Emmanuel Louis Masqueray

Franco-American Emmanuel Louis Masqueray (1861-1917) was a 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.

Childhood and architectural education in France

Born in Dieppe, France, on September 10 1861, the son of Charles Emmanuel and Henrette Marie Louis de Lamare Masqueray, he was educated at Rouen and Paris. Having decided to become an architect, he studied at the Ecole des Beaux Arts, Paris, as a pupil of Jean-Claude Laisné and Paul-René-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 the Commission des Historiques.New York Times obituary: May 27 1917]

Architectural practice and teaching in 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 Ecole des Beaux Arts. Five years later, he joined the office of Richard Morris Hunt (1827-1895), the first American architect to attend the Ecole des Beaux Arts; in Hunt's firm he helped design many notable buildings including The Breakers for Cornelius Vanderbilt II in Newport, Rhode Island.

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. Among his students over the next decade in New York were:
*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
*Seymour Burrell (architect of the St. Germain Lofts, Houston, TX; S. H. Kress & Co. Corporate Architect)
*Roy Corwin Crosby (architect of houses on the Palisades)
*Clarence E. Decker (later of Decker and Stevenson, architects of the YWCA, San Diego)
*William Cook Haskell (later of the firm Townsend, Steinle & Haskell)
*James Hopkins (of the Boston architectural firm of Kilham and Hopkins)
*John G. Hough
*John R. Jordan
*Frederick Larkin (later of the US State Department in charge of Embassy design)
*Charles E. Mack (associated with the firm of Cass Gilbert)
*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)
*Norval Richardson
*Isabel Roberts (of the Oak Park studio of Frank Lloyd Wright)
*Frank B. Rosman
*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 (of the NY firm Painter & Swales; designer of 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) [Contemporary accounts of architectural exhibitions listing students, chiefly from the New York Times]

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 Ecole des Beaux Arts, Paris. [“One Thousand Men of Mark Today”, Chicago, IL, 1916] He was responsible for the design of the Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn.

Architectural practice in 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 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. [New York Times obituary: May 27 1917]

Architectural practice in St. Paul

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:

* The Basilica of Saint Mary, Minneapolis (1908)
* St. Paul's Episcopal Church on the Hill, St. Paul (1912)
* The Chapel and University Hall at the University of St. Thomas, Minnesota
* The Church of the Most Holy Redeemer, Marshall, Minnesota (1915)

He also designed three more cathedrals, of which two were built:
* The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Wichita, Kansas
* St. Joseph Cathedral, Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Masqueray also designed important residences in and around St. Paul (one of which is owned by radio personality Garrison Keillor) and "Wind's Eye" in Dellwood MN, as well as several parochial schools for the Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul.

He also designed:
*Keane Hall at Loras College
*The planned new city of Twin Falls, ID. [websites of each of these buildings]

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 H. Lundie (1886-1972). ["The Architecture of Edwin H. Lundie", by Dale Muflinger] Other architects associated with Masqueray in St. Paul were Fred Slifer and Frank Abrahamson.

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 on May 26 1917.

External links

* Basilica of St. Mary - http://four.mary.org/
* St Paul's on the Hill - http://stpaulsonthehillmn.org/index.html
* University of St. Thomas, MN - http://www.stthomas.edu/
* Church of the Holy Redeemer, Marshall, MN - http://www.holy-redeemer.com/
* Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Wichita, KS - http://www.kansastravel.org/cathedralimmaculateconception.htm
* St. Joseph Cathedral, Sioux Falls, SD - http://www.cathedralofstjosephsiouxfalls.parishesonline.com/scripts/HostedSites/org.asp?p=1&ID=12730
* Novitiate for the Sisters of St. Joseph, St Paul, MN (now the Carondelet Center) (1912) - http://carondeletcenter.org/
* Church of St. Louis, King of France, St. Paul, MN - http://www.stlouiskingoffrance.org/

References