McKim, Mead & White

McKim, Mead & White è stata un'importante società di architettura statunitense che prosperò a cavallo tra il XIX e il ventesimo secolo. I soci fondatori dell'azienda erano Charles Follen McKim (1847–1909), William Rutherford Mead (1846–1928) e Stanford White (1853–1906). Assunsero molti altri architetti, partner, collaboratori, progettisti e designers, che vennero alla ribalta durante o dopo la loro permanenza in azienda.

La Pennsylvania Station a New York nel 1911

Panoramica

Gli edifici di New York progettati dallo studio comprendono l'ex Stazione Pennsylvania a Manhattan, il Brooklyn Museum e il campus principale della Columbia University. Altrove nello Stato di New York e nel New England, l'azienda ha progettato college, biblioteche, scuole e altri edifici come la Boston Public Library e la Rhode Island State House a Providence. A Washington l'azienda rinnovò le ali occidentali e orientali della Casa Bianca e progettò il Roosevelt Hall (National War College) a Fort Lesley J. McNair e il National Museum of American History. Negli Stati Uniti, la ditta ha progettato edifici in Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Washington e Wisconsin. Altri esempi sono in Canada, Cuba e Italia.

Storia

McKim e Mead unirono le loro forze nel 1872. Furono raggiunti nel 1879 da White che, come McKim, aveva lavorato per l'architetto Henry Hobson Richardson. Il loro lavoro applicò i principi dell'architettura Beaux-Arts, adottando il vocabolario stilistico classico greco e romano filtrato attraverso l'École des Beaux-Arts parigina e il relativo movimento City Beautiful dopo il 1893 circa. La loro visione era di ripulire la confusione visiva delle città americane e conferire un senso di ordine e formalità durante la cosiddetta Gilded Age degli Stati Uniti.

Secondo uno studioso, "Scorrendo il mondo di McKim, Mead & White vi era un senso dell'esplorazione dei piaceri della vita. Un cerchio di intrattenimento bisessuale e omosessuale può essere rintracciato all'interno dell'ufficio. Il cerchio comprendeva Stanford White, [Augustus] Saint Gaudens, Joseph M. Wells, Frank Millet, Whitney Warren, Thomas Hastings e probabilmente [William R.] Mead e molti altri".

La società mantenne il suo nome per molto tempo dopo la morte dei soci fondatori White (1906), McKim (1909) e Mead (1928).

Tra i lavori finali dello studio con il nome McKim, Mead & White ci fu il National Museum of American History di Washington. Progettato principalmente dal socio James Kellum Smith, fu inaugurato nel 1964.

Smith morì nel 1961 e la ditta fu presto ribattezzata Steinmann, Cain and White. Nel 1971 divenne Walker O. Cain and Associates.

