Constant-Désiré Despradelle (May 20, 1862–February 8, 1912) was a French-born professor of
architectureFor a topical guide to this subject, see Outline of architecture. Architecture is the art and science of designing and constructing buildings and other physical structures for human shelter or use....
at
Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyThe Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological research...
who, through his teaching, influenced a generation of Beaux-Arts style architects and helped to popularize this style throughout North America.
Born in
ChaumontChaumont is the name or part of the name of several communes in France, as well as a town in New YorkFrance:* Chaumont, Cher, in the Cher département* Chaumont, Haute-Marne, in the Haute-Marne département* Chaumont, Orne, in the Orne département...
, France, Despradelle was admitted to the
Ecole des Beaux-ArtsÉcole des Beaux-Arts ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The most famous is the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, now located on the left bank in Paris, across the Seine from the Louvre, in the 6th arrondissement...
at age twenty, and obtained his diploma in 1886. He won the Grand Prix de Rome in 1889.
In 1893, Despradelle went to Boston, accepting a position as Professor of Design at MIT, where he served until his death.
Constant-Désiré Despradelle (May 20, 1862–February 8, 1912) was a French-born professor of
architectureFor a topical guide to this subject, see Outline of architecture. Architecture is the art and science of designing and constructing buildings and other physical structures for human shelter or use....
at
Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyThe Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological research...
who, through his teaching, influenced a generation of Beaux-Arts style architects and helped to popularize this style throughout North America.
Biography
Born in
ChaumontChaumont is the name or part of the name of several communes in France, as well as a town in New YorkFrance:* Chaumont, Cher, in the Cher département* Chaumont, Haute-Marne, in the Haute-Marne département* Chaumont, Orne, in the Orne département...
, France, Despradelle was admitted to the
Ecole des Beaux-ArtsÉcole des Beaux-Arts ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The most famous is the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, now located on the left bank in Paris, across the Seine from the Louvre, in the 6th arrondissement...
at age twenty, and obtained his diploma in 1886. He won the Grand Prix de Rome in 1889.
In 1893, Despradelle went to Boston, accepting a position as Professor of Design at MIT, where he served until his death. He taught the Beaux-Arts style and thus influenced the style's continued use throughout North America until about 1920.
Among architects who studied under him were the Canadians George Allen Ross,
William Sutherland MaxwellWilliam Sutherland Maxwell is a well-known Canadian architect and a Hand of the Cause in the Bahá'í Faith. He was born in Montreal, Canada to parents Edward John Maxwell and Johan MacBean.-Education:...
and
Andrew R. CobbAndrew Randall Cobb, ARCA, FRIBA was a Canadian-American architect based in Nova Scotia.In his day, Cobb was one of the most renowned architects in Atlantic Canada...
. American architects who trained under him included Ellis Lawrence,, Marion Mahony,
Ida Annah RyanIda Annah Ryan was a pioneering United States woman architect. She was born on November 4, 1873 at Waltham, MA, one of five children of Albert Morse Ryan and Carrie S. Jameson. Albert Morse Ryan was a Waltham city employee and historian who also ran a milk business. She graduated from the Waltham...
and
Raymond HoodRaymond Mathewson Hood was an early-mid twentieth century architect who worked in the Art Deco style. He was born in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, educated at Brown University, MIT, and the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. At the latter institution he met John Mead Howells, with whom Hood later partnered...
.
A contemporary anecdote in the MIT student paper
The Tech may give some indication of his manner and personality: "
The Lounge [a column in the paper] secured the services of Mr. Derby as interpreter, and thus equipped sought an audience with Professor Despradelles. After an excited conversation of about fifteen minutes Mr. Derby reported in full to
The Lounge as follows, 'Mr. Despradelles says that Sunday is a curious American custom'."
Despradelle was an architect of the early buildings and grounds of the
University of CaliforniaThe University of California is a public university system in the state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University system...
, and served on its advisory board. In Boston he maintained a practice with Stephen Codman, called Codman and Despradelle. Among their best known buildings is the Berkeley Building on Boylston Street, Boston, now a US national landmark.
Despradelle died in his home in Boston after a long illness.
The "Beacon of Progress"
Despradelle's most famous project was the unrealized "Beacon of Progress" ("
the Beacon"). The Beacon was a towering monument that he intended for the site of the Columbian Exposition of 1893 in
ChicagoChicago is the largest city in the U.S. state of Illinois, and with more than 2.8 million people, the 3rd largest city in the United States...
,
IllinoisIllinois , the 21st state admitted to the United States of America, is the most populous and demographically diverse Midwestern state and the fifth most populous state in the nation...
. Despradelle designed the Beacon to represent the founding of America. And so, it consisgted of thirteen obliesks which he said represented the original thirteen colonies.
The Beacon was also to stand for the future with its benefits to be drawn from "technological leaps forward" in the approaching century. The group of obelisks merged to formed a spire soaring 1500 feet (approximately 457
metreThe metre or meter is the basic unit of length in the International System of Units . Historically, the metre was defined by the French Academy of Sciences as the length between two marks on a platinum-iridium bar, which was designed to represent one ten-millionth of the distance from the Equator...
s) high (a height similar to Chicago's 1973
Sears TowerWillis Tower, formerly named Sears Tower, is a 108-story skyscraper in Chicago, Illinois. At the time of its completion in 1973 it was the tallest building in the world, surpassing the World Trade Center towers in New York...
). At the apex was to be a brilliant beacon of light, with a figurative sculpture called
Spirit of Progress to embody what Despradelle called the upward-looking Christian in America. This figure was positioned to face
Lake MichiganLake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America, and the only one located entirely within the United States. The second largest of the Great Lakes by volume The third largest of the Great Lakes by surface area , it is bounded, from west to east, by the U.S. states of Wisconsin,...
as a monument to the genius of the people and the dominant feature of their life.
Although the Beacon was never built, the strength of the 1900 (finalised) drawings "drew a great deal of attention and had a lasting impact" in the
FrenchThe adjective francophone means French-speaking, typically as primary language, whether referring to individuals, groups, or places. Often, the word is used as a noun to describe a natively French-speaking person....
world. Those retained by the French government from domestically-hosted exhibitions were included in the 1908 Franco-British Exhibition in London, a "tribute to [this] teacher of so many upcoming architects, but also recognition and understanding of Despradelle's creative vision."