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Egerton Swartwout

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Egerton Swartwout
BornMarch 3, 1870
Fort Wayne, Indiana
DiedFebruary 18, 1943 age 71
New York, NY
OccupationArchitect

Egerton Swartwout (March 3, 1870 – February 18, 1943) was an American architect, most notably associated with the New York architectural firm Tracy and Swartwout. His buildings, numbering over 100, were typically in the Beaux-arts style.

Family

Egerton was the first son of Satterlee Swartwout (grandson of Brigadier General Robert Swartwout) and Charlotte Elizabeth Edgerton (daughter of Ohio Representative, Alfred Peck Edgerton). Egerton married British born Isabelle Geraldine Davenport, June 20, 1904 in Cambridge England, with whom he had two children. Author Robert Egerton Swartwout (1905-1951), better known as R.E. Swartwout and the first American to cox the Cambridge University rowing team to victory over Oxford University in 1930, and Charlotte Elizabeth Swartwout (1908-1908).

Training and career

Egerton Swartwout graduated from Yale University in 1891 with a B.A. degree. He had no formal training in architecture, but spent two summers during college working in small architect's offices. After graduating from Yale he managed to get a letter of introduction to Stanford White of McKim, Mead and White. White took him into the firm as an unpaid student, and after a few months he was hired as a draftsman.[1]

Swartwout spent ten years at the firm and rose through the ranks of draftsmen. He did most of his work there for Charles McKim and had a hand in the design of several of McKim's building, including the Low Memorial Library at Columbia University. The four internal staircases at the corners of the rotunda leading to four exits were Swartwout's idea, which McKim liked and adopted into the plan. But Swartwout wrote in his memoir that he later regretted the idea, because when he used the library he could never manage to find the same stairs going down that he came up on, and when he was in a hurry to catch a train he often found himself leaving by the wrong exit in the rear of the building.[2]

Swartwout also did drawings for the University Club, another of McKim's important commissions, and borrowed some of its detail when he designed the Missouri State Capitol. He also worked with socialite Theodate Pope Riddle building Hill-Stead, now Hill-Stead Museum, for her parents. When he left McKim, Mead and White, Swartwout had charge of thirteen building projects.[3]

In 1900 he teamed up with co-worker and fellow Yale graduate, Evarts Tracy to form Tracy and Swartwout. The new firm designed many significant buildings, including the Missouri State Capitol. After Tracy's death in 1922, Swartwout continued in solo practice.

During his lifelong career, Swartwout developed guidelines for judging architectural competitions for the American Institute of Architects, making it possible for young architects to succeed. One of the first architects to incorporate acoustics in his designs, Wallace Clement Sabine was consulted for many of Swartwout's buildings. He sat on the American Battle Monuments Commission and served as vice chairman of the American Academy of the Fine Arts. He was awarded the Gold Medal by the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects in 1920 and served 3 terms as president of that chapter.[4] He was made an honorary member of the Societe Nationale Des Beaux Arts.[5]

Death

Egerton Swartwout died in New York, NY on February 18, 1943. Eric Gugler, designer of the Theodore Roosevelt Island Memorial, served as executor for his estate. He is buried alongside his mother and daughter in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Sleepy Hollow, New York.

Buildings

References

  1. ^ Swartwout, Egerton. An Architectural Decade.
  2. ^ Swartwout, Egerton. An Architectural Decade.
  3. ^ Swartwout, Egerton. An Architectural Decade.
  4. ^ a b c d e Turkel, Stanley (2011). Built to Last:100+ Year-Old Hotels in New York. 1663 Liberty Drive Bloomington Indiana 47403: Author House. p. 268. ISBN 978-1-4634-4340-5.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  5. ^ Bulletin of Yale University Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale University Deceased During the Year I942-I943 Series 4 0 I January I944 Number I
  6. ^ a b c d e f Dearinger, David B (2004). Paintings and Sculpture in the Collection of The National Academy of Design Vol. I 1826-1925. New York and Manchester: Hudson Hills Press. p. 493. ISBN 1-55595-029-9.
  7. ^ Woodward, Robert Irving (2001). John's Church in the Wilderness A history of St. John's Cathedral in Denver, Colorado, 1860-2000. 390 Saint Paul St. Denver, CO 80206: Prairie Publisher's Inc. p. 46. ISBN 0-938075-82-9.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  8. ^ Ball, Jeffrey (2011). Art of the Missouri Capitol History in Canvas, Bronze, and Stone. Columbia and London: University of Missouri Press. p. 4. ISBN 978-0-8262-1921-3.
  9. ^ a b The Grove Encyclopedia od American Art. 198 Madison Ave. NY, NY: Oxford University Press. 2011. p. 621. ISBN 978-0-19-533579-8.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  10. ^ a b Federal Reserve Bank of Boston (1920). The Commission of Fine Arts 8th Report January 1, 1918-July 1, 1919. Washington D.C.: Washington Government printing Office. p. 89.

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