John Russell Pope

{{Infobox architect

| name = John Russell Pope

| image = File:John Russell Pope cph.3b15402.jpg

| image_size =

| alt =

| caption = Pope in 1911

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1874|04|24}}

| birth_place = New York City, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1937|08|27|1874|04|24}}

| death_place = New York City, U.S.

| other_names =

| nationality = American

| alma_mater = Columbia University
École des Beaux-Arts

| spouse = Sadie Jones

| children = Mary and Jane Pope

| parents = John Pope, Mary Avery Loomis Pope

| awards =

| practice =

| significant_buildings =

| significant_projects =

| significant_design =

| signature =

}}

{{MedalTableTop | name = no | medals =

{{MedalCountry | the {{USA}} }}

}}

File:Jefferson memorial 1.jpg, a memorial to Thomas Jefferson built between 1939 and 1943]]

John Russell Pope (April 24, 1874 – August 27, 1937) was an American architect whose firm is widely known for designing major public buildings, including the National Archives and Records Administration building (completed in 1935), the Jefferson Memorial (completed in 1943) and the West Building of the National Gallery of Art (completed in 1941), all in Washington, D.C.

Early life and education

Pope was born in New York City, on April 24, 1874, the son of a successful portrait painter and his wife. He studied architecture at Columbia University, where he graduated in 1894.{{Cite web|title=10 Iconic Buildings and Spaces Designed by Columbia Architects|url=https://magazine.columbia.edu/article/10-iconic-buildings-and-spaces-designed-columbia-architects|access-date=2022-02-16|website=Columbia Magazine|language=en}} He was the first recipient of the Rome Prize to attend the newly founded American Academy in Rome,{{cite web | year=2011 | title=Finding Aid | work=American Academy in Rome records, 1855–[ca.1981], (bulk dates 1894–1946) | publisher=Archives of American Art | url=http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/american-academy-rome-records-6320/more | access-date=17 Jun 2011}} a training ground for the designers of the American Renaissance. He would remain involved with the academy until his death.

Pope traveled for two years through Italy and Greece, where he studied, sketched and made measured drawings of more Romanesque, Gothic, and Renaissance structures than he did of the remains of ancient buildings. Pope was one of the first architectural students to master the use of the large-format camera, with glass negatives. Pope attended the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1896,Placzek, Adolf K. Macmillan Encyclopedia of Architects. Vol. 3. London: The Free Press, 1982. {{ISBN|0-02-9 25000-5}}. NA40.M25. p450-451. honing his Beaux-Arts style.

Career

File:Yale University A General Plan of Existing Conditions by John Russell Pope 1919.jpg campus in 1919]]

File:Nga west building.jpg]]

File:US National Archives Building.jpg, sculptor; opened 1935]]

In 1900, after returning to New York City, Pope worked for a few years in the office of Bruce Price before opening his own practice.

Pope designed private houses, such as The Waves, his personal residence in Newport, Rhode Island,{{cite web |url=http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/RI-01-NE168 |title=John Russell Pope House |work=SAH Archipedia |date=17 July 2018 |publisher=Society of Architectural Historians |access-date=4 October 2018}} and public buildings in addition to the Jefferson Memorial, the National Gallery of Art, the Masonic House of the Temple, all in Washington, D.C., and the triumphal arch Theodore Roosevelt Memorial (1936) at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

He designed the extension of the Henry Clay Frick mansion in New York City that created the Garden Court and music room, among other features, as the house was expanded to be operated as a museum.

In 1912, he submitted several proposals for the Lincoln Memorial, but lost out to Henry Bacon.{{Cite web|url=https://ghostsofdc.org/2013/06/17/alternate-proposed-designs-for-the-lincoln-memorial/|title=Other Proposed Designs for the Lincoln Memorial|last=Tom|date=2013-06-17|website=Ghosts of DC|language=en-US|access-date=2019-02-25}}

In 1919, he developed a master plan for the future growth of Yale University. Pope's plan for Yale was significantly revised by James Gamble Rogers in 1921, who had more sympathy for the requirements of the city of New Haven, Connecticut. Rogers did keep the Collegiate Gothic unifying theme offered by Pope. Pope's original plan is a prime document in the City Beautiful movement in city planning.

