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In Pursuit of an American Image: A History of the Italian Renaissance for Harvard Architecture Students at the Turn of the Twentieth Century

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 July 2009

Maureen Meister
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Extract

After a five-month sojourn in Rome, the author Henry James departed with “an acquired passion for the place.” The year was 1873, and he wrote eloquently of his ardor, expressing appreciation for the beauty in the “solemn vistas” of the Vatican, the “gorgeous” Gesù church, and the “wondrous” Villa Madama. Such were the impressions of a Bostonian who spent much of his adult life in Europe. By contrast, in June of 1885, the young Boston architect Herbert Langford Warren wrote to his brother about how he was “glad to be out of Italy.” He had just concluded a four-month tour there. He had also visited England and France, and he was convinced that the architecture and sculpture of those countries were superior to what he had seen in Italy, although he admired Italian Renaissance painting. When still in Rome, he told his brother how disagreeable he found the “Renaissance architecture in Italy contemporary with Michael Angelo and later under Palladio and Vignola,” preferring the work of English architects Inigo Jones and Wren. Warren appreciated some aspects of the Italian buildings of the 15th and early 16th centuries, but he considered the grandeur and opulence of later Renaissance architecture especially distasteful.

Type
Research Article
Information
Prospects , Volume 28 , October 2004 , pp. 185 - 202
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2004

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References

NOTES

A shorter version of this essay was presented at the 2003 annual meeting of the Renaissance Society of America, held in Toronto, in a session entitled “Taking Italy Home: Art and Architecture of the Italian Renaissance in Twentieth-Century America,” chaired by Diane Cole Ahl, Lafayette College, and organized by Christopher Carlsmith, University of Massachusetts, Lowell.

1. James, Henry, “From a Roman Notebook,” in Italian Hours (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1909), 281–82, 290, 293, 299Google Scholar.

2. “Letters from Europe Written by H. Langford Warren,” bound volume of photocopies, Loeb Library, Special Collections, Harvard University, June 30, 1885. The original letters are owned by Mrs. Elizabeth Warren Stoutamire of Tallahassee, Florida.

3. “Letters from Europe,” May 27, 1885.

4. See Meister, Maureen, Architecture and the Arts and Crafts Movement in Boston: Harvard's H. Langford Warren, Hanover, N.H.: University Press of New England, 2003Google Scholar.

5. Moore, Charles, The Life and Times of Charles Fallen McKim (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1929), 136–37, 166–69, 248–51Google Scholar.

6. Chafee, Richard, “The Teaching of Architecture at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts,” in The Architecture of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, ed. Drexler, Arthur (New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1977), 61–109Google Scholar.

7. Wilson, Richard Guy, Pilgrim, Dianne, and Murray, Richard, The American Renaissance, 1876—1917 (New York: Brooklyn Museum and Pantheon, 1979)Google Scholar.

8. Roth, Leland M., A Concise History of American Architecture (1979; reprint with corrections, New York: Harper and Row, Icon Editions, 1980), 191–95Google Scholar. For a more in-depth treatment of the firm's work, see also Roth, , McKim, Mead and White, Architects (New York: Harper and Row, Icon Editions, 1983)Google Scholar; Wilson, Richard Guy, McKim, Mead and White, Architects (New York: Rizzoli, 1983)Google Scholar; and McKim, Mead and White, , The Architecture of McKim, Mead and White in Photographs, Plans and Elevations, introduction by Richard Guy Wilson (originally published in 4 volumes in 1915–20; rept. New York: Dover, 1990)Google Scholar.

9. Roth, , A Concise History, 213–15Google Scholar.

10. See Brooks, Michael W., “New England Gothic: Charles Eliot Norton, Charles H. Moore, and Henry Adams,” in The Architectural Historian in America, ed. MacDougall, Elisabeth Blair (Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 1990), 113–23Google Scholar.

