^S^^^^M atljaca. Ktm lurk COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE LIBRARY Cornell University Library NA 737.M27M15 [Charles Follen McKim] 3 1924 015 662 228 The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924015662228 THE BRICKBUILDER Volume XIX FEBRUARY 1910 Number 2 PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY ROGERS & MANSON 85 Water Street - - - Boston, Massachusetts Entered at the Boston, Mass. , Post Office as Second-Class Mail Matter, March 12, 1892. Copyright, 1910, hy ROGERS & MANSON Subscription price, mailed flat to subscribers in the United States. Insular Possessions and Cuba Single numbers ............. .... $5.00 per year ....... 50 cents Subscription price, mailed flat to subscribers in Canada ............. $5.50 per year To Foreign Countries In the Postal Union ............... . $6.00 per year SUBSCRIPTIONS PAYABLE IN ADVANCE For sale by all news dealers in the United States and Canada. Trade supplied by the American News Company and its branches. Agencies — Clay Products Architectural Faience ,, Terra Cotta Bricic ADVERTISING Advertisers are classified and arranged in the follovvlng order : PAGE PAGE II Brick Enameled Ill and IV II Brick Waterproofing ........ IV . . II and III Fireproofing ......... IV III Roofing Tile IV Advertisements will be printed on cover pages only. THIS NUMBER PRESENTS SOME OF THE MORE IMPORTANT WORK WHICH HAS BEEN DONE BY McKIM, MEAD & WHITE AND WITH WHICH MR. McKIM WAS PARTICULARLY IDENTIFIED. II llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll III! ' ' r 1 1 i' 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 III 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 , 1 ' 1 ' 1 ' 1 ' 1 ' 1 ' 1 ' 1 ' ' 1 ' 1 ' 1 ' 1 ' 1 ' 1 ' 1 III i 1 1 1 ' 1 ! 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ' 1 ' 1 ' 1 1 ' 1 ' 1 ' 1 ' 1 ' 1 ' 1 ' 1 ' 1 ' 1 ' 1 ' 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 i ' 1 ' 1 ' 1 ' 1 ' 1 ' 1 1 ' 1 ' 1 ' 1 ' 1 ' 1 ' 1 ' 1 ' 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 I 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 5" - ""'""'iii'i III! Illllllillil II III II II II II II 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ' 1 ' ' 1 ' 1 ' CHARLES^ POLLEN'M^ KIM ARCHITECT MDCCCXLVII . MDCCCCIX ® ffl ffl DISVPITL^AKTIPICIS 5PICTANT' MONVMENTA PEIL^ANNOS = - - —- - - - = 1 1 1 1 1 ' 1 ' 1 ' 1 ' 1 I'lii iii'iii'iii - - -E --Till III! Illllllillil !lll!l!ll|ll J_LJ_L 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ' 1 ' 1 ' 1 1 1 ' 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ' 1 ' i ' ' 1 ' 1 ' 1 ' 1 ' 1 ' 1 ' 1 ' 1 ' 1 ' 1 ' 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 nil ll'lll'lll'l I'm iii'iii'iiriii iifiii'iiiliihii'ii nil DESIGN FOR TABLET TO BE PLACED IN PAVEMENT OF TERRACE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY. CHARLES FOLLEN McKIM THE BRICKBUILDER VOL. XIX. NO. 2. FEBRUARY, 1910. Some Critical Reflections on the Architectural Genius of Charles F. McKim. BY ROYAL CORTISSOZ. THE discussion of the work of Charles E. McKim in the pages of this magazine is a peculiarly sympathetic task. ' ' The Brickbuilder, ' ' being dedicated to a specific material of architectural art, provides an atmosphere exactly adjusted to the whole character and achievement of this distinguished American. He was never one of those designers content to rest satisfied with work of the sort that merely "looks well on paper." Building materials were to him what pigments are to the painter ; he handled therti with the same intensely personal feeling for their essential qualities that a great technician of the brush brings to the manipulation of his colors, and he left upon his productions the same autographic stamp. Let me say at the outset, and let it be clearly under- stood throughout these remarks, that this point involves no invidious detachment of his individuality from the partnership in which he labored for more than thirty years. If ever there was a homogeneous firm in the history of the architectural profession it was that of McKim, Mead, and White, and in un- numbered instances it is next to impossible to say where the inspiration of one of these three collabora- tors left off and that of either or both of the others began. Their "team work " has ever been a thing to delight in by itself. I shall not attempt to pigeon hole their different contributions to the long list of buildings by which they are all known. But if, in a survey of that work, we disengage certain artistic traits, we may be sure that they illustrate Mr. McKim's genius no less as a personality than as a member of the trio. This is emphatically the case where the question of materials is to be considered. Stanford White had no keener passion for the effectiveness, as decoration, of a rich Elemish tapestry or a carved and gilded old Spanish column, than McKim had for the pure structural character of a well laid course of stone. I recall an incident sharply typical of his solicitude for the significance of material, for the effect of an idea embodied in the disposition of just so much substance. It was at the time of the build- ing of the Boston Public Library. Certain sheets of marble were to be put in the entrance hall — Numidian, I think they were — and their dimensions were determined by McKim with the utmost care. He regarded those dimensions as essential to the ensemble but when the marble was delivered it was found that they had not been rigidly followed. Forthwith the sheets were rejected. The contractor a^g^d at tremendous length and almost wept, but McKim was harder than the Numidian itself. He was dealing in marble, I repeat, as an artist deals in paint and he would no more submit to a change in 24 THE BRICKBUILDER. the appearance of the surfaces he had planned than a painter would allow his color-man to dictate the final condition of his picture. I make much of this episode because it stands for temperament, for an inborn gift. You cannot learn fastidiousness like that. The right dimensions of a piece of material for a given position in a building can no more be thought out and communicated by a pedagogue than the secrets of color and texture, to be similarly applied, can be formulated in the schools. To think of McKim is to think of a genius expressing itself through the stuff of architecture as creative genius expresses itself in all the other arts, somehow identifying itself with the very grain and fibre of that in which it works. The instinctive character of McKim 's gift comes out in the very earliest pages of his biography. When, as a lad of nineteen, he began his professional studies at Harvard, in 1866, the drift of his artistic nature would appear to have been fixed. It was in the strict sense a constructive gift. They say that he could draw even then with uncommon facility, but I have never heard of his having passed through that sketch-book stage in which a young architect is betrayed into fearful and wonderful performances by the ease with which he can use his pencil in Europe and bring back scores of supposedly adaptable "motives." Later in life, when he came to give much thought to the training of his juniors, he was wont to enforce upon them the excellence of the Ecole des Beaux Arts as a source of instruction, and to warn them against its dangers as a source of patterns. He had been there himself and knew what he was talking about. Leaving Harvard for Paris he entered the Bcole and stayed three years, but if its lessons had imposed any pedantic rules upon him his subsequent travels in Europe and his innate tendencies amply protected him from returning to America with a cut and dried hypothesis for the solution of his problems. He worked for a time under the late H. H. Richardson, and I know no better ORIGINAL HARVARD GATEWAY, CAMBRIDGE, MASS. THE BRICKBUILDER 25 testimony to lxi& artistic poise than you may find in his emergence unscathed from the powerful influence of that brilliant man. It is interesting, by the way — if we may take a little look ahead — to compare the Higginson and Whittier houses built side by side in Beacon Street, years ago, respectively by Richardson and McKim.'s firm, the latter then in its first "period. " The two designs were produced in the most amicable rivalry. It was intended that they should harmonize. Unquestionably they go well together. Obviously, too, both are the work of artists. Let us not look for elements of superiority in either the one or the other. But in looking for the points of difference, and this is surely legitimate, may we not note that the Whittier design is much lighter in hand than its neighbor, that the makers of it were willing to leave a certain weightiness to Richardson, preferring grace, elegance, and a kind of delicate linear charm? All that was very characteristic of McKim. Sometimes it has seemed surprising to me that McKim was not, at least in his formative years, brought more under subjection to Richardson, who was a big man and had a big way with him in his work. Yet, on a moment's reflection, one always remembers the importance of sheer taste in