Opere selezionate

New York City

Edificio	Posizione	Anno	Caratteristiche	Immagine
Villard Houses	451 Madison Avenue, Manhattan	1884
Harvard Club of New York	Manhattan	1894
169 West 83° Street	Manhattan	1885	Architettura neoromanica di David H.King
Goelet Building	900 Broadway alla East 20th Street, Manhattan	1897
Former New York Life Insurance Company Building	Manhattan	1894–98	Palazzo in stile rinascimentale in marmo bianco. La MMW rilevò l'incarico alla morte di Stephen D. Hatch nel 1894.
Madison Square Garden II	Madison Square, Manhattan	1890	secondo di quattro edifici conosciuti con questo nome; raso al suolo nel 1925
Century Club	New York City	1891
Cable Building	611 Broadway, New York City	1893
West End Collegiate Church	West End Avenue, Manhattan	1892	Verifica attribuzione
Washington Arch	Washington Square Park, New York City	1892
Metropolitan Club	1 East 60th St, NYC, New York	1893
Prospect Park	Brooklyn, New York	1895–1900	Varie caratteristiche tra cui Parade Place su Lookout Hill, il Peristilio, gli infissi in granito di Park Circle, Lullwater Bridge, il Maryland Monument del 1895 su Lookout Hill
Campus di Morningside Heights	Columbia University	1893–1900	Progetto generale ed i singoli edifici tra cui il Low Memorial Library, la Philosophy Hall, la John Jay Hall, l'Avery Hall, l'Hamilton Hall
Campus della University Heights, New York University	Bronx	1891–1900	Compresa l'Hall of Fame for Great Americans 1900, ora sito del Bronx Community College
Harmonie Club	4 East 60th Street, Manhattan	1905
Edificio del New York Herald	Manhattan	1895	raso al suolo nel 1921
Brooklyn Museum	Brooklyn	1895
University Club of New York	New York City	1899
Morgan Library & Museum	New York City	1903	ingrandito nel 1928
Sezioni della New York Public Library	New York City	1902-1914	progettate 11 sezioni tra cui l'Hamilton Grange Branch 1905-1906, 115° Street Branch 1907-1908
IRT Powerhouse	New York City	1904
Prison Ship Martyrs' Monument	Brooklyn, New York	1908
Knickerbocker Trust Building	60 Broadway, Manhattan	1909	now razed
The Manhattan Municipal Building	1 Centre Street, Manhattan	1909–1915
Stazione di Pennsylvania	Manhattan	1910	sopra una parte di edificio raso al suolo nel 1963
998 Fifth Avenue	Manhattan	1912
Bellevue Hospital Center	Manhattan	1912
James Farley Post Office	Manhattan	1913	spesso considerato il gemello architettonico della Pennsylvania Station di New York
Racquet and Tennis Club	Manhattan	1916–1918
Hotel Pennsylvania	Manhattan	1919
Town Hall	123 West 43rd Street, Manhattan	1921
110 Livingston Street	Brooklyn	1926	ex Elks Lodge, ex sede del Dipartimento dell'Educazione di New York City
Savoy-Plaza Hotel	Manhattan	1927	raso al suolo nel 1965
Liggett Hall	Governors Island, New York	1929
DeKalb Hall e Information Science Center	Brooklyn	1955
North Hall presso il Pratt Institute	Brooklyn	1957

