Corrado Parducci
Encyclopedia
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
ural sculptor
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
who was a celebrated artist for his numerous early 20th Century works.
Early life and education
Parducci was born in ButiButi
Buti is a comune in the Province of Pisa in the Italian region Tuscany, located about 50 km west of Florence and about 15 km east of Pisa...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, a small village near Pisa, and immigrated to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1904. At a young age, he was sponsored by heiress/sculptor Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney
Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney
Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney was an American sculptor, art patron and collector, and founder in 1931 of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City...
and sent to art school. He attended the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design
Beaux-Arts Institute of Design
The Beaux-Arts Institute of Design was an art and architectural school at 304 East 44th Street in Turtle Bay, Manhattan, in New York City...
and Art Students League. His teachers included anatomist George Bridgman
George Bridgman
George Brant Bridgman was a Canadian-American painter, writer, and teacher in the fields of anatomy and figure drawing. Bridgman taught anatomy for artists at the Art Students League of New York for some 45 years....
and sculptor Albin Polasek
Albin Polasek
Albin Polasek was a Czech-American sculptor and educator. He created more than four hundred works during his career, two hundred of which are now displayed in the Albin Polasek Museum and Sculpture Gardens in Winter Park, Florida.-Career:Born as Albín Polášek in Frenštát, Moravia , Polasek...
.
Training and Career
Parducci was apprenticed to architectural sculptor Ulysses RicciUlysses Ricci
Ulysses Ricci was an American sculptor known primarily for his architectural sculpture. Born in New York City, Ricci was an apprentice at the Perth Amboy Terra Cotta Works in New Jersey from 1902 to 1906. He studied at Cooper Union Institute and at the Art Students League with James Earle...
in 1917. While working for Ricci, and later while in the Anthony DiLorenzo studio, his work came to the attention of Detroit architect Albert Kahn.
In 1924 Parducci travled to Detroit to work for Kahn, only planning to stay for a few months. However, with the automotive industry booming in the 1920s, Parducci moved his family to Michigan and ended up spending the rest of his career working from Detroit. One of Parducci's known Detroit studios was located at Cass Ave. and Sibley St., but it has been demolished. Parducci's studio had tall windows which illuminated his work. Parducci’s work can be found on many of the Detroit area’s finest buildings including from churches, schools, banks, hospitals and residences.
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County. The 2010 census places the population at 113,934, making it the sixth largest city in Michigan. The Ann Arbor Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 344,791 as of 2010...
, Dearborn
Dearborn, Michigan
-Economy:Ford Motor Company has its world headquarters in Dearborn. In addition its Dearborn campus contains many research, testing, finance and some production facilities. Ford Land controls the numerous properties owned by Ford including sales and leasing to unrelated businesses such as the...
, Flint
Flint, Michigan
Flint is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and is located along the Flint River, northwest of Detroit. The U.S. Census Bureau reports the 2010 population to be placed at 102,434, making Flint the seventh largest city in Michigan. It is the county seat of Genesee County which lies in the...
, Grand Rapids
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Grand Rapids is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. The city is located on the Grand River about 40 miles east of Lake Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 188,040. In 2010, the Grand Rapids metropolitan area had a population of 774,160 and a combined statistical area, Grand...
, Jackson
Jackson, Michigan
Jackson is a city located along Interstate 94 in the south central area of the U.S. state of Michigan, about west of Ann Arbor and south of Lansing. It is the county seat of Jackson County. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 33,534...
, Kalamazoo
Kalamazoo, Michigan
The area on which the modern city stands was once home to Native Americans of the Hopewell culture, who migrated into the area sometime before the first millennium. Evidence of their early residency remains in the form of a small mound in downtown's Bronson Park. The Hopewell civilization began to...
, Marquette
Marquette, Michigan
Marquette is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Marquette County. The population was 21,355 at the 2010 census, making it the most populated city of the Upper Peninsula. Marquette is a major port on Lake Superior, primarily for shipping iron ore and is the home of Northern...
