American architect (1859?1934)
Cass Gilbert
(November 24, 1859 ? May 17, 1934) was an American architect.
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
An early proponent of
skyscrapers
, his works include the
Woolworth Building
, the
United States Supreme Court building
, the state capitols of
Minnesota
,
Arkansas
, and
West Virginia
, the
Detroit Public Library
, the
Saint Louis Art Museum
and
Public Library
. His public buildings in the
Beaux Arts
style reflect the optimistic American sense that the nation was heir to Greek democracy, Roman law and Renaissance humanism.
[5]
Gilbert's achievements were recognized in his lifetime; he served as president of the
American Institute of Architects
in 1908?09.
Gilbert was a conservative who believed architecture should reflect historic traditions and the established
social order
. His design of the new Supreme Court building in 1935, with its classical lines and small size, contrasted sharply with the large federal buildings along the
National Mall
in Washington, D.C., which he disliked.
[6]
Heilbrun says "Gilbert's pioneering buildings injected vitality into skyscraper design, and his 'Gothic skyscraper,' epitomized by the Woolworth Building, profoundly influenced architects during the first decades of the twentieth century."
[7]
Christen and Flanders note that his reputation among architectural critics went into eclipse during the age of modernism, but has since rebounded because of "respect for the integrity and classic beauty of his masterworks".
[8]
Early life
[
edit
]
Gilbert was born in
Zanesville, Ohio
, the middle of three sons, and was named after the statesman
Lewis Cass
, to whom he was distantly related.
[3]
Gilbert's father General Samuel A. Gilbert was a
Union
veteran of the
American Civil War
and a surveyor for the
United States Coast Survey
. His uncle was Union General
Charles Champion Gilbert
.
[9]
[10]
[11]
When he was nine, Gilbert's family moved to
St. Paul
, Minnesota, where he was raised by his mother after his father died. Cass was raised Presbyterian.
[12]
He attended preparatory school but dropped out of
Macalester College
. He began his architectural career at age 17 by joining the
Abraham M. Radcliffe
office in St. Paul. In 1878, Gilbert enrolled in the architecture program at
MIT
.
[13]
Minnesota career
[
edit
]
Gilbert worked for a time with the firm of
McKim, Mead & White
before starting a practice in St. Paul with
James Knox Taylor
. He was commissioned to design a number of railroad stations, including those in
Anoka
,
Willmar
and the extant
Little Falls depot
, all in Minnesota.
[3]
As a Minnesota architect he was best known for his design of the
Minnesota State Capitol
and the downtown St. Paul
Endicott Building
.
[14]
His goal was to move to New York City and gain a national reputation, but he remained in Minnesota from 1882 until 1898. Many of his Minnesota buildings are still standing, including more than a dozen private residences (especially those on St. Paul's
Summit Avenue
), several churches featuring rich textures and colors, resort summer homes, and warehouses.
[14]
National reputation
[
edit
]
The completion of the Minnesota capitol gave Gilbert his national reputation and in 1898 he permanently moved his base to New York. His breakthrough commission was the design of the
Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House
in New York City, which now houses the
George Gustav Heye Center
.
[3]
Gilbert served on the
U.S. Commission of Fine Arts
from 1910 to 1916.
[15]
In 1906 he was elected into the
National Academy of Design
as an associate member, and became a full academician in 1908. Gilbert served as president of the academy from 1926 to 1933. He was elected to the
American Philosophical Society
in 1934.
[16]
He was a trustee of the
Carnegie Institution
from 1924 until he died in 1934.
[17]
Historical impact
[
edit
]
Gilbert was a skyscraper pioneer; when designing the
Woolworth Building
he moved into unproven ground ? though he certainly was aware of the ground-breaking work done by Chicago architects on skyscrapers and once discussed merging firms with the legendary
Daniel Burnham
? and his technique of cladding a steel frame became the model for decades.
[3]
Modernists embraced his work: artist
John Marin
painted it several times; even
Frank Lloyd Wright
praised the lines of the building, though he decried the ornamentation.
