Stanford White (1853-1906)

Washington Square Arch

New York American on June 25, 1906

Stanford White (November 9, 1853 – June 25, 1906) was an American architect and partner in the architectural firm of McKim, Mead, and 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. His design principles embodied the "American Renaissance". In 1906 White was murdered by millionaire Harry K. Thaw, leading to a widely-reported trial. Image File history File links Stan_white. ... Image File history File links Stan_white. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (816x905, 145 KB) Summary Triumphal arch in Washington Square Park, in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, New York City. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (816x905, 145 KB) Summary Triumphal arch in Washington Square Park, in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, New York City. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1263x1692, 536 KB) Summary New York American, June 25, 1906 Notes Stanford White Licensing This image is in the public domain in the United States. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1263x1692, 536 KB) Summary New York American, June 25, 1906 Notes Stanford White Licensing This image is in the public domain in the United States. ... November 9 is the 313th day of the year (314th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 52 days remaining. ... 1853 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... June 25 is the 176th day of the year (177th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 189 days remaining. ... 1906 (MCMVI) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Architect at his drawing board, 1893 An architect is a person involved in the planning, designing and oversight of a buildings construction. ... From left to right: Will Mead, Charles McKim and Stan White McKim, Mead, and White was the premier architectural firm in the eastern United States at the turn of the twentieth century. ... Beaux-Arts architecture denotes the academic classical architectural style that was taught at the École des Beaux Arts in Paris, the home territory of this style, which influenced American architecture in the period 1885 – 1920. ... For the white nationalist magazine, see American Renaissance (magazine). ... Harry Kendall Thaw (February 12, 1871 - February 22, 1947), son of Pittsburgh coal and railroad baron William Thaw. ...

Birth

Stanford White was the son of Shakespearean scholar Richard Grant White and Alexina Black Mease (1830–1921). William Shakespeare—born April 1564; baptised April 26, 1564; died April 23, 1616 (O.S.), May 3, 1616 (N.S.)—has a reputation as the greatest of all writers in English. ... Richard Grant White (1822 - 1885), shakespearian scholar, born in New York State, was long Chief of the Revenue Marine Bureau, and was one of the most acute students and critics of Shakespeare, of whose works he published two editions, the first in 1865, and the second (the Riverside) in 1883. ...

McKim, Mead and White

Stanford White's architectural career began as the principal assistant to Henry Hobson Richardson, the greatest American architect of the day, creator of a style recognized today as "Richardsonian Romanesque." 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 McKim and William Rutherford Mead to form McKim, Mead and White. Henry Hobson Richardson, portrait by Sir Hubert von Herkomer Trinity Church in Boston is one of Richardsons most famous works. ... Richardsonian Romanesque has both French and Spanish Romanesque characteristics, like the First Presbyterian Church in Detroit, Michigan by architechs George D. Mason and Zachariah Rice in 1891 Richardsonian Romanesque is a style of American architecture named after architect Henry Hobson Richardson, whose masterpiece is Trinity Church, Boston in Massachusetts. ... 1878 (MDCCCLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... 1879 (MDCCCLXXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Charles Follen McKim, portrait by Frances Benjamin Johnston. ... William Rutherford Mead (1846-1928) was an American architect, a part of the famed McKim, Mead, and White firm. ...

