Clockwise from above, Stanford White on a Manhattan rooftop, 1870s.( Aline and Eero Saarinen Papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution) Augustus Saint-Gaudens in his Paris studio c. 1878( U. S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Saint-Gaudens NHP, Cornish, N. H.) Saint-Gaudens ' bust of Ruluff Choate, who died tragically while White was designing Naumkeag in 1884.( Anastasia Stanmeyer) White ' s baptistry at St. Paul ' s Episcopal Church in Stockbridge, 1883-4.( Anastasia Stanmeyer) Opposite page, Clover Adams Memorial, commissioned in 1886, completed in 1891, Rock Creek Cemetery, Washington, D. C.( Wikipedia)
three children, all of whom died before the age of ten.
White, who was connected to Butler by marriage, created a beautiful semi-decagonal space for the baptistry. For the walls, domed ceiling and herringbone patterned floor White chose a combination of polished stones from France— a cream-colored limestone with embedded shell fragments called lumachella, and a reddish-brecciated marble. The pastel decorative windows of flowers, ribbons, and birds are by Tiffany. It is a light, joyful space.
Framed by three cherubs, the memorial tablet is the work of Louis Saint-Gaudens, brother of Augustus. Louis had a continuing relationship with the church benefactor. A decade later, he designed a striking medallion of Butler, now in the collection of the Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park in Cornish, New Hampshire, the country home of the Saint-Gaudens family.
Giving us a vivid view of the web of friendships of New York artist, architects, and sculptors in the 1880s, 1890s, and early 1900s, Wiencek artfully describes in his book the inner workings of the early years of the McKim, Mead & White, a firm dominated by the prodigious White. With a formidable recall for striking architectural details seen on travels abroad, deep knowledge of exquisite building materials, and an ability to work obsessively on a project, he expected others in the office do so, too. White had little formal training and had flourished in his 20s under the tutelage of the great architect H. H. Richardson. Edith Wharton, a fellow autodidact, admired White among
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