Gilbert was one of the first celebrity architects in America, designing skyscrapers in New York City and
Cincinnati
, campus buildings at
Oberlin College
and the
University of Texas at Austin
, state capitols in Minnesota and West Virginia, the support towers of the
George Washington Bridge
, railroad stations (including the
New Haven Union Station
, 1920),
[18]
and the
United States Supreme Court building
in Washington, D.C. His reputation declined among some professionals during the age of
Modernism
, but he was on the design committee that guided and eventually approved the modernist design of Manhattan's groundbreaking
Rockefeller Center
. Gilbert's body of work as a whole is more eclectic than many critics admit. In particular, his Union Station in New Haven lacks the embellishments common of the Beaux-Arts period and contains the simple lines common in Modernism.
Gilbert wrote to a colleague, "I sometimes wish I had never built the Woolworth Building because I fear it may be regarded as my only work and you and I both know that whatever it may be in dimension and in certain lines it is after all only a skyscraper."
[19]
Gilbert's two buildings on the University of Texas at Austin campus,
Sutton Hall
(1918) and
Battle Hall
(1911), are recognized by architectural historians as among the finest works of architecture in the state.
[
citation needed
]
Designed in a Spanish-Mediterranean revival style, the two buildings became the stylistic basis for the later expansion of the university in the 1920s and 1930s and helped popularize the style throughout Texas.
Archives
[
edit
]
Gilbert's drawings and correspondence are preserved at the
New-York Historical Society
, the
Minnesota Historical Society
, the University of Minnesota, and the
Library of Congress
.
Notable works
[
edit
]
- Saint Paul Seminary
,
Saint Paul, Minnesota
.
- Minnesota State Capitol
,
Saint Paul, Minnesota
, 1895?1905.
- St. Clement's Episcopal Church,
St. Paul, Minnesota
, 1895.
- St. John the Divine Episcopal Church
, 120 8th Street S.,
Moorhead, Minnesota
, 1898?99
- Northern Pacific Railway Depot
, 701 Main Street,
Fargo, North Dakota
, 1898.
[18]
- The
Broadway-Chambers Building
(277
Broadway
),
Manhattan
, 1899?1900.
- Gilbert's first building in New York City.
[20]
- Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House
,
Manhattan
, 1902?1907.
- Essex County Veterans Courthouse
,
Newark
, 1904
- Saint Louis Art Museum
(Palace of the Fine Arts),
St. Louis, Missouri
, 1904.
- 90 West Street
,
Manhattan
, 1905?1907.
- Metals Bank Building,
Butte, Montana
, 1906.
- Commissioned by
F. Augustus Heinze
, this eight-story low-rise building has an internal steel frame. It was the second to be built in Butte after the 1901 Hirbour Building, which also has eight stories.
- A series of master plans for the
Minneapolis
campus of the
University of Minnesota
, 1907.
[22]
[23]
- Designs for 12 local stations on the
New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad
in the
Bronx
and
Westchester County
, New York, 1908. Not all were built, and only four were extant in 2014, all in the Bronx: the
Westchester Avenue station
and Bartow station are in ruins, and the Morris Park and Hunts Point stations have been converted to other uses. All ceased to be used as railroad stations by the late 1930s.
[24]
- Spalding Building
,
Portland, Oregon
, 1911.
- A 12-story early skyscraper based on the construction principles of a classical column.
- Battle Hall
,
Austin, Texas
, 1911.
- New Haven Free Public Library
, Mary E. Ives Memorial Library
- At the corner of Elm and Temple Streets in downtown New Haven, architect Gilbert designed the brick and marble building to harmonize with the traditional architecture of New Haven, and especially with the United Church nearby. The building was formally dedicated to the City of New Haven on May 27, 1911.
- Kelsey Building,
Trenton, New Jersey
, 1911.
- St. Louis Public Library
,
St. Louis, Missouri
, 1912
- The main library for the city's public library system, in a severe classicizing style, has an oval central pavilion surrounded by four light courts. The outer facades of the free-standing building are of lightly rusticated Maine granite. The Olive Street front is disposed like a colossal arcade, with contrasting marble bas-relief panels. A projecting three-bay central block, like a pared-down
triumphal arch
, provides a monumental entrance. At the rear the Central Library faced a sunken garden. The interiors feature some light-transmitting glass floors. The ceiling of the Periodicals Room is modified from Michelangelo's ceiling in the
Laurentian Library
.
[27]
[28]
- Woolworth Building
,
Manhattan
, New York, 1913.
- Fourth and Vine Tower
,
Cincinnati
, Ohio, 1913.
- Austin, Nichols and Company Warehouse
,
Williamsburg
, Brooklyn, New York, 1915.
- Fountain,
Ridgefield, Connecticut
, 1914?16.
- This fountain, at the intersection of Routes 35 and 33, was designed and donated to the town by Cass Gilbert, who had a summer home (
Keeler Tavern
) within sight of the intersection. In 2004, a
drunk driver
crashed into the fountain, heavily damaging it; the fountain was rebuilt, raised higher, and surrounded by protective plantings, and it is still functioning today.
[29]
- Four buildings at
Oberlin College
,
Oberlin, Ohio
- Gilbert designed four buildings at Oberlin: Finney Chapel (1909), the Cox Administration Building (1915), the
Allen Memorial Art Museum
, and Bosworth Hall (1931). He enjoyed a close working relationship with Oberlin's president
Henry Churchill King
, but his relationship with Oberlin deteriorated after King retired in 1927 and most of the design work and construction supervision of Bosworth Hall and its residential quadrangle was done by Gilbert's son Cass Jr., who had earlier supervised the construction of the Allen Memorial Hospital (1924) in Oberlin (now
Mercy Allen Medical Center
).
- Rodin Studios
,
Midtown Manhattan
, New York, 1916?1917.
- Chase Headquarters Building
,
Waterbury, Connecticut
, 1917?1919.
- This building was designed as the headquarters of the
Chase Company
and forms part of the
Waterbury Municipal Center Complex
, a unique concentration of Gilbert's architecture comprising the Waterbury City Hall, the Chase Bank Building and the Chase company headquarters, Chase's house, a
dispensary
and Lincoln House, a headquarters building for the city's charities.
- G. Fox & Co.
department store,
Hartford, Connecticut
, 1918.
- Brooklyn Army Terminal
,
Sunset Park
, Brooklyn, New York, 1919.
- Freedman's Bank Building
(previously known as the Treasury Annex),
Lafayette Square
, Washington, D.C., 1919.
- R. C. Williams Warehouse
,
Chelsea
, Manhattan, New York, 1919.
- The
Detroit Public Library
, main branch, 1921.
- The First Division Monument,
President's Park
, Washington D.C., 1924.
[30]
- West Virginia State Capitol
,
Charleston, West Virginia
, 1924?1932.
- The
James Scott Memorial Fountain
,
Belle Isle
,
Detroit, MI
, 1925.
- United States Chamber of Commerce
headquarters, Washington, D.C., 1925.
- Plans for
cladding
the
George Washington Bridge
support towers, New York?New Jersey, in masonry, 1926. Not carried out.
- New York Life Building
, 1926.
- Gibraltar Building
, 1927.
- 130 West 30th Street
, "The Cass Gilbert," 1927?1928.
[31]
- Formerly offices and manufacturing spaces for businesses in the fur trade, now a luxury residential condominium.
- Embassy of the United States in Canada
(100 Wellington Street),
Ottawa
, 1932.
- Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse
,
Manhattan
, 1933.
- The Seaside
,
Waterford, Connecticut
, 1934.
- United States Supreme Court Building
, Washington, D.C., 1935.
[25]
- Gilbert's last major project, guided to completion by his son, Cass Gilbert Jr. He died a year before it was completed. A vast
Roman temple
in the
Corinthian order
is penetrated by a cross range articulated with pilasters in very low relief. The central tablet in the richly sculpted frieze reads
EQUAL JUSTICE UNDER LAW
. His design for the U.S. Supreme Court chambers was based upon his design for the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals at the state capitol in
Charleston
. The pediment sculptures Liberty attended by order and Authority (great lawgivers
Moses
,
Confucius
, and
Solon
are on the West Portico) were executed by
Hermon Atkins MacNeil
.