New England e Stato di New York

Edificio	Posizione	Anno	Caratteristiche	Immagine
Newport Casino	Newport (Rhode Island)	1880
John Howard Whittemore House	Naugatuck (Connecticut)	1880s
Isaac Bell House	Newport (Rhode Island)	1881–1883
Cyrus McCormick summer estate, shingle-style	Richfield Springs, New York	1882	razed 1957
Emdalar Castle - Tickner Estate	South Kingstown, Rhode Island	1883	Restored to its original condition in 2014.
Narragansett Pier Casino	Narragansett, Rhode Island	1883
Salem School (Naugatuck, Connecticut)	Naugatuck (Connecticut)	1884
Wolf's Head Society, "Old Hall"	New Haven (Connecticut), Yale University	1884
Charles J. Osborn Residence	Mamaroneck, New York	1885	Mamaroneck Beach and Yacht Club since 1952
"Four Chimneys" Mansion	New Rochelle	?
John F. Andrew Mansion, 32 Hereford Street	Boston, Massachusetts	1886
William G. Low House	Bristol (Rhode Island)	1887	epitome of Shingle Style architecture; razed 1962
Algonquin Club	Boston	1888
Johnston Gate, Harvard University	Cambridge (Massachusetts)	1889
Fayerweather Hall, Amherst College	Amherst (Massachusetts)	1890
Walker Art Building, Bowdoin College	Brunswick, Maine	1894
Whittemore Memorial Library	Naugatuck (Connecticut)	1894
Adams Power Plant Transformer House	Niagara Falls New York	1895
Boston Public Library	Boston	1895
Dudley Pickman House, 303 Commonwealth Avenue (Bay Bay)	Boston	1895
Reid Hall, Manhattanville College	Purchase (New York)	1895
Rhode Island State House	Providence (Rhode Island)	1895–1904
Garden City Hotel	Garden City (New York)	1895	burned 1899
House for Frederick Vanderbilt, "Hyde Park"	Hyde Park	1895–1898
Woodlea	Briarcliff Manor (New York)	1895	now Sleepy Hollow Country Club
James L. Breese House "The Orchard"	Southampton (New York)	1897-1906
Rosecliff	Newport (Rhode Island)	1898–1902
Harbor Hill	Long Island, New York	1899–1902	razed 1947
Symphony Hall	Boston, Massachusetts	1900
Hill-Stead Museum	Farmington (Connecticut)	1901	estate of Alfred Atmore Pope, designed with Theodate Pope Riddle
Astor Courts	Rhinebeck (New York)	1902–1904	estate of John Jacob Astor
Rockefeller Hall, Brown University	Providence (Rhode Island)	1904	now Faunce House
Naugatuck High School	Naugatuck (Connecticut)	1904	Hillside Middle School since 1959
Waterbury Union Station	389 Meadow Street, Waterbury (Connecticut)	1909	Stile neorinascimentale con torre dell'orologio ispirata alla Torre del Mangia di Siena, Italia
Plymouth Rock portico	Plymouth (Massachusetts)	1920
Foster Hall, University at Buffalo South Campus	Buffalo, New York	1921
Harvard Business School	Boston, Massachusetts	1925
Ira Allen Chapel, University of Vermont	Burlington (Vermont)	1925
Olin Memorial Library, Wesleyan University	Middletown (Connecticut)	1925
Memorial Chapel, Union College	Schenectady, New York	1925
Lincoln Alliance Building	Rochester (New York)	1926
Rochester Savings Bank	Rochester (New York)	1927
George Eastman House Museum National Historic Site	Rochester (New York)	c.1903	Mr. Eastman hired McKim, Mead & White to design the interior of his Georgian Colonial Revival Mansion which was nearly an exact, large scale duplicate of the Robert Root House that was built by the firm in Buffalo, New York c.1894
Burlington City Hall	Burlington (Vermont)	1928
Levermore Hall, Blodgett Hall, and Woodruff Hall, Adelphi University	Garden City (New York)	1929
Schenectady City Hall	Schenectady (New York)	1931–1933
The Little Red Schoolhouse, Amherst College	Amherst (Massachusetts)	1937
Housatonic Railroad Station	U.S. Route 7, Stockbridge (Massachusetts)	1893	English Gothic Revival style, stone
New York Central Railroad Station	Ardsley Avenue and Hudson Road, Ardsley-on-Hudson	1895	Shingle Style with Tudor and Romanesque Revival elements
Park Lane Apartments	Mount Vernon, New York	1929
The Cedars/Lord's Castle Remodel	Piermont (New York)	1892	"The original gable ends were stepped, the pointy "Gothick" windows were Edwardianized, the wooden porches reconstructed in stone, the tower on the west capped with a conical roof, the forest of delicate chimney pots combined and bulked up, and the reconfigured interior given heavy doses of classical columns, balusters, dadoes, fireplaces and moldings."

New Jersey

Edificio	Posizione	Anno	Caratteristiche	Immagine
Florham Campus Archiviato il 1º febbraio 2014 in Internet Archive.	Fairleigh Dickinson University	1897	originally "Florham", the estate of Hamilton Twombly and Florence Vanderbilt, one of many Vanderbilt houses
Orange Public Library	Orange (New Jersey)	1901
St. Peter's Episcopal Church	Morristown (New Jersey)	1889-1913	English-medieval style parish church.
FitzRandolph Gate	Princeton (New Jersey)	1905	The official entrance of Princeton University
University Cottage Club	Princeton University, Princeton (New Jersey)	1906	One of the Eating clubs at Princeton University
Pennsylvania Station	Raymond Plaza West at Market Street, Newark, New Jersey	1935	Art déco style

Washington, D.C.

