McKim, Mead, and White

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McKim, Mead, and White was a prominent architectural firm in the eastern United States at the turn of the twentieth century. The firm consisted of Charles McKim, William Mead, and Stanford White. McKim and White studied under Henry Hobson Richardson before forming their own firm. They were associated with the City Beautiful and Beaux Arts movements, which aimed to clean up the visual confusion of American cities and imbue them with a sense of order and noble formality.

New York Life Insurance Building, Kansas City, Missouri,
built 1888-1890
Rhode Island State House, Providence, completed in 1904
Salem School, from a 1905 postcard

Contents

[edit] Works

Their works include:

[edit] Noted architects who once worked at the firm

  • Lewis Colt Albro - who later partnered briefly with Lindeberg for several commissions.
  • William Alciphron Boring - worked at the firm in 1890 before forming a separate partnership with Tilton.
  • Charles Lewis Bowman - a draftsman at the firm, noted for his large volume of private residences concentrated in Eastchester, New York, worked for the firm until 1922.
  • Walker O. Cain - worked at the firm then took it over and renamed it (starting 1961) several times.
  • Harrie Thomas Lindeberg - started at the firm in 1895 as an assistant to Stanford White and remained with the firm until White's death in 1906.
  • Edward Lippincott Tilton - assisted with the design of the Boston public library in 1890 before leaving with Boring to form a separate firm.
  • William M. Whidden (1857-1929) worked at the firm from at least 1882 until 1888. Projects included the Tacoma and Portland Hotels. Whidden relcated to Portland, Oregon, in 1888 to finish the hotel and establised his own firm with Ion Lewis (1858-1933).

[edit] McKim, Mead & White in the Mid-20th Century

Despite being known for its Beaux-Arts architecture at the turn of the 20th century, the firm remained active into the 1960s under its original name and designed the prominent National Museum of American History in Washington DC, one of the firm's last works, opening in 1964[3]. McKim Mead & White was also involved with an urban renewal project at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn in the 1950s and designed three buildings as part of the project: DeKalb Hall, ISC Building and North Hall [4] [5]. In 1961, McKim, Mead & White was succeeded by the firm Steinman, Cain, and White. By 1971 it had become Walker O. Cain and Associates.[6]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Blackwell, D. and The Naugatuck Historical Society (1996) "Images of Naugatuck". Arcadia Publishing
  2. ^ Bluffton University Digital Imagine Project
  3. ^ "NMAH Mission & History". National Museum of American History. Smithsonian Institution. http://americanhistory.si.edu/about/mission.cfm. Retrieved on 2007-09-26. 
  4. ^ "Pratt Institute: DeKalb Hall 1954-55". http://pratt.edu/~yyoon/dekalb.htm. Retrieved on 2007-09-26. 
  5. ^ Hilary Ballon & Kenneth T. Jackson. Robert Moses and the Modern City: The Transformation of New York. p. 374. 
  6. ^ [http://library.bowdoin.edu/arch/images/gallery/library/library.shtm

[edit] External links

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