, Royal Oak
Royal Oak, Michigan
Royal Oak is a city in Oakland County of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is a suburb of Detroit. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 57,236. It should not be confused with Royal Oak Charter Township, a separate community located nearby....
, Saginaw
Saginaw, Michigan
Saginaw is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Saginaw County. The city of Saginaw was once a thriving lumber town and manufacturing center. Saginaw and Saginaw County lie in the Flint/Tri-Cities region of Michigan...
, and Ypsilanti
Ypsilanti, Michigan
Ypsilanti is a city in Washtenaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 22,362. The city is bounded to the north by the Charter Township of Superior and on the west, south, and east by the Charter Township of Ypsilanti...
. By the end of his long and productive career, Parducci’s efforts adorned about 600 buildings.
The last commission Parducci completed was a portrait of architect Henry Hobson Richardson
Henry Hobson Richardson
Henry Hobson Richardson was a prominent American architect who designed buildings in Albany, Boston, Buffalo, Chicago, Pittsburgh, and other cities. The style he popularized is named for him: Richardsonian Romanesque...
in a Romanesque setting that was carved on a lintel in the Senate chamber of the New York State Capitol
New York State Capitol
The New York State Capitol is the capitol building of the U.S. state of New York. Housing the New York State Legislature, it is located in the state capital city Albany, on State Street in Capitol Park. The building, completed in 1899 at a cost of $25 million , was the most expensive government...
in Albany, New York
Albany, New York
Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...
in 1980.
Although Parducci worked in a variety of styles, notably Romanesque, Classical, Renaissance and even Aztec/Mayan/Pueblo Deco, it was his pioneering of the Greco Deco
Greco Deco
Greco Deco is a term coined by Washington, DC based art historian James M. Goode to describe a style of art and architecture popularized in the late 1920s and 1930s...
style for which he is best remembered.
Parducci’s Detroit Masonic Temple Lobby
Anthony Di Lorenzo, New York ornamentalist, held two contracts for interior decoration in the Detroit Masonic TempleDetroit Masonic Temple
The Detroit Masonic Temple is the world's largest Masonic Temple. Located in the Cass Corridor of Detroit, Michigan, at 500 Temple Street, the building serves as a home to various masonic organizations including the York Rite Sovereign College of North America. The Masonic Temple Theatre is a venue...
- #1 (Corrado Parducci) $13,160.00 and #2 for $9,680.00. Thomas Di Lorenzo’s contract for interior decoration amounted to $59,074.00. Joe (Corrado) Parducci worked in the New York firm of Ricci, DiLorenzo and Aldolino as a very young man. When the firm broke up, he stayed with DiLorenzo who was an ornamentalist and Joe was the sculptor. Joe met Albert Kahn in New York City who urged him to come to Detroit and work on two bank buildings on Griswold Street . Joe came to Detroit to work for only a couple of months. Anthony DiLorenzo had some work here and Kahn wanted Parducci. He worked indirectly for Kahn through DiLorenzo. Other work came from Detroit architects Donaldson & Meier, Smith, Hinchman & Grylls, and George D. Mason.
The first 8 months, 1924 to middle of 1925, Joe worked under DiLorenzo. The Masonic Temple contracts were DiLorenzos’ jobs until Parducci bought them out for $5,000.00.
William F. Gurche had the contract for the exterior sculpture. Henry Steinman, a New York sculptor working in the Detroit studio of William F. Gurche, sculpted the Tylers on the four towers of the Ritual Building . Leo William Friedlander
Leo Friedlander
Leo Friedlander was an American sculptor who has made several prominent works. Friedlander studied at the Art Students League in New York City, the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Brussels and Paris and the American Academy in Rome...
