Category: Stanford White

You’d be forgiven for thinking these two homes overlooking Central Park are actually one. Stanford White (or his assistants, more like it) designed the residences simultaneously, cladding the exteriors in elegant white Vermont granite and matching them with the same stacked Classical orders.¹

Location of the Henry Cook and Payne Whitney Residences

They aren’t my favorite projects by McKim, Mead & White: the firm’s work had become quite derivative by 1907, and the designs here feel overprocessed, as if sketched and refined by too many different hands. It doesn’t help that White was murdered before the homes were completed.

What makes this pair of structures important, though, is that they are among the handful of old mansions that survive in New York. Built too late for the Gilded Age, they were nonetheless conceived in its shadow—remnants of an era that will never return.

Gallery

Interior²

Elevations and Section³

References

1. White, Samuel G. The Houses of McKim, Mead & White. New York: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc. (1998). ↩︎
2. A Monograph of the Work of McKim Mead & White, 1879-1915. New York: The Architectural Book Publishing Company, 1915. ↩︎
3. ibid. ↩︎

There’s been talk down in D.C. of building a big, tacky triumphal arch, but that’s just the narcissistic pipe dream of a doddering demon.

Besides, the United States already has a very fine triumphal arch—right in the heart of New York City.

Location of the Washington Square Arch

The Washington Square Arch in Greenwich Village isn’t as iconic as, say, the Statue of Liberty, but I consider it a better work of art, modeled after the old triumphal arches of the Romans.

Initially designed in 1889 by Stanford White of McKim, Mead & White, a cheap wood version of the arch was first built a block north on Fifth Avenue,² planned as a temporary structure to celebrate the 100th anniversary of George Washington‘s inauguration.³

The original arch proved so popular, however, that a group of prominent men formed a committee to build a permanent monument,⁴ with the first stone laid on December 22, 1890.^{5 6}

Standing seventy feet tall and constructed of marble, the Washington Square Arch that exists today was (mostly) completed on April 6, 1892.^{7 8}

White himself helped ceremoniously place the last three stones, including the centerpiece inscription,⁹ featuring words from Washington’s inaugural address:

“Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair. The event is in the hand of God.”

The quality of presidential speechwriting has really taken a nosedive, hasn’t it?

Even for all of New York’s wealth, it was a challenge to raise money for the project, which was funded entirely by private donations. The largest contribution came from Paderewski,¹⁰ a popular pianist of the 1890s—well, he wasn’t so popular with G.L. Norrman.

By the time the last stone was laid, the project’s backers were still $5000 short of the monument’s initial $128,000 cost.¹¹ Just for some perspective: Norrman’s five-story Windsor Hotel in Americus, Georgia, finished a month later, cost an estimated $150,000.

I say the Washington Square Arch was mostly completed by 1892, because it was really finished in stages over 26 years:

• The keystone eagles on both sides of the arch, designed by Philip Martiny,¹² and the trophy panels on the south facade, designed by Frederick A. MacMonnies, were installed in late 1892.¹³
• Four spandrel sculptures designed by MacMonnies were set in February 1895.¹⁴
• The first sculpted figure of George Washington, designed by Hermon A. MacNeil,¹⁵ was installed in May 1916,¹⁶ and the second, designed by A. Stirling Calder,^{17 18} was placed in February 1918.¹⁹

Good things take time.

Gallery

Elevation and Section²⁰

References

1. “The Last Stone Is Laid.” The World (New York), April 6, 1892, p. 10. ↩︎
2. “The Washington Arch.” The Evening Post (New York), April 5, 1892, p. 11. ↩︎
3. “A Noble Gift to the City.” New-York Tribune, April 30, 1895, p. 11. ↩︎
4. ibid. ↩︎
5. “The Washington Arch Completed.” New-York Daily Tribune, April 6, 1892, p. 4. ↩︎
6. “Washington Arch Completed.” The Sun (New York), April 6, 1892, p. 7. ↩︎
7. “The Last Stone Is Laid.” The World (New York), April 6, 1892, p. 10. ↩︎
8. “The Washington Arch Completed.” New-York Daily Tribune, April 6, 1892, p. 4. ↩︎
9. ibid. ↩︎
10. “Washington Arch Anniversary.” New-York Daily Tribune, April 30, 1892, p. 12. ↩︎
11. “The Washington Arch Completed.” New-York Daily Tribune, April 6, 1892, p. 4. ↩︎
12. “A Noble Gift to the City.” New-York Tribune, April 30, 1895, p. 11. ↩︎
13. ibid. ↩︎
14. “The Washington Arch Completed.” New-York Daily Tribune, February 13, 1895, p. 12. ↩︎
15. “Washington Arch To Get Its Statues”. New-York Tribune, March 23, 1914, p. 7. ↩︎
16. “Washington’s Statue for Arch Pedestal”. New York American, February 22, 1918, p. 6. ↩︎
17. “Washington Arch To Get Its Statues”. New-York Tribune, March 23, 1914, p. 7. ↩︎
18. “Washington’s Statue for Arch Pedestal”. New York American, February 22, 1918, p. 6. ↩︎
19. ibid. ↩︎
20. A Monograph of the Work of McKim Mead & White, 1879-1915. New York: The Architectural Book Publishing Company, 1915. ↩︎

Serious photographers (whatever the fuck that’s supposed to mean) despise reflection shots, but I’m kind of a sucker for them.

This puddle in Washington Square provided me with the best image I’ll likely ever get of Judson Memorial Church, built in stages between 1891 and 1896.

The church is a quirky, free-wheeling design by Stanford White that combines elements from numerous Renaissance-era Italian cathedrals, all cobbled together with rich textures and finely detailed ornamentation.

White’s eclectic compositions didn’t always work, but this one is exquisite and charming, and the church has become one of New York’s most distinctive landmarks.

Gallery

Detail and Section of Main Entrance⁶

References

1. “The Judson Memorial.” New-York Daily Tribune, February 8, 1891, p. 19. ↩︎
2. “Judson Memorial Church.” The New-York Times, January 23, 1893, p. 3. ↩︎
3. “Judson Memorial Dedication.” The Sun (New York), January 30, 1893, p. 5. ↩︎
4. “Sitters In Washington Square.” The Sun (New York), May 30, 1895, p. 6. ↩︎
5. Judson Memorial Church: A Convergence of Arts and Service | National Trust for Historic Preservation ↩︎
6. A Monograph of the Work of McKim Mead & White, 1879-1915. New York: The Architectural Book Publishing Company, 1915. ↩︎