McKim, Mead & White

Abstract

The New York partnership of Charles Follen McKim (b. 1847–d. 1909), William R. Mead (b. 1846–d. 1928), and Stanford White (b. 1853–d. 1906) became one of the most important architectural firms in the United States from the late 1870s to the 1920s, producing more than one thousand buildings. McKim and White were the principal designers and Mead ran the office crew, which at times numbered more than 200 employees. They helped to introduce into the United States an interest in early American architecture and were instrumental in creating what came to be known as the Colonial Revival style with houses in resorts such as Newport, Rhode Island and the New Jersey seashore as well as in New York and Boston. Their early work was picturesque, frequently covered with wooden shingles, but in the mid-1880s they moved toward a more formal approach as seen in the Georgian for houses. Classicism based upon European precedents became dominant by the mid-1880s with works such as the Villard houses in New York and the Boston Public Library, which became one of the most celebrated buildings in the United States. Very involved in the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893 they helped in establishing classicism derived from the teachings of the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, which McKim attended in the later 1860s. Their work grew in scale with the design of the new campus of Columbia University and New York University in the Bronx, along with other major projects such as Pennsylvania Station. McKim directed the renovations of the White House and also served as a member of the McMillan Commission for the renewal of Washington, DC, which served a major influence on the Civic Art, or City Beautiful, Movement. All three of the partners were close friends with leading artists and sculptors and they designed the bases for major monuments. Following the deaths of White and McKim and Mead’s retirement in 1916, the firm continued for many years under the leadership of several men who had worked closely the partners, such as William Mitchell Kendall, Burt Leslie Fenner, and William S. Richardson. The last building designed under the firm’s name was the American History Museum (1955–1964) of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC.