James Kellum Smith
Encyclopedia
James Kellum Smith Sr. was an American
architect
, of the well-known Gilded Age
architectural firm
of McKim, Mead, and White
.
Smith grew up in the small city of Towanda in Bradford County, Pennsylvania
, where he attended Towanda High School, was a member of the Omega Gamma Delta
fraternity
, and was graduated in 1910. From Towanda, Smith went on to Amherst College
where he was a member of the Chi Psi
fraternity and was graduated in 1915, with Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Xi
honors. He received his degree in architecture from the University of Pennsylvania
after a short interruption for service in World War I.
James was a member of McKim, Mead and White from 1920 (1924 per Dearinger) to 1961 and the architect for Amherst College from 1930 to 1960. He became a full partner in 1929, and was the last surviving partner of MM&W. He primarily designed academic buildings, but his last major work was the National Museum of American History.
Charles Follen McKim
was the classicist, and Stanford White
the flamboyant designer. Per Baker, William Rutherford Mead
was the MM&W partner who "hired and fired", "steered the ship", and spent his time "trying to keep the partners from making damn fools of themselves." In 1883, Mead married Olga Kilyeni (c1850-1936). Mead retired in 1920, around when James joined the firm.
In 1936, "Mrs. Olga Kilenyi Mead, widow of the architect, William Rutherford Mead of McKim, Mead White, who died in her apartment in the Sherry-Netherland Hotel on April 10, last, bequeathed her entire estate to the trustees of Amherst College
, Amherst, Mass." His widow received all the estate of about $250,000 per NY Times November 27, 1928 article.
The money was used to build the Mead Art Building, which was designed by James. The building was completed in 1949. James was also the architect of the Memorial Field and War Memorial at Amherst, built from 1945-1946 and dedicated in honor of the alumni who died in World Wars I and II.
In 1923, James was awarded the Rome Prize
, a prestigious American architectural award made annually by the American Academy in Rome
, McKim's favorite legacy. He was a Fellow at the Academy from 1920–23, and trustee from 1933. He served as president of the Academy from 1937 until 1958 and in 1961 he was awarded a medal for his outstanding service to the organization.
In 1951, he was bestowed an honorary
Doctor of Humane Letters
from Bowdoin College
, who cited Smith's work in architecture for Bowdoin in the building of the Union, swimming pool
, the Classroom Building. Smith also designed buildings at Union College
, Middlebury College
, Tufts University
, Colgate University
, the American University in Beirut, the University of Connecticut
, the University of Delaware
, and and the University of Pennsylvania.
Smith served in World War II as a lieutenant colonel
. He was also a trustee of Pratt Institute
"The present-day National Museum of American History began with the 1923 plan for a National Museum of Engineering and Industry. The architectural firm McKim, Mead and White was contracted for the design of the new building on March 16, 1956. James Kellum Smith of McKim, Mead and White served as designer until his death when Walker Cain of the successor firm Steinman, Cain and White replaced Smith. In December 1957 the National Capital Planning Commission approved the site between 12th and 14th Streets on Constitution Avenue, just west of the Museum of Natural History. The site was cleared and ground was broken in August 1958 and construction began on October 5, 1959. It opened to the public on January 23, 1964 to five and a half million visitors in its first year. In 1969 the museum was renamed to the National Museum of History and Technology and in 1980 it was again renamed to the National Museum of American History." from Buildings of the Smithsonian Institution.
James died on February 18, 1961.
James was a member of the American Institute of Architects
(AIA) from 1929 and was named a fellow of the American Institute of Architects in 1944. He was also a member and Vice President of the National Institute of Arts and Letters.
James' son James Kellum Smith Jr., who goes by the name J. Kellum Smith Jr., was Secretary of the Rockefeller Foundation
and then Vice President and Secretary of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
architect
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...
