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 to the principles of Beaux-Arts architecture.

Emmanuel Louis Masqueray
Born(1861-09-10)September 10, 1861
Dieppe, France
DiedMay 26, 1917(1917-05-26) (aged 55)
St. Paul, Minnesota, US
Occupation(s)Architect, educator

Biography

He was born in Dieppe, France, on September 10, 1861 to Charles-Emmanuel and Henriette-Marie-Louise Masqueray, née de Lamare. He was educated in Rouen and Paris. Having decided to become an architect, he studied at the École des Beaux Arts, Paris, as a pupil of Charles Laisné and Léon Ginain, and was awarded the Deschaumes Prize by the Institute of France. He also received the Chandesaigues Prize. While in Paris, he also served on the Commission des Monuments Historiques.[1][2]

Masqueray was a charter member of the Society of Beaux-Arts Architects (now the Van Alen Institute) and the Architectural League of New York, the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, as well as the national organization. Masqueray died in St. Paul, Minnesota on May 26, 1917.[1] His body was buried in Calvary Cemetery in St. Paul.[3]

New York

He came to the United States in 1887 to work for the firm of Carrère and Hastings in New York City; both John Mervin Carrère (November 9, 1858 – March 1, 1911) and Thomas Hastings (1860–1929) had been fellow students with Masqueray at the École des Beaux Arts. While in their employ, Masqueray created the watercolor elevation of the Ponce de Leon Hotel in St. Augustine, Florida.[4] Other important work on the boards during his time with the firm included the Hotel Alcazar, St. Augustine, Florida, 1887, now the Lightner Museum, The Commonwealth Club, Richmond, Virginia, 1891, and the Edison Building, New York City, 1891 (razed). Five years later, he joined the office of Richard Morris Hunt (1827–1895), the first American architect to attend the École des Beaux Arts; in Hunt's firm he helped design many notable buildings including the Elbridge Gerry residence in Marblehead, MA, the William Astor house on Fifth Avenue in New York City, and Ochre Court in Newport, Rhode Island. It is likely that he made major contributions to the design of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.[5] He also contributed to the design of The Breakers for Cornelius Vanderbilt II in Newport, Rhode Island.[1]

In 1893, Masqueray opened the Atelier Masqueray, for the study of architecture according to French methods; architect Walter B. Chambers shared in this enterprise. Located at 123 E. 23rd Street, this was the first wholly independent atelier opened in the United States. A colorful, dynamic teacher, Masqueray pleaded with his students to make things simple.[6] Beginning in 1899, Masqueray made special provision for women to number among his architectural students by establishing a second atelier especially for women at 37–40 West 22nd Street in New York. As was said at the time, "...he has unbounded faith in women's ability to succeed in architecture...provided they go about it seriously."[7]

Increasingly, architectural historians are making the connection between the work of Masqueray and those who studied with him. It is important to have a list of those who were his students over the next decade in New York, in order to foster further awareness and research. According to contemporary published accounts of the exhibitions of the Atelier Masqueray, those who were his students include:

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

  • Paul R. Allen (architect of Henry Miller's Theatre, NYC)
  • William T. L. Armstrong (later of the firm De Gelleke and Armstrong, New York)
  • W. Bellows (architect Charles Walter Bellows of Columbus, OH)
  • Guy Bolton (Broadway impresario)
  • Charles Saunders Bridgman (1892-1897 Atelier Masqueray; then practiced with C. A. Rich; then 1903-1937 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada)
  • Seymour Burrell (architect of the St. Germain Lofts, Houston, TX; S. H. Kress & Co. Corporate Architect)
  • James E. Cooper (of d'Hauteville & Cooper, Long Island architects); Greentree, William Payne Whitney Mansion.
  • Lester A. Cramer (later practiced in Los Angeles; architect of the Rosicrucian Fellowship Temple and the Sanatorium[at Mount Ecclesia)
  • Roy Corwin Crosby (architect of houses on the Palisades)
  • Clarence E. Decker (later of Decker and Stevenson, architects of the YWCA, San Diego)
  • Mortimer Foster (later of Foster, Gade and Graham)
  • Frederick George Frost, Sr. (principal of his own firm in New York City which later included his son and namesake), Hall of Fashion, New York 1939 World's Fair
  • Leon N. Gillette (of the NYC firm Walker & Gillette)
  • Mr. Gray (no first name given)
  • William Cook Haskell (later of the firm Townsend, Steinle & Haskell)
  • James Hopkins (of the Boston architectural firm of Kilham and Hopkins)
  • John G. Hough
  • William S. Hutton (later an Indiana school architect who partnered with George Grant Elmslie)
  • Louis Jallade (architect of the gymnasium at the University of Delaware)
  • John R. Jordan
  • Rupert W. Koch (architect of men's dorm at the University of Michigan)
  • Frederick Larkin (later of the US State Department in charge of Embassy design)
  • Mr. Loud (no first name given)
  • Louis Levitansky (later "Louis Levine") - Westchester County NY architect
  • Charles E. Mack (associated with the firm of Cass Gilbert)
  • Sylvester S. McGrath (later of the firm Davis, McGrath & Kiessling, architects of among many others, Gramercy East Professional Building, 115 East 23rd Street, New York City)
  • Henry Murphy (architectural advisor to China)
  • George Nagle (associated with Masqueray at the St. Louis Fair)
  • Clarence A. Neff (later of Neff and Thompson, Norfolk, VA)
  • Charles F. Owsley (principal of a Youngstown, OH, firm; designed art deco Isaly's headquarters there)
  • Barnet Phillips, Jr. (later of the firm Barnet Phillips Architectural Decorators, New York)
  • Carl Richardson
  • Isabel Roberts (of the Oak Park studio of Frank Lloyd Wright)
  • Lincoln Rogers (of the 1920s firm Rogers and Stevenson, in San Diego)
  • Frank B. Rosman
  • Mr. Schalkenbach (no first name given)
  • Leonard B. Schultze (architect of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel see Schultze and Weaver)
  • Walter W. Sharpley (builder of Philadelphia's Bellevue-Stratford Hotel)
  • Francis S. "Frank" Swales (later of the firm Painter & Swales; designer of Selfridges' Store, Oxford Street, London, and The Brussels Exposition of 1910's Canadian Pacific Railway Pavilion)
  • George E. Sweet (who became a naval architect)
  • William Van Alen (architect of the Chrysler Building)
  • Elwood Williams (associated with Masqueray for the St. Louis Exposition; later with offices at 507 Fifth Avenue, NYC)
  • Edward J. Willingale (associated with J E M Carpenter as architects of the Lincoln Building (42nd Street, New York, New York) now known as One Grand Central Place)
  • Wilison Joseph Wythe (assistant professor of drawing, University of California)

In 1897, Masqueray left the Hunt office to work for Warren & Wetmore, also in New York City, Whitney Warren having been his fellow student at the École des Beaux Arts, Paris.[8] Work underway while Masqueray was with the firm includes: New York Yacht Club (1898), Westmorly, Harvard, MA (1898), High Tide (William Starr Miller house), 79 Ocean Avenue, Newport, Rhode Island, (1900), The Racquet House at Tuxedo Club, Tuxedo Park, NY, (1890-1900), and the Mrs. Orme Wilson residence (now the India Consulate), 3 East 64th St., New York (1900–03). He was responsible for the design of the Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn.

St. Louis

His reputation became international in 1901 when the commissioner of architects of the St. Louis Exposition selected him to be Chief of Design. Masqueray in turn employed Louis C. Spiering (a fellow alumnus of the École des Beaux-Arts) and some of his former students including Frank Swales and George Nagle. As Chief of Design of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, a position he held for three years, Masqueray had architectural oversight of the entire Fair and personally designed the following Fair buildings:

  • Palace of Agriculture
  • The Cascades and Colonnades
  • Palace of Forestry, Fish, and Game
  • Palace of Horticulture
  • Palace of Transportation

Design ideas from all of these were widely emulated in civic projects across the United States as part of the City Beautiful Movement. Masqueray resigned shortly after the fair opened in 1904, having been invited by Archbishop John Ireland of St. Paul to come to Minnesota and design the new Cathedral of Saint Paul in Saint Paul for the city.[1]

Minnesota
Cathedral of Saint Paul in St. Paul, Minnesota

Masqueray arrived in St. Paul in 1905 and remained there until his death. He designed about two dozen parish churches for Catholic and Protestant congregations in the upper Midwest, including:

Masqueray designed several small churches in what is now the Diocese of New Ulm.

Masqueray also designed important residences in and around St. Paul (one of which, a 1915 home at 427 Portland Avenue, has been owned by radio personality Garrison Keillor) and "Wind's Eye" in Dellwood MN; several parochial schools for the Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul; Grace Hall (1912) at the Saint Paul Seminary and Ireland Hall (1912) at the College of Thomas (now University of St. Thomas).

In St. Paul in 1906, Masqueray founded an atelier which continued his Beaux Arts method of architectural training, among his students who trained there, perhaps the best known is Edwin Lundie (1886–1972).[11] Other architects associated with Masqueray in St. Paul were Fred Slifer and Frank Abrahamson.

Iowa

In the Archdiocese of Dubuque in Iowa:

Wisconsin
  • St. Anne, Somerset

Other works
Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Wichita, Kansas

Masqueray designed three more cathedrals, of which two were built:

He also designed the planned new city of Twin Falls, Idaho.[17]

See also

References
  1. "Noted Architect Dead. E. L. Masqueray Was Chief of Design of St. Louis Exposition". The New York Times. May 27, 1917. Retrieved March 22, 2011. Emmanuel Louis Mnsqueray chief of design of the St Louis ... of a number of American cathedrals died here today aged 56. Mr. Masqueray was ...
  2. "Emmanuel Louis Masqueray". University of Minnesota - Twin Cities. Retrieved March 22, 2011. Emmanuel Louis Masqueray was born in Dieppe, France, on September 10, 1861. He studied architecture at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris from 1879 to 1884, receiving several awards for his designs. He immigrated to the United States in 1887 to work for the firm of Carrere & Hastings in New York City. Five years later, he joined the office of Richard Morris Hunt, where he helped design many notable buildings including the Breakers for William Vanderbilt in Newport, Rhode Island. In 1897 he left the Hunt office to work for Warren & Wetmore, also in New York City. ...
  3. Six Feet Under By Stew Thornley, page 12
  4. A French Architect in Minnesota, by Alan K. Lathrop, in "Minnesota Profiles", Summer 1980, p. 46
  5. A French Architect in Minnesota, by Alan K. Lathrop, in "Minnesota Profiles", Summer 198, p. 47
  6. Higher: A Historic Race to the Sky and the Making of a City, by Neil Bascomb, page 23
  7. What Women Can Earn, by Grace Hoadley Dodge, Thomas Hunter, page 109
  8. “One Thousand Men of Mark Today”, Chicago, IL, 1916
  9. St. Paul's Architecture, by Jeffrey A. Hess, Paul Clifford Larson, page 95.
  10. "AIA Guide to St. Paul's Summit Avenue and Hill District", by Larry Millett, page 33.
  11. "The Architecture of Edwin H. Lundie", by Dale Muflinger
  12. "Loras College:History of Buildings". Loras College. Retrieved July 6, 2017.
  13. "History". St. Patrick Church. Retrieved July 6, 2017.
  14. Marjorie Pearson, Ph.D. "Commercial and Industrial Development of Downtown Cedar Rapids, c. 1865-1965" (PDF). National Park Service. Retrieved July 6, 2017.
  15. "Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception". Emporis. Archived from the original on July 22, 2013. Retrieved July 6, 2017.
  16. "History of the Cathedral". St. Joseph Cathedral. Retrieved July 6, 2017.
  17. websites of each of these buildings
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