the his- tory of the three partners and how much this matter meant to McKim. Naturally he swerved aside from the broad and luxuriant path along which Richardson moved at such a generous gait. If we imagine a Whistler sojourning for a little while, interestedly enough, in the atelier of a Rubens, but presently going forth to develop, as a matter of course, a totally different style of his own, we can form a fair working idea of what McKim did when he and White and Mead set about making their mark. To say that they began to make it with a kind of cleverness would be to understate the case, and at the same time there is something justly descriptive in the phrase. Certainly there is no occasion for criti- cal solemnities on the buildings through which they felt their way toward a style of their own. I am [walker art gallery, brunswick, me. 26 THE BRICKBUILDER. THE BRICKBUILDER, 28 THE BRICK BUILDER. thinking especially of things like the Casino at Newport and divers cottages that they built there in the '80-s. I am thinking, too, of the little music hall, at Short Hills in New Jersey which I used to see at the end of a long walk every Sunday one summer. There was positive refreshment in coming upon that modest bit of country architecture, it was so original, so picturesque, and, withal, so perfectly adapted to its site. You saw at once that here was a new conception of what needed to be done with ,an old problem, a new art in place of an old sort of journeyman's craft. The novelty sprang, of course, from the brains of McKim and his colleagues, but it is, perhaps, worth while to note here an- other quarter whence the new movement got part of its impetus. Very little if anything has been said about the social developments which synchronised with the early progress of this firm. It is in no un- complimentary sense that they may be described as the fashionable architects of their time. On the contrary, the designation is to be employed in all seriousness and honor. It was their good fortune to come upon the scene just at a time when people of wealth were taking a new in- terest in the beautification of their environment. Private collections of pictures and other works of art were not only increasing in number, but were being formed with reference to higher criti- cal standards. In the furnishing of houses a more lavish expenditure was accompanied by a desire for a better scheme of decoration. Modes of social entertainment grew richer and more complicated as they grew more costly. It is flattering to our self-esteem to believe that we were always at home in palaces, but, as a matter of fact, the splendors of American social life date from the last quarter of a century, an educational period if ever there was one. At Newport and elsewhere a type of . dwelling was in demand such as had not got itself created since long before the war. Moreover, prior to the sixties. North or South, the owner of a prosperous house let himself go chiefly in respect to scale, and while his taste at the best aimed in the safe direction of simplicity he gave little thought to art as art. McKim's clients were quite willing that, he should think of nothing else. There, I venture to say, you have the secret of his opportunity and one key to what he made of it. Men of means wanted new houses and were as keen on having these made beau- tiful and ^distinguished as though they were acquiring the paintings and sculptures of foreign masters. The Queen Anne cottage was doomed, as was the three-story-and-basement brown-stone ' ' mansion ' ' of our cities. The Casino at Newport is possibly the most representative of the country buildings erected by McKim, Mead, and White at this period. It is representative alike in its fitness for the purpose to which it was assigned and in what I can only describe as its restrained picturesqueness. In breaking with a tradition of dullness the firm did not consider it necessary to turn violent or bizarre. Nothing could be fresher, more unconventional, than this Casino, or the house for Robert Goelet at Newport, or the Osborne house at Mamaroneck, but then, on the other hand, nothing could be more judiciously studied, more refined, more delicately expressive of a luxurious but beautiful ideal. What McKim did in the country he did in the city, in such houses as the one for Mr. Whittier, which I have already cited, or those for Mr. Drayton, Mr. Cutting, and Mr. Phoenix in New York. He succeeded in the difficult task of blending dignity and repose with a certain piquancy. A design framed by him and his partners was always a serious work of art, and it was always amusing, to use the word with the implica- tions it carries in French criticism. Decidedly McKim, Mead, and White were the architects for an expanding social era, as were those masters who built the city palaces and country villas of the rich Romans and Florentines of the Renaissance. If they had stopped there they would still be gratefully remembered, but they were bound to press further and win a wider fame, bound both by the conditions of American life and by the nature of their resources. Kverything conspired to lead them on from architecture that was charming to architecture that was monumental, and, on occasion, in the grand style. Here, I think, is where we cannot but THE BRICKBUILDER. 29 recognize the steadily ripening influence of McKim. The genius that was so easily and so happily exercised upon the problems of dwelling-houses in city and country inevitably craved a larger outlet. The firm has for years gone on designing private houses, but it is significant that most of these have latterly been very stately affairs, on an imposing scale. The essential history of McKim is to be traced in a long succession of heroic buildings, starting with the Villard block in New York and the Public lyibrary in Boston, and coming down to the Pennsylvania Station in New York. In the contemplation of these edifices, we abandon all thought of those "amusing" qualities to which I have alluded, and think of graver things ; but before touching upon the purely monumental aspects of McKim 's work I must glance again, in passing, at that flair of his for materials and at a friendly, intimate quality which he carried from his earlier experience on into larger fields. As he attacked more ambitious themes he did not lose touch with the sentiment of the life around him, sacrificing personal feeling to scholarship. To see how tactfully, how sympathetically he could deal with subjects apart from ordinary private life and yet untouched by the heavy hand that governs the purposes of the average public building one has but to look at such things as the Harvard Club in New York, the Harvard Gates at Cambridge, the big building for the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, the Women's Building for the University of Illinois at Urbana, the buildings for the Army War College at Washington, and the railway station at Waterbury. In the first place the work done in these designs shows invariably with what judgment and taste McKim could use brick, when he chose, a material for which the firm long ago declared its effective appreciation. (The vast chateau-like house, built for Mr. C. L. Tiffany in New York, when the firm was coming into repute, is alone impressive evidence of a truly artistic faculty for the treatment of this material.) Furthermore, the buildings I have named and the gates at Cam- bridge are remarkable for their possession of a dignity that is not too austere. You are impressed but ■you are not overpowered. Something gracious and even beguiling appeals to you through the very serious scheme of design that is in each instance worked out. McKim knew how to take a high view of his subject. He did not kaow how to be harsh or bleak. Was it not just his gift for beauty that kept him thus on the warm, human side of things, the same joyously creative impulse that had caused him to play so ingeniously with the little fabrics the firm put together at Newport ? By all the rules of the Academy a style so pure as his should have culminated at a point spelling mere coldness for the ordinary observer, but McKim had a way of softening his severities when he felt that it was required. See how he modified the rather gaunt lines of the Italian palace he MODEL OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY. built for the University Club in New York by the decorative touches which balconies and carven seals give to the facades. I remember, too, the brilliant tour de force of the New York State Building at the Chicago Fair in 1893. He made it abetter building, a better piece of pure architecture, than the Villa Medicis at Rome, on which he modelled it. But what made it so extraordinarily successful was nothing more nor less than the festal suavity with which he tempered the majestic character of the 30 THE BRICKBUILDER, a < o Pi o fa o td H U > O p S ^ 2 z THE BRICKBUILDER. 