Warren and Wetmore was an
architect
An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
ure firm 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 ...
which was a partnership between
Whitney Warren
Whitney Warren (January 29, 1864 – January 24, 1943) was an American Beaux-Arts architect who founded, with Charles Delevan Wetmore, Warren and Wetmore in New York City, one of the most prolific and successful architectural practices in the U ...
(1864–1943) and Charles Delevan Wetmore (June 10, 1866 – May 8, 1941), that had one of the most extensive practices of its time and was known for the designing of large hotels.
Partners
Whitney Warren
Whitney Warren (January 29, 1864 – January 24, 1943) was an American Beaux-Arts architect who founded, with Charles Delevan Wetmore, Warren and Wetmore in New York City, one of the most prolific and successful architectural practices in the U ...
was a cousin of New York's Vanderbilt family, and spent ten years at the
École des Beaux Arts. There he met fellow architecture student
Emmanuel Louis Masqueray
Emmanuel Louis Masqueray (1861–1917) was a Franco-American preeminent figure in the history of American architecture, both as a gifted designer of landmark buildings and as an influential teacher of the profession of architecture dedicated t ...
, who would, in 1897 join the Warren and Wetmore firm. He began practice in New York City in 1887.
Warren's partner, Charles Delevan Wetmore (usually referred to as Charles D. Wetmore), was a lawyer by training. Their society connections led to commissions for clubs, private estates, hotels and terminal buildings, including the New York Central office building, the Chelsea docks, the Ritz-Carlton, Biltmore, Commodore, and Ambassador Hotels. They were the preferred architects for Vanderbilt's
New York Central Railroad
The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Mi ...
.
Whitney Warren retired in 1931 but occasionally served as consultant. Warren took particular pride in his design of the new library building of the
Catholic University of Leuven
University of Leuven or University of Louvain (french: Université de Louvain, link=no; nl, Universiteit Leuven, link=no) may refer to:
* Old University of Leuven (1425–1797)
* State University of Leuven (1817–1835)
* Catholic University of L ...
, finished in 1928, which he wanted to carry the inscription ''Furore Teutonico Diruta: Dono Americano Restituta'' ("Destroyed by German fury, restored by American generosity") on the facade. This post-war
propaganda was never added to the building. The library was severely damaged by British and German forces during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, but was completely restored after the war.
The architectural records of the firm are held by the Dept. of Drawings & Archives at 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 Scho ...
,
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 ...
.
Commissions
The firm's most important work by far is the
construction
Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and ...
of
Grand Central Terminal in New York City, completed in 1913 in association with
Reed and Stem. Warren and Wetmore were involved in a number of related hotels in the surrounding "
Terminal City".
Among the firm's other commissions were:
* the Racquet House at the
Tuxedo Club, Tuxedo Park, New York, 1890-1900
*
Newport Country Club, Newport, RI, 1895
Westmorly Court part of
Adams House at Harvard University 1898-1902
*
New York Yacht Club Building, 1899–1901
* High Tide, William S. Miller residence, Newport, RI 1900
*
10 West 56th Street, the Edey Mansion, 1901
* Kirby Hill Estate (Eric Kuvykin Mansion), Long Island, New York, 1902
* the
Marshall Orme Wilson House, 1903
* the Brooklyn Department of Street Cleaning's Stable and Chateau, Brooklyn, New York, 1904
*
49 East 52nd Street, Vanderbilt guest house, New York City, 1908
*
Green-Wood Cemetery Chapel, New York City, 1911
*
Union Station, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, 1911
*
Union Station, Houston, Texas, 1911 (Now a part of
Minute Maid Park
Minute Maid Park is a retractable roof stadium in Houston, Texas, United States. It opened in 2000 as the home ballpark of Major League Baseball's Houston Astros. It has a seating capacity of 41,168, which includes 5,197 club seats and 63 ...
)
*
Condado Vanderbilt Hotel,
San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan (, , ; Spanish for "Saint John") is the capital city and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2020 census, it is the 57th-largest city under the ...
, 1911
*
Aeolian Hall, New York City, 1912
*
Vanderbilt Hotel
4 Park Avenue (formerly known as the Vanderbilt Hotel) is a 22-story building in the Murray Hill neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Designed by Warren and Wetmore, the structure was built for Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt and opened in 191 ...
, New York City, 1912
*
Ritz-Carlton, Montreal, Quebec, 1912
* The Pantlind Hotel, now the
Amway Grand Plaza Hotel,
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the second most-populated city in the state after Detroit. Grand Rapids is th ...
, 1913
*
Grand Central Palace, New York City, 1913 with
Reed and Stem, demolished 1964
*
The unfinished
Michigan Central Station, Detroit, Michigan, 1913, also with
Reed and Stem
*
Ritz-Carlton, Philadelphia, PA, 1913, with Horace Trumbauer
* Packard Manor, Chautauqua, New York- A summer home for William Doud Packard, 1915
* the Texas Company,
Texaco
Texaco, Inc. ("The Texas Company") is an American oil brand owned and operated by Chevron Corporation. Its flagship product is its fuel "Texaco with Techron". It also owned the Havoline motor oil brand. Texaco was an independent company unt ...
