Carrère and Hastings
Carrère and Hastings, the firm of John Merven Carrère (/kəˈrɛər/ kə-RAIR; November 9, 1858 – March 1, 1911) and Thomas Hastings (March 11, 1860 – October 22, 1929), was one of the outstanding American Beaux-Arts architecture firms. Located in New York City, the firm practiced from 1885 until 1929, although Carrère died in an automobile accident in 1911.
Both men studied at the
Carrère
John Merven Carrère was born in
Carrère was most active in the firm's large civic and commercial projects, including the House and Senate office buildings on Capitol Hill, the Manhattan Bridge and its approaches, and the New York Public Library Main Branch. He was interested in civic affairs in New York, where, with the help of Elihu Root, he helped establish the Art Commission of New York City. Later his public service extended to the national arena. In the 1890s he worked with other leaders of the American Institute of Architects to persuade the US Treasury Department to implement the Tarsney Act, which had been passed by Congress in 1893 to allow the federal government to award architectural commissions for its buildings through open design competitions. During the extended Tarsney controversy, Jeremiah O'Rourke, the Supervising Architect of the Treasury Department, resigned. Carrère was offered the job, an offer he very publicly considered but ultimately declined, writing, "the system, not the man, should be changed."
Carrère was engaged in the development of city planning in the United States. He wrote pamphlets and lectured at universities and to civic groups on the subject. He collaborated with
Hastings
Thomas S. Hastings was born in New York City on March 11, 1860. His father, also Thomas S. Hastings (1827–1911), was a noted Presbyterian minister, homiletics professor, and dean of the
Upon returning to New York, Hastings entered the office of McKim, Mead & White, the leading American firm of the
Hastings is credited with many of the firm's designs and, in part because he survived Carrère by eighteen years, he is the often cited as the leader of the firm. He lectured widely and wrote a number of influential articles, later collected by David Gray in his brief biography of the architect.
Hastings died of complications of an appendectomy on October 23, 1929. Some of his papers were given to the American Academy of Arts & Letters, where he was a member and treasurer for many years. He was survived by his wife but left no heirs.[3]
Collaboration and beyond
The firm's first major commission came from a parishioner of Rev. Hastings, Henry Morrison Flagler, the Florida developer and railway tycoon, for whom the partners built the
Carrère and Hastings were among the best-connected New York architects, and benefited from associations with the richest and most powerful of the city's citizens. Clients included
One of the largest contributions of the firm was in the realm of urban design, a result of Carrère's abiding interest in the
The office's significant skyscrapers were not designed until the late 1910s and early 1920s when, in association with other architects, Hastings' office worked on the Cunard Building (1917–21) and the Standard Oil Building (1920–28), which stand across the street from each other on Broadway at Bowling Green. Hastings was a critic of tall buildings in cities, warning that buildings over six stories (the height of Parisian hôtels particuliers) produced alienation by removing references to human scale, and destroyed the urban streetscape.
Changing styles and the rise of
Selected works
- First Presbyterian Church of Rumson, New Jersey, 1885 (this church also has 3 authentic Tiffany windows)
- Ponce de León Hotel, St. Augustine, Florida, 1885–87, now part of Flagler College
- Hotel Alcazar, St. Augustine, Florida, 1887, now the Lightner Museum
- The Commonwealth Club, Richmond, Virginia, 1891
- Edison Building, New York City, 1891 (razed)
- New York Evening Mail, New York City, 1892
- Brookside Park, Tarrytown, New York, 1892
- Central Congregational Church, Providence, Rhode Island, 1893
- Jefferson Hotel, Richmond, Virginia, 1895
- Cairnwood Mansion, Bryn Athyn College, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, 1895
- Paterson City Hall, Paterson, New Jersey, 1896[5]
- New York Public Library Main Branch, New York City, 1897–1911
- Burrwood, one of the Long Island, New York, 1898–1899 (razed)
- Mary Scott (Mrs Richard T.) Townsend house (Cosmos Club), Washington, D.C., 1898–1901
- Vernon Court, Newport, Rhode Island, 1898
- Blairsden, Peapack, New Jersey, 1898–1903
- Bellefontaine, Giraud Foster house, Lenox, Massachusetts, 1899
- Hamilton Fish Park and Play Center, New York City, 1900 (original park razed)
- Henry Flagler's Whitehall, Palm Beach, Florida, 1900–1901
- Woolsey Hall and other buildings on the Hewitt Quadrangle, Yale University, 1901
- Blair Building, New York City, 1902 (razed)
- Knole, Herman B. Duryea house, Westbury, New York, 1903
- Metropolitan Opera House interior, New York City, 1903 (razed)
- Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C., 1903–1908[6]
- Goldwin Smith Hall and Rockefeller Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, both 1904
