McKim, Mead & White

Pennsylvania Station in New York City in 1911

McKim, Mead & White was a prominent American architectural firm that thrived at the turn of the twentieth century. The firm's founding partners were Charles Follen McKim (1847–1909), William Rutherford Mead (1846–1928) and Stanford White (1853–1906). They hired many other architects, partners, associates, designers and draftsmen, who came to prominence during or after their time at the firm.

The firm's New York City buildings include Manhattan's former Pennsylvania Station, the Brooklyn Museum, and the main campus of Columbia University. Elsewhere in New York State and New England, the firm designed college, library, school and other buildings such as the Boston Public Library and Rhode Island State House. In Washington, D.C., the firm renovated the West and East Wings of the White House, and designed Roosevelt Hall on Fort Lesley J. McNair and the National Museum of American History. Across the United States, the firm designed buildings in Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Washington and Wisconsin. Other examples are in Canada, Cuba and Italy.

History

McKim and Mead joined forces in 1872. They were joined in 1879 by White, who, like McKim, had worked for architect Henry Hobson Richardson. Their work applied the principles of Beaux-Arts architecture, the adoption of the classical Greek and Roman stylistic vocabulary as filtered through the Parisian École des Beaux-Arts, and the related City Beautiful movement after 1893 or so. Its vision was to clean up the visual confusion of American cities and imbue them with a sense of order and formality during America's Gilded Age.^[1]

According to one scholar, "Running through the world of McKim, Mead & White was a sense of the exploration of life's pleasures. A circle of bisexual and homosexual entertainment can be traced within the office. The circle included Stanford White, [Augustus] Saint Gaudens, Joseph M. Wells, Frank Millet, Whitney Warren, Thomas Hastings and probably [William R.] Mead, and many others."^[2]

The firm retained its name long after the deaths of founding partners White (1906), McKim (1909), and Mead (1928).^[3]

Among the firm's final works under the name McKim, Mead & White was the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. Designed primarily by partner James Kellum Smith, it opened in 1964.^[4]

Smith died in 1961, and the firm was soon renamed Steinmann, Cain and White. In 1971, it became Walker O. Cain and Associates.^[5]

Selected works

New York City

Building	Location	Year	Features	Image
Villard Houses	451 Madison Avenue, Manhattan	1884
Harvard Club of New York	Manhattan	1894
169 West 83rd Street	Manhattan	1885	for David H. King, Romanesque revival
Goelet Building	900 Broadway at East 20th Street, Manhattan	1897
Former New York Life Insurance Company Building	Manhattan	1894-1898	White marble Renaissance palazzo-style building. MMW took over the commission upon the death of Stephen D. Hatch in 1894.[6]
Madison Square Garden II	Madison Square, Manhattan	1890	second of four buildings known by this name; razed in 1925
Century Club	New York City	1891
Cable Building	611 Broadway, New York City	1893
West End Collegiate Church	West End Avenue, Manhattan	1892
Washington Arch	Washington Square Park, New York City	1892
Metropolitan Club	1 East 60th St, NYC, New York	1893
Prospect Park	Brooklyn, New York	1895–1900	Various features including Parade Place on Lookout Hill, Peristyle, Park Circle granite fixtures, Lullwater Bridge, 1895 Maryland Monument on Lookout Hill
Morningside Heights campus	Columbia University	1893–1900	general design and individual buildings including Low Memorial Library, Philosophy Hall, John Jay Hall, Avery Hall, Hamilton Hall
University Heights campus, New York University	Bronx	1891–1900	including Hall of Fame for Great Americans 1900, now site of Bronx Community College
Harmonie Club	4 East 60th Street, Manhattan	1905
New York Herald Building	Manhattan	1895	razed in 1921
Brooklyn Museum	Brooklyn	1895
University Club of New York	New York City	1899
Morgan Library & Museum	New York City	1903	expanded in 1928
New York Public Library branches	New York City	1902-1914	designed 11 branches including Hamilton Grange Branch 1905–1906, 115th Street Branch 1907–1908
IRT Powerhouse	New York City	1904
Prison Ship Martyrs' Monument	Brooklyn, New York	1908
Knickerbocker Trust Building	60 Broadway, Manhattan	1909	now razed
The Manhattan Municipal Building	1 Centre Street, Manhattan	1909–1915
Pennsylvania Station	Manhattan	1910	above-ground portion razed in 1963
998 Fifth Avenue	Manhattan	1912
Bellevue Hospital Center	Manhattan	1912
James Farley Post Office	Manhattan	1913	often regarded as the architectural twin of New York City's Pennsylvania Station
Racquet and Tennis Club	Manhattan	1916–1918
Hotel Pennsylvania	Manhattan	1919
Town Hall	123 West 43rd Street, Manhattan	1921
110 Livingston Street	Brooklyn	1926	former Elks Lodge, former headquarters of New York City Department of Education
Savoy-Plaza Hotel	Manhattan	1927	razed in 1965
Liggett Hall	Governors Island, New York	1929
DeKalb Hall and Information Science Center	Brooklyn	1955
North Hall at Pratt Institute	Brooklyn	1957

