THE Samuel Yellin firm executed ornament in hand- forged iron for significant architectural projects throughout the United States—including Minnesota— particularly during the American building mania of the 1920s. At that time the company employed more than 200 men who fired 60 forges. But today, no one thinks much about ornamental ironwork in architec­ ture and only crafts blacksmiths might recognize the Yellin name. The Great Depression that halted con­ >^QacD y struction during the 1930s, Samuel Yellin's death in 1940, and the adoption of the unadorned International Style have obscured this facet of architectural history. Already an experienced blacksmith, Yellin emigrated from his native Poland to the United States in 1905, joining his mother and sister in Philadelphia. The Eu­ rope he left had experienced a resurgence of interest in architectural wrought iron during the last half of the Wth century. During that time European architects had revived and adapted the Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance and French 18th-century styles to fit proj­ ects of their own era. These revival styles and projects clamored for the highly articulated ornamental iron of g <nioBB<^Bs mt their historical precedents. Hand-forged work was su­ perseded by the more economical cast iron during the early 19th century, but the renewed appreciation of his­ torical ironwork and the handcraft orientation of the Arts and Crafts Movement gave impetus to a black- smithing revival.^ By 1909, when Yellin set up his blacksmithing con­ cern in Philadelphia, American architects were fluent in the revival styles. Minnesota's State Capitol, de­ signed by architect Cass Gilbert and completed in 1904, stands as an example of the academic revival per­ iod, its basic design recalling a Renaissance palazzo with dome a la Michelangelo. The capitol building ex­ hibits a great deal of ornamental detail in metal, and Gilbert chose wrought iron as the principal material for stair railings and most grillwork.^ In his time Gil­ bert was innovative in pursuing the decorative possibili­ ties of wrought iron, but he did so with some trepida­ Jean E. Spraker tion. While the railing for the cantilevered stairway rising from the capitol's northwest corner and some of ' See Richard J. Wattenmaker, Samuel Yellin in Context (Detroit: Flint Institute of Arts, 1985) for a thorough treat­ ment of the historical relationships between European archi­ "Samuel Yellin, Metalworker' is an exhibition at the tecture and ornamental metalwork. ^ Flour City Ornamental Iron Works, Minneapolis, pro­ MHS, 690 Cedar Street, St. Paul tliat continues vided cast-iron railings for the capitol. A photograph of the through December 28, 1986. The exhibition, circulated third-floor railing and fascia surrounding the rotunda ap­ by the National Building Museum, Washington, D.C, pears in the firm's advertisement in Western Architect 4 (Oct., 1905): xi, an issue devoted entirely to the capitol build­ features examples of wrought-iron work, shop ing. drawings, and blacksmithing tools associated ivith the Philadelphia forge established in 1909 by the master Jean Spraker is a projects curator in the exhibits department ornamental ironworker, Samuel Yellin (I8S5-1940). oj the Minnesota Historical Society. 118 Minnesota History the less prominent railings and balustrades are clearly wrought iron, the highly visible balustrade surround­ ing the main rotunda's third floor, though made of the same material, is disguised by gold paint so that it ap­ pears to be bronze. As one architectural writer of the late 1920s commented: "[U]ntil recently, wrought iron was mentioned only briefly in a footnote in the social register of building materials. ... Its European ances­ try was acknowledged as being duly ancient, but was thought to be of unfashionable origin. Bronze was the ^ Gerald K. Geerlings, Wrought Iron in Architecture (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1929), 5. '' Philadelphia architect Frank Miles Day was a friend to Yellin and wrote letters that were crucial in helping him ob­ tain wider recognition in architectural circles. Jack Andrews, Samuel Yellin, Metalworker, reprint from Anvil's Ring (Ath­ ens, Ga.), Summer, 1982, p. 1. SAMUEL YELLIN at the anvil, about 1920 SMITHS at work in the Yellin shop during the 1920s fashion when there was money to spend. When there was not, cast iron was the apologetic substitute. But wrought iron, no!"^ Samuel Yellin, along with some major architects of the day, worked to dispel the prejudice that wrought iron was a substandard decorative medium. Not an un­ educated village blacksmith by any means, Yellin built up a library of works on historical ornament and col­ lected European and American examples of fine wrought-iron work that he placed in his shop as models for his workmen and potential clients. The studio class that Yellin taught from 1907 to 1919 at the Philadelphia School of Industrial Art (now Philadelphia College of Art) brought him into association with other tradesmen and architects, some of whom, having seen the master's work from the anvil, passed along word of his talents. A 1911 commission from the New York architectural of­ fice of C. Frank LaFarge for wrought-iron gates for J. P. Morgan's Long Island estate helped to raise the status of the medium and was a turning point for Yellin.