Stanford White: Decorator in Opulence and Dealer in Antiquities

Wayne Craven

Published by Columbia University Press 2005

Stanford White

Decorator in Opulence and Dealer in Antiquities

Wayne Craven

https://doi.org/10.7312/crav13344

Overview
Contents

About this book

Based on the archives of the Avery Architectural Library of Columbia University and the New York Historical Society, this refreshing portrait of one of America's most prominent architects is at the same time a document of the sweeping social and cultural changes taking place in the country at the turn of the twentieth century. A biography of Stanford White and more, the book recovers a neglected yet significant part of White's career—a career that not only set the bar for twentieth-century architecture but also defined the newly emerging profession of interior design.

The designer of such landmarks as the Washington Square Arch, the New York Herald and Tiffany Buildings, and the homes of captains of American industry, Stanford White is a legendary figure in the history of American architecture. Yet while the exteriors and floor plans of his designs have been extensively studied and written about, no book has fully examined the other aspect of his career, which claimed at least half of his time and creativity. Wayne Craven's work offers the first study of Stanford White as an interior decorator and a dealer in antiques and the fine arts.

Craven also offers a vivid portrait of the sweeping social and cultural changes taking place in the United States in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He places White's work as an interior decorator within the context of the lives and society of the nouveaux riches who built unprecedented fortunes during the Industrial Revolution. Rejecting the dominant middle-class tastes and values of the United States, the Whitneys, Vanderbilts, Astors, Paynes, Mackays, and other wealthy New York families saw themselves as the new aristocracy and desired the prestige and trappings accorded to Old World nobility. Stanford White fulfilled their hunger for aristocratic recognition by adorning their glamorous Fifth Avenue mansions and Long Island estates with the sculptures, stained-glass windows, coats of arms, and carved fireplaces of the European past. Interior decorators such as White did more than just buy single pieces for these families. They purchased entire rooms from palazzos, chateaux, villas, nunneries, and country houses; had them dismantled; and shipped—both furnishings and architectural elements—to their American clients. Through Stanford White's activities, Craven uncovers the mostly, but not always, legal business of dealing in antiquities, as American money entered and changed the European art market.

Based on the archives of the Avery Architectural Library of Columbia University and the New-York Historical Society, this book recovers a neglected yet significant part of White's career, which lasted from the 1870s to his murder in 1906. White not only set the bar for twentieth-century architecture but also defined the newly emerging profession of interior design.

Author / Editor information

Wayne Craven is the H. F. du Pont Winterthur Professor of Art History, Emeritus, at the University of Delaware. He is the author of several books, including American Art: History and Culture, Colonial American Portraiture, and Sculpture in America.

Reviews

Thomas Denenberg:
A key text for understanding the great houses of the Gilded Age.

Eve M. Kahn:
White's interior's, even as ghosts known only from grainy vintage photos, still have much to teach, especially about the art of loosening up while going over the top.

The book is a breakthrough account of White the dealer and director... The book is a major contribution to decretive arts literature.

Barbara Jacobs:
The author does an admirable job in showcasing not only the talents of White but also the rise of interior design as a profession.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Illustrations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	ix
Preface Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xiii
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xv
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1. Stanford White as Dealer in Antiquities Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	19
2. Dealers, Agents, Forgers, Export Laws, and Stanford White Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	54
3. The William C. Whitney and Oliver Hazard Payne Houses Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	74
4. The Payne Whitney House Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	115
5. The Mackays and Harbor Hill Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	148
6. From the Poor House to the White House Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	181
Epilogue Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	215
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	225
Glossary Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	243
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	245
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	251

Language: English
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 288
Illustrations
- Illustrations: 69
- Other: 69 illus.

eBook

Published: May 18, 2005
ISBN: 9780231508247