John Russell Pope

	Email		Print
	Bookmark		Link

John Russell Pope

John Russell Pope (April 24, 1874 – August 27, 1937) was an architect

Architecture

The term architecture can refer to a process, a profession or documentation.As a process, architecture is the activity of designing and construction buildings and other physical structures by a person or a computer, primarily to provide shelter....
most known for his designs of the Jefferson Memorial

Jefferson Memorial

The Thomas Jefferson Memorial is a United States presidential memorial in Washington, D.C. that is dedicated to Thomas Jefferson, an Founding Fathers of the United States and the third president of the United States....
(completed in 1943) and the West Building of the National Gallery of Art

National Gallery of Art

The National Gallery of Art is a national art museum, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The museum was established in 1938 by the United States Congress, with funds for construction and a substantial art collection donated by Andrew W....
(completed in 1941) in Washington, DC.

Pope was born in New York

New York

The State of New York is a U.S. state in the Mid-Atlantic States and Northeastern United States regions of the United States and is the nation's List of U.S....
in 1874, the son of a successful portrait painter.

Discussion

Ask a question about 'John Russell Pope'

Start a new discussion about 'John Russell Pope'

Answer questions from other users

Full Discussion Forum

Encyclopedia

John Russell Pope (April 24, 1874 – August 27, 1937) was an architect

Architecture

Jefferson Memorial

National Gallery of Art

New York

Columbia University

Columbia University in the City of New York , is a private university in the United States and a member of the Ivy League. Columbia's main campus lies in the Morningside Heights, Manhattan neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, in New York City....
and graduated in 1894. He received a scholarship to attend the newly-founded American Academy in Rome

American Academy in Rome

The American Academy in Rome is a research and arts institution located on the Gianicolo in Rome. It was created in 1913 out of a merger between the American School of Architecture and the American School of Classical Studies in Rome ....
, a training ground for the designers of the "American Renaissance

American Renaissance

In the history of American architecture and the arts, the American Renaissance was the period ca 1876 - 1914 characterized by renewed national self-confidence and a feeling that the United States was the heir to Greek democracy, Roman law, and Renaissance humanism....
." Pope travelled for two years through Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
and Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the Balkans. It has borders with Albania, Bulgaria and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to the north, and Turkey to the east....
, where he studied and sketched and made measured drawings of more Romanesque, Gothic, and Renaissance structures than he did of the remains of ancient buildings. Pope was one of the first architectural students to master the use of the large-format camera, with glass negatives. Pope attended the Ecole des Beaux-Arts

École des Beaux-Arts

?cole des Beaux-Arts refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The most famous is the ?cole Nationale Sup?rieure des Beaux-Arts, now located on the Rive Gauche in Paris, across the Seine from the Louvre, in the 6?me arrondissement, Paris....
in Paris in 1896 , honing his Beaux-Arts style

Beaux-Arts architecture

Beaux-Arts architecture denotes the academic Neoclassical architecture architectural style that was taught at the ?cole des Beaux-Arts in Paris....
, returning to New York in 1900, to spend a few practical years in the office of Bruce Price

Bruce Price

Bruce Price was the architect of many of the Canadian Pacific Railway's Canada's railway hotels#Architecture railway station and hotels. A fine example of his work for CP is Montreal's Windsor Station and the chateau of CP co-founder James Ross now known as Chancellor Day Hall at McGill University....
before opening a practice.

Throughout his career, Pope designed private houses (including for the Vanderbilt family

Vanderbilt family

The Vanderbilt family is a significant international family with Dutch people origins, who were highly prominent during the 1800s because of the family patriarch Cornelius Vanderbilt, Wealthy historical figures 2008, who created railroad and shipping empires....
: see Vanderbilt houses

Vanderbilt houses

From the late 1870s to the 1920s, the Vanderbilt family employed America's best Beaux-Arts architecture architects and decorators to build an unequalled string of New York townhouses and East Coast palaces in the United States....
), and other public buildings besides the Jefferson Memorial and the National Gallery, such as the massive Masonic

Freemasonry

Freemasonry is a fraternal and service organizations that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around 5 million ....
House of the Temple
House of the Temple

