Rafael Guastavino Moreno (; March 1, 1842 February 1, 1908) was a Spanish building engineer and builder who immigrated to the United States in 1881; his career for the next three decades was based in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
.
Based on the
Catalan vault
The Catalan vault ( ca, volta catalana), also called thin-tile vault, Catalan turn, Catalan arch, boveda ceiling (Spanish ''bóveda'' 'vault'), or timbrel vault, is a type of low brickwork arch forming a vaulted ceiling that often supports a floor ...
, he created the
Guastavino tile
The Guastavino tile arch system is a version of Catalan vault introduced to the United States in 1885 by Spanish architect and builder Rafael Guastavino (1842–1908). It was patented in the United States by Guastavino in 1892.
Description
...
, a "Tile Arch System", patented in the United States in 1885, which was used for constructing robust, self-supporting
arch
An arch is a vertical curved structure that spans an elevated space and may or may not support the weight above it, or in case of a horizontal arch like an arch dam, the hydrostatic pressure against it.
Arches may be synonymous with vaul ...
es and
architectural vaults using interlocking
terracotta
Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based ceramic glaze, unglazed or glazed ceramic where the pottery firing, fired body is porous.
In applied art, craft, construction, a ...
tile
Tiles are usually thin, square or rectangular coverings manufactured from hard-wearing material such as ceramic, stone, metal, baked clay, or even glass. They are generally fixed in place in an array to cover roofs, floors, walls, edges, or o ...
s and layers of
mortar. His work appears in numerous prominent projects designed by major architectural firms in New York and other cities of the Northeast. Guastavino tile is found in some of New York's most prominent
Beaux-Arts landmarks and in major buildings across the United States. It is also used in numerous architecturally important and famous buildings with vaulted spaces.
Guastavino Fireproof Construction Company
In 1881 Guastavino came to New York City from
Valencia
Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...
,
with his youngest son, nine-year-old Rafael III. In Spain he had been an accomplished architect and was a contemporary of
Antoni Gaudí
Antoni Gaudí i Cornet (; ; 25 June 1852 – 10 June 1926) was a Catalan architect from Spain known as the greatest exponent of Catalan Modernism. Gaudí's works have a highly individualized, ''sui generis'' style. Most are located in Barcel ...
. In the March 7, 1885 article entitled "The Dakota Apartment House", printed in ''The Real Estate Record and Builders Guide'', Guastavino was identified as the contractor in charge of "fireproof construction" of the luxury apartment building, which was completed in 1884. Though not specified, the work may very well have included the groined vault entries on the south side on West 72nd Street, and the north side on West 73rd Street, as well as the construction of the subterranean basement, and the 3-foot thick arched floors between the basement and attic levels.
Guastavino was commissioned by the firm of
McKim, Mead, and White
McKim, Mead & White was an American architectural firm that came to define architectural practice, urbanism, and the ideals of the American Renaissance in fin de siècle New York. The firm's founding partners Charles Follen McKim (1847–1909), Wil ...
for their
Boston Public Library
The Boston Public Library is a municipal public library system in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, founded in 1848. The Boston Public Library is also the Library for the Commonwealth (formerly ''library of last recourse'') of the Commonweal ...
(1889), which increased his reputation with every major architect on the East Coast.
His published drawings of interior decoration of the Spanish Renaissance style caught the eye of an architect, who asked him to submit a design for the planned New York Progress Club building. After forming a partnership with William Blodgett, Guastavino eventually was offered a construction position in 1890 with
George W. Vanderbilt
George Washington Vanderbilt II (November 14, 1862 – March 6, 1914) was an art collector and member of the prominent Vanderbilt family, which amassed a huge fortune through steamboats, railroads, and various business enterprises. He commissi ...
to construct arches for the new mansion,
Biltmore Estate
Biltmore Estate is a historic house museum and tourist attraction in Asheville, North Carolina. Biltmore House (or Biltmore Mansion), the main residence, is a Châteauesque-style mansion built for George Washington Vanderbilt II between 1889 a ...
at
Asheville, North Carolina
Asheville ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Buncombe County, North Carolina. Located at the confluence of the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers, it is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and the state's 11th-most populous cit ...
.
After working on the estate, Guastavino decided to build his own retirement home in the mountains of
Black Mountain, North Carolina
Black Mountain is a town in Buncombe County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 7,848 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Asheville Metropolitan Statistical Area. The town is named for the old train stop at the Black Mountain Depot ...
in a 500-acre valley. His property, ''Rhododendron'', also had a vineyard, dairy, brick kiln, and more. This property currently is owned by Christmount Assembly, the conference center for the
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination in the United States and Canada. The denomination started with the Restoration Movement during the Second Great Awakening, first existing during the 19th ...
. The property holds artifacts that may be visited, including the kiln and chimney, a wine cellar, beautiful old stone walls, and many smaller structures that have been rediscovered as modern buildings have been constructed there.
