COLLECTIONS Lettering ‘For GOD, For country, AND For YALE’ THE ARCHITECTURAL LETTERFORMS OF YALE UNIVERSITY On even a brief walk through Yale University’s and depictions of old Yale buildings. The orna- the relief above the entrance displays the campus in New Haven, Connecticut, one notic- mental program grew from these origins (a few history of writing, (fig.5) while the Sterling Law es that inscriptions and plaques are unusually quick notes) into a remarkable iconographic Building (1931) features sculptures of a murder- ubiquitous.2 A comprehensive survey under- system. Rogers commissioned sculptor Lee er, thief, police officer, and judge (fig. 7).9 taken in 1963 listed almost 600 inscriptions, Lawrie (1877–1963) to nearly saturate the walls The copious ornament Rogers favored which remains a reasonable estimate of the of Memorial Quadrangle with inscriptions went out of fashion as modernism became current total despite construction and dem- and ornaments evoking scholarly virtues, the the campus’s architectural mode in the olition since.3 Many architects, artisans, and infamous “secret societies,” the college’s early 1950s. Modernist architects Louis Kahn, Paul school officials have contributed to this history, and prominent alumni such as Noah Rudolph, and Eero Saarinen designed multiple lettering abundance over Yale’s 310-year his- Webster and William Howard Taft. buildings for Yale, none of which included tory, but few have been as influential as James Through the nineteenth century, most of lettering as a significant element—consistent Gamble Rogers4 and Anson Phelps Stokes.5 Yale’s architectural lettering served to identify with the general modernist discomfort with In 1917, the two corresponded about a buildings, aiding in navigation and empha- ornament. But by the new millennium, Yale new dormitory—to be named the Harkness sizing the structure’s benefactor. Inscriptions had once again made letterforms essential Memorial Quadrangle—that Rogers was com- were typically straightforward—e.g., “Leet to its architectural identity. A campus-wide missioned to design.6 Ten days before the cor- Oliver Memorial Hall”—with no pretense of signage system, developed by the design nerstone was to be laid, Rogers wrote to Stokes, deeper meaning (fig. 26). Rogers and Stokes’ firm Two Twelve, centered on a custom Aldine “There are two things that I dislike very much scheme broke from this precedent. The in- typeface designed by Matthew Carter (fig. 8). in architecture, not that they are necessarily scriptions did label entries and gates, but their Renovations to Kahn’s art gallery in 2006 bad, but they have been done so often.”7 The more crucial role was to instill a sense of Yale’s included the installation of a slate inscription first was the constant emulating of Oxford’s history in the students who would reside in and LeD sign at the front entrance (fig. 9). And Magdalen College tower, which he avoided by the complex (figs. 4 and 15).8 Rogers designed when the underground Cross Campus Library modeling the Memorial Quadrangle’s tower fourteen more Yale buildings in as many years, was revitalized and renamed Bass Library, on that of St. Botolph’s church in Boston. His and commissioned large amounts of lettering the cornerstone on its elevator pavilions was second distaste was of “limiting ourselves for in most of them. Given the prevailing Gothic inscribed with a prominent—and prominently ornaments on our buildings, [sic] to the Yale theme, the sheer quantity of blackletter used Gothicized—“2007.” shield and the bull dog,” which had long been suggests a decorative purpose, that the pieces Today, Yale is preparing to build two new the essential symbols of the University. He of lettering were props designed to evoke the residential colleges as soon as fundraising is continued, “The insignia does not necessarily authentically medieval edifices of Oxford and complete. Robert A. M. Stern Architects de- have to be good, architecturally, for I shall take Cambridge. This was certainly one reason for scribes its designs for the colleges as “carrying a poet[’]s license in translating the forms into their existence, but, like those in Memorial forward the spirit of Rogers’ Gothic.” One something that will suit our buildings.” Stokes Quadrangle, most of the inscriptions and hopes that this will include Rogers’ affection fully endorsed this idea of expanding the ornament of this period had a symbolic for architectural lettering as well.10 number of ornaments associated with Yale, and function. Avoiding the repetition of staid icons on the last page of Rogers’ letter either he or that Rogers disdained, the ornamental palette his secretary recorded ideas for new symbols, grew to include more idiosyncratic themes. In including seals of colleges founded by alumni Sterling Memorial Library (1932), for example, BY REED REIBSTEIN 88 Letterforms of Yale University 89 26 34 Grove Street Cemetery 3 Key to Yale University Inscription Locations