The Architecture of Warren & Wetmore
Description
During the first three decades of the twentieth century, Warren & Wetmore was one of the most successful and prolific architectural practices in America.
Producing over three hundred major projects, including the celebrated Grand Central Terminal (designed in association with Reed & Stem), the charismatic Beaux Arts-trained Whitney Warren (1864-1943) and shrewd lawyer Charles D. Wetmore (1866-1941) grasped the stylistic requirements and prevailing architectural tastes of the vibrant period leading up to the Great Depression. The firm’s bold and creative interpretation of classical and French styles, as translated into American practice, reflected the cultural, social, and business aspirations of the country’s ruling class.Illustrated with Jonathan Wallen’s stunning new color photographs and with historic photographs, drawings, and plans, The Architecture of Warren & Wetmore is the first book to examine exclusively the scope of the firm’s rich and varied body of work. In addition to Grand Central Terminal, Warren & Wetmore was responsible for some of New York’s most memorable buildings, including the New York Yacht Club, grand mansions for such prominent clients as the Vanderbilts, and a number of luxurious early apartment buildings and hotels. During a period of rampant building activity, the firm was instrumental in shaping New York’s expanding cityscape with its office buildings in Terminal City and setback towers. Its hotels and resorts nationwide set an unprecedented level of comfort and luxury for America’s leisure class, guiding the direction of the modern-day hotel. The reconstruction of the university library in Louvain, Belgium-Warren’s most prized commission-held the international spotlight after World War I. The Architecture of Warren & Wetmore includes a catalogue raisonné and an employee roster, and is the definitive source about a practice that made an indelible imprint on the American landscape.
Reviews
"[W]onderful photographs and has a store of history for the architecturally minded." — Sandra Matuschika, Newport Daily News
"It is a difficult feat to translate the aesthetic sense of an architect…but [Pennoyer and Walker] have accomplished it." — Michael J. Lewis, The New Criterion
"The Architecture of Warren & Wetmore is one volume in a recent – and highly gratifying – spate of books published in the new century that have celebrated some of the great but neglected architectural firms of the last. We have W. W. Norton to thank…. [A] remarkable portrait of a firm that both followed and shaped the burgeoning twentieth-century city." — Magazine of The Victorian Society in America
Also By: Peter Pennoyer 
Peter Pennoyer, Anne Walker, Robert A. M. Stern
Hardback, 2009
The first close look at an innovative architect and inventor who held that traditional styles could be successfully adapted for modern times.
Also By: Anne Walker
Peter Pennoyer, Anne Walker, Robert A. M. Stern
Hardback, 2009
The first close look at an innovative architect and inventor who held that traditional styles could be successfully adapted for modern times.
