started his own practice in 1969. His work in interior design (he is self-taught) began in the mid-70s when he was commissioned to convert a 360,000 square foot warehouse in center city Philadelphia into a regional interior design center. This project, which was published in the Philadelphia Inquirerunder the heading Instant Landmark, led to his commission to design the corporate offices for the R. M. Shoemaker Company, one of the region’s largest union contractors. The project won a first prize in Philadelphia Magazine’s first office interior design contest.
In the 1974 book by Teitleman and Longstreth, Architecture In Philadelphia: A Guide, Joel’s first residential project – the 1966 Brasler Residence in East Falls-was illustrated with the comment: “Joel Levinson, while just beginning his practice, is part of no school but is a source of tasteful and inventive works.” Levinson’s reputation was raised a notch in 1969 when his strikingly original Arbor House in Melrose Park, PA won a national design award. The house, which is surrounded by trellises, has continued to attract recognition in national and international professional journals. Levinson’s drawings, architectural models, and correspondence are now being collected by The Architectural Archives at the University of Pennsylvania, where they will be preserved for future research. A book to be published by The Archives titled, The Houses of Joel Levinson, is in the planning phase.
Levinson has been active in many projects related to architecture and otherwise. He was the Founder and Director of The Architectural League of the Philadelphia Art Alliance and was a Corporate Member of the Board of Directors, Philadelphia Chapter, of the American Institute of Architects. He was and remains the Founder of The Avenue of American History Initiative, and was the founder of SpaceGroup, a salon that meets in his house twice a month to discuss science and philosophy.
Although he began to photograph, paint, draw and sculpt in his early teens, photography has become Levinson’s primary art. Mostly self-trained in the fine arts, he has exhibited his work at the Philadelphia Art Alliance and a gallery at the University City Science Center, where he designed two office buildings, and most recently at the Nichols Berg Gallery in Chestnut Hill in an exhibit titled Joel Levinson: A Retrospective.
Joel Levinson has long been active as a weekend writer of fiction and non-fiction. His first novel, The Reluctant Hunter has been published by iUniverse. His is currently working on a major treatise title The Daring Diagonal: Architecture, Geometry, and the Impact of Revolutionary Thought.
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