Stanford White (November 9, 1853 – June 25, 1906) was an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
architectAn architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
and partner in the architectural firm of McKim, Mead & White, the frontrunner among
Beaux-Arts firms. He designed a long series of houses for the rich and the very rich, and various public, institutional, and religious buildings, some of which can be found to this day in places like Sea Gate, Brooklyn. His design principles embodied the "
American RenaissanceIn the history of American architecture and the arts, the American Renaissance was the period in 1835-1880 characterized by renewed national self-confidence and a feeling that the United States was the heir to Greek democracy, Roman law, and Renaissance humanism...
".
In 1906, White was murdered by millionaire Harry Kendall Thaw over White's affair with Thaw's wife, actress
Evelyn NesbitEvelyn Nesbit was an American artists' model and chorus girl, noted for her entanglement in the murder of her ex-lover, architect Stanford White, by her first husband, Harry Kendall Thaw.-Early life:...
, leading to a trial which was dubbed at the time "The Trial of the Century".
Life and career
Stanford White was the son of Shakespearean scholar
Richard Grant WhiteRichard Grant White was one of the foremost literary and musical critics of his day. He was also a prominent Shakespearen scholar, journalist, social critic, and lawyer who was born and died in New York USA.-Biography:...
and Alexina Black Mease (1830–1921). He began his architectural career as the principal assistant to
Henry Hobson RichardsonHenry Hobson Richardson was a prominent American architect who designed buildings in Albany, Boston, Buffalo, Chicago, Pittsburgh, and other cities. The style he popularized is named for him: Richardsonian Romanesque...
, the greatest American architect of the day, creator of a style recognized today as "
Richardsonian RomanesqueRichardsonian Romanesque is a style of Romanesque Revival architecture named after architect Henry Hobson Richardson, whose masterpiece is Trinity Church, Boston , designated a National Historic Landmark...
". In 1878, White embarked for a year and a half in Europe, and when he returned to New York in September 1879, he joined
Charles Follen McKimCharles Follen McKim FAIA was an American Beaux-Arts architect of the late 19th century. Along with Stanford White, he provided the architectural expertise as a member of the partnership McKim, Mead, and White....
and
William Rutherford MeadWilliam Rutherford Mead was an American architect, and was the "Center of the Office" of McKim, Mead, and White, a noted Gilded Age architectural firm. The firm's other two founding partners were Charles Follen McKim , and Stanford White .-Life and career:Mead was born in Brattleboro, Vermont...
to form McKim, Mead and White.
White designed
the second Madison Square GardenMadison Square Garden was an indoor arena in New York City, the second by that name, and the second to be located at 26th Street and Madison Avenue in Manhattan...
(1890; demolished in 1925), The Cable Building—the Broadway cable car power station (611 Broadway, 1892),
Madison Square Presbyterian ChurchMadison Square Presbyterian Church was a Presbyterian church in Manhattan, New York City, located on Madison Square Park at the northeast corner of East 24th Street and Madison Avenue. It was designed by Stanford White in a High Renaissance architectural style, with a prominent central dome over a...
, the New York Herald Building (1894; demolished), the First
Bowery Savings BankThe Bowery Savings Bank of New York City was chartered in May 1834 and is now part of Capital One Bank.-History:Opened in 1834 on the Bowery in NYC. By 1980 it had over 35 branches located in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Nassau and Suffolk counties. When bank deregulation was enacted the bank...
, at
the BoweryBowery , commonly called "the Bowery," is a street and a small neighborhood in the southern portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan...
and Grand Street, 1894, Washington Square Arch (1889),
Judson Memorial ChurchThe Judson Memorial Church is located on Washington Square South between Thompson and Sullivan Streets, opposite Washington Square Park, in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of the Manhattan borough of New York City...
on Washington Square, and the
Century ClubCentury Club may refer to:*Centurion, a variation of the drinking game known as Power Hour*The Century Association, a prominent private authors and artists club, with its own building, in New York City...
, all in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. He helped develop Tesla's
Wardenclyffe TowerWardenclyffe Tower also known as the Tesla Tower, was an early wireless telecommunications tower designed by Nikola Tesla and intended for commercial trans-Atlantic wireless telephony, broadcasting, and to demonstrate the transmission of power without interconnecting wires...
(his last design). White designed the First Methodist Episcopal Church in Baltimore, Maryland (1887), now
Lovely Lane United Methodist ChurchLovely Lane United Methodist Church, formerly known as First Methodist Episcopal Church, is a historic United Methodist church located at Baltimore, Maryland, United States. It was designed by renowned architect Stanford White in 1884, built in the Romanesque Revival style. It is patterned after...