11. See Mongan, Agnes, “Harvard and the Fogg,” in The Early Years of Art History in the United States: Notes and Essays on Departments, Teaching, and Scholars, ed. Smyth, Craig Hugh and Lukehart, Peter M. (Princeton: Department of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University, 1993), 47–50Google Scholar.

12. I consulted Ruskin, John's The Seven Lamps of Architecture (1849; rept. New York: A. L. Burt, [18–?])Google Scholar.

13. Ruskin, in “The Lamp of Truth” (196) and in “The Lamp of Obedience” (68).

14. Ruskin, John, The Stones of Venice, 3 vols. (1851–53; rept. New York: J. Wiley, 1873)Google Scholar.

15. Norton, Charles Eliot, Historical Studies of Church Building in the Middle Ages: Venice, Siena, Florence (New York: Harper, 1880)Google Scholar; and Moore, Charles Herbert, Development and Character of Gothic Architecture (New York: Macmillan, 1890)Google Scholar.

16. Moore, Charles Herbert, The Character of Renaissance Architecture (New York: Macmillan, 1905), 1Google Scholar. In his preface, Moore thanked Norton for reading his manuscript (vii).

17. Norton, Charles Eliot, “The Lack of Old Homes in America,” Scribner's Magazine 5 (05 1889): 636–40Google Scholar.

18. Warren made this connection when he wrote, “Perhaps the most interesting fact about early New England building is that it thus maintains and continues, in very simple form, the old traditions of workmanship, and thus visibly connects our life with its roots in medieval England.” See Warren, H. Langford, “Architecture in New England,” in Picturesque and Architectural New England (Boston: D. H. Hurd, 1899), 1:10Google Scholar.

19. Ibid., 18–27.

20. Ibid., 28–31.

21. Ibid., 29.

22. Warren, H. Langford, “The English Tradition,” letter to the Nation 100, no. 2600 (04 29, 1916): 468–69Google Scholar.

23. Warren, , “Architecture in New England,” 9Google Scholar.

24. Warren, H. Langford, “Recent Domestic Architecture in England,” Architectural Review 11, no. 1 (01 1904): 12Google Scholar.

25. For a discussion of Warren's architectural history courses, see Meister, , “An Architectural Program for Harvard,” chap. 3 in Architecture and the Arts and Crafts MovementGoogle Scholar. See also Alofsin, Anthony, “Toward a History of Teaching Architectural History: An Introduction to Herbert Langford Warren,” Journal of Architectural Education 37, no. 1 (Fall 1983), 2–7CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Alofsin, , “Tempering the Ecole: Nathan Ricker at the University of Illinois, Langford Warren at Harvard, and Their Followers,” in The History of History in American Schools of Architecture, 1865–1975, ed. Wright, Gwendolyn and Parks, Janet (Princeton: Princeton Architectural Press, 1990), 73–88Google Scholar.

26. Warren, H. Langford, “The Influence of France Upon American Architecture,” a paper read at the 33rd annual convention of the American Institute of Architects,Pittsburgh,November 14, 1899,published in American Architect and Building News, November 25, 1899, 67–68Google Scholar.

27. Ibid. In “Architecture in New England,” he writes that the “modesty” of early New England buildings may inspire a more “wholesome” architecture in the future (9).

28. Untitled report covered in American Architect and Building News, 12 26, 1896, 110Google Scholar. See also Warren, , “Architecture in New England,” 42Google Scholar.

29. Warren, , “The Influence of France,” 68Google Scholar.

30. Unsigned, untitled lead editorial, American Architect and Building News, 01 30, 1897, 49Google Scholar. While the Anglo-American designs that Warren promoted contrasted most clearly with Beaux-Arts designs of the period, they also differed from the Colonial Revival designs that were produced by architects who embraced the Beaux-Arts mode. Mardges Bacon considers how American architects trained in Paris or in the Beaux-Arts tradition fused elements of French and American classicism in their Colonial Revival designs (see “Toward a National Style of Architecture: The Beaux-Arts Interpretation of the Colonial Revival” in The Colonial Revival in America, ed. Axelrod, Alan [New York: W. W. Norton and Winterthur Museum, 1985], 91–121Google Scholar). Among the examples of these hybrids that she discusses are the Portland, Maine, City Hall by Carrère and Hastings (1909–12) and the house for Mrs. Alfred Corning Clark, New York City, by Ernest Flagg (1898–1900).

