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Monday, 6 February 2006 | Elif Sungur
Cityscapes Revealed: Highlights from the Collection
The National Building Museum presents a first-time survey of its holdings in the long-term exhibition Cityscapes Revealed: Highlights from the Collection. Cityscapes Revealed explores America's architectural heritage through original building fragments; rare, early-20th-century photographs; intricate architectural drawings; and more. The exhibition reflects the Museum's rich permanent collection relating to quintessentially American, 20th-century-building typologies, from Beaux-Arts-style residences to main street storefronts and sleek downtown skyscrapers. The exhibition, presented in honor of the Museum's 25th anniversary, is on view in first-floor galleries.
Conceived as a visual primer for decoding the urban environment, the exhibition is organized as a walking tour of the cityscape, and anchored by a series of large architectural elements-including a copper dormer from the Carnegie Mansion on Millionaires' Row in Manhattan (1902); a sheet-metal section of Salt Lake City's legendary Z.C.M.I. department store (1901); and an Art Deco terra cotta window surround from the lost S.H. Kress & Co. five-and-dime in Phoenix (1933).
The exhibition also draws from a number of the Museum's most significant collections, including the Northwestern Terra Cotta Collection (one of the largest collections of such working drawings in the world), the S.H. Kress & Co. Collection, the Wurts Brothers Photography Collection, the James Stewart Construction Company Collection, the Turner City Collection, the Ernest L. Brothers Interior Design Collection, the American Brick Collection, and the Pension Building Collection. Vintage toy building sets, made of composite stone, metal, and plastic, will also be included. As a whole, the numerous collections represented will illuminate various facets of the building process and document evolving American architectural styles, construction techniques, and materials preferences.
Northwestern Terra Cotta Collection
Terra cotta became America's preeminent material for detailing commercial structures in the last decade of the 19th century and production expanded rapidly in the early decades of the 20th century as elaborate façade ornamentation and then Art Deco styles were employed on many buildings. During this time, the Northwestern Terra Cotta Company was one of the first and also the largest producer of terra cotta in the U.S., ornamenting buildings across the country and in every major city. The Museum's Northwestern Terra Cotta Collection features exquisite ink-on-linen drawings executed by draftsmen at this prominent firm. Numbering 50,000, it is among the largest collections of such working drawings in the world. Cityscapes Revealed will present nearly a dozen drawings, including the Marquette Building in Chicago, the El Jebel Temple in Denver, and the Cleveland Athletic Club. Several of the drawings will be paired with their corresponding architectural elements. Advertisements and photographs which offer a rare glimpse inside the company will also be in the exhibition, as will a "please touch" area explaining the various phases of the production process.
S.H. Kress & Co. Collection
The S. H. Kress & Co. chain of five-and-dimes was one of the most successful retail operations of the 20th century; fundamental to Kress's success was the creation of an architectural division within the company. From Kress's earliest renovated structures to the elaborate revival-style buildings of the 1920s and 1930s, attention to quality and detail established Kress stores as integral parts of their downtown commercial districts. The Kress Collection was donated to the Museum in 1989 and is comprised of more than 13,000 architectural drawings and vintage photographs, as well as original architectural elements and documents relating to the stores. Cityscapes Revealed will feature a selection of drawings, photographs, and architectural elements from the now lost Kress store in Phoenix, Arizona, designed by Edward F. Sibbert.
Wurts Brothers Photography Collection
The National Building Museum's collection of original photographs by New York City-based Wurts Brothers Company was a gift from Richard and Geraldine Wurts, and a select group will be shown in Cityscapes Revealed. Founded in 1894 by brothers Norman and Lionel Wurts, Wurts Brothers Company was one of the first firms in New York to specialize in architectural photography. Photographs by the firm - produced for a clientele of architects, real estate developers, architects, builders, and manufacturers - document the buildings, architectural styles, and building materials of 20th-century America. In addition to serving as historical documents, the photographs also show the artistry involved in architectural photography, highlighting the skill and eye of the photographer - especially Richard Wurts, who took over the business from his father and uncle. Photographs in the exhibition focus on office buildings and notably include the former headquarters of the Aluminum Company of America (ALCOA) in Pittsburgh, Pa. (the first skyscraper completely clad in aluminum and an icon of post-War architecture), as well as the former Cities Service Building (CITGO), now the Insurance Company of America Building in New York, NY.