![St Francis de Sales (Philadelphia) 1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/St_Francis_de_Sales_%28Philadelphia%29_1.png)
Guastavino and his son also developed twenty-four products that were awarded patents. Their company, Guastavino Fireproof Construction Company,
run by the father and then by his son, was incorporated in 1889. It executed its final contract in 1962.
Akoustolith Akoustolith is a porous ceramic material resembling stone. Akoustolith was a patented product of a collaboration between Rafael Guastavino Jr. (the son of Rafael Guastavino) and Harvard professor Wallace Sabine over a period of years starting in 19 ...
was one of several trade names used by Guastavino.
Hundreds of major building projects incorporate the distinctive
Tile Arch System. In
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
, the central nave vaulting of
Rockefeller Chapel
Rockefeller Chapel is a Gothic Revival architecture, Gothic Revival chapel on the campus of the University of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois. A monumental example of Collegiate Gothic architecture, it was meant by patron John D. Rockefeller to be t ...
at the
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
uses 100,000 Guastavino tiles. In
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
, Guastavino tiles are found in the
Boston Public Library
The Boston Public Library is a municipal public library system in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, founded in 1848. The Boston Public Library is also the Library for the Commonwealth (formerly ''library of last recourse'') of the Commonweal ...
; in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, in the
Grand Central Terminal
Grand Central Terminal (GCT; also referred to as Grand Central Station or simply as Grand Central) is a commuter rail terminal located at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Grand Central is the southern terminus ...
,
Grant's Tomb
Grant's Tomb, officially the General Grant National Memorial, is the final resting place of Ulysses S. Grant, 18th president of the United States, and his wife, Julia Grant. It is a classical domed mausoleum in the Morningside Heights neighborho ...
,
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...
, the
American Museum of Natural History
The American Museum of Natural History (abbreviated as AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. In Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 26 inter ...
,
Congregation Emanu-El of New York
Congregation Emanu-El of New York is the first Reform Judaism, Reform Jewish congregation in New York City and, because of its size and prominence, has served as a flagship congregation in the Reform branch of Judaism since its founding in 1845 ...
, and
St. Bartolomew's Episcopal Church; and in
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
in the
U.S. Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
building and the
National Museum of Natural History
The National Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. In 2021, with 7 ...
on the
National Mall
The National Mall is a Landscape architecture, landscaped park near the Downtown, Washington, D.C., downtown area of Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States. It contains and borders a number of museums of the Smithsonian Institut ...
. Guastavino tiles form the domes of
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
's
St. Francis de Sales Roman Catholic Church. At
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
's
Union Station
A union station (also known as a union terminal, a joint station in Europe, and a joint-use station in Japan) is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway companies, allowing passengers to ...
, the vaulting of the carriage turnaround is a Guastavino tile system. In
Nebraska
Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...
, the tiles may be seen in the
Nebraska State Capitol
The Nebraska State Capitol is the seat of government for the U.S. state of Nebraska and is located in downtown Lincoln. Designed by New York architect Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue in 1920, it was constructed of Indiana limestone from 1922 to 193 ...
.
Work in New York City
![Bridgemarket tile ceiling jeh](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/19/Bridgemarket_tile_ceiling_jeh.jpg)
In 1900, New York architects
Heins & LaFarge
Heins & LaFarge was a New York-based architectural firm composed of the Philadelphia-born architect George Lewis Heins (1860–1907) and Christopher Grant LaFarge (1862–1938), the eldest son of the artist John La Farge. They were respons ...
hired Guastavino to help construct
City Hall station, the underground showpiece for the
IRT, the first part of the then-new
New York City Subway
The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, an affiliate agency of the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Opened on October 2 ...
. The station, although elegant, was never convenient or popular, as it was superseded by nearby stops with connections to Brooklyn. After the city closed it in 1945 because needed upgrades were too expensive, it became a legendary abandoned Manhattan underground relic. Subway buffs and
urban spelunker
Urban exploration (often shortened as UE, urbex and sometimes known as roof and tunnel hacking) is the exploration of manmade structures, usually abandoned ruins or hidden components of the manmade environment. Photography and historical inter ...
s knew about it. Guastavino also installed the ceiling of the south arcade of the
Manhattan Municipal Building
The David N. Dinkins Municipal Building (originally the Municipal Building and later known as the Manhattan Municipal Building) is a 40-story, building at 1 Centre Street, east of Chambers Street, in the Civic Center neighborhood of Manhatt ...
, which was constructed during 1907-1914.
The Guastavinos had entered New York as immigrants via
Ellis Island
Ellis Island is a federally owned island in New York Harbor, situated within the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, that was the busiest immigrant inspection and processing station in the United States. From 1892 to 1954, nearly 12 mi ...
. In 1917 the younger Rafael Guastavino III was commissioned to rebuild the ceiling of the Ellis Island Great Hall. The Guastavinos set 28,832 tiles into a self-supporting interlocking -high ceiling grid so durable and strong that during the restoration project of the 1980s, as many sources repeat, only seventeen of those tiles needed replacing.