31 32 THE BRICKBUILDER. design. The building was unmistakably monumental but it was a cheerful, welcoming structure, fitting with absolute precision into the holiday picture made by the exposition at large. We know how devotedly he and his numerous associates in the great undertaking at Chicago strove to preserve a classical sobriety amongst the main Exposition buildings, how earnest they were in their plans for a really noble sky-line, and, in short, how one of the most popular of modem demonstrations was charged with an artistic lesson. No one there was more exacting than was McKim, no one there was more steadfast in the advocacy of a lofty architectural standard. But no one, I may add, was a subtler adept in the process of enveloping serious ideas in garments of winning loveliness. At the bottom of all his studies was not only that gift for beauty which I have mentioned, but a profound conviction of the place of character in architecture. The purpose of a building, the use to which it was destined, was something more than a practical condition enforced upon him by a client ; it was an appeal to his imagination, stimulating his powers of design just as a proposal for a statue will set a sculptor's fingers tingling to press the clay. McKim was not, any more than any other great artist, infallible, and he had to learn some things by experience. The Public Library in Boston has been criticised as falling short of perfection in respect to its utilitarian function. Perhaps it is not impeccable. I confess that while I was in and out of it not infrequently at the time of its erection, and have since explored it more than once, I have never gone broodingly about the testing of its every comer. It is ^ possible, no doubt, that there are comers in which the reader might wish for a little better light. But, when all is said, where, in this country, will you find a nobler library building, a nobler library building of the same scale and put to the same popular uses ? I know that McKim and his partners gave unend- ing study to the problem, and I can see him in Rome, years ago, poring over its monuments as one THE COURT, BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY. THE BRICKBUILDER 33 turns the pages of a book, looking for further inspiration. He had one of his draughtsmen with him, on whom he would call to sketch one detail or another that interested him. Was it in order that he might slavishly reproduce that detail ? Not for a moment. It was rather as though he were yielding himself to the play of ideas as he interrogated the old masters, and wanted to jot down suggestive points developed in the process. These were not so much coordinated with his central scheme as they were subtly absorbed into it, to fertilize and enrich it. He was a striking instance of the artist who consults the past for a kind of broad invigoration, never as a methodical copyist. In the presence of buildings like the one at Boston, or the State House at Providence, or the Penn- sylvania Station in New York, or Mr. Morgan's inimitable little library, the student feels that he is y down to the bed rock of pure architecture. Nothing experimental is visible, you find nothing irrelevant, nothing that is understated or overdone. The bones of the design, so to say, are faultlessly articulated, faultlessly with reference to the practical idea at the heart of the problem, and to this unit of construc- tion there is given an envelope of beautiful simplicity. If there is decoration to be reckoned with you *X scarcely notice it, it is made part and parcel of the mass with such unerring taste. What you notice «=^ above all is the achievement of something like grandeur with a singularly elastic touch. Take, for example, the pillared facades of the Pennsylvania Station. For a positively Roman weight and majesty it would be impossible to beat that building in modem architecture. But neither could you find it any- where surpassed for a beauty that I can perhaps best indicate as a beauty brimming over with nervous force, really vitalized, as though the thing which we call style were fairly singing in stone. The march of those columns is superb, luring the eye until it forgets the immobility of walls, cornices, and so on, and is lost in sensuous delight. It is a huge structure, and, for the mind sensitive to the great pageant MAIN STAIR HALL, BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY. 34 THE BRICKBUILDER, THE BRICKBUILDER, 35 si u ? S o o o o — ""■■''^--aM ._ ^1 36 THE BRICKBUILDER. of our material progress, it is fraught with ideas of tremendous and even ruthless power. After all, a building like this is symbolical of one of the forces of our national life, and a poet might reasonably linger before it, presently translating into words the thought it raises of an irresistible might. But the right poet would turn what is stark and terrible about such a concentration of energy into terms of pure PLAN OF READING ROOM FLOOR. PLAN OF SPECIAL LIBRARY FLOOR. PLAN OF GROUND FLOOR. Vestibale, i6' x 55'. Entrance Hall, 3/ x 44^ Grand Staircase, 2i THE BRICKBUILDER, 37 our horizon. It is a commonplace of satirical criticism that "bigness" is an American foible. Neither the painter nor the sculptor is ordinarily required to come to close quarters with that foible. The architect alone is forever confronted by it, and therefore exposed to a cruel temptation. McKim mastered it. He liked, I think, to tackle heroic issues. In the latter part of his career he threw himself with gusto upon the solu- tion of problems like the one presented in the Pennsyl- ^vania Station. His genius had an even more exten- sive range as one may gather from the share he took in the evolution of the scheme for the beautifying of the city of Washington. Who could have blamed him if, in the prosecution of campaigns so portentous in scope, he had completely lost sight of those ideals of exquisiteness, of charm, of delicately fervid art, with which he had begun his work side by side with Mead and White? They never lost sight of them. Shoulder to shoulder they went on as the years passed, rising to their greater opportunities with increasing firmness of grasp and with increasing feeling for beauty. They were always builders in the truest, manliest sense of the term, and they were always artists. It is in this dual character that McKim remains a shining figure in our annals. COLONNADE, BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY. FliEZ'-rj-ALL r fpi^l^nf^l5|jlnfli5pl5;|l[T!irrpl'^l^i-?]ll^|l5^ MAIN ENTRANCE, BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY. 38 THE BRICKBUILDER. Charles Follen McKim — A Character Sketch BY HENRY BACON CHARLES FOLIvEN McKIM occupies a place in the history of American architecture, the honor of which will increase with passing years. Respected now for a power in the art of design which constantly increased and which was manifested in numerous great achievements, his works will be studied to advantage in future generations by the student, practitioner, and layman. More than twenty years ago the writer entered the office of McKim, Mead & White and enjoyed a close relationship with Mr. McKim, whose unfailing friendship was shown to him in many ways. His method of working was characteristic and it may prove interesting to read an account of it by one who was long privileged to observe it at short range. The foremost trait of Mr. McKim was buoyancy of spirit, an invaluable aid to him as well as to those under him, in the long and tedious processes he followed in the evolution of a design. With this buoyancy he approached the drawing table, bringing with him a rough sketch of the problem to be solved. In the sketch his idea was evident, but most indefinitely drawn, and in no stage of planning and designing did he make a definite line or contour. With each visit to the table he would express appreciation of the draughtsman's work and generally would be enthusiastic over it. Invariably, how- ever, he would place tracing paper over the drawing, and, with pencil sometimes in one hand and some- "■^''^'■■■■- '--mmrfwmiiTnmimmmM^m THE EDGAR HOUSE, NEWPORT, R. I. THE BRICKBUILDER 39 times in the other, for he was ambidextrous, he would lightly sketch a revision of the scheme, smudging the already indefinite lines with his finger till the result would look like the sketch for Bellevue Hospital which is here shown on page 47. As a specimen of his earlier draughtsmanship, the reader is referred to another reproduction on page 47 of a charming sketch of a Newport house. Several sketches of this character would be made at one sitting, each varying from the others in general composition, but each showing some definite idea. The draughtsman was then expected to put into right lines and contours the sketch selected for the project and draw carefully the details and ornament. Mr. McKim's inspection of this drawing would result in further studies by him, the design then being again drawn carefully by the draughtsman, and so on until it was, in his opinion, ready for study in perspective. The same study was expended on the perspective that had been de\oted to previous drawings. Change after change would be made during this stage, and later, in many cases, the design would be studied