U Ideas of General Interest -- October 2000University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Contact: Melissa Mitchell, Arts Editor (217) 333-5491; [email protected]
Note: The hyphen in the name New-York Historical Society (third paragraph) is correct
ARCHITECTURE
Cass Gilbert, designer of well-known buildings, deserves higher profile
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Few American architects of the 20th century left such a broad and lingering imprint on the American landscape as Cass Gilbert, whose designs range from the Gothic-style Woolworth Building and United States Custom House in New York City to the U.S. Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C., the St. Louis Art Museum and the Minnesota State Capitol.
But until recently, Gilbert has remained largely in the shadows of his monumental achievements.
Among those who have been working to bring the architect and his work to light is University of Illinois architectural scholar Sharon Irish. Her recently published book "Cass Gilbert: Architect" (Monacelli Press) was the first to offer a comprehensive record of Gilbert's work. The flurry of interest in Gilbert, she said, has continued with an exhibition, "Inventing the Skyline: the Architecture of Cass Gilbert," which runs through Jan. 21, 2001, at the New-York Historical Society. Irish, who contributed an essay to the exhibition catalog, will be one of the featured speakers at an Oct. 14 symposium organized by the society in conjunction with the show. Irish also is contributing a chapter to another book about the architect, scheduled for publication next year.
Why all the sudden interest in Gilbert?
"In part," Irish said, "much of the attention may be due to the fact that most of the buildings he designed are 100 years old, and the owners are doing centenaries." And, thanks to renewed interest in building preservation in recent years, people are beginning to appreciate the quality craftsmanship that is one of Gilbert's signatures. His buildings -- from the New York skyscrapers to the monumental government buildings -- typically borrow features from the great European architectural traditions of previous centuries. They are distinguished by highly ornamental facades and grand interiors. And while most of the architect's major commissions are extant today and generally regarded as community icons by those who pass by or through them, few seem to know much about the man who built them.
"One of the reasons he has been forgotten," Irish said, "is that his approach to design more or less died with him. His last major building, the U.S. Supreme Court Building, was completed in 1935, a year after his death. Modernism -- with a capital 'M' -- was introduced to America in 1932 and began to flourish here after World War II." And that approach to architecture, she said, "was not regarded as one way, but the way of doing architecture."
In the end, Irish said, "Cass Gilbert was a lucky guy" -- in terms of having worked on projects that remain visible and viable today. "He happened to work on buildings with tremendous sites, such as fronting on a city park." And at the time they were constructed, she said, "he was aware of how his buildings would relate to other buildings, and designed them not to blend in, but to coexist. He was respectful of the buildings he thought had integrity."
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