Giorgio Cavaglieri (August 1, 1911 – May 15, 2007) was an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

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 ...

and a leading figure in the

historic preservation Historic preservation (US), built heritage preservation or built heritage conservation (UK), is an endeavor that seeks to preserve, conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historical significance. It is a philos ...

ist movement in

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. He is best known for his 1960s restoration of the Jefferson Market Library in

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

. Cavaglieri was one of the first architects to specialize in the area of historic preservation. He coined the term " adaptive reuse" to describe his design philosophy, which balanced an appreciation of historical styles with a bold modernity and an eye toward transformation. He explained that these views were inspired by his native Italy, where ancient cities like

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

are characterized by an architectural mélange of old and new styles.

Early life and education

Cavaglieri was born in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

to a wealthy Jewish family. He studied

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...

and

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

at the

Politecnico di Milano The Polytechnic University of Milan () is the largest technical university in Italy, with about 42,000 students. The university offers undergraduate, graduate and higher education courses in engineering, architecture and design. Founded in 18 ...

, where he graduated with honors in 1932. His father, an executive with the insurance company

Assicurazioni Generali Assicurazioni Generali S.p.A. ( , ; meaning 'general insurances') or simply Generali Group is an Italian insurance company based in Trieste. As of 2019, it is the largest of its kind in Italy and among the top ten largest insurance companies in ...

, died soon after he left school and Cavaglieri followed in his footsteps by becoming the in-house architect for the company. Cavaglieri was drafted into the Italian Air Force during the

Second Italo-Ethiopian War The Second Italo-Ethiopian War, also referred to as the Second Italo-Abyssinian War, was a war of aggression which was fought between Italy and Ethiopia from October 1935 to February 1937. In Ethiopia it is often referred to simply as the Itali ...

and designed airfields in

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Suda ...

for the Italian government. He fled to the United States in 1939 after the Fascist regime seized his assets and passed laws restricting the rights of

Jewish people Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...

. Cavaglieri settled first in

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, where he met and married Norma Sanford in 1942. He joined the

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during

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, and was put to work testing bridges and adapting captured German barracks for use by Allied forces. He won the Bronze Star for his architectural contributions.

Career

After World War II, Cavaglieri worked briefly for

Rosario Candela Rosario Candela (March 7, 1890 – October 3, 1953) was an Italian American architect who achieved renown through his apartment building designs in New York City, primarily during the boom years of the 1920s. He is credited with defining the cit ...

before forming his own firm in 1946 with help from the

G.I. Bill The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the G.I. Bill, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in 1956, bu ...

. He first gained recognition for a well-received redesign of the facade and lobby of the Beaux-arts style Fisk Building at 250 West 57th Street. He replaced old-fashioned bronze screens with a modernist glass entry, leaving the lobby intact and newly on view to the street – a move which was praised in

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by critic

Lewis Mumford Lewis Mumford (October 19, 1895 – January 26, 1990) was an American historian, sociologist, philosopher of technology, and literary critic. Particularly noted for his study of cities and urban architecture, he had a broad career as a w ...

. He developed a reputation for doing modern adaptations of old buildings, and his first big projects of this type included two Midtown buildings converted into union halls. In the 1960s he became involved with the emerging historical preservationist movement in New York City. He joined the Municipal Art Society in the mid-1950s and served as its President from 1963-1965. He was involved in the unsuccessful battle to save Penn Station, advocated for the preservation of Grand Central Terminal and the Morgan House on Madison Avenue, and would frequently write letters on behalf of preservationist causes to the editor of the

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

and to various elected officials. Jefferson Market Library

Cavaglieri's many preservation and restoration projects include the Grand Central incoming trains room; the Chapel of the Good Shepard and the James Blackwell Farmhouse on Roosevelt Island; the Eldridge Street Synagogue; and the

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

Grey Art Gallery. In 1982, he led an expansion and restoration of the Pratt Institute Library in Brooklyn with Warren Gran. With Joseph Sultan, he designed a 1991 renovation of the 107th St. Pier on the East River in Manhattan. Cavaglieri worked frequently for the New York Public Library system. He designed new buildings for the

Kips Bay Kips Bay, or Kip's Bay, is a neighborhood on the east side of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by East 34th Street to the north, the East River to the east, East 27th and/or 23rd Streets to the south, and Third Av ...

and Spuyten Duyvil branches. He oversaw restorations of the periodical room and the Gottesman Exhibition Hall at the NYPL main branch and the construction of the mid-Manhattan branch inside a former department store