, of the well-known Gilded Age
Gilded Age
In United States history, the Gilded Age refers to the era of rapid economic and population growth in the United States during the post–Civil War and post-Reconstruction eras of the late 19th century. The term "Gilded Age" was coined by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner in their book The Gilded...
architectural firm
Architectural firm
An architectural firm is a company which employs one or more licensed architects and practices the profession of architecture.- History :Architects have existed since early in recorded history. The earliest recorded architects include Imhotep and Senemut . No writings exist to describe how these...
of McKim, Mead, and White
McKim, Mead, and White
McKim, Mead & White was a prominent American architectural firm at the turn of the twentieth century and in the history of American architecture. The firm's founding partners were Charles Follen McKim , William Rutherford Mead and Stanford White...
.
Smith grew up in the small city of Towanda in Bradford County, Pennsylvania
Bradford County, Pennsylvania
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 62,761 people, 24,453 households, and 17,312 families residing in the county. The population density was 54 people per square mile . There were 28,664 housing units at an average density of 25 per square mile...
, where he attended Towanda High School, was a member of the Omega Gamma Delta
Omega Gamma Delta
Omega Gamma Delta is an American fraternity. It was created June 22, 1902 by Percy & Arthur Edrop and Walter Dohm in Brooklyn, New York.- External links :* * *...
fraternity
Fraternities and sororities
Fraternities and sororities are fraternal social organizations for undergraduate students. In Latin, the term refers mainly to such organizations at colleges and universities in the United States, although it is also applied to analogous European groups also known as corporations...
, and was graduated in 1910. From Towanda, Smith went on to Amherst College
Amherst College
Amherst College is a private liberal arts college located in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Amherst is an exclusively undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 1,744 students in the fall of 2009...
where he was a member of the Chi Psi
Chi Psi
Chi Psi Fraternity is a fraternity and secret society consisting of 29 active chapters at American colleges and universities. It was founded on Thursday May 20, 1841, by 10 students at Union College with the idea of emphasizing the fraternal and social principles of a brotherhood...
fraternity and was graduated in 1915, with Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Xi
Sigma Xi
Sigma Xi: The Scientific Research Society is a non-profit honor society which was founded in 1886 at Cornell University by a junior faculty member and a handful of graduate students. Members elect others on the basis of their research achievements or potential...
honors. He received his degree in architecture from the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
after a short interruption for service in World War I.
James was a member of McKim, Mead and White from 1920 (1924 per Dearinger) to 1961 and the architect for Amherst College from 1930 to 1960. He became a full partner in 1929, and was the last surviving partner of MM&W. He primarily designed academic buildings, but his last major work was the National Museum of American History.
Charles Follen McKim
Charles Follen McKim
Charles Follen McKim FAIA was an American Beaux-Arts architect of the late 19th century. Along with Stanford White, he provided the architectural expertise as a member of the partnership McKim, Mead, and White....
was the classicist, and Stanford White
Stanford White
Stanford White was an American architect and partner in the architectural firm of McKim, Mead & White, the frontrunner among Beaux-Arts firms. He designed a long series of houses for the rich and the very rich, and various public, institutional, and religious buildings, some of which can be found...
the flamboyant designer. Per Baker, William Rutherford Mead
William Rutherford Mead
William Rutherford Mead was an American architect, and was the "Center of the Office" of McKim, Mead, and White, a noted Gilded Age architectural firm. The firm's other two founding partners were Charles Follen McKim , and Stanford White .-Life and career:Mead was born in Brattleboro, Vermont...
was the MM&W partner who "hired and fired", "steered the ship", and spent his time "trying to keep the partners from making damn fools of themselves." In 1883, Mead married Olga Kilyeni (c1850-1936). Mead retired in 1920, around when James joined the firm.
In 1936, "Mrs. Olga Kilenyi Mead, widow of the architect, William Rutherford Mead of McKim, Mead White, who died in her apartment in the Sherry-Netherland Hotel on April 10, last, bequeathed her entire estate to the trustees of Amherst College
Amherst College
Amherst College is a private liberal arts college located in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Amherst is an exclusively undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 1,744 students in the fall of 2009...
, Amherst, Mass." His widow received all the estate of about $250,000 per NY Times November 27, 1928 article.