, a New York sculptor and 1913 winner of the Prix de Rome
Prix de Rome
The Prix de Rome was a scholarship for arts students, principally of painting, sculpture, and architecture. It was created, initially for painters and sculptors, in 1663 in France during the reign of Louis XIV. It was an annual bursary for promising artists having proved their talents by...
, was paid $1,100.00 to sculpt the three figures – King Solomon, King Hiram and Hiram Abiff
Hiram Abiff
Hiram Abiff is a character who figures prominently in an allegorical play that is presented during the third degree of Craft Freemasonry...
– over the Ritual Tower entrance.
All the light fixtures were custom-made by the Sterling Bronze Company of New York . The lighting fixtures in the lodges, hallways, and foyers were designed for the tasks at hand.
Corrado Giuseppe Parducci's lobby design was reportedly adapted from an old castle in Palermo, Sicily . Parducci did model the 5’ bronze floor plaque depicting Strength, Truth and Beauty. He sculpted the two plaques in the stone walls of the interior stairs of the Scottish Rite entrance. These two are repeated in the lobby as plaster plaques.
List of Buildings Containing Parducci's Art
- Guardian BuildingGuardian BuildingThe Guardian Building is a skyscraper at 500 Griswold Street in the downtown of the city of Detroit, in the state of Michigan, in the United States of America. The Guardian is a class-A office building owned by Wayne County, Michigan and serves as its headquarters...
- Buhl BuildingBuhl BuildingThe Buhl Building is a skyscraper and class-A office center in Detroit, Michigan, United States. Architect Wirt C. Rowland designed the Buhl in a Neo-Gothic style with Romanesque accents...
- Penobscot BuildingPenobscot BuildingThe Greater Penobscot Building, commonly known as the Penobscot Building, is a skyscraper and class-A office building in downtown Detroit, Michigan. Rising 566 feet , the 47-story Penobscot was the tallest building in Michigan from its completion in 1928 until the construction of the Renaissance...
- Fisher BuildingFisher BuildingThe Fisher Building is an ornate Art Deco skyscraper located on the corner of West Grand Boulevard and Second Avenue in the heart of the New Center area of Detroit, Michigan. It is constructed of limestone, granite, and several types of marble, and was financed by the Fisher family with proceeds...
- Stewart-Warner Speedometer Corporation Building
- Kresge Building
- Maccabees BuildingMaccabees BuildingThe Maccabees Building is a historic building located in Midtown Detroit, at 5057 Woodward Avenue. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. and is currently owned by Wayne State University....
- The PlayersThe Players (Detroit, Michigan)The Players is a clubhouse and theatre located at 3321 East Jefferson Avenue in Detroit, Michigan. It was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1985 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.- History :...
- Springwells Water Treatment Plant
- Detroit Federal BuildingTheodore Levin United States CourthouseThe Theodore Levin United States Courthouse is a large high-rise courthouse and office building located at 231 West Lafayette Boulevard in Downtown Detroit, Michigan. The building is named after the late Theodore Levin, a lawyer and United States District Court judge...
- Detroit Zoo Rackham Memorial FountainDetroit ZooThe Detroit Zoological Park, commonly known as the Detroit Zoo, is located about north of the Detroit city limits at the intersection of Woodward Avenue, 10 Mile Road, and Interstate 696 in Royal Oak and Huntington Woods, Michigan, USA...
- Webster Hall, Wayne State UniversityWayne State UniversityWayne State University is a public research university located in Detroit, Michigan, United States, in the city's Midtown Cultural Center Historic District. Founded in 1868, WSU consists of 13 schools and colleges offering more than 400 major subject areas to over 32,000 graduate and...
, (Demolished in 1991) - David Stott BuildingDavid Stott BuildingThe David Stott Building is an Art Deco skyscraper in downtown Detroit, Michigan designed by the architectural firm of Donaldson and Meier. It is a class-A office building constructed in 1929 at the corner of Griswold Street and State Street , a part of the Capitol Park Historic District...