. He also designed the Cosmopolitan Building, a three-story
Neo-classical RevivalNeoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...
building topped by three small domes, in
Irvington, New YorkIrvington, sometimes known as Irvington-on-Hudson, is an affluent suburban village in the town of Greenburgh in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, north of midtown Manhattan in New York City, and is served by a station stop on the...
, built in 1895 as the headquarters of Cosmopolitan Magazine. He built Cocke, Rouss, and Old Cabell halls at the
University of VirginiaThe University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
and rebuilt
The Rotunda (University of Virginia)The Rotunda is a building located on The Lawn in the original grounds of the University of Virginia. It was designed by Thomas Jefferson to represent the "authority of nature and power of reason" and was inspired by the Pantheon in Rome. Construction began in 1822 and was completed in 1826, after...
in 1898 after it burned down three years earlier (his re-creation was later reverted back to
Thomas JeffersonThomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
's original design for the
United States BicentennialThe United States Bicentennial was a series of celebrations and observances during the mid-1970s that paid tribute to the historical events leading up to the creation of the United States as an independent republic...
in 1976). He also designed the Blair Mansion at 7711 Eastern Ave. in
Silver Spring, MarylandSilver Spring is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. It had a population of 71,452 at the 2010 census, making it the fourth most populous place in Maryland, after Baltimore, Columbia, and Germantown.The urbanized, oldest, and...
(1880), now being used as a restaurant. He was also responsible for designing the
Boston Public LibraryThe Boston Public Library is a municipal public library system in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It was the first publicly supported municipal library in the United States, the first large library open to the public in the United States, and the first public library to allow people to...
and the
Boston Hotel BuckminsterBoston Hotel Buckminster is a historic hotel in Boston, Massachusetts. It is located on the triangular intersection of Beacon Street and Brookline Avenue in Kenmore Square...
, both still standing today. In 1902, he designed the
Benjamin Walworth Arnold House and Carriage HouseThe Benjamin Walworth Arnold House and Carriage House are located on State Street and Washington Avenue in Albany, New York, United States. They are brick structures dating to the beginning of the 20th century. In 1972 they were included as a contributing property to the Washington Park Historic...
in
Albany, New YorkAlbany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...
.
McKim, Mead and White also designed the
American Academy in RomeThe American Academy in Rome is a research and arts institution located on the Gianicolo in Rome.- History :In 1893, a group of American architects, painters and sculptors met regularly while planning the fine arts section of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition...
, which crowns the Gianicolo hill, and looks across the city to the Villa Medici and the Borghese gardens. An imposing edifice, the American Academy is built in the style of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the north and south wings of which McKim, Mead, and White designed in 1911.
Works
In the division of projects within the firm, the sociable and gregarious White landed the majority of commissions for private houses. His fluent draftsmanship was highly convincing to clients who might not get much visceral understanding from a floorplan, and his intuition and facility caught the mood. White's
Long IslandLong Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
houses have survived well, despite the loss of
Harbor HillHarbor Hill was a spectacular Long Island mansion built from 1899-1902 in Roslyn, New York, commissioned by Clarence Hungerford Mackay. It was designed by McKim, Mead, and White, with Stanford White supervising the project...
in 1947, originally set on 688 acres (2.8 km²) in
RoslynRoslyn is a village in Nassau County, New York, on the North Shore of Long Island. As of the United States 2010 Census, the village population was 2,770...
. White's Long Island houses are of three types, depending on their locations:
Gold CoastThe North Shore of Long Island is the area along Long Island's northern coast, bordering Long Island Sound. The region has long been the most affluent on Long Island, as well as the most affluent in the New York metropolitan area, which has earned it the nickname "the Gold Coast." Though some...
chateauA château is a manor house or residence of the lord of the manor or a country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally—and still most frequently—in French-speaking regions...
x, neo-Colonial structures, especially those in the neighborhood of his own house at "
Box HillBox Hill Estate is a national historic district located at St. James in Suffolk County, New York. The district encompasses an estate that includes five contributing buildings and one contributing structure. The estate house was the summer home of Stanford White. It was built in 1885 and is a...
" in
Smithtown, New YorkAs of the census of 2000, there were 115,715 people, 38,487 households, and 31,482 families residing in the town. The population density was 2,159.9 people per square mile . There were 39,357 housing units at an average density of 734.6 per square mile...