Gallery
[
edit
]
-
Minnesota State Capitol
, St. Paul, Minnesota (1895?1905)
-
St. Louis Art Museum
, St. Louis, Missouri (built for the
1904 World's Fair
)
-
-
Finney Chapel, Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio (1909)
-
Spalding Building
, Portland, Oregon (1911)
-
Woolworth Building
, New York City (1913)
-
-
Cox Administration Building, Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio (1915)
-
Brooklyn Army Terminal
, Brooklyn, New York (1919)
-
Freedman's Bank Building
, Washington. D.C. (1919)
-
Detroit Public Library
, Detroit, Michigan (1921)
-
-
-
130 West 30th Street
, "The Cass Gilbert"; New York City (1927?1928)
-
Northern Pacific Railway Depot, Little Falls, Minnesota
-
Northern Pacific Railway Depot, Helena, Montana
-
Northern Pacific Railway Depot, Bismarck, North Dakota
-
Great Northern Railway Depot, Grand Forks, North Dakota
-
Bosworth Hall, Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio (1931)
-
-
Seaside Sanatorium
, Waterfort, Connecticut (1934)
-
Name confusion with C. P. H. Gilbert
[
edit
]
Cass Gilbert is often confused with
Charles Pierrepont Henry Gilbert
, another prominent architect of the time. Cass Gilbert designed the famous Woolworth Building skyscraper on Broadway for
Frank W. Woolworth
, while Woolworth's personal mansion was designed by C. P. H. Gilbert.
The
Ukrainian Institute building
on Manhattan's 5th Avenue is the work of C. P. H. Gilbert, and often incorrectly attributed to Cass Gilbert.
[32]
[33]
Cass Gilbert is sometimes also confused with his son, architect Cass Gilbert Jr.
References
[
edit
]
Notes
- ^
Urbanielli, Elissa (ed.)
"Broadway?Chambers Building Designation Report"
Archived
March 3, 2016, at the
Wayback Machine
New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission
(January 14, 1992), pp. 1 & 4. "...designed by the prominent architect, Cass Gilbert ... he went on to enjoy an illustrious career of national extent..."
- ^
Robins, Anthony W.
"Woolworth Building Designation Report"
Archived
March 3, 2016, at the
Wayback Machine
New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission
(April 12, 1983) p. 6. "Cass Gilbert ... was one of the most important architects to work in New York."
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
Christen, Barbara S.; Flanders, Steven (2001).
Cass Gilbert, Life and Work: Architect of the Public Domain
. W.W. Norton.
ISBN
0-393-73065-4
.
- ^
"The Lost Symbol ? A Hastings, New Zealand Connection"
.
Hawke's Bay Research Lodge No. 305
.
- ^
Blodgett, Geoffrey
(1999).
Cass Gilbert: The Early Years
. Minnesota Historical Society Press.
ISBN
0-87351-410-6
.
- ^
Geoffrey Blodgett, "Cass Gilbert, Architect: Conservative at Bay,"
Journal of American History,
December 1985, Vol. 72 Issue 3, pp. 615?636
in JSTOR
- ^
Margaret Heilbrun,
Inventing the skyline: the architecture of Cass Gilbert
(Columbia U.P. 2000) p xxxv
- ^
Barbara S. Christen and Steven Flanders, eds.
Cass Gilbert, Life and Work: Architect of the Public Domain
(2001) p 72
- ^
Christen, Barbara S; Flanders, Steven, eds. (November 17, 2001).
Cass Gilbert, Life and Work: Architect of the Public Domain
. W. W. Norton & Company. p. 293.
ISBN
978-0393730654
. Retrieved
May 4,
2017
.
Chapter 1, footnote 4
- ^
Blodgett, Geoffrey (November 15, 2001).
Cass Gilbert: The Early Years
(First ed.). Minnesota Historical Society Press. p. 4.
ISBN
978-0873514101
. Retrieved
May 4,
2017
.
- ^
"Brevet Brig. General Samuel A. Gilbert (USA)"
.
Geni.com
. August 15, 1825
. Retrieved
May 4,
2017
.
- ^
Blodgett, Geoffrey (2001).
Cass Gilbert: The Early Years
. Minnesota Historical Society Press.
ISBN
9780873514101
.
- ^
Irish, Sharon (1999).
Cass Gilbert, Architect
. Monacelli.
ISBN
1-885254-90-3
.
- ^
a
b
Irish, Sharon.
"West Hails East: Cass Gilbert in Minnesota"
Minnesota History,
April 1993, Vol. 53 Issue 5, pp 196?207
- ^
Thomas E. Luebke, ed.,
Civic Art: A Centennial History of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts
(Washington, D.C.: U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, 2013): Appendix B, p. 545.