- Trinity Lutheran Church
- Detroit Masonic TempleDetroit Masonic TempleThe Detroit Masonic Temple is the world's largest Masonic Temple. Located in the Cass Corridor of Detroit, Michigan, at 500 Temple Street, the building serves as a home to various masonic organizations including the York Rite Sovereign College of North America. The Masonic Temple Theatre is a venue...
- Wilson Theater, now Music HallMusic Hall Center for the Performing ArtsThe Music Hall Center for Performing Arts is a 1,700-seat theatre located in the city's theatre district at 350 Madison Avenue in Detroit, Michigan...
- Hudson Motor Car FactoryHudson Motor Car CompanyThe Hudson Motor Car Company made Hudson and other brand automobiles in Detroit, Michigan, from 1909 to 1954. In 1954, Hudson merged with Nash-Kelvinator Corporation to form American Motors. The Hudson name was continued through the 1957 model year, after which it was dropped.- Company strategy...
(Demolished) - Detroit Historical MuseumDetroit Historical MuseumThe Detroit Historical Museum is located at 5401 Woodward Avenue in the city's Cultural Center Historic District in Midtown Detroit. It chronicles the history of the Detroit area from cobblestone streets, 19th century stores, the auto assembly line, toy trains, fur trading from the 18th century,...
- Lee PlazaLee Plaza (Detroit)Lee Plaza is a vacant high-rise apartment building in Detroit, Michigan, located at 2240 West Grand Boulevard. It is a registered historic site by the state of Michigan and was added to the United States National Register of Historic Places on November 5, 1981...
- Meadow Brook HallMeadow Brook HallMeadow Brook Hall is a Tudor revival style mansion located at 480 South Adams Rd. in Rochester Hills, Michigan. It was built between 1926 and 1929 by Matilda Dodge Wilson and her second husband, lumber broker Alfred G. Wilson...
- Edsel and Eleanor Ford HouseEdsel and Eleanor Ford HouseThe Edsel and Eleanor Ford House, which is named "Gaukler Point" - is on the shore of Lake St. Clair in Grosse Pointe Shores, northeast of Detroit, Michigan, the United States. It became the new residence of the Edsel and Eleanor Ford family in 1929. Edsel Ford was the son of Henry Ford and an...
- Charles T. Fisher Residence
- Alfred J. Fisher Residence
- William A. Fisher Residence
- Frank Couzens Residence
- St. Aloysius Church
- Cathedral of the Most Blessed SacramentCathedral of the Most Blessed SacramentThe Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament is a decorated Gothic Revival style Roman Catholic cathedral church in the United States. It is the seat of the archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit...
- Shrine of the Little Flower
- St. Thomas the Apostle's
- St. John’s Seminary, now The Inn At St. Johns
- University of Detroit MercyUniversity of Detroit MercyUniversity of Detroit Mercy is a private, Roman Catholic co-educational university in Detroit, Michigan, United States, affiliated with the Society of Jesus and the Sisters of Mercy. Antoine M. Garibaldi is the president. With origins dating from 1877, it is the largest Roman Catholic university...
- Standard Club of Chicago
- Second National Bank of Saginaw
- Rackham Building in Ann Arbor
- Standard Savings and Loan in Ann Arbor
- Louisiana State CapitolLouisiana State CapitolThe Louisiana State Capitol building is the capitol building of the state of Louisiana, located in Baton Rouge. The capitol houses the Louisiana State Legislature, the governor's office, and parts of the executive branch...
External links
- http://artarchives.si.edu/oralhist/parduc75.htm
- http://www.wiu.edu/art/public_art/html/firstbank.html
- http://www.dwsd.org/history/Parducci_bio.html
- http://www.bonisteelml.org/dml_gallery.htm
- Bonisteel Masonic Library Ann Arbor/Detroit Michigan
- email: kgrube@bonisteelml.org Karl Grube W. Grube, Ph.D., President
- Corrado Parducci on Arborwiki