similarly in small plaster models. All of these processes would involve, of course, either changes in all the drawings, or entirely new sets of drawings, but no prospect of expense or labor would deter Mr. McKim from an endeavor to improve his project. This method was sure to accomplish a well fin- ished result. It was arduous, but the fatigue of the draughtsman's mind and body was immensely relieved by Mr. McKim's contagious enthusiasm and his unceasing encouragement. In preparing letters or telegrams he was extremely particular in the choice of words and arrange- ment of phrases and would usually ask for the attendance of one or the other of his draughtsmen, while he framed a communication, even on unimportant matters. The writer remembers being asked by Mr. McKini to be present on one occasion, when he was about to dictate a telegram. It finally con- 40 THE BRICKBUILDER. BANK OF MONTREAL, MONTREAL, CANADA. THE BRICKBUILDER 41 THE BRICKBUILDER INTERIOR VIEWS, NATIONAL CITY BANK, NEW YORK CITY. r THE BRICKBUILDER. VOL. 19. NO. 2. , PLATE 15. --"----— u'U•ulrL^^t-_"::vl^lJlJtHJU1J1JlJ1J1:^^^ HALF 45^Ji-JTKEET ELEVATION - - PART ELEVATION HAIA/ARD HALL - JCALL l i M I I I I I I I I I F=l EXTERIOR AND INTERIOR DETAILS OF HARVARD HALL, HARVARD CLUB, NEW YORK CITY. THE BRICKBUILDER. VOL. 19. NO. 2. PLATE 16. ELEVATION ^L^N MAIN ENTRANCE ririH AVENUE EEEYATION ;,5£CT]0N c 3 EXTERIOR DETAILS, UNIVERSITY CLUB, NEW YORK CITY. THE BRICKBUILDER. VOL. 19, NO. 2. PLATE 17. |C c-c JUUMUUUUUUUMUU uuuuuuuuuunnnnn uuuuuuuumuyuLUJUU mmr l i i j I T I I I T ENTRANCE PORTICO, SYMPHONY HALL, BOSTON, MASS. THE BRICKBUILDER. VOL. 19. NO. 2. PLATE 18. PORTICO OVER ENTRANCE, RHODE ISLAND STATE CAPITOL, PROVIDENCE, R. I. THE BRICKBUILDER. VOL. 19. NO. 2. PLATE 19. SECTION THEOVGH WALL 5ECTION AT SIDE or 5TAIR5 DETAILS OF ROTUNDA, RHODE ISLAND STATE CAPITOL, PROVIDENCE, R. 1. V, «v, THE BRICKBUILDER. VOL. 19, NO. 2. PLATE 20. CA^TDUCHC O/EL CMUAGr ENTRANCE ELEVATION OF TER-RACt A1>ID BALUJTKAPE GIIAPE tl'-sV- DETAILS, FIRST STORY AND ENTRANCE, RHODE ISLAND STATE CAPITOL, PROVIDENCE, R. I. THE BRICKBUILDER. VOL. 19, NO. 2. PLATE 21. THE BRICKBUILDER. VOL. 19, NO. 2. PLATE 22. THE BRICKBUILDER. VOL. 19, NO. 2. PLATE 23. h O cr; o a w W < o K O a, o < m THE BRICKBUILDER. VOL. 19, NO. 2. PLATE 24. UNIVERSITY CLUB, NEW YORK CITY. THE BRICKBUILDER. VOL. 19, NO. 2. PLATE 25. DETAILS OF MAIN FACADE, LIBRARY OF J. P. MORGAN, ESQ., NEW YORK CITY. THE BRICKBUILDER. VOL. 19, NO. 2. PLATE 26. DETAILS OF INTERIOR, LIBRARY OF J. P. MORGAN, ESQ., NEW YORK CITY. THE BRICKBUILDER. VOL. 19, NO. 2. PLATE 28. DETAILS OF ROTUNDA AND MAIN READING ROOM, LIBRARY AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, NEW YORK CITY. THE BRICKBUILDER. VOL. 19, NO. 2. PLATE 29. CLILING or BATES tIALL ^ — MAIN 5TAIR.CA5L CLILING- FOI^ CtlLINGS AMD £NTRANCt3 ° > { t m-f j f i i i , V ptET V^5T1BULC ENTEANCL DATL5 MALL-CtNTlZAL D001^ > DOOI^ IN EATLS MALL DETAILS, BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY, BOSTON, MASS. THE BRICKBUILDER. VOL. 19, NO. 2. PLATE 30. s DETAILS OF EXTERIOR AND MAIN STAIR HALL, BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY, BOSTON, MASS. THE BRICKBUILDER 43 — CII o H <; u w <; . P « ?; . <: a " w w o S > O o « 111 4 44 THE BRICKBUILDER tained less than ten words, but the session lasted nearly an hour, the time being spent in changing phrases and weighing synonymous words. Nothing satisfied him which seemed to admit of improve- ment, and to no man were possible improvements more visible — or so multitudinous. The same care that was expended on the drawings was exercised in all his processes in the art of architecture. The full sized plaster models underwent similar changes, both in the modeller's shop and at the building, and even the actual work in stone and other materials would be subject to alterations, for with him the finished product was the sole thing considered. While he admired beautiful drawings, he regarded them as of secondary importance. The difference between the first studies and the final drawings of his designs was very great. In most cases the finished design bore no relation in appearance to the original sketches, a natural consequence of the great range of ideas characteristic of Mr. McKim during the prosecution of his work and strongly significant of his freedom in the choice of those actually employed. He insisted on having his designs kept in a plastic state far beyond the point at which others would have regarded them as finished, and even after buildings were well on in construction he would change dimensions and details, to the despair of those erecting them. But here again his qualities of buoyancy and enthusiasm would tide over situations in which all but he himself would seem stranded. At the crises of these situations there would appear in him a tenacity of purpose which nothing could weaken. This quality can be best illustrated by incident at the World's Fair in Chicago. During the last days of the construction, when overworked men were still furiously working and when the last too small appropriations were apportioned, Mr. McKim decided that his building, the Agricultural Building, then practically completed, would be improved in design by the addition of an attic story. A meeting was called, one hot afternoon, composed of the powers that were, and a drawing showing the proposed improvement was presented by him with an enthusiastic argument for its adoption. All those present admitted the im- provement, but they were positive that no money was available for its execution. Mr. McKim ignored, the lack of funds and grew so buoyant over their approval that in spite of interrupting statements that the money was not to be had, he en- larged his argument. All of those men, ten or twelve in number, could not con- vince him that his purpose was unattainable. Mr. Burnham, as Chief of Construction, was presiding, and the writer remembers that towards the close of the session, which lasted two or three hours, he reiterated, in a tone of finality, — " Charles, we have no money. ' ' Whereupon Mr. McKim again renewed his appeal and with such increased vigor, that the Council lost their heads to their hearts. They decided to find some way to provide funds for the addition — and the attic story was built. It is evident that this demanded a great deal of energy on the part of all concerned, but certainly it demanded the most from him, and even in his later years, though impairment of physical stamina became apparent, his interest in his work continued undiminished and he used the same ardent, persuasive method. Mr. McKim constitutionally took on some occasions the longest way to reach the goal and this sometimes misled others as to his motives. He was seldom direct in speech or action, but he always had but one end in view and that was — to give the best possible results. This unquestionably cost him SECOND FLOOR PLAN, RHODE ISLAND STATE CAPITOL. THE BRICKBUILDER 45 46 THE BRICKBUILDER SENATE CHAMBER. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. RHODE ISLAND STATE CAPITOL. THE BRICKBUILDER. 47 time and money — but time and money were nothing to him. His eyes were constantly fixed on the best efforts of his hand and brain, and the long and tedious method of arriving at results was amply justified by what he attained. Though he was well acquainted with the work done in the past, both in ancient and modem times, SKETCH BY MR. McKIM FOR BELLEVUE HOSPITAL. ■ and consulted constantly, during the progress of his designing, the drawings and documents with which his library was well supplied, he was no slave to precedent. On the contrary he was a most discriminating judge of the possibility of using solutions of problems in the past to the advantage of the buildings in his care. Bach of his buildings is stamped with his own individuality and on first sight is instantly recognized as his work by anyone familiar with architecture. While his foremost characteristic was buoyancy of spirit, his largest quality was an uncompromising love of the beautiful and a corresponding hatred of ugliness. His patience was always apparent. Though many circumstances occurred that would have been disastrous to the poise of an ordinary mind, the writer never heard him utter an impatient word or saw him lose his accustomed cheerfulness. THE WOLFE HOUSE, NEWPORT, R. I. A specimen of Mr. McKim's earlier draughtsmanship. 