- First Church of Christ, Scientist, West 96th Street, New York City, 1904
- William Collins Whitney Squash Court, at his Aiken Winter Colony estate in Aiken, South Carolina
- Trader's Bank Building, Toronto, 1905
- Arden, E.H. Harriman house, Harriman, New York, 1905–09
- McKinley Monument, Buffalo, New York, 1907
- Cheney-Balzell Manor House, Wellesley, Dover, MA, 1907 -Massachusetts Horticultural Society
- Cannon House Office Building, Washington, D.C., 1908
- Bagatelle, Thomas Hastings house, Old Westbury, New York, 1908
- Century Theatre, New York, 1909 (razed 1931)
- Nemours, Alfred I. DuPont house, Wilmington, Delaware, 1909–10
- Col. Oliver Hazard Payne Estate, Esopus, New York, 1909–11
- Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, New York City, 1910
- Administration Building, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, D.C.., 1910
- Bangor Savings Bank Building, Bangor, Maine, 1912
- Portland City Hall, Portland, Maine, 1912
- W. B. Thompson Mansion, Yonkers, New York, 1912
- U.S. Rubber Company Building, New York City, 1912
- Bank of Toronto head office, Toronto, 1913 (razed)
- Henry Clay Frick House, now housing the Frick Collection, 1 East 70th Street, New York City, 1913–1914
- William Starr Miller house, New York City, 1914, now housing the Neue Galerie
- Sidney Lanier Monument, Atlanta, 1914
- Union Pacific Railroad Depot, 300 South Harrison Street, Pocatello, Idaho, 1915[7]
- Grand Army Plaza, New York City, 1916
- Divident Hill pavilion in Weequahic Park, Newark, New Jersey, 1916
- Kumler Chapel (site of Freedom Summer), Western College, now Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, 1917-18
- Colton Chapel, Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania, dedicated October 1916
- Hotel Washington, Washington, D.C., 1917
- Arlington Memorial Amphitheater, Arlington, Virginia, 1920
- Cunard Building, New York City, as consulting architects to Morris & O'Connor, 1921
- Boise Union Pacific Railroad Depot, 2603 Eastover Terrace, Boise, Idaho, 1925[7]
- Mausoleum of Herbert Eaton, 3rd Baron Cheylesmore in Highgate Cemetery, London, 1926[8]
- Standard Oil Building, New York City, 1926
- Louisville War Memorial Auditorium, Louisville, Kentucky, 1929
- Market Street Bridge, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, 1929
- Embassy of Laos, Washington, D.C. 1929
Gallery
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Hotel Alcazar, St. Augustine, FL, 1887
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Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, New York City, NY, 1910
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New York Public Library Main Branch, New York City, NY, 1911
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Portland City Hall, Portland, ME, 1912
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Henry Clay Frick House, New York City, NY, 1914
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Arlington Memorial Amphitheater, Washington, DC, 1920
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Boise Union Pacific Railroad Depot, Boise, ID, 1925
References
- Nolan, David. Fifty Feet in Paradise: The Booming of Florida. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1984.
- ^ Charles Warren, "John Merven Carrère," in Hewitt, et al., Carrère & Hastings Architects, vol. 1, (New York, Acanthus Press: 2006).
- ^ David Gray, Thomas Hastings, architect: collected writings, with a short biography (Boston, Houghton Mifflin), 1933.
- ^ Hewitt, Lemos, Morrison, Warren, Carrère and Hastings Architects. (New York, Acanthus Press: 2006): 1–40.
- ^ Mark Alan Hewitt, "Introduction," in Hewitt, et al., Carrère & Hastings Architects," op. cit.
- ^ City of Paterson Downtown Commercial Historic District Design Guidelines (PDF) (Report). City of Paterson Historic Preservation Commission. n.d. Retrieved February 7, 2021.
- ^ "The Russell Senate Office Building". Architect of the Capitol. Retrieved February 7, 2021.
- ^ ISBN 978-0471143895.
- ^ "MAUSOLEUM OF HENRY EATON, LORD CHEYLESMORE IN HIGHGATE (WESTERN) CEMETERY". www.historicengland.org.uk. Retrieved December 9, 2021.
Bibliography
- Hewitt, Mark Alan; Kate Lemos, William A. Morrison, Charles D. Warren (2006). Carrère and Hastings, Architects. New York: Acanthus Press. ISBN 978-0-926494-42-8
- Ossman, Laurie; Ewing, Heather (2011). Carrère and Hastings, The Masterworks. Rizzoli USA. ISBN 978-0-8478-3564-5.
External links
- Pictures and Info on Carrère & Hastings' Long Island Commissions
- Biographies and architectural careers
- Carrère and Hastings biographies, and the Life Magazine Building, now the Herald Square Hotel
- New York Public Library illustrated
- New York Architecture Images- New York Architects Carrère and Hastings
- "Whitehall" (Henry Flagler mansion) — Flagler Museum — Palm Beach, Florida.
- Carrère & Hastings Digital Collection, with over 200 drawings for the Ponce de Leon Hotel (now Flagler College), the Memorial Presbyterian Church in St. Augustine, and select others[permanent dead link]
- Carrère & Hastings architectural drawings and papers, circa 1899-1930. Held by the Department of Drawings & Archives,Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University.