(White's wife was a Smith), and the South Fork houses from
SouthamptonSouthampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
to Montauk Point. He also designed the
Kate Annette Wetherill EstateKate Annette Wetherill Estate is a national historic district located at Head of the Harbor in Suffolk County, New York. The district encompasses an estate with three contributing buildings, two contributing sites, and two contributing structures...
in 1895.
Among his
Newport, Rhode IslandNewport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about south of Providence. Known as a New England summer resort and for the famous Newport Mansions, it is the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport which houses the United States Naval War...
, "cottages",
RosecliffRosecliff, built 1898-1902, is one of the Gilded Age mansions of Newport, Rhode Island, now open to the public as a museum.The house has also been known as the Herman Oelrichs House or the J. Edgar Monroe House....
(for Mrs.
Hermann OelrichsHermann Oelrichs , was an American businessman, multimillionaire, and owner of Norddeutsche Lloyd shipping. The grandson of a German immigrant, Oelrichs was married in 1890 to Teresa Alice Fair, daughter of United States Senator and Comstock Lode millionaire James Graham Fair...
, 1898–1902) adapted Mansart's
Grand TrianonThe Grand Trianon was built in the northwestern part of the Domain of Versailles at the request of Louis XIV, as a retreat for the King and his maîtresse en titre of the time, the marquise de Montespan, and as a place where the King and invited guests could take light meals away from the strict...
, but provided this house built for receptions, dinners and dances with fluent spatial planning and well-contrived dramatic internal views
en filade.
In his "informal" shingled cottages, there were usually double corridors for separate circulation, (
illustration, right) so that a guest never bumped into a laundress with a basket of bed linens. Bedrooms were characteristically separated from hallways by a dressing-room foyer lined with closets, so that an inner door and an outer door give superb privacy (still the mark of a really good hotel). White lived the same life as his clients, not quite so lavishly perhaps, and he knew how the house had to perform: like a first-rate hotel, theater foyer, or a theater set with appropriate historical references. White was an apt designer, who was ready to do a cover for
Scribner's Magazine or design a pedestal for his friend
Augustus Saint-GaudensAugustus Saint-Gaudens was the Irish-born American sculptor of the Beaux-Arts generation who most embodied the ideals of the "American Renaissance"...
' sculpture. He extended the limits of architectural services to include interior decoration, dealing in art and antiques, and even planning and designing parties. He collected paintings, pottery, and
tapestriesTapestry is a form of textile art, traditionally woven on a vertical loom, however it can also be woven on a floor loom as well. It is composed of two sets of interlaced threads, those running parallel to the length and those parallel to the width ; the warp threads are set up under tension on a...
. If White could not procure the right antiques for his interiors, he would sketch neo-Georgian standing
electrolierElectrolier was the name for a fixture, usually pendent from the ceiling, for holding electric lamps. The word is analogous to chandelier, from which it was formed....
s or a Renaissance library table. Outgoing and social, he possessed a large circle of friends and acquaintances, many of whom became clients. White had a major influence in the "Shingle Style" of the 1880s, on Neo-Colonial style, and the Newport cottages for which he is celebrated.
He designed and decorated Fifth Avenue mansions for the
AstorsThe Astor family is a Anglo-American business family of German descent notable for their prominence in business, society, and politics.-Founding family members:...
, the
VanderbiltsThe Vanderbilt family is an American family of Dutch origin prominent during the Gilded Age. It started off with the shipping and railroad empires of Cornelius Vanderbilt, and expanded into various other areas of industry and philanthropy...
(in 1905), and other high society families. His Washington Square Arch still stands in
Washington Square ParkWashington Square Park is one of the best-known of New York City's 1,900 public parks. At 9.75 acres , it is a landmark in the Manhattan neighborhood of Greenwich Village, as well as a meeting place and center for cultural activity...
, and so do many of his clubs, which were focal points of New York society: the Century, Metropolitan, Players, Lambs, Colony and Harmonie clubs. His clubhouse for the
Atlantic Yacht ClubThe Atlantic Yacht Club is a family-oriented yacht club located on the shores of Gravesend Bay in south Brooklyn. A storied member of the New York sailing community, the club is perhaps best known for its contributions to New York sailing in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when it featured...
, built in 1894 overlooking Gravesend Bay, burned down in 1934. Sons of society families also resided in White's
St. Anthony HallSt. Anthony Hall, also known as Saint Anthony Hall and The Order of St. Anthony, is a national college literary society also known as the Fraternity of Delta Psi at colleges in the United States of America. St...