His firm's designs alternated between revivals of Gothic, Georgian, eighteenth-century French, and classical styles. Pope designed the Henry E. Huntington mausoleum on the grounds of The Huntington Library in southern California. He later used the design as a prototype for the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C. The Jefferson Memorial and the National Gallery of Art were both neoclassical, modeled by Pope on the Roman Pantheon.{{citation needed|date=January 2014}}

Lesser known projects by Pope's firm include Union Station, Richmond, Virginia (1917), with a central rotunda capped with a low saucer dome; it now houses the Science Museum of Virginia, the Branch House (1917–1919), a Tudor-style mansion in Richmond, now housing The Branch Museum of Architecture and Design; the Baltimore Museum of Art; and in Washington, D.C., the National City Christian Church, DAR Constitution Hall, American Pharmacists Association Building, Ward Homestead, and the National Archives Building (illustration, left).

In 1917, he designed the City Hall in Plattsburgh, New York, which was completed in 1917, and the city's Macdonough Monument, erected in 1926 to commemorate the naval victory of Commodore Macdonough in the Battle of Plattsburgh on September 11, 1814.

Pope designed additions to the Tate Gallery and British Museum in London, an unusual honor for an American architect, and the War Memorial at Montfaucon-d'Argonne, France. Pope also designed extensive alterations to Belcourt, the Newport residence of Oliver and Alva Belmont. The Georgian Revival residence he built in 1919 for Thomas H. Frothingham in Far Hills, New Jersey has been adapted as the United States Golf Association Museum.[https://web.archive.org/web/20090105172834/http://www.historicalsocietyofsomersethills.org/Profile_usga_museum.php "USGA Golf House & Museum"], Historical Society of the Somerset Hills

Pope was a member of the United States Commission of Fine Arts in Washington, D.C. from 1912 to 1922, serving as vice chairman from 1921 to 1922. He also served on the Board of Architectural Consultants for the Federal Triangle complex in Washington, D.C.Thomas E. Luebke, ed., Civic Art: A Centennial History of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, 2013): Appendix B, p. 552. During the 1920s, the firm designed a number of well known country estates including Spring Hill Farms, later renamed Cobble Court.

In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he designed a severe neo-Georgian clubhouse for the University Club (1926). In Oneonta, New York, he designed the first building for Hartwick College, Bresee Hall, which was constructed in 1928.

In 1932, he constructed the chapter house for Alpha Delta Phi at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.

Pope won a Silver Medal in the 1932 Summer Olympics for his design of the Payne Whitney Gymnasium.[http://www.architecturaldigest.com/blogs/daily/2012/08/olympics-architecture-medals ArchitecturalDigest.com]{{cite web|url=https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/921596 |title=John Russell Pope |work=Olympedia |access-date=30 July 2020}}

=Legacy=

A 1991 exhibition at the National Gallery of Art, John Russell Pope and the Building of the National Gallery of Art, spurred reappraisal of his work. For some time, it had been scorned and derided as overly historicist by many critics influenced by International Modernism.

Pope also served as an early mentor and employer of American modernist Lester C. Tichy.Lester C. Tichy#Early Life{{Circular reference|date=May 2019}}

Pope was the maternal grandfather of the actress Andra Akers.{{Cite web|url=https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/latimes/obituary.aspx?n=andra-akers&pid=284862|title=Andra Akers Obituary - Los Angeles, CA | Los Angeles Times|website=Legacy.com |access-date=Apr 19, 2019}}

Gallery

Image:Brazilian-residence-dc044.jpg|1908: McCormick House (Washington, D.C.) (now a Brazilian Embassy residence){{cite web |title=John Russell Pope's McCormick residence -Embassy of Brazil |url=https://architectdesign.blogspot.com/2015/05/john-russell-popes-mccormick-residence.html |website=architect design |access-date=4 October 2018 |date=5 May 2015}}

Image:Abraham_Lincoln_Birthplace_NHS.jpg|1909–1911: Memorial Building Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park

Image:House_of_the_Temple.JPG|1911–1915 House of the Temple, Washington, D.C.

Image:Charlcote_House.jpg|1911–1915: Charlcote House, Baltimore, Maryland

Image:Brodhead-Bell-Morton_Mansion.jpg|1912: Morton House (renovation of Brodhead-Bell-Morton Mansion), now Embassy of Hungary in Washington, D.C.

