Coomer --
James Monroe Hewlett was a well-known and widely quoted architect in
New York from the 1890s through his death on Oct. 18, 1941. He was
also an accomplished mural painter, set designer, socialite and
philanthropist. He had 10 children, one whom, Anne, married an
architect who would become famous in the 2nd half of the 20th Century
-- R. Buckminster Fuller.
Hewlett was a member of a long-time Long Island family for which the
village of Hewlett was named. He was born Aug. 1, 1868 to James
Augustus and Mary Elizabeth Sanderson Hewlett.
He graduated from Columbia University in 1890 with a Ph.B., then went
to work for the architecture firm of McKim, Mead & Went. He went to
Paris to study, then was one of the founders of Lord & Hewlett, of New
York, in 1894
He also married (Anna Willetts) in 1894 and they had 10 children, 9 of
whom survived him. After his wife died in 1920, he remarried in 1924
and he and Estelle Rodgers Hewlett had one son.
When he died in late 1941 he was living on Long Island in the same
town where he was born, on Martins Lane in Lawrence.
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HEWLETT'S CAREER
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He was active in designing private residences right from the start.
In the 1890s he did a number of well-known houses, including the
mansion of Sen. William A. Clark on Fifth Avenue. In the process,
Lord & Hewlett outsourced a large portion of the design work in France
to hold down the costs.
While many architects proceed to larger work, it's obvious that
Hewlett stayed very interested in the design of homes because in the
mid-1920's House & Garden Magazine published a long article on his
designs.
But Hewlett was a polymath at design. The Museum of the City of New
York says, "Architect James Monroe Hewlett was probably better known
for his mural paintings than for his building designs." And they have
a splendid example on their web page:
Museum of the City of New York
"New York Connecting Railroad Bridge at Hell Gate"
http://www.mcny.org/Collections/paint/Painting/pttcat64.htm
Among other murals by the architect were stage sets for the actress
Maude Adams; Elihu Root Memorial (Washington, DC); National Newark &
Essex Bank; Willard Strait Memorial Theatre (Ithaca, NY); and the
Bronx County Building. The Bank of New York and Trust Company had 8
historical murals that he did at their William & Wall Street
headquarters. For a long period of time he designed the sets for the
annual Beaux Arts Ball in New York.
His architectural work on public buildings included the Danbury, CT
Hospital; Brooklyn Masonic Temple, Brooklyn Hospital, Philadelphia War
Memorial, St. John's Hospital in Brooklyn, and the City Club of New
York.
Among his inventions was a method of making fibrous building blocks.
He patented it and in 1922 formed the Stockade Building System Company
in Chicago with his son-in-law Buckminster Fuller. But daughter Anne
and Buckminster lost their daughter suddenly at age 4, sending Fuller
into a deep depression. It ended with the loss of the company, as
profits disappeared.
Here were some other things that Hewlett did in his "spare time":
* President, Architectural League of New York, 1919-1921
* President, Society of Mural Painters, 1921-1926
* Executive Commmittee, National Academy of Design, starting 1931
* Resident director, American Academy in Rome, 1932-1935
* Chairman, Committee for Erecting Carnegie Libraries in the Borough of Brooklyn
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SOME RESOURCES
=================
Because James Monroe Hewlett used J. Monroe Hewlett as his signature,
the best Google search strategy is the following. You'll find dozens
of reference to him and several pictures of his murals:
"Monroe Hewlett"
Adding a search term to find anything in Wilton, CT turns up no results:
"Monroe Hewlett" Wilton
However, there are numerous references to Hewlett and his home designs
in magazines of the time. You'll want to check with a good reference
library to find these specific issues, as they'll be deep in the
stacks. Unfortunately, while my library is well-resourced, it doesn't
have these issues:
? an article on his home designs in House & Garden, April, 1926
? an article on architecture & travel in Scribner's Magazine, April, 1929
? this article might or might not be about our J. Monroe Hewlett, but
the Feb. 26, 1940 Time Magazine had a piece about James Hewlett.
Note, too, that the New York Times has more than 157 articles that
mention him between 1900 and 1941. Many libraries have the NY Times
indexed and online with a service called Proquest Historical
Newspapers. You could run the search back further (to 1890). If you
do, you'll want to enter the search with the following two words (no
quotes), inasmuch as he's usually identified as J. Monroe Hewlett:
Monroe Hewlett
Some New York Times articles to look for would include:
"J.M. Hewlett,73: Architect, Dead," Oct. 19, 1941, p. 44
"Mural Painters Celebrate," March 7, 1923, p. 15
"Remodeling the White House," an article that he authored July 6, 1925, p. 10
"Color's Place in Building," Feb. 25, 1927, p. 23
"Bank's History in Murals: 8 Paintings for Bank of New York and
Trust," Feb. 26, 1928, p. 21
"Commends Hoover on Business Plan," April 25, 1929, p. 21
In addition, the Times lavishly covers the Beaux Arts Balls for which
Hewlett did the murals.
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Some final comments: museum catalogs and historical collections
undoubtedly have more of Hewlett's design work. Having done a large
amount of historical work, I'd recommend trying the local historical
society in Wilton, CT. They often have resources like old building
plans that aren't indexed, let alone available on the Internet:
http://www.wiltonct.org/info_history.htm
Best regards,
Omnivorous-GA |
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