Chapter House at Williams College, now occupied by college offices.
Murder
During the suggestive chorus song, "I Could Love a Million Girls," at the premiere performance of the musical revue
Mam'zelle Champagne at the Madison Square Roof Garden (on the roof of a building that he had designed 15 years previously), White was shot point blank in the face and killed by Harry Kendall Thaw. Thaw was the jealous millionaire husband of
Evelyn NesbitEvelyn Nesbit was an American artists' model and chorus girl, noted for her entanglement in the murder of her ex-lover, architect Stanford White, by her first husband, Harry Kendall Thaw.-Early life:...
, a popular actress and artist's model, with whom White had had a sexual relationship when she was 16 (to his 47). The initial reaction was one of good cheer as elaborate party tricks amongst the upper echelon of New York Society were common at the time. However, when it became apparent that White was dead, hysteria ensued.
William Randolph HearstWilliam Randolph Hearst was an American business magnate and leading newspaper publisher. Hearst entered the publishing business in 1887, after taking control of The San Francisco Examiner from his father...
's newspapers sensationalized the murder, and it became known as the
Trial of the CenturyTrial of the century is an idiomatic phrase used to describe certain well-known court cases, especially of the 20th century. It is often used popularly as a rhetorical device to attach importance to a trial and as such is not an objective observation but is the opinion of whoever uses it. As...
. Years later, White's son, Lawrence Grant White, would write bitterly, "On the night of June 25th, 1906, while attending a performance at Madison Square Garden, Stanford White was shot from behind [by] a crazed profligate whose great wealth was used to besmirch his victim's memory during the series of notorious trials that ensued." White was buried in
St. James, New YorkSt. James is a census-designated place in Suffolk County, New York, United States. The population was 13,268 at the 2000 census. St. James is part of the Town of Smithtown, New York, located on the North Shore of Long Island. The zip code is 11780....
.
White was noted for his womanizing; he had a red velvet swing installed in an apartment where Nesbit and other girls "in varying degrees of undress" would entertain him, which became a focal point of press coverage of the trial. There are conflicting accounts of whether this swing was in the "
Giraldathumb|right|The Giralda at its various stages of construction: Almohad , Medieval Christian , and Renaissance .The Giralda is a former minaret that was converted to a bell tower for the Cathedral of Seville in Seville...
" tower at the old Madison Square Garden, or in a nearby building on 24th Street.
Fictional portrayals
- The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing (1955 movie)
- The 1975 historical fiction novel Ragtime
Ragtime is a 1975 novel by E. L. Doctorow. This work of historical fiction is primarily set in the New York City area from about 1900 until the United States entry into World War I in 1917...
by E. L. DoctorowEdgar Lawrence Doctorow is an American author.- Biography :Edgar Lawrence Doctorow was born in the Bronx, New York City, the son of second-generation Americans of Russian Jewish descent...
- The musical Ragtime
Ragtime is a musical with a book by Terrence McNally, lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, and music by Stephen Flaherty.Based on the 1975 novel by E. L. Doctorow, Ragtime tells the story of three groups in America, represented by Coalhouse Walker Jr., a Harlem musician; Mother, the matriarch of a WASP family in...
, based on the novel
- The film Ragtime, based on the novel
- "Dementia Americana" - A long narrative poem by Keith Maillard
Keith Maillard is a fiction author and poet.Maillard has lived in various places in the United States and Canada.He attended West Virginia University and was host of a Boston campus radio programme.He moved to Canada in 1970, attaining citizenship in 1976.In the early 1970s, Maillard worked as a...
(1994)
- My Sweetheart's the Man in the Moon – play by Don Nigro
Don Nigro is an American playwright; his plays Anima Mundi and The Dark Sonnets of the Lady have both been nominated for the National Repertory Theatre Foundation's National Play Award...
- La fille coupée en deux ("The Girl Cut in Two") – movie by Claude Chabrol
Claude Chabrol was a French film director, a member of the French New Wave group of filmmakers who first came to prominence at the end of the 1950s...
(2007)
See also
- McKim, Mead and White
- Frederick Manson White
Frederick Manson White was an American architect based in Portland, Oregon. He was the nephew of architect Stanford White, although some sources dispute this...
, an architect, supposedly Stanford White's nephew
- Front page of the New York Times on June 26th, 1906
External links