31. Warren's lecture notes, dated 1895, amount to just a few pages, although they suggest themes that he emphasized. They are in the Harvard University Archives, HUG 1875.105. The following examinations in the Harvard University Archives provide more information about the course: “Harvard University Examinations, 1911–1912, June 1912,” “Architecture 1c,” HUC 7911, box 278; and “Harvard University Examinations, 1913–1914,” “Fine Arts 5a (Architecture 1c),” HUC 7913, box 278. See also Warren, H. Langford, “Architecture: Renaissance and Modern,” in The Fine Arts: A Course of University Lessons on Sculpture, Painting, Architecture, and Decoration, in Both Their Principles and History, ed. Buckley, Edmund (Chicago: International Art Association, 1900), 190–234Google Scholar, the publication of which was followed by The Fine Arts: Study Brochures, ed. Buckley, Edmund (Chicago: National Art Society, 1907)Google Scholar, to which Warren contributed.

32. Warren, , “Architecture: Renaissance and Modern,” 190–91Google Scholar.

33. Warren's lecture notes, Harvard University Archives, HUG 1875.105, “Architecture 1c, Lecture I.”

34. Warren, , “Architecture: Renaissance and Modern,” 190–92Google Scholar. See also Warren, , “Architecture in New England,” 41–44Google Scholar.

35. Warren's lecture notes, “Architecture 1c, Lecture I.”

36. Warren, , “Architecture: Renaissance and Modern,” 209–10Google Scholar.

37. These building types are also most frequently the subject of the department's lantern slides for the study of Italian Renaissance architecture. They are documented by “Lantern Slides Log Book 1, Architecture Department,” unpublished bound book, first entries from 1901, Visual Resources, Gund Hall, Harvard University.

38. Gulick, M. B., “Michelangelo as an Architect,” Architectural Quarterly of Harvard University 1, no. 2 (06 1912): 58–72Google Scholar. In the same journal, Kenneth John Conant published “Raphael as Architect” (2, no. 4 [June 1914]).

39. Gulick, , “Michelangelo as an Architect,” 61Google Scholar.

40. Ibid., 62.

41. Ibid., 72.

42. Moore, , Character of Renaissance Architecture, 3–4Google Scholar.

43. Ibid., 4–5.

44. Ibid., 6.

45. See Muir, Edward, “The Italian Renaissance in America,” American Historical Review 100, no. 4 (10 1995): 1095, 1105–6CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Haskins, published The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century in 1927Google Scholar.

46. “Harvard University Examinations, 1911–1912, June 1912,” “Architecture 1c,” HUC 7911, box 278.

47. The book that I consulted was Fletcher, Banister F., A History of Architecture on the Comparative Method for the Student, Craftsman and Amateur, rev. 5th ed. (orig. 1896, by Banister Fletcher and Banister F. Fletcher) (London: B.T. Bats-ford, 1905)Google Scholar.

48. Hamlin, A. D. F., A Text-book of the History of Architecture (New York: Longmans, Green, 1896)Google Scholar. A review of these two textbooks appeared in “Books and Newspapers,” American Architect and Building News, 05 16, 1896, 70Google Scholar. See also Marder, Tod, “Renaissance and Baroque Architectural History in the United States,” Architectural Historian in America, 161–74Google Scholar.

49. Hamlin, , A Text-book, 272Google Scholar.

50. Ibid., 382.

51. Ibid., 395.

52. For more on Hamlin, see Plunz, Richard, “Reflections on Ware, Hamlin, McKim, and the Politics of History on the Cusp of Historicism,” in The History of History in American Schools of Architecture, 1865–1975, ed. Wright, Gwendolyn and Parks, Janet (Princeton: Princeton Architectural Press, 1990)Google Scholar.