48 THE BRICKBUILDER. The Influence of McKim. BY C. HOWARD WALKER. THE work of an architect is not only of interest from the quality of his genius as an artist, and from his ability to create, but also from his mental attitude towards the architecture of the past and his appreciation of the solutions of problems which have already occurred. The recognition of the eminent achievements which have appeared in every stage of the art, and which by the tests of time and of use ha^-e justified the universal praise which they have received, carries with it the acknowledgment that it is probable that some of the present problems in architecture are not as novel as they at first appear to be, — and have probably alreadj- been analyzed and solved and the differences between the work of to-day and that of the past do not reqiiire exaggeration. It is evident, on consideration, that all architecture has been to an extent " raisoiuic " and that in many cases it has been so admirably reasoned out that the best fundamental solution has been found. Regard for this fact alwaj-s carries with it the appearance of imitation and at times of plagiarism, when as a matter of fact it is knowledge. While the first work of the firm of INIcKim, ]\Iead and AMiite was experimental and in many respects novel, as time went on a serious studj^ of the past supplemented the enthusiasms of these young archi- tects, and it is especially in the recognition of the completed attainments of the great architects of the past that ]Mr. IMcKim showed a discriminative knowledge, and at times a regard and veneration which tended GATEWAY AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY. THE BRICKBUILDER. 49 SYMPHONY HALL, BOSTON, MASS. so THE BRICKBUILDER. MANTEL IN DINING HALL, WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON. of the spirit of the past. A wise past is an admirable foundation for Amidst the natural desire for individual expression, for dealing with what at first glance appear to be new conditions, because of the use of new materials with new forms and combinations of forms ; amidst the erratic results which occur from imagination out-speeding restraining thought, the firm, individually and collectively, have held true to the fundamental facts of good architec- ture and have exercised a judicious restraint in the expression of their art which cannot be too highly praised. And they have always in- sisted upon the full development of their theme, have given great care to detail and to ornament, and have made it adequate without being over- to greatly dignify his work. He was a serious student of classic architec- ture at its best. He esteemed it so much and considered it to have been the result of such wise thought that he refrained from disturbing it, and from adding extraneous factors to it. His attitude was one of a respect and affection which made eccentrici- ties unworthy of his subject. And in this attitude he was supported by his partners who had the same point of view. Mr. White with his ex- uberant fancies in decorative work persistently held to simple masses upon which that work was expanded. His orchestration was elaborate but his themes were elemental. Mr. Mead has exercised and still exer- cises a critical faculty and an appre- ciation of the best that architecture -represents, which has made it diffi- cult for eccentric design, however fascinating, to appear in the accom- plished work. And this influence is perpetuated in the admirable work of Mr. Kendall, while the younger men of the firm who have grown up under this influence have so thoroughly absorbed the spirit of the original firm that it has become to them a tradition which must assure in their future work a continuance appreciation of the qualities of the great architecture of the good architecture in the present. PLAN OF SYMPHONY HALL, BOSTON, MASS. THE BRICKBUILDER 51 52 THE BRICKBUILDER. THE BRICKBUILDER 53 done — and soigne in the best sense. The relations of mouldings, their proportions and refinements, have been thoroughly considered, and there has been no dependence upon a good parti pris indifferently carried out. The traditions of careful work, serious and restrained attack, freedom from erratic expres- sion, which have become integral with their work, are self -perpetuating. Men who have once recognized that genius can well be tempered with restraint, respect, and even with veneration, will not find any other attitude of mind seductive, — and the appeal of vivacious experiment will not attract. At the present time in the art of the world when there daily appear new cults, it is peculiarly gratifying to find a group of men who are not overwhelmed by a fashion nor are numbed by a convention, but who thoroughly appreciate when any type of art has reached its apogee, and decline to treat it as if it were in an embryonic stage, and who have by careful study, learned the very spirit of the styles in which they have worked — and possessing knowledge of their art have expressed it naturally in the terms of that knowledge. It is because of this clear and serene highmindedness of Mr. McKim's work that it stands forth distinguished, and when to this is added the skill of his associates and the quiet, sane appreciation of Mr. Mead, there exists an influence for which the profession of Architecture in America is to be sincerely congratulated. EAST COLONNADE OF WHITE HOUSE. EAST FACADE OF WHITE HOUSE. 54 THE BRICKBUILDER. THE BRICKBUILDER 55 A Tribute. BY ROBERT S. PEABODY. IT DOES not seem so very long ago that there came into our little. circle of architectural students in Paris a charming youth, fresh from Cambridge, from the Scientific School and the ball field — a merry, cheerful friend — an athlete — a serious student. We lived a simple, frugal life in .the splendid Paris of Louis Napoleon, working hard, and he especially with a dogged earnestness. There were, however, happy inter- ludes in this working life between charrettes. When on rare occasions ice formed on the lakes in the Bois, he, a perfect skater, was the center of admiring throngs. When in the Luxembourg gardens beneath our windows we passed around an Amer- ican baseball the Parisians lined up three deep at the tennis courts to see him throw the ball to incredible heights. Fired by his enthusiasm' we even joined gymnasium classes, and, though that now seems improb- able, we became proficient on the fly- ing trapeze. In summer we rode on the Seine and in the ever-to-be-re- membered trip for several days down that river no one, French or Ameri- can, joined with greater enthusiasm than the comrade we used to call affectionately Follen, or the French- men by some unrecognizable perver- sion of the name so hard for French lips — McKim. In view of his later career it doubtless sounds strange to say that for a long time it was harder for McKim than for most foreigners to find himself in sympathy with the atelier and the Bcole des Beaux Arts. What little experience he brought with him had been obtained with Mr. Russell Sturgis in New York. That master and Mr. Babb were his ultimate arbiters. Ruskin was the prophet of all that was good and true in art. Plunged into a world that did not know these masters even by name and that looked on Victorian Gothic as romantic arche- ology, but in no possible sense as architecture, McKim's inflexible nature had some hard rebuffs and conflicts. It required time and other influences to bring him to a sense of the great worth of the underlying principles of the Parisian training, but his sympathies were always more with the earlier than the later French masters. He never really liked modem French taste and he was in fact more close to Rome than to Paris. The active and feverish artistic life that is creating a Renaissance of art in New York to-day often makes us think of the brilliant periods of that other Renaissance in Tuscany. I would not claim for McKim the character of universal genius which history attributes to many of the early sons of the HARVARD CLUB, NEW YORK CITY. 56 THE BRICKBUILDER, Italian Renaissance ; but when we read how Alberti, that forerunner of Leonardo, was skilled in arms and horsemanship and all bodily exercises proper to the estate of a young nobleman — that he enjoyed feats of strength and skill — that he possessed a singularly sweet temper and graceful conversation — that for music he had genius of the highest order — we are reminded of our friend. Still more, when we find this accomplished son of the Renaissance fusing classic art with the medieval standards of taste and introducing Roman arches and Corinthian pilasters to a world that had long forgotten them, we are again brought back to New York. These two artists were alike even in the principles that guided their art. They did not seek an Architecture Raisonne. They iwere not greatly interested in logic. They sought beauty. They found it in its most perfect forms in classic art and they each applied it to the structures of their day. It is enough for most of us that their art was beautiful, and we find ourselves debating whether our friend and his associates were more charming in their earlier work, when in the Herald Building and the Century Club they dealt with the loveliness of the early Renais- sance, or when the noonday splendors of the full great Roman orders appeared at Columbia College and the Pennsylvania Railroad Station and rivaled not only the Renaissance but Ancient Rome itself. In all of these, however, we see McKim as in the case of Alberti — the handsome gentleman, the cultured scholar, making his city beautiful and adapting the beauties of classic archi- tecture to the life of his day. By the dogged determination an-d the unfailing patience with which he clung to his convictions, coupled with his