Gilbert, Cass
Gilbert, Cass (1859–1934). American architect. He designed the Minnesota State Capitol, St Paul, MN (1895–1903), a vast Beaux-Arts pile with a dome based on Michelangelo's at San Pietro, Rome, which made his reputation, gaining him commissions to design the US Custom House (1901–7) and the Florentine palazzo of the Union Club (1902), both in NYC. He later built a Gothic skyscraper on West Street, NYC (1905–7), the trial run for the huge Woolworth Building, NYC (1911–13), that was clad in light-weight fire-resistant faïence. The pyramidal composition of the New York Life Insurance Building (1925–8) was crowned with a vaguely Gothic spire. His later buildings were nearly all Classical.
Bibliography
Christen & Flanders (eds.)(2001);
Heilbrun (ed.) (2000);
Ed.Ka (ed.) (1970);
Pierson & and Jordy (1970–86)
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Gilbert, Cass