- ^
"APS Member History"
.
search.amphilsoc.org
. Retrieved
June 14,
2023
.
- ^
Carnegie Institution of Washington. Year Book No. 47, July 1, 1947 ? June 30, 1948
(PDF)
. Washington, DC. 1948. p. vi.
{{
cite book
}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link
)
- ^
a
b
Potter, Janet Greenstein (1996).
Great American Railroad Stations
. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. pp. 70, 380.
ISBN
978-0471143895
.
- ^
Letter to
Ralph Adams Cram
, 1920 quoted in Goldberger, Paul (2001) Cass Gilbert, "Remembering the turn-of-the-century urban visionary", Architectural Digest, February issue, pp. 106?102
- ^
"Broadway-Chambers Building"
.
New York Architecture Images
. Retrieved
January 26,
2007
.
- ^
"National Trust Presents National Preservation Honor Award to 90 West Street in Lower Manhattan"
. November 2, 2006
. Retrieved
August 22,
2007
.
- ^
"University of Minnesota Campus Plan (1907-10)"
.
Cass Gilbert Society
. Retrieved
January 28,
2009
.
- ^
"Cass Gilbert Plan"
.
University of Minnesota Sesquicentennial History
. June 1, 2000. Archived from
the original
on January 8, 2007
. Retrieved
January 26,
2007
.
- ^
Gray, Christopher (November 25, 2009).
"Where Ghost Passengers Await Very Late Trains"
.
New York Times
. Retrieved
February 18,
2020
.
- ^
a
b
"Study for Woolworth Building, New York"
.
World Digital Library
. December 10, 1910
. Retrieved
July 25,
2013
.
- ^
"Kelsey Building"
. Thomas Edison State University. Archived from
the original
on September 3, 2019
. Retrieved
September 3,
2019
.
- ^
"St. Louis Public Library"
.
St. Louis Public Library Fact Sheer
. Archived from
the original
on December 17, 2006
. Retrieved
January 26,
2007
.
- ^
Stocker EB (1985).
"St. Louis Public Library"
.
Journal of Library History
.
20
(3): 310?12. Archived from
the original
on January 12, 2007.
- ^
The Ridgefield Press, various issues.
- ^
"First Division Monument"
. National Park Service. September 8, 2006
. Retrieved
May 4,
2007
.
- ^
"130 West 30th Street Building"
(PDF)
. Landmarks Preservation Commission.
- ^
Gray, Christopher (February 9, 2003).
"Streetscapes/Charles Pierrepont Henry Gilbert; A Designer of Lacy Mansions for the City's Eminent"
.
The New York Times
. Retrieved
April 28,
2010
.
- ^
"About the Ukrainian Institute of America"
. Ukrainian Institute of America. Archived from
the original
on May 22, 2011
. Retrieved
March 27,
2011
.
Further reading
- Christen, Barbara S. and Flanders, Steven (editors).
Cass Gilbert, Life and Work: Architect of the Public Domain
New York: W.W. Norton, 2001.
- Moutschen, Joseph.
Architecture americaine ? Une interview de l'architecte qui a construit la plus haute maison du monde
(Cass Gilbert); in L'Equerre: Janvier 1930 p. 177; Fevrier 1930 p. 187; Mars 1930, p. 196; L'Equerre, 1928?1939; Edition Foure-Tout, 2010, pp. 1350;
ISBN
978-2-930525-12-9
External links
[
edit
]
- Architecture
- Archival collections
- Cass Gilbert Collection, 1897?1936
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Cass Gilbert Papers, Minnesota Historical Society.
[
permanent dead link
]
- Guide to the Cass Gilbert collection, 2005
Archived
January 14, 2009, at the
Wayback Machine
Abstract of the Gilbert papers from the
New-York Historical Society
- Cass Gilbert collection
, University Archives, University of Minnesota ? Twin Cities
- Selected Cass Gilbert Architectural Drawings of the Detroit Public Library
at
Wayne State University
Library contains 19 presentation drawings by Cass Gilbert of the Detroit Public Library, which he designed in 1921.
- Cass Gilbert Archival card catalog.
Held by the Department of Drawings & Archives
,
Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University
.
- Selected Cass Gilbert Architectural Drawings and Plans for the Woolworth Building at Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Gallery contains around 200 works
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