RAYMOND HOOD M' in \i t .it v Philip Morris .mini . -March V. I":: I t \ j>U *TO- *V^- r Raymond Hood : City of Towers In the 1920s, an explosive decade of city growth, Raymond M. Hood close friends as Ely Jacques Kahn and Ralph Walker. Despite the was America's most celebrated skyscraper architect. His colleagues 1916 New York City zoning law that made setbacks almost unavoid- and critics were stunned by his errant eclecticism and calculated able. Hood turned each of his buildings into a freestanding tower. recalcitrance; he was described as a "brilliant bad boy" 1 and a The Art Deco approach then in fashion treated the skyscraper as a "flame of vigor, imagination, daring." 2 Summarizing Hood's ca- series of stacked boxes with horizontal bands of ornament accenting reer, his contemporary Thomas Tallmadge wrote: "Perhaps it was the setbacks. Hood, in contrast, emphasized the uninterrupted ver- Hood's personality, reflected so acutely by this period of architec- tically of the structure and its coherence as a single mass either ture, that makes him the symbol of an era, unexampled alike for through uniform color or strong pattern. 3 its brevity and brilliance." But while Hood typified the new twenties Like many of his American and European contemporaries, Hood architect, he was also highly individual in his design approach. was fascinated by the concept of an architect-designed urban future, In 1922, at age forty-one. Hood rose from obscurity to national and he believed that the skyscraper should be the defining structure. notoriety with his winning design for the Chicago Tribune Tower, Beginning in 1924, he published a series of visionary proposals for a competition he entered in association with an older, established a rationalized city of towers in which he argued that widely spaced architect, John Mead Howells. This international competition for towers afforded both the advantages of dense concentration and effi- the newspaper's new skyscraper headquarters was the most pub- cient traffic circulation. licized architectural event of the decade, and Hood's victory en- Hood exemplified the new breed of businessman-architect that sured his future as an architect. began to dominate the profession in the years after World War I. During the next twelve years, until his early death in 1934, Hood He sought and served corporate clients, monumentalizing their suc- designed four other skyscrapers, all for companies located in mid- cess. Hood's buildings represented advertising, not ideology, and town Manhattan : American Radiator, Daily News. McGraw-Hill, and although he was in the forward line of those searching for a "mod- RCA. While the Tribune Tower had been conservatively clothed in ern" style, he was not avant-garde. As an interviewer observed in delicate neo-Gothic ornament, the exteriors of these subsequent build- 1931 : "Traditions mean nothing to him except hurdles which must ings broke sharply with convention and each in turn became the be jumped in order to keep pace with modern life. He has reared most discussed structure in the country. Hood introduced a new free- no temples to dead gods ; he has built workshops for living men and in dom in the use of color and enlarged the scale of exterior pattern. their construction he has proclaimed the era of business, of ma- The black brick facing with contrasting gold details of the American chinery and speed." 4 Radiator Building was an unprecedented decorative treatment, as CAROL WILLIS was the bold vertical striping of the Daily News Building and the Guest Curator blue-green tile "skin" of the McGraw-Hill Building. Although the RCA Building was clad in traditional limestone (a committee deci- sion of the Associated Architects of Rockefeller Center). Hood pro- 1. Allene Talmey, "Man Against the Sky," The New Yorker. April posed nearly seven acres of roof gardens to enliven the scene. 11, 1931, p. 24. Beneath the variety of facade treatments, however, Hood main- 2. Thomas Tallmadge, The Story of Architecture in America, 2nd rev. ed. tained a consistent attitude toward form which distinguished his (New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 1936), p. 299. work from that of his contemporaries. Advocating the tower as the 3. Ibid. ideal form for the skyscraper, he rejected the emphatic expression 4. S. J. Woolf, "An Architect Hails the Rule of Reason," The New York of the setback structure favored by such prominent designers and Times Magazine, November 1, 1931, p. 6. Checklist Sketch for Chicago Tribune Tower, no. 2, Project for an addition to Chicago Tribune August 1.1922 Tower, December 19, 1922 Charcoal on hoard. 26 x 14 (66 x 35.6) Charcoal on board, 24^ x W/2 (62.2 x 36.8) Archives of American Art, Washington. D.C. Archives of American Art, Washington, D.C. All drawings are by Raymond M. Hood Sketch for Chicago Tribune Tower, Proposal for a tower for General Electric (?), (1881—1934) unless otherwise indicated. no. 3. 