53. Richardson hired Warren in 1879, the same year the firm of McKim, Mead and White was established in New York City. Warren worked in Richardson's Brookline studio until 1884. See Meister, , “Early Years,” chap. 1 in Architecture and the Arts and Crafts MovementGoogle Scholar.

54. “New Music Hall Design,” Boston Transcript, 01 15, 1894Google Scholar.

55. Warren, , “Architecture in New England,” illustrations following pages 20, 42 and 44Google Scholar.

56. Ibid., 44.

57. “Remarks of Professor H. Langford Warren of Harvard,” in Granger, Alfred Hoyt, Charles Follen McKim: A Study of His Life and Work (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1913), 121Google Scholar. The typed tribute by Warren from 1909 is at Harvard University Archives, UAV 322.7, subseries III, box 3.

58. Moore, Life and Times of Charles Follen McKim.

59. Norton, Charles Eliot, “A Criticism of Harvard Architecture Made to the Board of Overseers,” Harvard Graduates Magazine 12, no. 47 (03 1904): 359–62Google Scholar.

60. Moore, , Life and Times of Charles Follen McKim, 95Google Scholar.

61. Ibid., 109.

62. See McKim, Mead and White, Architecture of McKim, Mead and White.

63. Warren, H. Langford, “The Year's Architecture,” in Catalogue of the Architectural Exhibition (Boston: Boston Architectural Club and Boston Society of Architects, 1899), 17Google Scholar.

64. Ibid., 17–18.

65. Moore, , Life and Times of Charles Follen McKim, 136–37, 164–68Google Scholar.

66. Ibid., 248–50.

67. Warren's architectural designs are discussed in Meister, Architecture and the Arts and Crafts Movement.

68. “Lincoln's New Town Hall,” Boston Herald, 11 6, 1891Google Scholar. See also Martin, Margaret Mutchler, Inheritance: Lincoln's Public Buildings in the Historic District (Lincoln, Mass.: Lincoln Historical Society, 1987), 52–58Google Scholar.

69. The Billerica, Massachusetts, Town Hall was illustrated in American Architect and Building News on 09 22, 1894Google Scholar, and on September 5, 1896. Other municipal projects included a design for the Claremont, New Hampshire, Town Hall, 1895; a design for a municipal building in New York City with Alexander S. Jenney, 1896; and the Concord, New Hampshire, City Hall, built in 1902–3, by Warren, Smith and Biscoe.

70. Warren, , “Architecture in New England,” 43Google Scholar.

71. Warren, H. Langford, “The Department of Architecture of Harvard University,” Architectural Record 22, no. 1 (07 1907): 134–50Google Scholar.

72. Moore, , Life and Times of Charles Follen McKim, 95Google Scholar.

73. Change and Continuity: A Pictorial History of the Boston Athenaeum (Boston: Boston Athenaeum, 1985)Google Scholar.

74. Goldfarb, Hilliard T., The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum: A Companion Guide and History (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and Yale University Press, 1995)Google Scholar.

75. Ibid., 16.

76. Union Station was demolished in 1927, to be replaced by Boston's North Station and Boston Garden. See Shand-Tucci, Douglass, Built in Boston: City and Suburb, 1800–2000, rev. ed. (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1999), 147, 208Google Scholar; and Kay, Jane Holtz, Lost Boston (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1999), 262–63Google Scholar.

77. Brush, Kathryn, Vastly More Than Brick and Mortar: Reinventing the Fogg Art Museum in the 1920s (Cambridge: Harvard University Art Museums, in press)Google Scholar.

78. Corbusier, Le, When the Cathedrals Were White, trans. Hyslop, Francis E. Jr (orig. Quand les Cathédrales Etaient Blanches, in Direction, 1938–39; English trans. 1947; rept. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1964), 60Google Scholar.

79. Ibid., 83.