York and Sawyer

The architectural firm of York and Sawyer produced many outstanding structures, exemplary of Beaux-Arts architecture as it was practiced in the United States. The partners Edward York (1863–1928) and Philip Sawyer (1868–1949) had both trained in the office of McKim, Mead, and White. In 1898, they established their independent firm, based in New York City.

Their structure for the New-York Historical Society (1908) was extended in 1938 by Walker & Gillette. Their ability to organize, separate and coordinate mixed uses in a building is exemplified by their massive New York Athletic Club.

York and Sawyer became known as specialists in the design of banks and hospitals. Their palatial Renaissance and classical bank buildings express the reassuring stability and awe-inspiring splendor the institutions wished to project. In each typical case a spectacular banking hall was the public space, often integrated within an office building. Original architectural drawings by York and Sawyer are held in the Dept. of Drawings & Archives at Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library at Columbia University in New York City.

Projects

*Brooklyn Trust Company (1913-1916) on the corner of Montague and Clinton Streets, Brooklyn Heights
*33 Liberty Street, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (1919-1924) on Maiden Lane in the Financial District: a suavely rusticated Florentine palazzo with a machiolated cornice
*Central Savings Bank (1926–28) on Broadway and 73rd Street, in Manhattan's Upper West Side; a coffered barrel-vault spns the banking hall; ironwork by Samuel Yellin
*Greenwich Savings Bank (1922–24) on Broadway and 36th Street
*Bowery Savings Bank (1921-1923) on East 42d Street, running the full depth of the block; Modern Romanesque with vaults of Guastavino tile.Their New York banks won them the commission for 15 Westminster Street, Providence, Rhode Island (1920), which incorporated a monumental banking hall into an office block, and the 22-storey Old Royal Bank Building, Montreal, now the Royal Bank building (1926–1928), the tallest building in the British Empire when it was completed.

A partial list of other York and Sawyer commissions, all in New York unless noted otherwise:
*The Chemist's Club, East 41st Street (1903; adapted as the Dylan Hotel in 2000)
*U.S. Assay Office Building, Financial District (1919); a Roman Renaissance palazzo, complementing the former Customs House adjacent to it, topped with a severe limestone-faced office block
*Pershing Square Building (1923)
*860 Park Avenue (1925)
*The Martha Cook Building (1915); a Collegiate Gothic women's dormitory at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI.
*The Law Quadrangle at the University of Michigan.
*The Buenos Aires branch of the First Nacional Bank of Boston (1928) built by Paul Chambers & Louis Thomas
*Old Royal Bank Building, Montreal (1926-1928)
*Blodgett Hall, Kendrick House, Metcalf House, New England Building, Pratt House, Rockefeller Hall, and Swift Hall at Vassar College

Associate architects and partners

*Frederick Staples Benedict

References

*Kathryn Horste, 1997 "The Michigan Law Quadrangle: Architecture and Origins" (University of Michigan) ( [http://www.press.umich.edu/titleDetailDesc.do?id=15244On-line description] )

External links

* [http://www.nyc-architecture.com/ARCH/ARCH-YorkSawyer.htm New York Architecture Images] : York and Sawyer
* [http://www.emporis.com/en/cd/cm/?id=100232 Emporis.com: York and Sawyer:] a partial listing of New York structures
* [http://www.umich.edu/~mcaa/aboutmcb.shtml Martha Cook Alumnae Association website]
* [http://www.fineart.utoronto.ca/canarch/architect/york.html Canadian (Imperial) Bank of Commerce]