^ THE YELLIN EXHIBITION presents works related to major commissions for the Yellin forge. The metalwork and sketches on display bring well-known landmarks in American architecture into the museum gallery. There are, for example, a grille sample and scale drawing of ornamental details for the Federal Reserve Bank, New York City (York and Sawyer, architects, 1923-24). For this project Yellin's blacksmiths turned out 200 tons of decorative wrought iron. A grille "sketch" in iron, stud- Fa// 7986 119 Ornamental Ironwork Firms in the Twin Cities AT the same time that Paul Watkins, Elizabeth Gilbert, 1893-1904), the Mayo Clinic Plummer Quinlan, and George Christian were looking to the Building (Ellerbe Architects, 1928), and the Rand Yellin firm in Philadelphia for ornamentation, cli­ Tower (Holabird and Root, 1929). In 1939, Com­ ents from across the country were turning to Minne­ mercial West magazine dubbed the firm "A Minne­ apolis for metalwork to adorn a wide range of new apolis Institution —Greatest of its Kind in America." buildings. A leader in such metal production in Min­ Crown Iron Works, doing business mostly in the nesota was Flour City Ornamental Iron Works, a Midwest, also made a significant contribution to the company that began as a Minneapolis blacksmith ornamentation of new buildings. Crown's early shop in 1893. The Crown Iron Works, one of many years at St. Anthony Falls, beginning in 1878, were iron companies established to service the milling op­ followed by a stint in the original St. Anthony City erations at St. Anthony Falls during the late Wth Hall building and a long-term tenure at its plant on century, also grew into a regionally important sup­ Tyler Street in northeast Minneapolis. Early work of plier of ornamental work. the company appeared in the Guaranty Loan (Met­ The Flour City firm fabricated products of ropolitan) Building (E. Townsend Mix, 1890) and wrought and cast iron, bronze, and, beginning in the City Hall/County Courthouse (Long and Kees, the 1930s, of the white metals. Although some critics 1888-1905), both in Minneapolis. Later work in­ decried the replacement of wrought iron by cast ma­ cluded ornamental elements for the Woodbury terials, Flour City's contracts show that both their County Courthouse in Sioux City, Iowa (Purcell and cast and wrought work were appearing in buildings Elmslie, 1918) and the Fox Theatre Building (C. Ho­ designed by some of the country's leading architec­ ward Crane, 1928) in Detroit. tural firms. Among these were the U.S. Mint (James The physical plant of Flour City Ornamental Iron Knox Taylor, architect, 1897-1906) in Denver; the Works on 27th Avenue South is currently being docu­ Tribune Tower (Howells & Hood, architects, 1925) mented by the State Historic Preservation Office be­ and the Palmer House (Holabird & Roche, archi­ cause of its local significance. The operations and tects, 1927) in Chicago; and the second John Han­ products of both the Flour City and Crown firms, as cock Building (Cram & Ferguson, architects, 1947) well as those of a host of other local iron companies, in Boston. In 1939, the firm crafted a series of bronze await research, documentation, and analysis. doors with sculptures by Carl Milles for the Pennsyl­ vania Finance Building in Harrisburg. In Minnesota —Dennis Gimmestad the firm's work appears in the state capitol (Cass State Historic Preservation Office ded with playful animal-head finials, is an example of the state. Obtained from a client card file at the still- the memorial ironwork executed during the late 1920s- operating Yellin establishment in Philadelphia, this list 30s for the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. revealed that during its peak years from 1919 to 1927, Two architecturally notable university campuses—^Yale the firm filled at least 18 orders for architectural proj­ and Northwestern—are represented by drawings for ects in the state, but in several cases an address was all gates forged by Yellin smiths. The Harkness Memorial that the client files divulged. In other cases the entries Quadrangle gates at Yale (James Gamble Rodgers, ar­ were more complete, listing the project, architect, cli­ chitect, 1917) are comprised of 48 panel sections, each ent, order date, and the type of item ordered, such as different in design. Sepia drawings represent the Alex­ "lighting fixtures" or "railing." The Minnesota-Yellin ander McKinlock Memorial Campus entry gates at story went only as far as that list. Northwestern University (Child and Smith, architects, Further research in the company files and in local 1930), showing the spire-like finials that rise to over 25 sources, while not exhaustive, has yielded tantalizing feet.