The Cass Gilbert Connection

I am by no means an architecture buff.  I enjoy a beautiful building as much as the next person, but am typically more interested in why it was built than how.  I've learned to discern the Federalist and Queen Anne brownstones in my neighborhood from the Victorian brownstones of Park Slope, and to identify some other large trends in architecture through time, but this again is because of their historical context.

Still, I find myself gravitating toward the Beaux-Arts and Neo-Gothic architectural styles, and to one of that era's star architects Cass Gilbert.  There's something about the optimism inherent in these grand structures, as if upstart America really could contribute to the vast architectural heritage of the world, that keeps drawing my eye.

It's through this that the Woolworth Tower has always been my favorite skyscraper in New York.  Completed in 1913 by Cass Gilbert, and paid for in cash by Frank Woolworth (all $13.5 million), it has always struck me as the most beautiful of of the major skyscrapers in New York.  And in a show of levity typical of Gilbert, there are little details hidden in plain site on the tower. There's a gecko scaling one face high up on the tower, for example, only visible with a good pair of binoculars and just the right viewing angle. Gilbert made beautiful buildings, and found a way to keep them fun as well.

When I first moved to 90 West Street, a stunning neo-Gothic building in its own right, one of the best features of my apartment was the view east to the Woolworth Tower.  I was surprised and excited to learn that 90 West was also one of Cass Gilbert's buildings.  Built it 1907, it was actually the precursor to the Woolworth Tower, Gilbert used it to test some of his Gothic stylings.  Like the Woolworth Tower after it, Gilbert played with the design of 90 West,  adding Gargoyles with his relatives' faces.  It was really through living in this building that I begun to learn more about Gilbert, and to appreciate his style.

I've since learned more random connections with Gilbert.  He was named for an ancestor of his, Lewis Cass.  Cass was governor of the Michigan territory (before it became a state), American Ambassador to France, US Senator for Michigan, and Secretary of State.  To understand his impact, I need only consider that my own mother lives just off of Cass Boulevard, and for many years worked in the Lewis Cass Building in Michigan's state capitol.  (In fact, there are a myriad of places named after him.)

In my travels, I've begun to pay more attention to buildings in particular.  And I still find myself drawn to Cass Gilbert's buildings across the country even without knowing about them.   The US Supreme Court Building, the state capitol of Minnesota, and many buildings around New York have all drawn my eye.  They are all Gilbert's.

Recently, I flew to Saint Louis to help launch a new Chapter of Mu Beta Psi.  One day, we went to the Saint Louis Zoo, which sits in Forest Park just down a hill from the Museum of Art.  I enjoyed the zoo, but kept looking up at the Museum.  My last day in the city I had some time to myself, so I went back to the park and walked around the Museum.  It felt so familiar.  I asked the gentleman at the information desk if he knew much about the building itself.  He replied, oh yes, it was built in 1904 for the World's Fair by Cass Gilbert.

Of course.

Now I find myself looking for them.  There are quite a few, but I will see as many as I can.

"This is One Hell of a Building"

After last night's meeting, I hung around a bit to talk to P---, the building owner who was part of the rebuilding team of 90 West. An architect by trade, P--- first saw the building just after September 11th, when it was completely enshrouded in scaffolding. The damage to such a beautiful building was heartbreaking, but when he was taken up to the 21st floor and shown the detail and sculpture on the facade he knew it was worth any investment. Here are a few other fascinating facts about the building that I learned from P---.

Since the building is in the flood plane of the Hudson River (which is actually an estuary around NYC), the entire building is built upon under-water wooden piles. On top of these rest the steel columns encased in terra cotta block.

Originally, Cass Gilbert (the designer of 90 West, and later the Woolworth Tower) intended there to be an elaborate clock tower rising from the middle front of the building.

The gargoyle that guards our mailboxes is one of the three original gargoyles of that type remaining. Before P--- and his team took over the building, there was a very low-budget rebuilding planned. Part of that scheme involved recasting all of the sculptured gargoyles in fiberglass and then painting them to look like granite. So they sent one of the three intact gargoyles to a fiberglass facility. When P---'s group took over, they decided to rebuild everything using the original materials. They employed hundreds of granite carvers from Buffalo, NY all the way to northern Italy. And when they replaced all of the gargoyles atop the building, they learned of this one other original gargoyle at the fiberglass facility. So they shipped it back and installed it in the lobby.

In the northeast corner of the lobby is the only original 1907 terra cotta pilaster left. All the others were damaged or destroyed in the 70's when the building (an office building at the time) acquired its "modern" lobby. By the time P---'s group decided to restore the lobby to its 1907 splendor, no one knew if there was anything left of the original lobby. P--- told me last night of pulling down the northeast wall of the "modern" lobby and discovering the original terra cotta pilaster. He said it was "like opening Tut's tomb." They cast that pilaster and used it to recreate the rest of the pilasters around the lobby. But you can still tell which one is the original, it even feels different from the others to the touch.

The gargoyles around the 16th floor, which are just heads with faces, were all lost in the 9/11 damage. P---'s team recast them, but having no faces to reference, they took a note from Cass Gilbert's book and put themselves into the gargoyles. You'll find P---'s face up there, as well as his nephew, and many other of the leaders of the restoration project.

On the roof of the building are three recreated granite griffins, all facing the WTC out of respect. There is also a plaque commemorating the two people who died in the elevator during the 9/11 attacks.

P---, as I said before, loves this building. His face lights up at the chance to talk about it's structure, design, history--everything. He even offered to take me on a tour of the more interesting elements of the building when all this mess is behind us. I cannot wait to take him up on that.

"This is one hell of a building," he said.