per- suasive charm of manner, he had brought many loyal clients to build better than they knew or had dreamed of, and he had reached the top ranks of the profession, when that delightful company of artists, the Board of Design for the Columbian Fair was called to Chicago. At the first dinner our friend John Root (the architect whose sad death we so soon deplored) re- ferring to the appropriations for the fair just made by the government said, " Congress has just given us t\v& avoir f aire . We have brought you to Chicago to furnish the savoir faive.'''' McKim furnished his full share of knowledge and skill and sympathy to this enterprise and he was a great factor in creating that spirit of harmony and generous emulation which pervaded the whole enterprise and which was the foundation of its success. These are but the slightest reminiscences of a life full of artistic activity and achievement. They are what are most prominent in my memory. I am happy in this opportunity to testify on the part of all my profession to our admiration for the character McKim displayed in constantly and persistently seek- ing a high artistic goal, and to the added influence that has accrued to the whole profession because of the dignity with which he endowed his own part in it. For my own personal part I am still more happy to speak of my love for this charming artist and generous gentleman. INTERIORS, UNIVERSITY CLUB. THE BRICKBUILDER 57 S8 THE BRICK BUILDER. Excerpts from Addresses Delivered at the Memorial Meeting in Honor of Mr. McKim, Held in New York November 23, 1909. MR. GEORGE B. POST. The members of tlie Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Academy of Design, the American Academy in Rome, the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, the Faculty of Fine Arts of Columbia University, the American Acad- emy of Arts and Letters, the National Institute of Arts and Letters, the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, the McDowell Association, the Municipal Art Society, the National Sculpture Society, the National Society of Mural Painters, the Society of Beaux Arts Architects, and the Architec- tural League of New York, have called this meeting in honor of the late Charles Follen McKim. Were it not that I am to have the honor of introducing distinguished orators, far better qualified than I to speak of his character and career, I might well tell you how, by distinguished ability, great attainments, sterling worth, singular and insistent devotion to whatever he undertook, enthusiasm for the good and beautiful and hatred of sham, combined with a courteous consideration for all, he has won the devoted affection of his fellows and a dominating influence in the profession which he loved. He won the respectful admiration of the community ; his genius has stamped an imprint on the art of a continent. His life- work was not without public recognition. He was a Master of Arts of Bowdoin, and Harvard University, Doctor of Letters of Colum- bia University, Doctor of Laws of the Pennsylvania University, National Acade- mician, Member of the Academy di San Lucca of Rome, twice President of the American Institute of Archi- tects, and Honorary Member of the Royal Institute of British Architects, whose golden medal he has received. HON. JOSEPH H. CHOATE. We have as- sembled in this wonderful hall to-day, at the combined invitation of all the organiza- tions for the promotion of art in New York, to pay a trib- ute of respect and affection to a great artist, a noble gentle- man, a self-sacrificing and public-spirited citizen, and the recognized leader for many years of a powerful and brilliant profession. I LIBRARY, UNIVERSITY CLUB, dccm it a Signal privilege THE BRICKBUILDER 59 and- honor, as a lifelong friend of Mr. McKim, to have been asked by this great body of his professional colleagues and disciples to address this interested and sympathetic company of his admirers. Interested and sympathetic I know you must all be, for it was impossible to come into contact with Mr. McKim without loving and honoring him, or to be even the most casual observer of his work without some appreciation and admiration of that. We have all known him in the zenith of his fame — long recognized at home and abroad as the foremost of American architects — creating in rapid succession building after building, public and pri- vate, of singular dignity, simplicity, and beauty; sur- rounded by all the signs of affluence and luxury, consulted as the leading authority on all matters of taste and art' with all sorts of honors and distinctions heaped upon him, and yet always as simple as a child, as modest and gentle as a woman — shunning publicity and shocked at all ostentation. It would be interesting to know from what beginnings all this greatness, this gentleness, this instinct for beauty, came. Some day I hope his life will be written by some competent hand. Recently there were placed in my hands some letters of his to his father, written in his twentieth year — ; probably before any person present here to-day had any knowledge of him — which seemed to me to shed much light on the formation of his manly and beautiful character. We know something of the father and the mother, too — a sturdy abolitionist and a famous Quaker beauty. It was from her, no doubt, that he got his striking grace and delicacy of feature. They were both as brave and fearless as they were plain and simple in life and manner. To show their faith by *- ^^^^^S0^^^0^^S^^^^'^ .^^^XSK^SafipK; pS-^-^-- ""^^^'' FIVE VIEWS OF THE MORGAN HOUSE AND GARDENS, WESTBURY, L. I. 6o THE BRICKBUILDER their works, they accompanied the widow of John Brown to Virginia to bring home his mangled body, which was to lie moldering in the ground while his soul went marching on. The letters are from Cambridge in the summer and fall of 1866, where the boy was searching in vain in the vacation for a teacher to coach him in chemistry and mathematics to enable him to enter the Lawrence Scientific School in the Mining Department. Mining engineering was what he was bent upon, with no more idea of becoming an architect than of studying divinity. The Quaker discipline and spirit is stamped upon every line of his letters. They are addressed to " Dear Home," and they reveal on every page the simplicity, the earnestness, the narrow means and self-denial of that home and of the writer. Simplicity, quietness, self-restraint — were not these his guiding motives all through life ? Are they not the very things that the name of McKim, Mead & White stands for still? Truly the boy was father of the man. He uses the Quaker style and vernacular: ' ' Father, does thee think I had better come home to Thanksgiving, or will it be spending too much ? I can wait till January if thee thinks it best," but " Do send mother to see me " is his constant refrain. ' ' Dear mother, thee must come ! ' ' His prevailing thought seems to have been how best to ease the burden of his education on the lightly furnished family purse. What he seems to have intended was one year in the Scientific School and then two years in Paris — not at all at the Beaux Arts, but in the School of Mines, where the education for his life's calling would be cheaper and better. The spur of necessity was the goad to his ambition, as it always has been to most Americans who succeed. Bvidently he had no love for mathematics or mining, but he could toil terribly even at that. What it was that in one short year at Cambridge roused in his soul the dormant love of art and passion for beauty we cannot tell. But kindled they were, and at the end of the year he went straight to Paris and to the Beaux Arts SHAW MEMORIAL, BOSTON, MASS. THE BRICKBUILDER 6i to study architecture and then to travel as long as he could and feast his soul on all the wonderful and beautiful buildings which abound in France and Italy. And at last he comes home, fully equipped for the arduous and fascinating labors that were to fill and crown the thirty years of his successful and brilliant cateer. In architecture, as in every other profession, opportunity counts for much, and he found a golden opportunity awaiting him. . . . Perhaps this is hardly the occasion to dwell upon the innate traits and qualities that made him so dear and precious to his friends, and his loss so deeply and widely lamented. But in truth he was one of the most charming personalities that America has ever known. Wherever he came, he always brought light and warmth and sympathy, which seemed to flow from him whether he spoke or kept silent. It was impossible to know him and not to love him, and, to borrow the language of St. Paul, it may truly be said of him : " Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report ; if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, we think of these things " as all embodied and transfigured in the life and character of Charles Follen McKim. HON. ELI HU ROOT. . . . As some men have the vision of their country rich and prosperous, and some men the vision of their country great and powerful, his imagination kept always before