1922 February 14, 1924 24l/ 14l/ Dimensions are given first in inches, then in Charcoal on board, 26y2 x 14 (67.3 x 35.6) Charcoal on board. 2 x 2 (62.2 x 36.8) centimeters; height precedes width. The Archives of American Art, Washington, D.C. Archives of American Art. Washington. D.C. numbers for the sketches of the Chicago Tribune Tower refer to those marked by Sketch for Chicago Tribune Tower. Proposal for a City of Towers, c. 1927 Hood on the drawings, probably at some no. 4, 1922 Photographic enlargement from original later date, to indicate the sequence of the Charcoal, pencil, ink. and white chalk on ink and gouache drawing. 17 x 91/2 drawings still in his possession. board, 2414 x 13V4 (61.6x33.7) (43.2x24.1) Archives of American Art, Washington, D.C. The Architectural Archives, University of The first ten drawings are from the Raymond Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Hood Papers in the Archives of American Art. Sketch for Chicago Tribune Tower, Smithsonian Institution. It ashington. D.C. no. 11,1922 Proposal for a City of Towers, c. 1927 Pencil with sepia on board. 29 x 20 Photographic enlargement from original (73.7x50.8) ink and gouache drawing, 17 x HV2 Archives of American Art, Washington. D.C. ( 13.2 x 29.2) The Architectural Archives, University of Sketch for Chicago Tribune Tower, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia no. 13, 1922 Charcoal, pencil, and ink wash on board, Proposal for "Manhattan 1950," skyscraper 29x16(73.7x40.6) bridges. December 26, 1929 Archives of American Art, Washington, D.C. Charcoal, ink. and watercolor on paper. 17x19% (43.2x48.6) Sketches for Chicago Tribune Tower, Collection of Trientje Hood Reed details of top and base, 1922 Pencil on paper, 20 x 18^ (50.8 x 47) Proposal for "Manhattan 1950," aerial view Archives of American Art, Washington, D.C. over the commercial center. December 26, 1929 Sketches for Chicago Tribune Tower, Signed by Raymond Hood, rendering by three versions of base, 1922 "C.L." (Carl Landefeld?) Pencil on paper, 29 x 20% (73.7 x 51.4) Ink wash on board, 18% x 18% (47.3 x 47.3) Archives of American Art, Washington, D.C. Collection of Trientje Hood Reed Project for a pair of Chicago Tribune Towers, December 13, 1922 Raymond Hood, proposal for "Manhattan Watercolor and charcoal on board, 1950, aerial view over the commercial 20 x 13 (50.8 x 33) center, December 26, 1929 Archives of American Art, Washington, D.C. ) Office of John Mead Howells and Office of Raymond Hood. Godley. Fouilhoux Raymond M. Hood McGraw-Hill Building, north and west Office drawing no. 38 for the Daily News elevations, November 5, 1930 In 1981, the Institute for Architecture and Building, north and west elevations. Pencil on tracing paper, 39% x 32 Urban Studies (IAUS) undertook to organ- March 1, 1929 (100.6x81.3) ize a major retrospective and to publish a Black ink with pencil on linen, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, catalogue on the architecture of Raymond 383/4 x 50 (98.4 x 127) Columbia University, New York Hood. For their generous support of this Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, project, the IAUS would like to thank Knoll Columbia University, New York Hugh Ferriss (1889-1962) International, Inc., The McGraw-Hill Foun- American Radiator Building, c. 1924 dation, Inc., Newmark and Company, Real Office of John Mead Howells and Lithograph. 19 x 9% (48.3 x 24.1 Estate, Inc., Rockefeller Center, and the Raymond M. Hood Collection of Trientje Hood Reed New York State Council on the Arts. I am Office drawing no. 40 for the Daily News grateful to Robert A. M. Stern and Thomas Building, cross section, stair, and details, JohnWenrich (1894-1970) P. Catalano, and to Edith Morill for artfully March 1,1929 Rockefeller Center, general air view detail, engineering the transition from the earlier Black ink and pencil on linen, 38% x 50 seen from above 47th St.. looking project to this one. (98.1 x 127) northeast. February 1931 The exhibition was designed by Lynn Breslin. Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Pencil, pastel, and gouache on paper, Columbia University, New York 22 x 18 (55.9 x 45.7) C.W. Rockefeller Center. New York Office of John Mead Howells and Raymond M. Hood John Wenrich Full-scale elevation of bronze lanterns for Rockefeller Center, RCA Building, 1931 the Daily News Building, April 27, 1929 Pencil, pastel, and gouache on paper, Charcoal, pencil, and blue and orange pencil 2614x1314 (66.7x33.7) on tracing paper, 79 x 41% (200.7 x 106) Rockefeller Center. New York Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University, New York John Wenrich General view of Rockefeller Center from Office of Raymond Hood, Godley, Fouilhoux northeast, seen from above St.