McKim, Mead, and White

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.

Seth Low Memorial Library, Columbia University, built 1895

Rhode Island State House, Providence, completed in 1904

Manhattan Municipal Building, built 1909-1915

Pennsylvania Station, Manhattan, built 1905-1910

Naugatuck High School (c. 1910)

Salem School, from a 1905 postcard

Works

Their works include:

• 110 Livingston Street, Brooklyn, New York, former Elks Lodge, and former headquarters of the New York City Department of Education
• 998 Fifth Avenue, New York City
• The Agricultural Building at the World Columbian Exposition (1893,Chicago, Illinois)
• American Academy in Rome (Main Building)
• John F. Andrews Mansion, 32 Hereford Street, Boston, Massachusetts
• Isaac Bell House, Newport, Rhode Island
• Bellevue Hospital Center
• Boston Public Library, Boston
• Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York
• The Cable Building, 611 Broadway 1892, New York City
• Century Club, New York City
• Columbia University's Morningside Heights campus: general design and individual buildings including Low Memorial Library, Philosophy Hall, John Jay Hall, Hamilton Hall
• Harvard Club of New York, New York
• Johnston Gate, Harvard University, Cambridge MA.
• John Howard Whittemore House Naugatuck, Connecticut (1880s)^[1]
• James Farley Post Office (often regarded as the architectural twin of New York City’s Pennsylvania Station)
• Faunce House (then Rockefeller Hall), Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island (1904)
• Fayerweather Hall, Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts, (1890)
• Dietrich Hall, now Steinberg-Dietrich Hall, University of Pennsylvania, 1952
• The Garden City Hotel, Garden City, New York
• Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn, New York
• Hall of Fame for Great Americans at Bronx Community College (formerly New York University)
• Harbor Hill on Long Island, New York, built 1899-1902, destroyed 1947.
• Hill-Stead, estate of Alfred Atmore Pope, designed in collaboration with Theodate Pope Riddle (now known as Hill-Stead Museum), Farmington, Connecticut
• Hotel Pennsylvania
• Kingscote (mansion), Newport, Rhode Island mansion
• Levermore Hall, Blodgett Hall, and Woodruff Hall, Adelphi University, Garden City, New York
• Liggett Hall, Governors Island, New York
• Lullwater Bridge, Prospect Park, Brooklyn, New York
• Madison Square Garden II at Madison Square, New York City (the second of four buildings known by this name)
• The Manhattan Municipal Building, 1 Centre Street, New York City
• Maryland Monument, Lookout Hill, Prospect Park, Brooklyn, New York
• Cyrus McCormick summer estate, shingle-style Richfield Springs, New York (1882; razed 1957)
• Metropolitan Club, 1 East 60th St, New York City
• Morgan Library, New York City
• Milwaukee County Courthouse, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (1931)
• The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, Minnesota
• Naugatuck High School Naugatuck, Connecticut(1904); Hillside Middle School since 1959^[1]
• Old Cabell Hall, Cocke Hall, and Rouss Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
• Olin Memorial Library, Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut
• Parade Place, Lookout Hill, Prospect Park, Brooklyn, New York
• Park Circle granite fixtures, Prospect Park, Brooklyn, New York
• Pennsylvania Station, Newark, New Jersey
• Pennsylvania Station, New York City (above-ground structure destroyed in 1965)
• Peoples State Bank, Detroit, Michigan
• Peristyle, Prospect Park, Brooklyn, New York
• Prison Ship Martyrs' Monument, Brooklyn, New York
• Racquet and Tennis Club, New York City
• Reid Hall, Manhattanville College, Purchase, NY
• Rhode Island State House, Providence, Rhode Island
• Rosecliff, Newport, Rhode Island
• Savoy-Plaza Hotel New York City
• Salem School Naugatuck, Connecticut(1884)^[1]
• University Club of New York, New York City
• University Cottage Club Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey
• Villard Houses, 451 Madison Avenue, New York City
• Whittemore Memorial Library Naugatuck, Connecticut (1894)^[1]
• Walker Art Building, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine, (1894)
• Washington Arch, Washington Square Park, New York City
• The West Wing and East Wing of the White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington D.C. - 1903
• The renovation of the Theodore Roosevelt White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington D.C. in 1903.
• English Building, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois

Noted architects who once worked at the firm

• 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.
• 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 Tipton.
• 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.
• Edward Lippincott Tipton - assisted with the design of the Boston public library in 1890 before leaving with Boring to form a separate firm.

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^[2]. 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 ^{[3] [4]}. In 1961, McKim, Mead & White was succeeded by the firm Steinman, Cain, and White. By 1971 it had become Walker O. Cain and Associates.^[1].

References

External links

• Hill-Stead Museum, Farmington, Connecticut
• McKim, Mead and White flickr group
• Randall's Lost New York City Cable Building is included as a special resource.