Jefferson Market Courthouse

Cavaglieri's restoration of

Calvert Vaux Calvert Vaux (; December 20, 1824 – November 19, 1895) was an English-American architect and landscape designer, best known as the co-designer, along with his protégé and junior partner Frederick Law Olmsted, of what would become New York Ci ...

and Frederick Withers's

Victorian Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

Jefferson Market Courthouse building is considered the first significant work of historic preservation in New York City. After a grassroots movement led by Margot Gayle, Ruth Wittenberg, and other local activists saved the

landmark from being sold and potentially demolished, Cavaglieri was brought in to convert the derelict building into a new branch of the New York Public Library. He did four years of preliminary work for the restoration project, which incorporated modern facilities like air conditioning, fluorescent lighting, and elevators into the Victorian-era building. He balanced faithful reproduction of the building's historic doors and stained glass windows with the addition of contemporary stylistic touches, including the addition of a catwalk above the main reading room. One of Cavaglieri's modernist twists was the choice to alternate historic stained glass windows with contemporary transparent once, as he believed that the best way to highlight the original stained glass was through contrast. Public Theatre Astor Library

Public Theater

Cavaglieri continued his preservationist work with the restoration of the

Alexander Saeltzer Alexander Saeltzer (31 July 1814 Eisenach, Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Germany — 23 September 1883 New York City) was a German-American architect active in New York City in the 1850s and 1860s. His work includes the Anshe Chesed Synagogue (now the A ...

-designed Astor Library at 425 Lafayette Street, a building that was saved from demolition by the

Landmarks Preservation Commission The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the New York City agency charged with administering the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting New York City's architecturally, historically, and cu ...

. The commission was to restore and convert the building to house the

Public Theater The Public Theater is a New York City arts organization founded as the Shakespeare Workshop in 1954 by Joseph Papp, with the intention of showcasing the works of up-and-coming playwrights and performers.Epstein, Helen. ''Joe Papp: An American ...

(then known as the New York Shakespeare Festival) under the direction of Joe Papp and with consultation from set designer Ming Cho Lee. He was recommended for the job by architecture critic Ada Louise Huxtable, who praised his work on the Jefferson Market Library. The Public Theater was one of the first historic buildings adapted for new use under the 1965 New York City Landmarks Law. Papp's original plan to build one 1,200 seat central theater in the old building turned out to require costly alterations to original masonry walls, so the design was adapted to two 229-seat theaters. The main theater, a

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-style space called the Anspacher, was built in what had been the library's reading room. Cavaglieri's design incorporated original architectural details, like Corinthian columns, into a very up-to-date design. The second theater, the Newman, was built in the former basement and ground floor. Cavaglieri also restored the Delacorte Theater in

Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban park in the United States, with an estimated ...

under the aegis of the Public Theater, then known as the New York Shakespeare Festival.

Honors and legacy

During his lifetime, Cavaglieri served as chairman of the Board of Trustees of the National Institute of Architectural Education and president of the New York-area chapter of the

American Institute of Architects The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to su ...

. In 1970, he was elected into the

National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the f ...

as an Associate member, and became a full member in 1984. He was President of the Fine Arts Federation from 1972 to 1974. Cavaglieri was honored with the Lucy G. Moses Preservation Leadership Award given by the

New York Landmarks Conservancy The New York Landmarks Conservancy is a non-profit organization "dedicated to preserving, revitalizing, and reusing" historic structures in New York state. It provides technical assistance, project management services, grants, and loans, to owne ...

in 2002. He continued working in the same studio he'd set up in 1946 until shortly before his death, only retiring from architectural practice and preservation advocacy at the age of 93. His legacy of mixing contemporary style with careful preservation can be seen in major restoration projects in New York City, including the

High Line The High Line is a elevated linear park, greenway and rail trail created on a former New York Central Railroad spur on the west side of Manhattan in New York City. The High Line's design is a collaboration between James Corner Field Opera ...

's transformation into an elevated park.

References

External links

Giorgio Cavaglieri architectural records and papers, 1934-2005
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20070410140207/http://anny.org/2/artists/Cavaglieri/index.htm Giorgio Cavaglierivia ANNY
Jefferson Market Branch Library in the Sourcebook of American Architecture
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cavaglieri, Giorgio 1911 births 2007 deaths 20th-century Italian Jews Italian emigrants to the United States 20th-century American architects Jewish architects Polytechnic University of Milan alumni Architecture firms based in New York City Architects from New York City