Edificio	Posizione	Anno	Caratteristiche	Immagine
White House, West Wing and East Wing	1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C.	1903	Renovation
Roosevelt Hall, National War College	Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C.	1903–1907
National Museum of American History	Washington, D.C.	1964
Patterson Mansion	15 Dupont Circle NW	1903
St. John's Church, Lafayette Square	1525 H St NW, Washington, DC 20005	1919	Renovation
Pedestal, Jeanne d'Arc	Meridian Hill Park	1922	Measures about 10 feet long and 6 feet high

Altri luoghi negli Stati Uniti

Edificio	Posizione	Anno	Caratteristiche	Immagine
First Methodist Episcopal Church, Lovely Lane United Methodist Church	Baltimora	1884
Cramond	Tredyffrin Township, Pennsylvania	1886
McKelvy House (formerly "Oakhurst"), Lafayette College, College Hill	Easton (Pennsylvania)	1888
New York Life Insurance Building	Kansas City, Missouri	1890
Open Gates, George Sealy Mansion	Galveston, Texas	1891
Germantown Cricket Club	Filadelfia, Pennsylvania	1891
The Agricultural Building at the World Columbian Exposition	Chicago, Illinois	1893		Agricultural Building — Official Views Of The World's Columbian Exposition — 18
Old Cabell Hall, Cocke Hall, and Rouss Hall, University of Virginia	Charlottesville	1898 approx
Savoyard Centre	Detroit, Michigan	1900	originally State Savings Bank; National Register of Historic Places 1982
Protection of the Flag Monument	Athens, Pennsylvania	1900–1902
English Building, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign	Champaign, Illinois	1905
Carr's Hill, or University of Virginia President's House	Charlottesville, Virginia	1906
Omaha National Bank Building	Omaha, Nebraska	1906	originally the New York Life Building, 1889)
Girard Bank	Filadelfia, Pennsylvania	1908
Fayette National Bank Building	Lexington, Kentucky	1914
Minneapolis Institute of Arts	Minneapolis, Minnesota	1915
Peabody Demonstration School	Nashville, Tennessee	1915	now University School of Nashville
National McKinley Birthplace Memorial Library and Museum	Niles, Ohio	1915
Butler Institute of American Art	Youngstown, Ohio	1919	listed on National Register of Historic Places
Cohen Memorial Hall (Vanderbilt Fine Arts Gallery), Vanderbilt University	Nashville, Tennessee	1928 approx
Milwaukee County Courthouse	Milwaukee, Wisconsin	1931
Chittenden Hall, University of Vermont	Burlington (Vermont)	1947
Dietrich Hall, now Steinberg-Dietrich Hall, University of Pennsylvania	Pennsylvania	1952
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill	Chapel Hill, Carolina del Nord	1929	Expansion of campus	Louis Round Wilson Library, UNC Chapel Hill

Altre nazioni

Edificio	Posizione	Anno	Caratteristiche	Immagine
Bank of Montréal Head Office	Montreal	1901–1905	additions
Bank of Montreal Building	Winnipeg, Manitoba	1913
American Academy in Rome Main Building	Roma, Italia	1914
Hotel Nacional de Cuba	L'Avana, Cuba	1930

Architetti importanti di McKim, Mead e White

• Henry Bacon – worked at the firm from about 1886 through 1897; left with fellow employee James Brite to open their own office.
• William A. Boring – worked at the firm in 1890 before forming a separate partnership with Edward Lippincott Tilton.
• Charles Lewis Bowman – a draftsman at the firm until 1922, noted for his large number of private residences throughout Westchester County, New York including Bronxville, Pelham Manor, Mamaroneck and New Rochelle.
• A. Page Brown - worked with the firm beginning in the 1880s; went to California, where he was known for the San Francisco Ferry Building.
• Walker O. Cain – worked at the firm; he took it over in 1961 and renamed it several times.
• J.E.R. Carpenter – worked at the firm for several years before designing much of upper Fifth and Park Avenues, including 907 Fifth Avenue, 825 Fifth Avenue, 625 Park Avenue, 550 Park Avenue and the Lincoln Building on 42nd Street.
• John Merven Carrère (1858–1911) – worked with McKim, Mead & White from 1883 through 1885, then joined Thomas Hastings to form the firm Carrère and Hastings.
• Thomas Harlan Ellett (1880–1951).
• Cass Gilbert – worked with the firm until 1882, when he went to work with James Knox Taylor; later designed many notable structures, among them the George Washington Bridge and the Woolworth Building.
• Arthur Loomis Harmon – later of Shreve, Lamb and Harmon.
• Thomas Hastings (1860–1929) – of Carrère and Hastings, worked with McKim, Mead & White from 1883 through 1885.
• John Galen Howard (1864-1931)
• John Mead Howells (1868-1959)
• William Mitchell Kendall (1856 – 1941), worked with the firm from 1882 until his death.
• Harrie T. Lindeberg – started at the firm in 1895 as an assistant to Stanford White and remained with the firm until White's death in 1906.
• Austin W. Lord – worked with the firm in 1890-94 on designs for Brooklyn Museum of Arts and Sciences, the Metropolitan Club, and buildings at Columbia University
• Harold Van Buren Magonigle (1867-1935)
• Albert Randolph Ross
• Philip Sawyer (1868-1949)
• James Kellum Smith (1893–1961) – a member of the firm from 1924 to 1961; full partner in 1929, and the last surviving partner of MM&W. He primarily designed academic buildings, but his last major work was the National Museum of American History.
• Egerton Swartwout of Tracy and Swartwout – both Tracy and Swartwout worked together for the firm on multiple projects prior to starting their own practice.
• Edward Lippincott Tilton – helped design the Boston Public Library in 1890 before leaving with Boring.
• Robert von Ezdorf – took over much of the firm's business after White's death.
• Joseph M. Wells (1853–1890) – worked as firm's first Chief Draftsman from 1879–90; often considered to be the firm's "fourth partner", and largely responsible for its Renaissance Revival designs in 1880s.
• William M. Whidden – worked at the firm from at least 1882 until 1888; projects included the Tacoma and Portland hotels in Washington and Oregon, respectively; moved to Portland, Oregon, in 1888 to finish the hotel and established his own firm with Ion Lewis
• York and Sawyer – Edward York (1863–1928) and Philip Sawyer (1868–1949) worked together for the firm before starting their own partnership in 1898.

Bibliografia

• Baker, Paul R. Stanny: The Gilded Life of Stanford White. New York: Free Press, 1989. ISBN 0-02-901781-5
• Broderick, Mosette. Triumvirate: McKim, Mead & White: Art, Architecture, Scandal, and Class in America's Gilded Age New York: Knopf, 2010. ISBN 0-394-53662-2
• McKim, Mead & White. A Monograph of the Work of McKim, Mead & White, 1879-1915. New York: Architectural Book Publishing Co., 1915-1920, 4 volumes. Reprinted as The Architecture of McKim, Mead & White in Photographs, Plans and Elevations, with an introduction by Richard Guy Wilson (New York: Dover Publications, 1990). ISBN 0486265560
• Roth, Leland M. The Architecture of McKim, Mead & White, 1870-1920: A Building List (Garland Reference Library of the Humanities). Garland Publishing (September 1, 1978). 978-0824098506
• Roth, Leland M. McKim, Mead and White, Architects. Harper & Row; First edition (October 1985). 978-0064301367
• Savorra, Massimiliano. McKim, Mead & White, moderni rinascimentali, in L. Mozzoni, S. Santini (a cura di), I grandi protagonisti. Napoli: Liguori, 2013, pp. 73-131 – ISBN 978-88-207-6182-0

Altri progetti

Altri progetti

• Wikimedia Commons

• Wikimedia Commons contiene immagini o altri file su McKim, Mead and White

Collegamenti esterni

• (EN) McKim, Mead, & White, su Enciclopedia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
• McKim, Mead & White Selected Works 1879 to 1915 Archiviato l'11 aprile 2019 in Internet Archive., published by Princeton Architectural Press, 2018.
• McKim, Mead and White flickr group
• Randall's Lost New York City Cable Building is included as a special resource.
• McKim, Mead & White in Buffalo
• McKim, Mead, and White
• McKim, Mead, and White
• FindaGrave site with photos of gravestone of William and Olga Mead in Rome, Italy
• FindaGrave site with photos of Joseph M. Wells and his gravestone in Massachusetts
• McKim, Mead & White Architectural Records Collection at the New-York Historical Society
• Brooklyn Museum Building Online Exhibition
• McKim, Mead & White architectural records and drawings, circa 1879-1958, held by the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University