him the vision of a country inspired and elevated by a purer and nobler taste ; and unselfishly, with enthtlsi- asm, with persistency and high and noble courage, he devoted himself to that work. The sensitive quality of his nature, which made him shrink from conflict, from all the harsh contacts of life, made the 62 THE BRICKBUILDER prosecution of this work by him courageous beyond the ordinary capacity for conception. That gentle, diffident, and hesitating manner seemed always to be yielding to opposition and before assault, but always, though he swayed to and fro, always he stood in the same place, immovable. However much he suffered — and he did suffer ; however hard it was, he never could surrender what he believed to be right in art. He never could surrender. It was impossible for his nature to yield in what he believed to be best for the future of art. Gentle and heroic soul, happy country which has the character to recognize such a man, which has the fiber into which can be woven such a thread ! Fortunate are we to have known him and to have called him our friend. MR. WALTER COOK. On Sir Christopher Wren's tomb in St. Paul's there is a Latin inscrip- tion which says, " If you seek his monument, look about you," and we may well repeat these words when we think about Charles McKim. It is useless to enumerate all the buildings, in this city and elsewhere, which bear witness to his talent, his almost unerring taste, and his loving care. And it is one of the rewards which his and my profession offers, that when we are gone, our monuments, whether they be great and imposing structures or not, stand in the great open-air museum of city or country, to be seen by all men, and are not shut up in galleries. " If you seek his monument, look about you." All this production of a most active career he has left as a heritage to his country ; but more espe- cially is it the heritage of the architects who follow him. To them it is a very precious one ; for with these examples before us, we cannot fail to approach our work with something of the love and devotion to the beautiful which he possessed in so high a degree. ... In all the arts, and especially in the WAR COLLEGE, WASHINGTON', D. C. THE BRICKBUILDER ^3 64 i THE BRICKBUILDER THE BRICKBUILDER. 65 arts of the present time, there is such a striving for the individual note, for a different mode of expres- sion than any one else has used — a different language I might say — that this desire threatens some- times to destroy all other impulses. Let us at least be different, is the cry, even though we may not be beautiful. Architecture, in common with the other arts, has suffered from this malady. But we in this coun- try have not been the worst offenders ; and that we have not been so, I think is due § ^ ^t' more to the influence of McKim than to any other one cause. . . . He, too, sought as earnestly as the rest of us for individuality ; and when I think how easy it is to recognize his hand, I cannot but think that he attained it. But above all was his unwritten law — never, in the name of originality or with an ambition to be hailed as the daring innovator, to create anything which did not primarily appeal to him as beautiful. From this he never swerved an instant. And I believe that this loyalty to a pure and unselfish ideal will live as an example, as a good tradition among us long after his gen- eration has disappeared; and that McKim dead will preserve us from as many mon- strous and grotesque creations as McKim living did. PRESIDENT NICHOEAS MUR- RAY BUTEER. ... We like to think of him as a member of the great tradition, the one great tradition that has shaped the intellectual life and the esthetic aspiration of the Western world ; the great tradition which, despite all changing, fitful tempers, all alterations of scene and passings of time, remains the one pure well of art and literature undefiled, the tradition which bears the name of Greece. PROFESSOR WM. M. SEOANE. . . . Fourteen associations, artistic, tech- nical, and literary, here unite to commemo- rate the distinction of Charles Follen McKim as a citizen, as a craftsman, and as an artist. To this end they join in recording these convictions. . . . His genius was exhibited in his supreme power of collaboration ; he linked his work and fame inseparably with those of his two original partners, primarily for the sake of comprehensive mastery, but thus incidentally for the perfecting of achievement by each singly as well as by all in combination. . . . His work, like that of all true artists, was the expression of his manhood. His character was strong as it was pure ; his disposition affectionate and self-sacrificing ; his mind vigorous, helpful, and noble. He was a lover of his kind, discerning reality behind the ideals of his fellow- Americans, intolerant only of pose and sham. Because of his strong and courageous heart he was genial but modest ; joyous, even gay, and gentle. PLAN AT STREET LEVEL, PENNSYLVANIA RAILWAY STATION, NEW YORK CITY. 66 THE BRICKBUILDER, The Public Bath and Gymnasium Building Competition. AWARD OF PRIZES. THE Jury for the Public Bath and Gymnasium Build- ing Competition, which was the problem for the last annual Terra Cotta Competition conducted by The Brickbuilder, awarded First Prize ($500) to Franklin M. Chace and Walter W. Cook, associated, Boston; Second Prize ($200) to A. E. Hoyle and H. T. Carswell, asso- ciated, Boston; Third Prize ($100) to Charles Romer, Brooklyn, N. Y. ; First Mention to H. G. Quigley, Cam- bridge, Mass. ; Second Mention to Steward Wagner, New York City; Third Mention to Thomas Herman, New York City ; Fourth Mention to O. R. Eggers, New York City; Fifth Mention to Benjamin Courtland Flournoy, Washington, D. C. ; Sixth Mention to Clifford Evans, Birmingham, Ala. The competition was judged in Chicago, January 24th, by Messrs. Irving K. Pond, President of the American Institute of Architects, Chairman ; Alfred Hoyt Granger, Dwight Heald Perkins, Howard Van D. Shaw, and Robert C. Spencer, Jr. IN GENERAL. Howell & Thomas, architects, Columbus, Ohio, have removed their offices to 151 East Broad street, Columbus. C. Howard Crane, architect, Detroit, announces his withdrawal from the firm of Watt & Crane, and the opening of offices in the Ford Building, Detroit. James E. Maher, architect, has opened offices in the Maryland Savings Bank Building, Baltimore. Manu- facturers' catalogues and samples desired. Edward C. Smith, architect, has opened an office at 42 Market street, Poughkeepsie, N. Y. Manufacturers' catalogues and samples desired. WANTED — Draftsman at once — First class draftsman, steady employment for the right man ; salary, $30 to $35 per week ; give references and experience. Wetherell CSi, Gage, Architects, 202 Yoiangerman Building, Des Moines, Iowa. A HOUSE OF BRICK— THE TITLE OF A 72 PAGE BOOKLET WHICH CONTAINS 40 DESIGNS FOR A BRICK HOUSE TO COST ABOUT $10,000. THESE DESIGNS WERE SUBMITTED IN COM- PETITION. THREE INTERESTING ARTICLES ON BRICKWORK, COMPARATIVE COSTS, ETC. PRICE, FIFTY CENTS. ROGERS & MANSON, BOSTON. ARCHITECTS AND DRAFTSMEN—! register as- sistants FOR THE ARCHITECTURAL PROFESSION EXCLUSIVELY IN AND FOR ANY PART OF THE UNITED STATES. HAVE CALLS FOR HELP CONTINUALLY FROM THE BEST OF OFFICES IN ALL PARTS OF THE COUNTRY. MY LIST CONSISTS OF THE HIGH- EST GRADE TECHNICAL MEN. NO REGISTRATION FEE AND REASONABLE TERMS. IF YOU ARE NEEDING HELP OR SEEK- ING A GOOD POSITION, WRITE ME. LEO A. PEREIRA, 218 La Salle St., Chicago. Long Distance Tel., Franklin 1328. Edward Crosby Doughty, architect, formerly of New York City, has been admitted to the firm of John Scott & Co., architects, Ford Building, Detroit. The first annual exhibition of the Los Angeles Archi- tectural Club was in all respects a great success, it having been attended by more than 24,000 people. On January 23d a dinner was given by the club to the patrons of the exhibition, at which Mr. A. F. Rosenheim, President of the Los Angeles Club and of the Architectural Club of the Pacific Coast, was toastmaster. That upwards of 24,000 people will attend an architectural exhibition is in itself a tribute to the energies of the managers and to that esprit de corps which is manifesting itself among architects all along the Pacific Coast. The officers of the American Institute of Architects would do well to take heed of this spirit and plan to hold its next annual convention in one of the Pacific Coast cities. The archi- tects of Los Angeles have filed their claim for first consideration. On February 16th the newly formed New Jersey Architectural Club opened its quarters at 847 Broad street, Newark. The idea of forming a club in Newark for architectural draftsmen and others in the allied arts was originated by the New Jersey Chapter of the Ameri- can Institute of Architects. On January 19th, in re- sponse to an invitation, some twenty-five draftsmen met members of the chapter at a smoker, when the subject was discussed and the chapter's offer to arrange for quarters and back a club was accepted. A club was formed, temporary officers elected, and a