New England and New York State

Building	Location	Year	Features	Image
Newport Casino	Newport, Rhode Island	1880
John Howard Whittemore House	Naugatuck, Connecticut	1880s	[7]
Isaac Bell House	Newport, Rhode Island	1881–1883
Cyrus McCormick summer estate, shingle-style	Richfield Springs, New York	1882	razed 1957
Emdalar Castle - Tickner Estate	South Kingstown, Rhode Island	1883	Restored to its original condition in 2014.
Narragansett Pier Casino	Narragansett, Rhode Island	1883
Salem School (Naugatuck, Connecticut)	Naugatuck, Connecticut	1884	[7]
Wolf's Head Society, "Old Hall"	New Haven, Connecticut, Yale University	1884
Charles J. Osborn Residence	Mamaroneck, NY	1885	Mamaroneck Beach and Yacht Club since 1952[8]
"Four Chimneys" Mansion	New Rochelle, New York	?
John F. Andrew Mansion, 32 Hereford Street	Boston, Massachusetts	1886
William G. Low House	Bristol, Rhode Island	1887	epitome of Shingle Style architecture; razed 1962
Algonquin Club	Boston	1888
Johnston Gate, Harvard University	Cambridge, Massachusetts	1889
Fayerweather Hall, Amherst College	Amherst, Massachusetts	1890
Walker Art Building, Bowdoin College	Brunswick, Maine	1894
Whittemore Memorial Library	Naugatuck, Connecticut	1894	[7]
Adams Power Plant Transformer House	Niagara Falls, New York	1895
Boston Public Library	Boston	1895
Dudley Pickman House, 303 Commonwealth Avenue (Bay Bay)	Boston	1895
Reid Hall, Manhattanville College	Purchase, New York	1895
Rhode Island State House	Providence, Rhode Island	1895–1904
Garden City Hotel	Garden City, New York	1895	burned 1899
House for Frederick Vanderbilt, "Hyde Park"	Hyde Park	1895–1898
Woodlea	Briarcliff Manor, New York	1895	now Sleepy Hollow Country Club
James L. Breese House "The Orchard"	Southampton, New York	1897-1906
Rosecliff	Newport, Rhode Island	1898–1902
Harbor Hill	Long Island, New York	1899–1902	razed 1947
Symphony Hall	Boston, Massachusetts	1900
Hill-Stead Museum	Farmington, Connecticut	1901	estate of Alfred Atmore Pope, designed with Theodate Pope Riddle
Astor Courts	Rhinebeck, New York	1902–1904	estate of John Jacob Astor
Rockefeller Hall, Brown University	Providence, Rhode Island	1904	now Faunce House
Naugatuck High School	Naugatuck, Connecticut	1904	Hillside Middle School since 1959
Waterbury Union Station	389 Meadow Street, Waterbury, Connecticut	1909	Renaissance Revival style featuring a clock tower modeled on the Torre del Mangia in Siena, Italy[9]
Plymouth Rock portico	Plymouth, Massachusetts	1920
Foster Hall, University at Buffalo South Campus	Buffalo, New York	1921
Harvard Business School	Boston, Massachusetts	1925
Ira Allen Chapel, University of Vermont	Burlington, Vermont	1925
Olin Memorial Library, Wesleyan University	Middletown, Connecticut	1925
Memorial Chapel, Union College	Schenectady, New York	1925
Lincoln Alliance Building	Rochester, New York	1926
Rochester Savings Bank	Rochester, New York	1927
George Eastman House Museum National Historic Site	Rochester, New York	c.1903	Mr. Eastman hired McKim, Mead & White to design the interior of his Georgian Colonial Revival Mansion which was nearly an exact, large scale duplicate of the Robert Root House that was built by the firm in Buffalo, New York c.1894	[10]
Burlington City Hall	Burlington, Vermont	1928
Levermore Hall, Blodgett Hall, and Woodruff Hall, Adelphi University	Garden City, New York	1929
Schenectady City Hall	Schenectady, New York	1931–1933
The Little Red Schoolhouse, Amherst College	Amherst, Massachusetts	1937
Housatonic Railroad Station[11]	U.S. Route 7, Stockbridge, Massachusetts	1893	English Gothic Revival style, stone
New York Central Railroad Station	Ardsley Avenue and Hudson Road, Ardsley-on-Hudson	1895	Shingle Style with Tudor and Romanesque Revival elements[11]
The Cedars/Lord's Castle Remodel	Piermont, New York	1892	"The original gable ends were stepped, the pointy "Gothick" windows were Edwardianized, the wooden porches reconstructed in stone, the tower on the west capped with a conical roof, the forest of delicate chimney pots combined and bulked up, and the reconfigured interior given heavy doses of classical columns, balusters, dadoes, fireplaces and moldings." [12][13]