Building, Houston, Texas, 1915
*
New York Central Railroad Station, 1 East Hartsdale Avenue, Hartsdale, New York
*
927 Fifth Avenue, New York City, a cooperative apartment house, 1917
*The
Broadmoor Hotel, Colorado Springs, 1918
*
The Ambassador Hotel, Atlantic City, 1919
Warren Public Library Warren, Pennsylvania, 1916
*
Struthers Library Building,
Warren, Pennsylvania, renovations, 1919
* The Commodore Hotel, now the
Grand Hyatt New York
The Hyatt Grand Central New York is a hotel located at 125 East 42nd Street, adjoining Grand Central Terminal, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. It operated as the 2,000-room Commodore Hotel between 1919 and 1976. Hotel ch ...
, part of "Terminal City", 1920
* The
New York Biltmore Hotel, also part of "Terminal City"
*
Crown Building, formerly the Heckscher Building, New York City, 1921
*
The Briarcliffe, 57th Street, New York City
*
Ritz-Carlton, Atlantic City, NJ, 1921
*
Providence Biltmore Hotel, Providence, Rhode Island, 1922
*
Mayflower Hotel, Washington, D.C., 1922, with Robert F. Beresford
*
Asbury Park Convention Hall
Asbury Park Convention Hall is a 3,600-seat indoor exhibition center located on the boardwalk and on the beach in Asbury Park
Asbury Park () is a beachfront city located on the Jersey Shore in Monmouth County in the U.S. state of New Jersey ...
, 1923, and the adjoining
Paramount Theatre, 1930
*
Madison Belmont Building
The Madison Belmont Building, also known as 183 Madison Avenue, is a commercial building at the southeast corner of Madison Avenue and 34th Street in Murray Hill, Manhattan, New York. It was designed by Warren & Wetmore in the Neoclassical sty ...
at Madison Avenue and 34th Street, New York City, 1925
*
Steinway Hall at 111 West 57th Street, New York City, 1925
* Italian Embassy building, Washington DC, 1925
*
200 Madison Avenue
200 Madison Avenue (also known as the Marshall Field Building, Astor Estate Building, International Combustion Building, and Tower Building) is a 25-story office building in the Murray Hill neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It is alon ...
, New York City, 1926
*
Royal Hawaiian Hotel, Honolulu, Hawaii, 1927
*
689 Fifth Avenue, New York City, 1927
*
St. James Theatre, New York City, 1927
*
Consolidated Edison Building
The Consolidated Edison Building (also known as the Consolidated Gas Building and 4 Irving Place) is a neoclassical skyscraper in Gramercy Park, Manhattan, New York City, United States. The 26-story building was designed by the architectural f ...
at 4 Irving Place 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 ...
, 1928
*
Norwood Gardens terrace homes, 36th St.,
Astoria, New York
Astoria is a neighborhood in the western portion of the New York City borough of Queens. Astoria is bounded by the East River and is adjacent to three other Queens neighborhoods: Long Island City to the southwest, Sunnyside to the southeast, ...
, planned development by W&W architect Walter Hopkins, 1928
* The
Helmsley Building, originally the New York Central Building, part of the Grand Central Terminal complex, 1929
* Empire Trust Company Building, 580 Fifth Avenue, New York; currently the World Diamond Building as of 2013
* the
Chelsea Piers
Chelsea Piers is a series of piers in Chelsea, on the West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Located to the west of the West Side Highway ( Eleventh Avenue) and Hudson River Park and to the east of the Hudson River, they were originally a ...
*
903 Park Avenue, a
Bing & Bing building.
Gallery
File:Mayflower Hotel, Washington, D.C.jpg, Mayflower Hotel (1922) Washington, DC
File:Green-Wood Cemetery Chapel (61921).jpg, Green-Wood Cemetery Chapel (1911), New York City, NY
File:Broadmoor Hotel, Dec 2007.jpg, Broadmoor Hotel (1918), Colorado Springs, CO
File:Biltmore Hotel Providence RI 2017.jpg, Providence Biltmore (1922), Providence, RI
File:Convention Center Asbury Park NJ1.jpg, Convention Hall (1923) and Paramount Theatre (1930), Asbury Park, NJ
Asbury Park () is a beachfront city located on the Jersey Shore in Monmouth County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the New York metropolitan area.
As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 15,188
File:Steinway Hall New York City.jpg, Steinway Hall (1925), New York City
File:Park Avenue directly heading for Helmsley Building and Met Life Building (cropped).jpg, Helmsley Building (1929), New York City, NY
File:The Crown Building NYC.JPG, Crown Building (1921), New York City, NY
References
Notes
Bibliography
*
Pennoyer, Peter and
Walker, Anne. ''The Architecture of Warren & Wetmore'' New York: W. W. Norton, 2006. .
External links
*
"Warren and Wetmore"at ''New York Architecture Images''
High-resolution photographs of the interior of the New York Yacht ClubWarren & Wetmore architectural drawings and photographs, 1889-1938http://library.columbia.edu/locations/avery/da.html/ Held by the Department of Drawings & Archives]
Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University
{{Authority control
Warren and Wetmore buildings, *
Defunct architecture firms based in New York City
American railway architects