Image:Branch_House,_Richmond,_Virginia.JPG|1916–1919: Branch House, Richmond, Virginia

Image:Richmond Science Museum.jpg|1919: Union Station (now the Virginia Science Museum), Richmond, Virginia

Image:USGA_Museum.jpg|1919: Frothingham Home, now United States Golf Association Museum, Far Hills, New Jersey

Image:Woodlawn_Cemetery_in_Bronx,_New_York_(2).jpg|1920: F.W. Woolworth Mausoleum, Woodlawn Cemetery, The Bronx, New York{{cite book |last1=Rosenfeld |first1=Lucy D. |last2=Harrison |first2=Marina |title=Art on Sight: The Best Art Walks In and Near New York City |date=2013 |publisher=The Countryman Press |isbn=9781581577129 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=90WgshvZiOYC&q=F+W+Woolworth+John+Russell+Pope&pg=PA130 |access-date=3 October 2018 |language=en}}

Image:Dartmouth_College_John_Russell_Pope_1922.jpg|1922: Dartmouth College Master Plan{{cite web |title=Early 20th Century |url=https://www.dartmouth.edu/~masterplan/history/history3.html |publisher=Dartmouth |access-date=4 October 2018 |language=en}}

Image:Meridian_House_in_Washington,_DC.jpg|1923: Meridian House, Washington, D.C.

Image:Woodend.jpg|1927–28: Woodend, Chevy Chase, Maryland

Image:BaltimoreMuseumofArt.JPG|1927–1929: Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, Maryland

Image:Skylands.jpg|1927±: Skylands Manor, Ringwood, New Jersey (New Jersey Botanical Garden)

Image:HendrickC.JPG|1928: Hendricks Chapel, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York

Image:Memorial-staircase.jpg|1928: Breese Hall, Hartwick College, Oneonta, New York

Image:DARHallFront.JPG|1929: Constitution Hall, Washington, D.C.

Image:National_City_Christian_Church_-_Washington,_DC_-_DSC05475.JPG|1930: National City Christian Church, Washington, D.C.

Image:Cornell_Alpha_Delta_Phi_House_August_2002.jpg|1931: Chapter House, Alpha Delta Phi, Cornell University

Image:Am_Pharmacists_Ass_DC.jpg|1933 American Institute of Pharmacy Building, Washington, D.C.

Image:USA-NYC-American_Museum_of_Natural_History.JPG|1929–1935: NY State Theodore Roosevelt Memorial (Arch, Entrance, & Hall), American Museum of Natural History, New York City{{cite web |url=https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/theodore-roosevelt-memorial |title=Theodore Roosevelt Memorial |publisher=American Museum of Natural History |access-date=4 October 2018 |quote=The Museum is home to New York State's official memorial to its 33rd Governor and the nation's 26th President, Theodore Roosevelt. The two-story Theodore Roosevelt Memorial, which includes the Central Park West entrance, the Theodore Roosevelt Rotunda, and the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Hall, is a tribute to the enduring legacy of the man known as the Conservation President. Designed in the grand Roman style by John Russell Pope, the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial was built between 1929 and 1935 after the New York State Legislature decided to honor Theodore Roosevelt with a memorial at the Museum of Natural History. The iconic Central Park West façade includes a triumphal arch above a 350-foot-long paved terrace}}

Image:Yale_Cathedral_of_Sweat.JPG|1932–1936: Payne Whitney Gymnasium, Yale University, New Haven

Image:Frick_Collection_-_www.joyofmuseums.com_-_external_2.jpg|1935: Garden Court, Frick Collection, New York City{{cite web |title=Garden Court; The Frick Collection |url=https://www.frick.org/about/gardens/garden_court |website=www.frick.org |access-date=4 October 2018 |language=en}}

Image:Montfaucon383.jpg|1935–1937:War Memorial at Montfaucon-d'Argonne, France

Image:Parthenon_Greek_Exhibition_Hall_British_Museum_London_England.jpg|1931–1938 Duveen Gallery (Elgin Gallery), British Museum, London