New Jersey

Building	Location	Year	Features	Image
Florham Campus	Fairleigh Dickinson University	1897	originally "Florham," the estate of Hamilton Twombly and Florence Vanderbilt, one of many Vanderbilt houses
Orange Public Library	Orange, New Jersey	1901
St. Peter's Episcopal Church	Morristown, New Jersey	1889-1913	English-medieval style parish church.
FitzRandolph Gate	Princeton, New Jersey	1905	The official entrance of Princeton University
University Cottage Club	Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey	1906	One of the Eating clubs at Princeton University
Pennsylvania Station	Raymond Plaza West at Market Street, Newark, New Jersey	1935	Art Deco style[11]

Washington D.C.

Building	Location	Year	Features	Image
White House, West Wing and East Wing	1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C.	1903	Renovation
Roosevelt Hall, National War College	Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C.	1903–1907
National Museum of American History	Washington, D.C.	1964
Patterson Mansion	15 Dupont Circle NW	1903
St. John's Church, Lafayette Square	1525 H St NW, Washington, DC 20005	1919	Renovation
Pedestal, Jeanne d'Arc[14]	Meridian Hill Park	1922	Measures about 10 feet long and 6 feet high

Other U.S. locations

Building	Location	Year	Features	Image
First Methodist Episcopal Church, Lovely Lane United Methodist Church	Baltimore	1884
Cramond	Tredyffrin Township, Pennsylvania	1886
McKelvy House (formerly "Oakhurst"), Lafayette College, College Hill	Easton, Pennsylvania	1888	[15]
New York Life Insurance Building	Kansas City, Missouri	1890
Open Gates, George Sealy Mansion	Galveston, Texas	1891
Germantown Cricket Club	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	1891
The Agricultural Building at the World Columbian Exposition	Chicago, Illinois	1893		Agricultural Building — Official Views Of The World's Columbian Exposition — 18
Old Cabell Hall, Cocke Hall, and Rouss Hall, University of Virginia	Charlottesville	1898 approx
Savoyard Centre	Detroit, Michigan	1900	originally State Savings Bank; National Register of Historic Places 1982
Protection of the Flag Monument	Athens, Pennsylvania	1900–1902
English Building, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign	Champaign, Illinois	1905
Carr's Hill, or University of Virginia President's House	Charlottesville, Virginia	1906
Omaha National Bank Building	Omaha, Nebraska	1906	originally the New York Life Building, 1889)[16]
Girard Bank	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	1908
Fayette National Bank Building	Lexington, Kentucky	1914	[17]
Minneapolis Institute of Arts	Minneapolis, Minnesota	1915
Peabody Demonstration School	Nashville, Tennessee	1915	now University School of Nashville
National McKinley Birthplace Memorial Library and Museum	Niles, Ohio	1915
Butler Institute of American Art	Youngstown, Ohio	1919	listed on National Register of Historic Places
Cohen Memorial Hall (Vanderbilt Fine Arts Gallery), Vanderbilt University	Nashville, Tennessee	1928 approx
Milwaukee County Courthouse	Milwaukee, Wisconsin	1931
Chittenden Hall, University of Vermont	Burlington, Vermont	1947
Dietrich Hall, now Steinberg-Dietrich Hall, University of Pennsylvania	Pennsylvania	1952

Other countries

Building	Location	Year	Features	Image
Bank of Montreal Head Office	Montreal	1901–1905	additions
Bank of Montreal Building	Winnipeg, Manitoba	1913
American Academy in Rome Main Building	Rome, Italy	1914
Hotel Nacional de Cuba	Havana, Cuba	1930