The House of the Temple is a Freemasonry temple in Washington, D.C., United States, which serves as the headquarters of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, Southern Jurisdiction, United States It is located at the corner of 16th Street and S Street in the Northwest, Washington, D.C....
(1911 - 1915), also in Washington, and the triumphal-arch Theodore Roosevelt Memorial at the American Museum of Natural History

American Museum of Natural History

The American Museum of Natural History , located on the Upper West Side, Manhattan, New York, USA, is one of the largest and most celebrated museums in the world....
in New York City

New York City

The City of New York is the List of United States cities by population in the United States, while the New York metropolitan area ranks among the List of urban areas by population....
. In 1919 he provided a master plan for the future growth of Yale University

Yale University

Yale University is a private university in New Haven, Connecticut. Founded in 1701 as the Collegiate School, Yale is the Colonial Colleges institution of higher education in the United States and is a member of the Ivy League....
, one that was significantly revised by James Gamble Rogers in 1921 with more sympathy for the requirements of the city of New Haven, Connecticut

New Haven, Connecticut

New Haven is the third largest municipality in Connecticut, after Bridgeport, Connecticut and Hartford, with a core population of about 124,000 people....
, but which kept the Collegiate Gothic unifying theme offered by Pope. Pope's original plan is a prime document in the City Beautiful movement in city planning.

Pope's designs alternated between revivals of Gothic

Gothic architecture

Gothic architecture is a style of architecture which flourished during the high and late Middle Ages. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
, Georgian

Georgian architecture

Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking world to the set of architectural styles current between 1720 and 1840. It is eponymous for the first four Monarchy of the United Kingdom of the House of Hanover—George I of Great Britain, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United Kingdom, and George IV of the...
, eighteenth-century French, and classical

Classical architecture

Classical architecture is the set of building styles and techniques of Classical Greece, as used in ancient Greece, the Hellenistic period, and the Roman empire....
styles. Pope designed the Henry E. Huntington

Henry E. Huntington

Henry Edwards Huntington was a railroad magnate and business leader. He was born in Oneonta, New York, USA and died in San Marino, California....
mausoleum on the grounds of The Huntington Library

The Huntington Library

The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens is an educational and research institution established by Henry E. Huntington in San Marino, California, United States....
and later used the design as a prototype for the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C. The Jefferson Memorial and the National Gallery of Art were both neoclassical

Neoclassicism

Neoclassicism is the name given to quite distinct Cultural movement in the Decorative art and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw upon Western classical art and culture ....
, modelled by Pope on the Roman Pantheon

Pantheon, Rome

The Pantheon is a building in Rome which was originally built as a temple to all the gods of Ancient Rome, and rebuilt circa 126 AD during Hadrian's reign....
.

Less known projects by Pope include Union Station

Broad Street Station (Richmond)

Broad Street Station was a union station in Richmond, Virginia, USA, across Broad Street from the Fan district. It was built by the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad in 1917 in the Neoclassical architecture style by the architect John Russell Pope....
, Richmond, Virginia

Richmond, Virginia

Richmond is the Capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. Like all Virginia municipalities incorporated as cities, it is an independent city and not part of any county....
(1919), with a central rotunda capped with a low saucer dome, now housing the Science Museum of Virginia

Science Museum of Virginia

The Science Museum of Virginia is a science museum located in Richmond, Virginia....
; Branch House

Branch House

Branch House Located at 2501 Monument Avenue in Richmond, Virginia, USA, this . mansion was commissioned in 1916 by John Kerr Branch. The house is the work of architect John Russell Pope, and was finally completed in 1919....
(1917-1919), a Tudor-style mansion also in Richmond that now houses the Virginia Center for Architecture

Virginia Center for Architecture

Virginia Center for Architecture is one of the nation?s few museums dedicated to architecture. It is located in the Branch House in the Fan District of Richmond, Virginia, Virginia....
; Baltimore Museum of Art

Baltimore Museum of Art

The Baltimore Museum of Art in Baltimore, Maryland, was founded in 1914. It is located between the Charles Village, Baltimore and Remington, Baltimore neighborhoods, immediately adjacent to the Homewood campus of Johns Hopkins University, though the museum is an independent institution not affiliated with the University....
; and in Washington, D.C. the National City Christian Church