White designed the second Madison Square Garden (1890; demolished in 1925), The Cable Building—the Broadway cable car power station (611 Broadway, 1892), Madison Square Presbyterian Church, the New York Herald Building (1894; demolished), the First Bowery Savings Bank, at the Bowery and Grand Street, 1894, Washington Square Arch (1889), Judson Memorial Church on Washington Square, and the Century Club, all in New York City. He helped develop Tesla's Wardenclyffe Tower (his last design). He also built Cocke, Rouss, and Old Cabell Halls at the University of Virginia and rebuilt The Rotunda (University of Virginia) in 1898 after it burned down three years earlier. (His re-creation was later reverted back to Thomas Jefferson's original design for the United States Bicentennial in 1976.) Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG, known colloquially simply as The Garden, has been the name of four arenas in New York City, United States. ... 1890 (MDCCCXC) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar). ... 1925 (MCMXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1892 (MDCCCXCII) was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... 1894 (MDCCCXCIV) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... The Bowery Savings Bank of New York City was chartered in May of 1834 and was changed in November of 1985 to The State Bowery Savings Bank. ... The Bowery is a well-known street in Manhattan that more or less marks the boundary between Chinatown and Little Italy on one side and the Lower East Side on the other—running from Chatham Square in the south to Astor Place in the north. ... The Washington Square Arch Washington Square Park is located within the New York City borough of Manhattan. ... 1889 (MDCCCLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... The Judson Memorial Church is located in Greenwich Village of Manhattan on the south side of Washington Square Park. ... Century club is a variation of the drinking game known as Power Hour. ... Flag Seal Nickname: The Big Apple, The Capital of the World[1], Gotham [2], Metropolis Location Location in the state of New York Government Counties (Boroughs) Bronx (The Bronx) New York (Manhattan) Queens (Queens) Kings (Brooklyn) Richmond (Staten Island) Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) Geographical characteristics Area     City 1,214. ... Wardenclyffe Tower located in Shoreham, Long Island, New York. ... Mascot Cavalier Website www. ... Jeffersons Rotunda, University of Virginia. ... 1898 (MDCCCXCVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 N.S. – July 4, 1826) was the third President of the United States (1801–1809), principal author of the Declaration of Independence (1776), and an influential Founding Father of the United States. ... The United States Bicentennial was celebrated on Sunday, July 4, 1976, the 200th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. ... 1976 (MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1976 calendar). ...

In the division of projects within the firm, the social 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 Island houses have survived well. They are of three types, depending on their locations: Gold Coast chateaux, neo-Colonial structures in the neighborhood of his own house at "Box Hill" in Smithtown (White's wife was a Smith), and the South Fork houses from Southampton to Montauk Point. Mercator projection of Long Island Long Island is an island in New York, USA. At 1,377 square miles (3567 km²) and is home to 7. ... A château ( French for castle; plural châteaux) is a manor house or residence of the lord of the manor or a country house of gentry, usually French, with or without fortifications. ... The Town of Smithtown is in Suffolk County, New York on the North Shore of Long Island. ... Southampton is a city and major port situated on the south coast of England. ... Montauk Point State Park is located at the eastern tip of Long Island, New York in Suffolk County. ...

Metcalfe House floorplan: the simplest Stanford White plan still provided a separate double circulation for servants, in the L-shaped Back Hall

Even in his "informal" shingled cottages, there were usually double corridors for separate circulation, (illustration, left) 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-Gaudens' 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 tapestries. If White could not procure the right antiques for his interiors, he would sketch neo-Georgian standing electroliers 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. Stanford White, floorplan of the Metcalfe House This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... Stanford White, floorplan of the Metcalfe House This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... Augustus Saint Gaudens, 1905 Augustus Saint-Gaudens (Dublin, March 1, 1848 - Cornish, New Hampshire, August 3, 1907), was the Irish born American sculptor of the Beaux Arts generation who most embodied the ideals of the American Renaissance. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... This article is about tapestry the textile. ...

Mansions and social clubs

He designed and decorated Fifth Avenue mansions for the Astors, the Vanderbilts (in 1905), and other high society families. His Washington Square Arch still stands in Washington Square Park, and so do many of his clubs, which were focal points of New York society: the Century, Metropolitan, Players, Lambs, Colony and Harmony clubs. He was noted for his womanizing and installed a red velvet swing in his bachelor-like apartment in the "Giralda" tower at old Madison Square Garden, where he entertained young women. The red velvet swing became a focal point of press coverage of the trial. Street sign at Fifth Avenue and East 57th street Fifth Avenue is a major thoroughfare in New York City. ... The Astor family, founded by the German immigrant John Jacob Astor and his wife Sarah Todd, became the wealthiest family in the United States during the 19th century. ... Vanderbilt University is a private, nonsectarian, coeducational research university in Nashville, Tennessee. ... 1905 (MCMV) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... The Washington Square Arch Washington Square Park is located within the New York City borough of Manhattan. ... A view of the park showing the Washington Square Arch and the central fountain Washington Square Park is a public park located within the New York City borough of Manhattan. ... Seville (Spanish: Sevilla, see also different names) is the artistic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain, irrigated by the river Guadalquivir (, ). It is the capital of Andalusia and of the province of Sevilla. ...