BROADWAY 1, 5 , 16, 17 Calhoun College Shefeld Hall BROADWAY 18, 19 Sterling Memorial Library (with Printing and Elm Street Saint Mary’s Graphic Arts Court), 120 High Street Church 23 3 Davenport College ­ 248 York Street Dunham Laboratory, 10 Hillhouse Avenue 27 7 31 ­ 4, 13, 14, 15, 24, 28, 30, 35, 36, 37 Jonathan Edwards College Bienecke Memorial Quadrangle (Branford & Saybrook 68 High Street Library 5, 10, 11, 12 Colleges), 74 High Street (Branford College), 242 Elm Street (Saybrook College) Pierson College 1, 16, 17 GROVE ST 261 Park Street ­ ­ 32 5, 10, 11, 12 Silliman Memorial Hall (between Commons and Silliman College 1, 5, 16, 17 College Woolsey Hall), College Street and Grove Street 505 College Street 6 Bingham Hall, 300 College Street Vanderbilt Hall 33 7 1035 Chapel Street 25 WALL ST Timothy Sterling Law Buildings (Yale Law School), Cross Campus Dwight 127 Wall Street Memorial Gate, Memorial Quadrangle College (Branford College) . ­ 18, 19 30 Saybrook College Hall of Graduate Studies, 320 York Street Phelps Gate Davenport College 29 ­ 4 9 355 College Street Whitney Yale University Art Gallery, 1111 Chapel Street Porter Gate Pierson College Porter Gate Humanities 20, 21 Branford College Elm Street Calhoun Center Briton Hadden Memorial Building (Yale Daily News Building), 202 York Street College Bass Library 23 110 Wall Street 15 Memorial Gate Ruttenberg Hall (Sterling Law Buildings) ELM ST 133 Wall Street Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library ­ 121 Wall Street 25 Sterling Quadrangle (Trumbull College) 20, 21 New Haven Grove Street Cemetery 2, 4, 13, 14, 15, 24, 28, 30, 35, 36, 37 241 Elm Street Jonathan Free Public 227 Grove Street Library Edwards College 26 Leet Oliver Memorial Hall, 12 Hillhouse Avenue 27 CHAPEL ST Strathcona Hall (Sterling-Sheffield-Strathcona Hall), 1 Prospect Street ­ 9 Phelps Gate 29 Berkeley College, Elm Street 38 39, 40 ­­ ­ 31 University Commons, 168 Grove Street Yale Center Vanderbilt Hall 32 for British Art The New Haven Green Woodbridge Hall, 105 Wall Street 33 CHAPEL ST YORK ST 6 Sprague Memorial Hall, 470 College Street 34 Watson Hall, 51 Prospect Street 38 Yale School of the Fine Arts (Street Hall), HIGH ST 1071 Chapel Street 39–40 Connecticut Hall, 1017 Chapel Street CROWN ST COLLEGE ST TEMPLE ST GEORGE ST 90 Letterforms of Yale University 91 CHURCH ST Fig. 2, opposite: Class of 1918 Plaque (detail). Fig. 3, above: Dunham Laboratory (1912). Fig. 4, below: Noah Webster, Memorial Quadrangle. Photographs by Soi Park. 92 Letterforms of Yale University 93 Fig. 5, opposite: History of Writing: Cave Paintings to 5 Cuneiform, Sterling Memorial Library (1930). Design by Lee Lawrie and Rene Chambellan. Fig. 6, below: Charles W. Bingham Hall. (Designed by Walter B. Chambers, 1928). The textura lettering is deliberately broken in an attempt to give the inscription an ‘archaic’ appearance. Photographs by Soi Park. “ Rogers designed fourteen more Yale Buildings in as many years, and commissioned large amounts of lettering in most of them.” 94 Letterforms of Yale University 95 Fig.7 Judge, Thief, Murderer, and Policeman. Sterling Yale Signage System, 2004 Law Building (1931). Photograph by Soi Park. Yale University Art Gallery, 1953 The diversity of Yale’s architectural lettering, The design firm Open developed a signage though exciting visually, presented a problem: system for the Yale University Art Gallery buildings were difficult for newcomers to the as part of the 2006 renovation by Polshek campus to identify. The signage system created Partnership Architects.24 The new sign facing by the design firm Two Twelve provided for Chapel Street (see fig. 9) combines a slate consistent wayfinding while also develop- inscription by Nicholas Benson of The John ing a visual identity for Yale’s buildings. The Stevens Shop with a scrolling LeD display main components were porcelain signs in the highlighting current exhibitions, a unity of official “Yale blue” color and a custom typeface old and new materials.25 designed by Matthew Carter.21 Carter, a senior critic at the Yale School of Art, based his “Yale Street” design on Francesco Griffo’s roman for Aldus Manutius’ 1495/1496 printing of De Fig. 9 Rubbing of R from Yale University Art Fig. 9 Yale University Art Gallery (2006). Aetna, a copy of which is in Yale’s Beinecke Rare Gallery inscription by Paul Shaw. Inscriptional lettering by Nicholas Benson. Book & Manuscript Library.22 Carter found that Photograph by Soi Park. techniques developed for small text applied to the challenging conditions of signage, such as a bolder weight, higher x-height, and wider spacing (see fig. 8). The University quickly embraced the typeface once Carter expanded it to include variants for print typography. With the type family freely available to Yale commu- nity members, Carter considers it to have gone viral on campus. Beyond the official signs and brochures, it can now be found on everything from trashcans to students’ essays.23 Fig.