Notable architects of McKim, Mead & White

• Henry Bacon – worked at the firm from about 1886 through 1897; left with fellow employee James Brite to open their own office.
• William A. Boring – worked at the firm in 1890 before forming a separate partnership with Edward Lippincott Tilton.
• Charles Lewis Bowman – a draftsman at the firm until 1922, noted for his large number of private residences throughout Westchester County, New York including Bronxville, Pelham Manor, Mamaroneck and New Rochelle.
• A. Page Brown - worked with the firm beginning in the 1880s; went to California, where he was known for the San Francisco Ferry Building.
• Walker O. Cain – worked at the firm; he took it over in 1961 and renamed it several times.
• J.E.R. Carpenter – worked at the firm for several years before designing much of upper Fifth and Park Avenues, including 907 Fifth Avenue, 825 Fifth Avenue, 625 Park Avenue, 550 Park Avenue and the Lincoln Building on 42nd Street.
• John Merven Carrère (1858–1911) – worked with McKim, Mead & White from 1883 through 1885, then joined Thomas Hastings to form the firm Carrère and Hastings.
• Thomas Harlan Ellett (1880–1951).
• Cass Gilbert – worked with the firm until 1882, when he went to work with James Knox Taylor; later designed many notable structures, among them the George Washington Bridge and the Woolworth Building.
• Arthur Loomis Harmon – later of Shreve, Lamb and Harmon.
• Thomas Hastings (1860–1929) – of Carrère and Hastings, worked with McKim, Mead & White from 1883 through 1885.
• John Galen Howard (1864-1931)
• John Mead Howells (1868-1959)
• William Mitchell Kendall (1856 – 1941), worked with the firm from 1882 until his death.
• Harrie T. Lindeberg – started at the firm in 1895 as an assistant to Stanford White and remained with the firm until White's death in 1906.
• Austin W. Lord – worked with the firm in 1890-94 on designs for Brooklyn Museum of Arts and Sciences, the Metropolitan Club, and buildings at Columbia University
• Harold Van Buren Magonigle (1867-1935)
• Albert Randolph Ross
• Philip Sawyer (1868-1949)
• James Kellum Smith (1893–1961) – a member of the firm from 1924 to 1961; full partner in 1929, and the last surviving partner of MM&W. He primarily designed academic buildings, but his last major work was the National Museum of American History.
• Egerton Swartwout of Tracy and Swartwout – both Tracy and Swartwout worked together for the firm on multiple projects prior to starting their own practice.
• Edward Lippincott Tilton – helped design the Boston Public Library in 1890 before leaving with Boring.
• Robert von Ezdorf – took over much of the firm's business after White's death.
• Joseph M. Wells (1853–1890) – worked as firm's first Chief Draftsman from 1879–90; often considered to be the firm's "fourth partner", and largely responsible for its Renaissance Revival designs in 1880s.
• William M. Whidden – worked at the firm from at least 1882 until 1888; projects included the Tacoma and Portland hotels in Washington and Oregon, respectively; moved to Portland, Oregon, in 1888 to finish the hotel and established his own firm with Ion Lewis
• York and Sawyer – Edward York (1863–1928) and Philip Sawyer (1868–1949) worked together for the firm before starting their own partnership in 1898.

References

Notes

Bibliography

• Baker, Paul R. Stanny: The Gilded Life of Stanford White. New York: Free Press, 1989. ISBN 0-02-901781-5
• Broderick, Mosette. Triumvirate: McKim, Mead & White: Art, Architecture, Scandal, and Class in America's Gilded Age New York: Knopf, 2010. ISBN 0-394-53662-2
• McKim, Mead & White. A Monograph of the Work of McKim, Mead & White, 1879-1915. New York: Architectural Book Publishing Co., 1915-1920, 4 volumes. Reprinted as The Architecture of McKim, Mead & White in Photographs, Plans and Elevations, with an introduction by Richard Guy Wilson (New York: Dover Publications, 1990). ISBN 0486265560
• Roth, Leland M. The Architecture of McKim, Mead & White, 1870-1920: A Building List (Garland Reference Library of the Humanities). Garland Publishing (September 1, 1978). 978-0824098506
• Roth, Leland M. McKim, Mead and White, Architects. Harper & Row; First edition (October 1985). 978-0064301367

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to McKim, Mead & White.

• McKim, Mead and White flickr group
• Randall's Lost New York City Cable Building is included as a special resource.
• McKim, Mead & White in Buffalo
• McKim, Mead, and White
• McKim, Mead, and White
• FindaGrave site with photos of gravestone of William and Olga Mead in Rome, Italy
• FindaGrave site with photos of Joseph M. Wells and his gravestone in Massachusetts
• McKim, Mead & White Architectural Records Collection at the New-York Historical Society
• Brooklyn Museum Building Online Exhibition
• McKim, Mead & White architectural records and drawings, circa 1879-1958, held by the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University