The largest dome created by the Guastavino Company was over the central
crossing for the
Cathedral of St. John the Divine in
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
: it is in diameter and high. This dome was intended to be a temporary structure, to be replaced by a high central tower. In 2009 this "temporary" fix celebrated the 100th anniversary of its construction. Guastavino received this contract due to the much lower price he could quote because his system served as its own scaffolding. This was an extreme test of his system, however. The masons had to work from above, each day adding a few rows of tiles, and standing on the previous day's work to make progress. At the edges, many layers of tile were laid, and the dome thins as it rises toward the center.
As building engineer
Few structures designed and built by Guastavino alone have been identified. He was responsible for a series of surviving rowhouses with unusual Mooresque features on West 78th Street (121–131 known as the "red and whites"), on
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
's
Upper West Side
The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper West ...
. Another of his structures, now used as an event space called Guastavino's, is located under the
Midtown Manhattan
Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan and serves as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Buildin ...
end of the
Queensboro Bridge
The Queensboro Bridge, officially named the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge, is a cantilever bridge over the East River in New York City. Completed in 1909, it connects the neighborhood of Long Island City in the borough of Queens with the Upper East ...
. His son Rafael's Mediterranean villa (1912), built entirely of Guastavino tiles, still stands on
Awixa Avenue, in
Bay Shore
Bay Shore is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Town of Islip, New York, United States. It is situated on the South Shore of Long Island, adjoining the Great South Bay. The population of the CDP was 29,244 at the time of the 2020 ...
,
Long Island
Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...
and was added to th
National Register of Historic Placesin 2013.
Retirement in North Carolina
After working on a commission at the
Biltmore Estate
Biltmore Estate is a historic house museum and tourist attraction in Asheville, North Carolina. Biltmore House (or Biltmore Mansion), the main residence, is a Châteauesque-style mansion built for George Washington Vanderbilt II between 1889 a ...
, Guastavino retired to
Black Mountain.
The site of his estate is now used as Christmount, the conference and retreat center of the
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination in the United States and Canada. The denomination started with the Restoration Movement during the Second Great Awakening, first existing during the 19th ...
. Ruins of the original Guastavino Estate still stand, and a collection of Guastavino memorabilia is held in the Christmount library. The
Rafael Guastavino, Sr., Estate was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 1989.
In North Carolina Guastavino completed a number of projects: his work is found in
Duke Chapel
Duke University Chapel is a chapel located at the center of the campus of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, Durham, North Carolina, United States. It is an ecumenism, ecumenical Christianity, Christian chapel and the center of religion a ...
in
Durham Durham most commonly refers to:
*Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham
*County Durham, an English county
*Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States
*Durham, North Carolina, a city in No ...
, the
Jefferson Standard Building
The Jefferson Standard Building is a 374 ft (114m) skyscraper in Greensboro, North Carolina. It was completed in 1923 as the headquarters for Jefferson Standard Life Insurance Co. (now known as Lincoln Financial Group) and has 18 floors. Until ...
in
Greensboro
Greensboro (; formerly Greensborough) is a city in and the county seat of Guilford County, North Carolina, United States. It is the third-most populous city in North Carolina after Charlotte and Raleigh, the 69th-most populous city in the Un ...
, the Motley Memorial in
Chapel Hill Chapel Hill or Chapelhill may refer to:
Places Antarctica
* Chapel Hill (Antarctica) Australia
*Chapel Hill, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane
*Chapel Hill, South Australia, in the Mount Barker council area
Canada
* Chapel Hill, Ottawa, a neighbo ...
, and
Basilica Shrine of St. Mary in
Wilmington. He is buried in the crypt of the
Basilica of St. Lawrence, Asheville, which he designed in 1905.
Archival sources
The records and drawings of the Guastavino Fireproof Construction Companyare held by th
in the
Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library
The Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library is a library located in Avery Hall on the Morningside Heights campus of Columbia University in the New York City. It is the largest architecture library in the world. Serving Columbia's Graduate Schoo ...
at
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
in New York City.
See also
*
First Church of Christ, Scientist (Cambridge, Massachusetts)
First Church of Christ, Scientist is an historic redbrick 6-story domed Christian Science church building located at 13 Waterhouse Street, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was designed in 1917 by church member Giles M. Smith of the noted Boston ar ...
References
Notes
Further reading
* Ochsendorf, John; Freeman, Michael (Photographer)
''Guastavino Vaulting: The Art of Structural Tile'' Princeton Architectural Press; 1st edition (September 22, 2010).
* A prueba de fuego, Ed. Planeta 2020, by Javier Moro, a novel thoroughly researched about the Guastavinos, father and son.
ISBN: 978-84-670-6391-2
External links
Rafaelguastavino.com:documenting Guastavino's work in New York City
Guastavino.net backup at MIT:documenting Guastavino's work in the Boston area, this page provides copies of writings and patents by the Guastavinos as well
Videoof masons using traditional Guastavino methods, ca.2012
Guastavino Fireproof Construction Company architectural records, 1866-1985 (bulk, 1890-1942)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Guastavino, Rafael
1842 births
1908 deaths
Burials in North Carolina
Businesspeople from New York City
Spanish Roman Catholics
Architects from the Valencian Community
19th-century American businesspeople