Image:Tate_Britain_North_Gallery_Jaguar.jpg|1937 Duveen Gallery (North Gallery) Tate Britain, London, UK{{cite web |title=Duveen Galleries at Tate Britain {{!}} Tate |url=https://www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-britain/duveen-galleries |website=Tate |access-date=4 October 2018}}

=Selected works=

1910: William B. Leeds Mausoleum, Woodlawn Cemetery, The Bronx, New York{{cite news |last1=Dunlap |first1=David |title=Forgotten Treasures in the Woodlawn Cemetery Archives |work=The New York Times |date=16 July 2006 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/16/arts/design/16dunl.html |access-date=4 October 2018 |agency=New York Times |language=en}}
1926: University Club, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
1927: Huntington Mausoleum, San Marino, California
1927: "The Waves" (Pope's Newport residence), 61 Ledge Road, Newport, Rhode Island
1931: First Congregational Church, Columbus, Ohio
1933–1935: National Archives Building, Washington, D.C.
1936: Dixie Plantation House, Greenville, Florida{{cite web |title=History Dixie Plantation |url=http://dixieplantation.org/index.php/history#main-house |website=dixieplantation.org |access-date=4 October 2018}}
1938–1941: National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
1939–1942: Jefferson Memorial, Washington, D.C.

References

{{cite book|title=The Games of the Xth Olympiad Los Angeles 1932 |publisher=Xth Olympiade Committee of the Games of Los Angeles, U.S.A. 1932 |year=1933 |pages=748–765 |url=http://www.la84foundation.org/6oic/OfficialReports/1932/1932s.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080410231532/http://www.la84foundation.org/6oic/OfficialReports/1932/1932s.pdf |archive-date=2008-04-10 |url-status=dead }}
{{cite web|title=Olympic Art Competition 1932 |work=Olympic Games Museum |author=Wagner, Juergen |url=http://olympic-museum.de/art/1932.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080501135344/http://www.olympic-museum.de/art/1932.htm |archive-date=2008-05-01 |url-status=dead }}
{{cite journal |title=In Search of the Lost Champions of the Olympic Art Contests |last=Kramer |first=Bernhard |journal=Journal of Olympic History |volume=12 |issue=2 |date=May 2004 |pages=29–34 |url=http://www.la84foundation.org/SportsLibrary/JOH/JOHv12n2/johv12n2m.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080410082301/http://www.la84foundation.org/SportsLibrary/JOH/JOHv12n2/johv12n2m.pdf |archive-date=2008-04-10 |url-status=live}}
{{cite Sports-Reference|url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/po/john-russell-pope-1.html |title=John Russell Pope |access-date=2016-05-29 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306174955/http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/po/john-russell-pope-1.html |archive-date=2016-03-06 }}

Bibliography

Bedford, Steven McLeod. John Russell Pope: Architect of Empire, New York: 1998.
Garrison, James B. [https://web.archive.org/web/20110707075823/http://www.acanthuspress.com/ps-31-3-mastering-tradition.aspx Mastering Tradition: The Residential Architecture of John Russell Pope]. New York: Acanthus Press, 2004. {{ISBN|978-0-926494-24-4}}

External links

[http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/wisconsin/milwaukee/pope/university.html University Club, Milwaukee]
{{webarchive |url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20011117225722/http://www.library.yale.edu/archives300/exhibits/building/part1/page1.htm |title=Yale University plan, 1919 |date=2001-11-17}}
{{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050328182533/http://www.adphicornell.org/adphicor/Archives/2000s/Alpha-Delt-house-2003.jpg |title=Alpha Delta Phi at Cornell, 1931, John Russell Pope, architect |date=2005-03-28}}
[http://www.dartmo.com/pope/ John Russell Pope's Master Plan for Dartmouth, 1919]
[http://www.oldlongisland.com/search/label/John%20Russell%20Pope Pictures and Info on John Russell Pope's Historic Long Island Commissions]
"Blanchard Randall Papers,1914–1969" Baltimore Museum Of Art
"Architect John Russell Pope's Baltimore" March 31 – August 1, 2004. The Baltimore Museum of Art.
[https://archive.org/details/sim_architectural-forum_1916-08_25_8/page/n3/mode/2up Smith, H. D. "Recent Domestic Architecture from the Designs of John Russell Pope." The Brickbuilder, Vol. XXV, No. 8, August 1916. pp. 189-204 and following plates.]