By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. A leading architecture firm of the time that helped define New York as we know it today was McKim, Mead & White, made up of Charles McKim, William Mead and Stanford White. From the late 19th century through the early 20th, the upper echelons of American society prospered in a way the country had never seen before, allowing the largely rural young nation to elevate itself, particularly aesthetically, to the levels of sophistication found in European metropolises. One architectural practice dominated this market—McKim, Mead & White. RELATED: See Firsthand the Architectural Ghosts of New York City. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement (updated as of 1/1/21) and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement (updated as of 1/1/21) and Your California Privacy Rights. Burnham & Root were first named consulting architects, but Burnham resigned that position to become head of construction. McKim, Mead, and White, 1879-1910 Published/Created: 1893 Digital Collection: Visual Resources Collection Repository: Visual Resources Collection Access Restrictions: Yale … © 2021 Condé Nast. Established by Charles McKim, William Mead, and Stanford White in 1879, the firm quickly rose to prominence with its Beaux Arts masterpieces heavily inspired from the trio’s travels through Europe. The World’s Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893, which included buildings by McKim, Mead, and White, commemorated the 400th anniversary of the “discovery” of the New World by Christopher Columbus and also helped modern Americans rediscover the … While the ground floor followed Charles McKim's concept of a classic Stair Hall with broad doorways leading to the main rooms, the surviving paneling and woodwork reveal Stanford White's mastery of elaborate surface decoration and exemplify the firm's use of built-in furniture and glistening … In 1879 McKim joined William Rutherford Mead and Stanford White to found McKim, Mead & White, which became the most successful and influential American architectural firm of its time. The Gould Memorial Library was once part of New York University’s University Heights campus in the Bronx; the institution sold this campus to the City University of New York in 1973, and it now serves as a library for the Bronx Community College. The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Art & Architecture Collection, The New York Public Library. The successor firm kept the same corporate name after the death of the original partners. McKim, Mead & White were at the top of their field at the turn of the 19th century. This prominently sited Classical Revival building, dating from 1907–14, was commissioned to house city offices. All rights reserved. A balloon rising over the Midway Plaisance, World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893. Burnbam . McKim, Mead & White built this Beaux Arts private residence for F. W. Vanderbilt in the Hudson Valley town of Hyde Park. Chicago/Turabian Format. Photo by Detroit Publishing Co. via Library of Congress There are many, many examples in Manhattan, from the Woolworth Building to the mostly vanished mansions of 5th Ave, to many of the fine office and manufacturing buildings in the Madison Square area. Biographical / Historical. U.S. Government Building, World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893. Letter written by 16-year-old Jane Elliott Sever during her visit to the World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893. Elizabeth White is a writer, edi­ tor, and fonner publisher, while Schaf­ fer is a professor ofarchitecturalhistory; tile difference in their backgrounds may explain the difference in their works. The firm's founding partners Charles Follen McKim, William Rutherford Mead and Stanford White were giants in the architecture of their time, and remain important as innovators and leaders in the development of … Completed in 1930, Chastellux was built on 8.2 acres above Tuxedo Lake from a design by legendary architects McKim, Mead & White. Photography by Courtesy of Princeton Architectural Press. Behind the calm pillared facades and Classical porticoes of the great “White City” the visitor found unexpected excitement and novelty. For the second iteration of Madison Square Garden in New York City (the current structure is the fourth), McKim, Mead & White designed this Moorish-influenced tower based on the Cathedral of Seville. McKim, Mead & 'White (New York, 1998). The Washington Square Arch in New York’s Greenwich Village was designed to celebrate the 100th anniversary of George Washington’s inauguration. The neoclassical Low Memorial Library at Columbia University in New York was inspired by the Pantheon in Rome. Until 1887 the firm excelled at informal summer houses built of shingles, and McKim designed one of the most significant of these, the residence at Bristol, Rhode Island, of W.G. Printed Material (1915) 1915: Box: 10: Bliss, Mrs. Robert W., Residence, Washington, DC. Among their works are the original Pennsylvania Station, Columbia University’s library, and the Brooklyn Museum in New York City, not to mention the Boston Public Library; a number of grand private homes in Newport, Rhode Island; and a renovation of the White House in Washington, D.C. From the most elegant townhouse in New York to Penn Station they created brilliant buildings at every scale. WorldCat record id: 86132941 Stanford White (1853-1906) was an American architect, and a partner in the architectural firm of McKim, Mead, and White. Architectural firm in New York formed by the partnership of William Rutherford Mead (1846-1928), Charles Follen McKim (1847-1909), and Stanford White (1853-1906). Ring in the new year with a Britannica Membership, This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/event/Worlds-Columbian-Exposition, Encyclopedia of Chicago - World's Columbian Exposition, Public Broadcasting Service - People and Events - The World's Columbian Exposition.