National City Christian Church

National City Christian Church, located on Thomas Circle in Washington, D.C., is the "National Cathedral" for the Christian Church , often abbreviated as the Disciples of Christ or Christian Church....
, Constitution Hall, American Pharmacists Association

American Pharmacists Association

The American Pharmacists Association , founded in 1852, is the first-established professional society of pharmacists within the United States.. APhA is made up of more than 60,000 practicing pharmacists, pharmaceutical scientists, student pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, and others interested in advancing the profession....
Building, Ward Homestead

Ward Homestead

Ward Homestead is a notable landmark because it is the combined work of three great 20th century figures, architect John Russell Pope and landscape designers, the Olmsted Brothers....
, and the National Archives Building

National Archives and Records Administration

The United States National Archives and Records Administration is an Independent agencies of the United States government charged with preserving and documenting government and historical records and with increasing public access to those documents....
(illustration, left). In Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Milwaukee is the largest city in Wisconsin and List of United States cities by population in the United States. It is the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin and is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan....
he provided a severe neo-Georgian

Georgian architecture

University Club of Milwaukee

The University Club of Milwaukee is a private club in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Wisconsin located at 924 E. Wells Street. The club, which was founded by a group of nineteen college alumni, received its charter in 1898....
(1926) and in Oneonta, New York

Oneonta, New York

Oneonta is a city located within Otsego County, New York , New York, USA. As of the 2000 U.S. Census, had a population of 13,292. The nickname is "City of the Hills"....
he designed the first building for Hartwick College

Hartwick College

Hartwick College is a non-denominational, private school, four-year, liberal arts and sciences college located in Oneonta, New York, New York, in the United States....
(Bresee Hall) which was constructed in 1928. He designed additions to the Tate Gallery

Tate Britain

Tate Britain is an art gallery situated on Millbank in London, and part of the Tate Gallery gallery network in United Kingdom, with Tate Modern, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives....
and British Museum

British Museum

The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture situated in London. Its collections, which number more than 7 million Object , are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its beginning to the present....
in London, an unusual honor for an American architect, and the War Memorial at Montfaucon, France. Pope was also responsible for extensive alterations to Belcourt

Belcourt Castle

Belcourt Castle is the former summer cottage of Oliver Belmont, located on Bellevue Avenue Historic District in Newport, Rhode Island. Begun in 1891 and completed in 1894, it was only intended to be used for six to eight weeks of the year....
, the Newport

Newport, Rhode Island

Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, Rhode Island, United States, about 30 miles south of Providence, Rhode Island....
residence of Oliver

Oliver Belmont

Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont was a wealthy United States socialite and United States Representative from NYCongDel. He was a brother of Perry Belmont....
and Alva Belmont

Alva Belmont

Alva Erskine Belmont , n?e Alva Erskine Smith, also called Alva Vanderbilt, was a prominent multi-millionaire United States socialite and a major figure in the women's suffrage movement....
.

In 1991 an exhibition at the National Gallery of Art, "John Russell Pope and the Building of the National Gallery of Art" spurred the reappraisal of his work, which had been scorned and derided by many critics influenced by International Modernism.

Selected works

1914-1916: Charlcote House
Charlcote House

Charlcote House, also known as the James Swan Frick House, is a historic home located at Baltimore, Maryland, United States. It is a three-story brick detached Classical Revival dwelling built about 1914-1916 in the Guilford, Baltimore development....
, Baltimore, Maryland
Baltimore, Maryland

Baltimore is an independent city and the largest city in the U.S. state of Maryland in the United States. Baltimore is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay....
1916-1919: Branch House
Branch House

Branch House Located at 2501 Monument Avenue in Richmond, Virginia, USA, this . mansion was commissioned in 1916 by John Kerr Branch. The house is the work of architect John Russell Pope, and was finally completed in 1919....
, Richmond, Virginia
Richmond, Virginia

Richmond is the Capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. Like all Virginia municipalities incorporated as cities, it is an independent city and not part of any county....
1917-1919: Science Museum of Virginia
Science Museum of Virginia

The Science Museum of Virginia is a science museum located in Richmond, Virginia....
, Richmond, Virginia
Richmond, Virginia