committee of organization appointed. The club has been organized along similar lines to those of the architectural clubs of Boston, Chicago, Pittsburg, and Washington, and the T-Square Club of Philadelphia. The main object is study, and to encourage self-advancement among mem- bers in the profession. LINOLEUM SECURED BY CEMENT TO EITHER WOODEN OR CEMENT FLOORS Ideal Floor Coverings for Public Buildings. Elastic, Noiseless, and practically indestructible. It is in use on Battleships, cemented to steel decks in the United States, English and German Navies ; should be placed on floors under pressure, and best results can only be obtained by employing skilled workmen. The quality of our work has passed the inspection of the United States Government and numerous Architects and Builders. The Franklin Union Building in Boston, R. Clipston Sturgis, Architect, is a sample of our work, and we have contracts for the North Dakota, the largest Battleship in the United States Navy ; the extensions of the Suffolk County Court House in Boston, George A. Clough, Architect ; and the Registry of Deeds, Salem, Mass., C. H. Blackall, Architect. We solicit inquiries and correspondence. JOHN H. PRAY & SONS COMPANY 646-658 WASHINGTON STREET, Opp. BoyUton Street BOSTON ::::::::: MASS. Indianapolis Terra Cotta Co. ■ANWFACTUiWflS OT Architectural Terra Cotta M ALL coLona.. ST, LOUIS TERRA COTTA Ca Mmautacturen of ARCHITECTURAL w ORNAMENTAL TERRA COTTA Mabi Office and WoHta SSOI to S81S MANCHESTER AVBMim ST. LOUIS, MO. JEWETTVILLE PRESSED AND PAVING BRICK CO. (incorporated) BUFFALO. N. Y. MAKER* OF IMPERVIOUS R£D FRONT BRICK. Mod«s PlaoL Unequalled Sl^tpinj racilillef. THE NEW JERSEY TERRA COHA GO. MANUFACTURERS OF Hrcbltectural Cerra Coita In all colors, enameled, glazed, and seml-glazed non-absorbent limestone. Singer Bolldlng, 149 Broadway. New York City. Phone, 3903-4 Cortlandt. Boston Agent, riSKE & CO. Pittsburgh Agent, ricKALLIP s CO. Some baiMuf. f «r wUch vre im nccntlr (nraliM terra colU : WBSTERN PENNA. HOSPITAL . PITTSBURQII, PA. HIQH SCHOOL .... WILKINSBURO, PA. TILDEN BUILDING NEW YORK CLASSICAL HIQH SCHOOL . . LYNN, MASS. MASONIC TEMPLE ERIE, PA. CITY HALL CHELSEA, MASS. PEOPLES NATURAL QAS . . PITTSBURQH, PA. STORE (Hendenon Bros.), CORTLANDT ST., NEW YORK HELEN HALL ACADEMY . . OODENSBURQ, N. Y. WDQOE TERRA COnA CO. MAiiurACTuiKae or JlrcMtcctural Terra Cotta IN ALL eOLOKI. Office, Rooms 502, 503, Century Bunding Work*. ~ B, £t.Loid* ST. LODIS, KO. ESTABLISHED 1846. THE Kreischer Brick Mfg. Go. MANUFACTURERS OF THE VERY FINEST QUALITY OF Hront Brick VARIOUS COLORS mt-o Brick and Clay Retorts ll9East23ilStraet, NewYerk Witki; KREISCHERVIUE, S. I. Ttl., 5860-5361 Grimtroy OFFICE: 226 FIFTH AVENUE B0R0U6H OF MANHAnAM WORKS: 401 VERRON AVENUE BOROUGH OF QUEENS COLUMBUS, OHIO. New York Architectural Terra Gotta Company PHILADELPHIA OFFICE: REAL ESTATE TRUST BLD6.,BR0AD and CHESTNUT STS. COLUMBUS BRICK & TERRA COTTA CO. Manufacturers of ORNAMENTAL BRICK Cray, AND PLAIN Agents Peraon & Co. FIske & Co., Inc. O. W. Ketcham J. R. Pltcalrn & Co. . S. S. Kfanbell Brick Co. Johoaon & Jackson . P. B. Holmes & Co. . B. MIHlin Hood Quelaser.BllsaCo. . Otto E. Fischer John H. Black A. B. Meyer & Co. . L. H. McCammon Bros. Frederick H. McDonald The National Pressed Brick Co. C. B. Havens & Co. . National Builders' Supply Co. Buff and Speckled New York City Boston Philadelphia PittaburK Cblcaeo MInneapoUs . Detroit . Atlanta Cleveland BirmlnKhani . Buffalo Indianapolis Cincinnati Qrand Rapids St. Louis . Omaha Oklahoma City, Okla. KTITANNING BRICK AND FIRE CLAY CO. PITTSBURG. PA. annaf HIGH GRADE FACE BRICK NmrYnk. Baitoii. PbiUddpkia ■ Bnffalo. Chief., St. Lomi, Ciaduuli. Drtimt. AGENCIES: FfatoUur-NiAit C, SL Stmt BitUiiif I Biatmiat, 0. W. Ei«ckui, BniMa.' Exclum. ■«. u ... „ ■'•hi H. Black, BaUdeu'Exduiw. naut lloaUi.1 Co.. Chualwr of Commere. BniUiiw IlBam Snppir ud Coa(tnicti.a Co. F. B. IMbM ft Co., 307 Hannoad' BgiUiiif ScipM SoBi, Empire BiiUiai THE NORTHWESTERN TERRA COHA CO. CHICAGO HYDRAUUG-PRESSBRIGKGO. OPHCE, ST. LOUIS, HO. SHAWNEE FACE BRICK VARIOUS COLORS AND SHAPES 'INDIAN BRAItOm I'AOTORlEa Manufacturers of High^Grade Architectural Terra Cotta Waahlngton, D. C. Pbilodelphla, Pa. Cleveland, Ohio Zanesvllle, Ohio Omaha, Nebraska Minneapolis, Minn. Chicago. III. Brazil, ind. Menomonie, Wis. Kansas City, Mo. BRAND" nmi AINUAL CAPACm, 600,000,000 BMCU Addms Beafsat otHos for nmplw and prtoH GENERAL OFTICES: 96 Wall Street NEW YORK ' '* I/.S-PATO'' Made only \>y THE OHIO MINING & MANUFAaURING CO. AGENCIES AT CENTRAt POINTS WORKS AND SALES DEPARTMENT: Shawnee, Ohio WORKS, SOUTH AMBOY, N. J. THE SOUTH AMBOY TERRA COHA GO. MADE ONLY BY The Ironclay Brick Co. aiceumi to The Columbus Faoe Brick Co. 60LUI1BUS OHIO. tlnlqiM in Charaeter, Composition and Color. FOR EXTERIOR AMD INTERIOR U5ES. H. Y. OFFIOC • WO MABSAU M, IVrtto tor OWnlog Pto. a> Sayre & Fisher Co. Mannlactorera of FINE PRESSED FRONT BRICK Various colors, both plain and molded. Superior enameled brick, and Porcelain brick. Hard building brick, fire brick, and Hollow brick lor llreprooling purposes. I 261 Broadway, New York Oty. THE NEW BUILDING MATERIAL INTERLOCKING MACHINE-MADE TERRA COHA FACING BLOCKS ■iMf actveJ br THE TWIN CITY BRICK COMPANY SAOrr PAUL. MINN. Rose colored tinted shades for wainscoting. Moss green, boff and brown colors for facing purposes. ARTISTIC MEDIUM PRICED VITRIFIED and IMPERVIOUS FACING BRICK Sold at prices midway between comiiion iiack- ing and mechanically perfect pressed Brick. Capacity 75.000,000 yearfy. WESTERN BRICK COMPANY DANVILLE, ox. Write tor Oatalogoe Bradford Pressed Brick Co. Mannftietarara «C Bradford Pressed Brick Trade-Msik R«s. U. S. Pat. OCE. BRADFORD. PENNA. AGENTS C«ft«r. Black *Ar<» NewYoikCllr A.S.R«ia&Co. New«rk.N.J. Waldo Brodiera Boaton. Mas*. O. W. Keleliaim Philadelphia, Pa. M. W. Faser Harridnirc, Pa. HudMiD Cemaot and Sopplr Co. ... Baltiaaora. Md. "PEARL" flWide Mark refl. V. S. Pat. Office) Can be daplicated by no one Peculiar orays — 1 spec»ica«ionB ^^ f Bfven preference Iron spot grays > Ask lor Solt Shades ) samples Pearl Oay Products Co. BRADFORD, PA. AMERICAN Enameled Brick and Hie Co. I MadisoE Avenue, New Yoric Worits: Sonth RiTer,N. J. ENAMELED BRICK Branch Offices in the large cities of all states in tiie United States, and Canada. Let as send personal representative to interview you ' Index or tend for udiTidaal rstslog»s Terras Cott&. Hollow Tile h&s been so long and successfully used as a fireproof protection for the structural members of large buildings that the value of this material for structurzd purposes has been overlooked. We have recently published a book en- titled Fireproof Houses of Terra CottaHoIIowTile and How to Build Them which anyone interested in resi- dence construction will find ex* tremely v&luable. If you hav« not seen a copy ask for one. National Fire -Proofing Company Manufa cturw t of Terra Gotta Hollow Tile Ceotractcn fot Fireproof Construction CHICAGO. Commercial National Bank Buildinj PITTSBURGH. Fulton Buildinj NEW YORK. Fiatiron Buildinj PHILADELPHIA. Land Title Bulktej BOSTON, Old South Building MINNEAPOLIS. Lumber Exchange ST. LOUIS. Victoria Buildinj WASHINGTON. Colorado Buildmj SAN Fi^ANCISCO, Monadnock Baikiiij CINQNNATI. Union Trust Buildinj CLEVELAND. Cuyahoja Buildinj CANTON. O.. City National Bank Buikfinj TORONTO. CANADA. Trader's Bank Buildinf TIFFANY ENAMELED BRICK COMPANY, GENERAL OFFICES: 1202 Chamber of Commerces CHICAGO. WORKS: MGMENCE, ILL. Wc positively guarantee our brick against scaling or < Ezamiaatloa of the official test* leeeotly made by the New York Builditig D^Mrtment proves that for flreprooflng purposes aoth- ing is equal to Terra Cotta; the latest schedule of rates en forced by the Insurance Cotnpanies shows that Terra Cotta Is so cotuidered by them, securing very lowest rates. Henry Maorer & Son MANUPACTintBRS OP Terra°Cotta Fireproof Building Jbterials 420 East 23d St., New York CUr> R. Gnastavino Co. Specialists in the construction of Large Hasonry Domes and Arches in rough pressed and glazed tile NBW VOKK OPPICB: PqIUt Balldlag BOSTON OPPICB: Old Somti BmUJimg K. aUASTAVjNO, PntUmt WM. B. BLODOBTT, Tnmmtmr A. B, ROBST, Seentmrr VITRIFIED AMERICAN s ROOFING TILE MANUFACTURED BY THE CINCINNATI ROOFING All TERRA COHA COMPANY Fittoij: WlitM Place, Ohio •ffiew: miaiMa An. iid B. & 0. t. W. Rf., CluliiMli, Olrie LUDOWICI CELADON COMPANY We offer the ve^^iisheat grade* of Tenm Cotta Roofing files m alrlhe standard and many •pacial designs. In color we funush fuU, matt or sand-Uaated glazes, and natural red or slipped red ware. Our four large factories provide adequate faciS- ties for prompt service, whatever die magnitude of the operation. Agencies at aO central points. Oar own ofBces Chicago WashingtOB NewToric NewOrieans Qerdud Dnrer CABors Waterproof Brick Sterns For staining and Waterproofing Brick- work, Terra-cotta Tiling, etc. Rich, handsome colors, and permanent water- proofing. SannfeT Cabot, he, Boston, Mass. Also WATERPROOF CEMENT STAINS CABOT'S SHINGLE STAINS, etc. THE BARTA PRESS, BOSTON ■:ttJt