C Emlen Urban: to Build Strong and Substantial Booklet
To Build Strong and Substantial: The Career of Architect C. Emlen Urban The City of Lancaster, Pennsylvania Produced by The City of Lancaster, Pennsylvania Printed in 2009 Design and layout by William W. Boyce III, Boyce Design Cover design and site map by Caroline Eddy, The Demuth Museum Developed in conjunction with the exhibition Lancaster’s Architect: C. Emlen Urban, produced by the Demuth Museum, Lancaster, Pennsylvania (May 2, 2009 – June 28, 2009) Historical photographs courtesy of Lancaster County Historical Society, Lancaster, Pennsylvania This project was supported by a grant from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission The City of Lancaster 120 North Duke Street Lancaster, Pennsylvania 17602 www.cityoflancasterpa.com To Build Strong and Substantial: The Career of Architect C. Emlen Urban The City of Lancaster, Pennsylvania – 1 – To Build Strong and Substantial Introduction In A History of Lancaster County (1924), historian H.M.J. Klein wrote of architect C. Emlen Urban: “Few men of Lancaster County can point to a finer array of useful and beautiful work than can Cassius Emlen Urban, of the City of Lancaster, whose skilled hand and artistic talent mean much to the civic dignity of this and other municipalities.” Over the span of a 45-year career in Lancaster, Urban’s designs included major commercial and public buildings, churches, hotels, schools, industrial buildings and private residences. His designs were stylistically eclectic, reflecting the influence of Queen Anne, French Renaissance, Gothic Revival, Beaux Arts and Colonial Revival periods. Although he spent his entire professional career living within the City of Lancaster, his designs were informed by knowledge of classical and historical architecture as well as work being produced by his contemporaries in larger cities such as Philadelphia and New York.
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