James Stewart Construction Company Collection
While most construction companies of the early 20th century served their local communities, the James Stewart Construction Company, established in 1845, was one of the first to go national, working on projects in Salt Lake City, New York, Baltimore, St. Louis, Houston, and San Francisco. Its client list included such powerhouses as The Pennsylvania Railroad, Standard Oil, U.S. Steel, General Electric, and General Motors. The Museum's James Stewart Construction Company Collection includes more than 100 leather-bound photograph albums from projects undertaken between 1904 and 1949, each containing between 30 and 80 prints documenting a construction project from excavation to completion. Documented projects include Cincinnati's Union Station, the 3rd Madison Square Garden, and the B & O Terminal Warehouse in Baltimore - which is part of Camden Yards and now home to the Baltimore Orioles. Cityscapes Revealed will continually show prints from the B & O Terminal Warehouse construction, plus select other projects on a rotating basis.
Turner City Collection
In 1910, Turner Construction Company commissioned an artist to prepare a drawing showing all of the firm's major projects built since its founding in 1902, rendered to form a single imaginary city. Later dubbed Turner City, this type of drawing became an annual tradition. Cityscapes Revealed will juxtapose drawings from the 1920s with those from the 1960s and today to highlight changing architectural tastes, emerging building types and constructions technologies, and shifting social and economic conditions.
Ernest L. Brothers Interior Design Collection
Ernest L. Brothers (1891-1974) was one of New York's leading interior designers to high society during the mid-20th century, working on high profile projects, including the White House. Originally from England, Brothers came to the U.S. via Paris in 1919 as manager of the New York branch of Carlhian & Co. He established his own firm in 1927. In 1986, the Brothers collection was donated to the Museum by his widow, Frances Griffin Brothers, and his daughter, Diane Brothers McGee. Drawings, watercolors, fabric samples, and furniture hardware, will be shown in Cityscapes Revealed, revealing the tastes and styles of the American elite in the mid-20th century.
American Brick Collection
The American Brick Collection is especially apropos to the National Building Museum, which is constructed with 15,500,000 locally-produced bricks. Largely the labor of love of one collector, Raymond Chase, the Museum's collection includes nearly 2,000 bricks from across the country and documents a wide variety of decorative styles, personalizations, and marks. Dozens of these bricks will be in the exhibition, including those giving sage advice such as "Pray." An interactive station where visitors can try their hand at different bonding patterns, such as Running, American, and Flemish bond, will also be available.
Pension Building Collection
The Pension Building Collection tells the story of the design and construction of the Museum's historic home and includes original terra cotta elements and decorative features from the building. The exhibition will feature an 1885 terra cotta panel with a section of the same Civil War Frieze that encircles the Museum's exterior, allowing for closer examination and appreciation of detail. Also included will be two terra cotta rosettes originally installed in 1884 on the underside of the Pension Building's exterior cornice; all the rosettes were removed shortly after installation because of weathering problems. Plates showing details of the Palazzo Farnese from the mid-19th-century Paris volume, Edifices De Rome Moderne, will also be featured. This publication was consulted by engineer Montgomery Meigs as he designed the Renaissance Revival U.S. Pension Building in 1881. Examining the book in comparison to the actual building shows the strong influence of the Palazzo Farnese on Meig's design.
Educational programming related to Cityscapes Revealed will be offered throughout the duration of the exhibition, with programs for professionals, adults, youth, and families. Cityscapes Revealed: Highlights from the Collection is made possible by National Architectural Trust; Lt. Col. and Mrs. William Karl Konze; Sheet Metal Workers' International Association; Gladding, McBean; Mrs. John W. Hechinger, Sr.; International Masonry Institute; International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers; Linda B. and Jonathan S. Lyons; and other generous contributors.
Celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2005, the National Building Museum is America's premier cultural institution dedicated to exploring and celebrating architecture, design, engineering, construction, and planning. Chartered by Congress in 1980 and open to the public since 1985, the Museum has become a vital forum for exchanging ideas and information about the built environment through its exhibitions, education programs, and publications. The Museum is located at 401 F Street NW, Washington, D.C. Museum hours are Monday through Saturday from 10 am to 5 pm and Sunday from 11 am to 5 pm. Admission is free. Museum Shop. Café.
For more information, please visit http://www.nbm.org.
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