Death

During the suggestive chorus song, "I Could Have Loved A Thousand Girls," at the premiere performance of the musical revue Mamzelle Champagne at the Madison Square Roof Garden, a building that he had designed 15 years previously, White was shot point blank in the face and killed by Harry K. Thaw. Thaw was the jealous millionaire husband of Evelyn Nesbit, a popular actress and artist's model, whom White had seduced when she was 16. 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 Hearst's newspapers sensationalized the murder, and it became known as the Trial of the Century. 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 a crazed profligate whose great wealth was used to besmirch his victim's memory during the series of notorious trials that ensued." Mamzell Champagne was a musical revue with book by Edgar Allen Woolf, music by Cassius Freeborn, produced by Henry Pincus, which opened June 25, 1906. ... Harry Kendall Thaw (February 12, 1871 - February 22, 1947), son of Pittsburgh coal and railroad baron William Thaw. ... Evelyn Nesbit (December 25, 1884 – January 17, 1967) was an artists model and chorus girl, noted for her entanglement in the murder of her ex-lover, architect Stanford White, by her first husband, Harry K. Thaw. ... William Randolph Hearst William Randolph Hearst (April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) was an American newspaper magnate, born in San Francisco, California. ... A number of court cases have been called the trial of the century by the United States media and other analysts. ...

Books

The "White Literature"

• Baker, Paul R., Stanny: The Gilded Life of Stanford White, The Free Press, NY 1989
• Collins, Frederick L., Glamorous Sinners
• Lessard, Suzannah, The Architect of Desire: Beauty and Danger in the Stanford White Family, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1997 (written by White's great-granddaughter, a Whiting Award-winning writer for The New Yorker)
• Langford, Gerald, The Murder of Stanford White
• Mooney, Michael, Evelyn Nesbit and Stanford White: Love and Death in the Gilded Age
• Roth, Leland M., McKim, Mead & White, Architects, Harper & Row, Publishers, NY 1983
• Samuels, Charles, The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing
• Thaw, Evelyn Nesbit, The Story of My Life 1914
• Thaw, Evelyn Nesbit, Prodigal Days 1934
• Thaw, Harry, The Traitor

Architecture

• Samuel G. White, with Jonathan Wallen (photographer), The Houses of McKim, Mead and White 1998. Lavish illustrations.
• Wayne Craven, Stanford White: Decorator in Opulence and Dealer in Antiquities, 2005. Stanford White as an interior decorator and a dealer in the fine and decorative arts

Fictional works

The following works were based at least in part on the Thaw/White murder:

• Ragtime - the novel written by E. L. Doctorow, which inspired adaptations in other media
  • Ragtime - the film
  • Ragtime - the musical play
• The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing - 1955

Ragtime is a 1975 novel by E. L. Doctorow. ... E.L. Doctorow, photograph by Jill Krementz, from back cover of Doctorows 1975 novel Ragtime Edgar Lawrence Doctorow (born January 6, 1931, New York, New York) is the author of several critically acclaimed novels that blend history and social criticism. ... Ragtime is a 1981 motion picture based on the historical novel Ragtime by E. L. Doctorow. ... Ragtime is a Broadway musical with book by Terrence McNally, lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, and music by Stephen Flaherty, based on the 1975 novel Ragtime by E. L. Doctorow. ...

External links

• Colorized photo of Stanford White
• Randall's Lost New York City Cable Building is included as a special resource.
• "Stanford White on Long Island" a museum essay on White's residential projects
• "Harry Thaw's trial" Scans of a dinner program with Jurists autographs
• New York Architecture Images-New York Architects-McKim, Mead, and White Firm history with images
• Stanford White's Gravesite