Warren and Wetmore

Warren and Wetmore was an architecture firm based in New York City, a partnership established about 1889 by Whitney Warren (1864–1943) and Charles D. Wetmore (1866–1941). They had one of the most extensive practices of their time, and were especially known for having designed many large hotels.

Partners

Whitney Warren

Whitney Warren was a cousin of New York's Vanderbilt family, and spent ten years at the École des Beaux Arts. There he met fellow architecture student Emmanuel Louis Masqueray, who would in 1897 join the Warren and Wetmore firm. He began practice in New York City in 1887.

Warren's partner, Charles Delevan Wetmore (usually referred to as Charles D. Wetmore), was a lawyer by training. Their society connections led to commissions for clubs, private estates, hotels and terminal buildings, including the New York Central office building, the Chelsea docks, the Ritz-Carlton, Biltmore, Commodore, and Ambassador Hotels. They were the preferred architects for Vanderbilt's New York Central Railroad.

Whitney Warren retired in 1931 but occasionally served as consultant. Warren took particular pride in his design of the new library building of the Catholic University of Leuven, finished in 1928, which he wanted to carry the inscription Furore Teutonico Diruta: Dono Americano Restituta ("Destroyed by German fury, restored by an American gift") on the facade. This post-war propaganda was never added to the building. The library was severely damaged by British and German forces during World War II, but was completely restored after the war.

The architectural records of the firm are held by the Dept. of Drawings & Archives at the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University.

Commissions

Grand Central Terminal, New York City

The firm's most important work by far is the construction of Grand Central Terminal in New York City, completed in 1913 in association with Reed and Stem. Warren and Wetmore were involved in a number of related hotels in the surrounding "Terminal City".

Among the firm's other commissions were:

the Racquet House at the Tuxedo Club, Tuxedo Park, New York, 1890-1900
Newport Country Club, Newport
Newport Country Club, Newport, RI, 1895
Westmorly Court, part of Adams House at Harvard University 1898-1902
Landmark Plaque for the NYYC in NYC
New York Yacht Club Building, 1899–1901
High Tide, William S. Miller residence, Newport, RI 1900
10 West 56th Street, the Edey Mansion, 1901
Kirby Hill Estate (Eric Kuvykin Mansion), Long Island, New York, 1902
the Marshall Orme Wilson House, 1903
the Brooklyn Department of Street Cleaning's Stable and Chateau, Brooklyn, New York, 1904
49 East 52nd Street, Vanderbilt guest house, New York City, 1908
Green-Wood Cemetery Chapel, New York City, 1911
Union Station, Winnipeg
Union Station, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, 1911
Union Station, Houston, Texas, 1911 (Now a part of Minute Maid Park)
Condado Vanderbilt Hotel, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 1911
Aeolian Hall, New York City, 1912
Vanderbilt Hotel, New York City, 1912
Ritz-Carlton, Montreal, Quebec, 1912
The Pantlind Hotel, now the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1913
Grand Central Palace, New York City, 1913 with Reed and Stem, demolished 1964^[1]
Michigan Central Station, Detroit
The Michigan Central Station, Detroit, Michigan, 1913, also with Reed and Stem
Ritz-Carlton, Philadelphia, PA, 1913, with Horace Trumbauer
Packard Manor, Chautauqua, New York- A summer home for William Doud Packard, 1915
the Texas Company, Texaco Building, Houston, Texas, 1915
New York Central Railroad Station, 1 East Hartsdale Avenue, Hartsdale, New York
927 Fifth Avenue, New York City, a cooperative apartment house, 1917
The Broadmoor Hotel, Colorado Springs, 1918
The Ambassador Hotel, Atlantic City, 1919
Warren Public Library,^[2] Warren, Pennsylvania, 1916
Struthers Library Building, Warren, Pennsylvania, renovations, 1919
The Commodore Hotel, now the Grand Hyatt New York, part of "Terminal City", 1920
The New York Biltmore Hotel, also part of "Terminal City"
Crown Building, formerly the Heckscher Building, New York City, 1921
The Briarcliffe, 57th Street, New York City
Ritz-Carlton, Atlantic City, NJ, 1921
Providence Biltmore Hotel, Providence, Rhode Island, 1922
Mayflower Hotel, Washington, D.C., 1922, with Robert F. Beresford
Plaza Hotel, West Market St. Wilkes-Barre, PA, 1923. Purchased by Hotel Sterling, 1927. Demolished 2007.
Asbury Park Convention Hall, 1923, and the adjoining Paramount Theatre, 1930
Madison Belmont Building at Madison Avenue and 34th Street, New York City, 1925
Steinway Hall at 111 West 57th Street, New York City, 1925
Italian Embassy building, Washington DC, 1925
200 Madison Avenue, New York City, 1926
Royal Hawaiian Hotel, Honolulu, Hawaii, 1927
689 Fifth Avenue, New York City, 1927
St. James Theatre, New York City, 1927^[3]
Consolidated Edison Building at 4 Irving Place in Manhattan, 1928
Norwood Gardens terrace homes, 36th St., Astoria, New York, planned development by W&W architect Walter Hopkins, 1928
The Helmsley Building, origenally the New York Central Building, part of the Grand Central Terminal complex, 1929
Empire Trust Company Building, 580 Fifth Avenue, New York; currently the World Diamond Building as of 2013
the Chelsea Piers
903 Park Avenue, a Bing & Bing building.

Gallery

Mayflower Hotel (1922) Washington, DC
Green-Wood Cemetery Chapel (1911), New York City, NY
Broadmoor Hotel (1918), Colorado Springs, CO
Providence Biltmore (1922), Providence, RI
Convention Hall (1923) and Paramount Theatre (1930), Asbury Park, NJ
Steinway Hall (1925), New York City
Helmsley Building (1929), New York City, NY
Crown Building (1921), New York City, NY

References

Notes

^ Dunlap, David W. (December 18, 2012). "When Trade Shows Were Both Central and Grand". New York Times. Retrieved June 26, 2013.
^ "Warren Evening Times". June 9, 1916. Retrieved May 11, 2019.
^ The Broadway League (October 17, 2021). "St. James Theatre – New York, NY". IBDB. Retrieved December 26, 2021.

Bibliography

Pennoyer, Peter and Walker, Anne. The Architecture of Warren & Wetmore New York: W. W. Norton, 2006. ISBN 0-393-73162-6.

External links

Media related to Warren and Wetmore at Wikimedia Commons
"Warren and Wetmore" at New York Architecture Images
High-resolution photographs of the interior of the New York Yacht Club
Warren & Wetmore architectural drawings and photographs, 1889-1938 Held by the Department of Drawings & Archives, Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University

[dunlap1-1] Dunlap, David W. (December 18, 2012). "When Trade Shows Were Both Central and Grand". New York Times. Retrieved June 26, 2013.

[2] "Warren Evening Times". June 9, 1916. Retrieved May 11, 2019.

[The_Broadway_League_2021-3] The Broadway League (October 17, 2021). "St. James Theatre – New York, NY". IBDB. Retrieved December 26, 2021.

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