Richmond is the Capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. Like all Virginia municipalities incorporated as cities, it is an independent city and not part of any county....
1919: Union Station
Broad Street Station (Richmond)

Broad Street Station was a union station in Richmond, Virginia, USA, across Broad Street from the Fan district. It was built by the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad in 1917 in the Neoclassical architecture style by the architect John Russell Pope....
, Richmond, Virginia
Richmond, Virginia

Richmond is the Capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. Like all Virginia municipalities incorporated as cities, it is an independent city and not part of any county....
1926: University Club
University Club of Milwaukee

The University Club of Milwaukee is a private club in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Wisconsin located at 924 E. Wells Street. The club, which was founded by a group of nineteen college alumni, received its charter in 1898....
, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Milwaukee is the largest city in Wisconsin and List of United States cities by population in the United States. It is the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin and is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan....
1927: Huntington Mausoleum
The Huntington Library

The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens is an educational and research institution established by Henry E. Huntington in San Marino, California, United States....
, San Marino, California
San Marino, California

San Marino is an affluent city in Los Angeles County, California, California, United States. Its ZIP code of 91108 ranks the city as the 47th most expensive place to live in the United States, with the median home sale price in 2008 of $1.55 million....
1927-1928: Woodend
Woodend (Chevy Chase, Maryland)

Woodend is a historic home located at Chevy Chase, Maryland, Montgomery County, Maryland, Maryland. This Georgian Revival architecture house was built in 1927-1928, and owned by the ....
, Chevy Chase, Maryland
Chevy Chase, Maryland

Chevy Chase is the name of both a town and an unincorporated Census-Designated Place in Montgomery County, Maryland. In addition, a number of villages in the same area of Montgomery County include "Chevy Chase" in their names....
1927-1929: Baltimore Museum of Art
Baltimore Museum of Art

The Baltimore Museum of Art in Baltimore, Maryland, was founded in 1914. It is located between the Charles Village, Baltimore and Remington, Baltimore neighborhoods, immediately adjacent to the Homewood campus of Johns Hopkins University, though the museum is an independent institution not affiliated with the University....
, Baltimore, Maryland
Baltimore, Maryland

Baltimore is an independent city and the largest city in the U.S. state of Maryland in the United States. Baltimore is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay....
1928: Hartwick College
Hartwick College

Hartwick College is a non-denominational, private school, four-year, liberal arts and sciences college located in Oneonta, New York, New York, in the United States....
(Bresee Hall), Oneonta, New York
Oneonta, New York

Oneonta is a city located within Otsego County, New York , New York, USA. As of the 2000 U.S. Census, had a population of 13,292. The nickname is "City of the Hills"....
1929: Constitution Hall
DAR Constitution Hall

DAR Constitution Hall is a concert hall in Washington, D.C. It was built in 1929 by the Daughters of the American Revolution to house its annual convention when membership delegations outgrew Memorial Continental Hall....
, Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C. , formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D.C., is the Capital of the United States, founded on July 16, 1790....
1930: National City Christian Church
National City Christian Church

National City Christian Church, located on Thomas Circle in Washington, D.C., is the "National Cathedral" for the Christian Church , often abbreviated as the Disciples of Christ or Christian Church....
, Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C. , formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D.C., is the Capital of the United States, founded on July 16, 1790....
1933-1935: National Archives Building
National Archives and Records Administration

The United States National Archives and Records Administration is an Independent agencies of the United States government charged with preserving and documenting government and historical records and with increasing public access to those documents....
, Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C. , formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D.C., is the Capital of the United States, founded on July 16, 1790....
1938-1941: National Gallery of Art
National Gallery of Art

The National Gallery of Art is a national art museum, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The museum was established in 1938 by the United States Congress, with funds for construction and a substantial art collection donated by Andrew W....
, Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C. , formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D.C., is the Capital of the United States, founded on July 16, 1790....
1939-1942: Jefferson Memorial
Jefferson Memorial

The Thomas Jefferson Memorial is a United States presidential memorial in Washington, D.C. that is dedicated to Thomas Jefferson, an Founding Fathers of the United States and the third president of the United States....
, Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C. , formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D.C., is the Capital of the United States, founded on July 16, 1790....

John Russell Pope

Selected works

See also

External links