Architecture Commons^™

The Huntington Mansion In New York: Economics Of Architecture And Decoration In The 1890s, Isabelle Hyman

The Courier

In 1889 railroad millionaire Collis P. Huntington (1821-1900) and his wife Arabella (d. 1924) purchased a large property on the southeast comer of New York's Fifth Avenue and Fifty-seventh Street, the most fashionable residential neighborhood of the period, and undertook to build there another of the great stone piles that constituted the habitats of the very rich during the city's Gilded Age. Aspects of the history of the Fifty-seventh Street Huntington mansion have been recounted, but supplementary information about its decoration and about the artists and craftsmen who embellished it can be found in the George Arents Research Library at …

The Marcel Breuer Papers And Michael Ventris: A Biographical Note, Isabelle Hyman

The Courier

This article provides some biographical insights into the life of the famous architect and classicist Michael Ventis (who gained fame for helping to decipher the Mycenaen script Linear B). The facts are gleaned from correspondence between Michael, his mother Dorothea, and the architect Marcel Breuer, who designed her apartment. The letters are preserved in the Marcel Breuer Papers in the Syracuse University Special Collections.

The "Modern" Skyscraper, 1931, Carol Willis

The Courier

This article details the history of The Philadelphia Saving Fund Society (PSFS) building, constructed through the partnership of William Lescaze and George Howe in 1932. The author argues the building to this day remains "modern", displaying complexity and a varitey of color and materials. The building is also, the author says, the first skyscraper designed in the International Style. The author also examines the PSFS in the context of other tall buildings of the period, usually described as belonging to the Art Deco style.

William Lescaze And The Machine Age, Arthur J. Pulos

The Courier

In this article, the author talks about the history of modern architecture, and in particular William Lescaze's contributions. He gives the reader background about the Machine Age in America, and how Lescaze evolved in his art, eventually dedicating his life to Formalism and the International Style.

The William Lescaze Symposium Panel Discussion, Dennis P. Doordan

The Courier

This article is an adapted form of a panel discussion that took place discussing the architect William Lescaze. Overall, the panel seemed divided between those who judged Lescaze's achievements acoording to the established tenets of orthodox modernism and those who sought a new critical framework for evaluating Lescaze's contribution to the rise of modern design in American based upon typological, professional, and commercial criteria.

European Modernism In An American Commercial Context, Robert Bruce Dean

The Courier

This article seeks to explain why architect Willaim Lescaze's career proceeded the way it did. The author also makes observations about Lescaze's life in America during a secular, materialist age.

William Lescaze And Cbs: A Case Study In Corporate Modernism, Dennis P. Doordan

The Courier

During the period 1934 to 1949, the Columbia Broadcasting System provided William Lescaze with a series of commissions that, considered together, constitute one of the largest, most varied, and most important bodies of work in his entire career.

Lescaze was responsible for the design of a major new broadcasting facility, the interior design of studio and office spaces, the design of a variety of studio furnishings such as microphones and clocks, the design of a mobile broadcasting vehicle, and the graphic design for CBS facilities across the country. A careful review of the material indicates that Lescaze made a major …

A Brief Survey Of Architectural Holdings At The Syracuse University Libraries, Werner Seligmann

The Courier

This article gives a brief look at the various holdings regarding modern architecture located at Syracuse University. Among special note are the Lescaze papers, which the rest of this Courier issue examines in detail.

William Lescaze Reconsidered, William H. Jordy

The Courier

This article gives a critical look to William Lescaze's architectural career. While he had early success, his later career seems to pale in comparison. Regardless, the author praises Lescaze for remaining eclectic and not adhering too strongly to the orthodoxy of modernism.

Foreward ; William Lescaze And The Rise Of Modern Design In America, Chester Soling, Dennis P. Doordan

The Courier

Foreword: On behalf of the Syracuse University Library Associates, I should like to say what a very great pleasure it is to welcome the Courier back into print. It began publication in 1958 and appeared regularly until two and a half years ago. Henceforward, it will come out twice annually, in the spring and in the fall. This issue, which comes to you in a new cover design and format, is unusual also in that it deals almost wholly with the career and influence of a single person, namely the architect William Lescaze (1896-1969), a major part of whose papers …