The money was used to build the Mead Art Building, which was designed by James. The building was completed in 1949. James was also the architect of the Memorial Field and War Memorial at Amherst, built from 1945-1946 and dedicated in honor of the alumni who died in World Wars I and II.
In 1923, James was awarded the Rome Prize
Rome Prize
The Rome Prize is an American award made annually by the American Academy in Rome, through a national competition, to 15 emerging artists and to 15 scholars The Rome Prize is an American award made annually by the American Academy in Rome, through a national competition, to 15 emerging artists...
, a prestigious American architectural award made annually by the American Academy in Rome
American Academy in Rome
The American Academy in Rome is a research and arts institution located on the Gianicolo in Rome.- History :In 1893, a group of American architects, painters and sculptors met regularly while planning the fine arts section of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition...
, McKim's favorite legacy. He was a Fellow at the Academy from 1920–23, and trustee from 1933. He served as president of the Academy from 1937 until 1958 and in 1961 he was awarded a medal for his outstanding service to the organization.
In 1951, he was bestowed an honorary
Honorary degree
An honorary degree or a degree honoris causa is an academic degree for which a university has waived the usual requirements, such as matriculation, residence, study, and the passing of examinations...
Doctor of Humane Letters
Doctor of Humane Letters
The degree of Doctor of Humane Letters is always conferred as an honorary degree, usually to those who have distinguished themselves in areas other than science, government, literature or religion, which are awarded degrees of Doctor of Science, Doctor of Laws, Doctor of Letters, or Doctor of...
from Bowdoin College
Bowdoin College
Bowdoin College , founded in 1794, is an elite private liberal arts college located in the coastal Maine town of Brunswick, Maine. As of 2011, U.S. News and World Report ranks Bowdoin 6th among liberal arts colleges in the United States. At times, it was ranked as high as 4th in the country. It is...
, who cited Smith's work in architecture for Bowdoin in the building of the Union, swimming pool
Swimming pool
A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, or simply a pool, is a container filled with water intended for swimming or water-based recreation. There are many standard sizes; the largest is the Olympic-size swimming pool...
, the Classroom Building. Smith also designed buildings at Union College
Union College
Union College is a private, non-denominational liberal arts college located in Schenectady, New York, United States. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents. In the 19th century, it became the "Mother of Fraternities", as...
, Middlebury College
Middlebury College
Middlebury College is a private liberal arts college located in Middlebury, Vermont, USA. Founded in 1800, it is one of the oldest liberal arts colleges in the United States. Drawing 2,400 undergraduates from all 50 United States and over 70 countries, Middlebury offers 44 majors in the arts,...
, Tufts University
Tufts University
Tufts University is a private research university located in Medford/Somerville, near Boston, Massachusetts. It is organized into ten schools, including two undergraduate programs and eight graduate divisions, on four campuses in Massachusetts and on the eastern border of France...
, Colgate University
Colgate University
Colgate University is a private liberal arts college in Hamilton, New York, USA. The school was founded in 1819 as a Baptist seminary and later became non-denominational. It is named for the Colgate family who greatly contributed to the university's endowment in the 19th century.Colgate has 52...
, the American University in Beirut, the University of Connecticut
University of Connecticut
The admission rate to the University of Connecticut is about 50% and has been steadily decreasing, with about 28,000 prospective students applying for admission to the freshman class in recent years. Approximately 40,000 prospective students tour the main campus in Storrs annually...
, the University of Delaware
University of Delaware
The university is organized into seven colleges:* College of Agriculture and Natural Resources* College of Arts and Sciences* Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics* College of Earth, Ocean and Environment* College of Education and Human Development...
, and and the University of Pennsylvania.
Smith served in World War II as a lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant Colonel (United States)
In the United States Army, United States Air Force, and United States Marine Corps, a lieutenant colonel is a field grade military officer rank just above the rank of major and just below the rank of colonel. It is equivalent to the naval rank of commander in the other uniformed services.The pay...
. He was also a trustee of Pratt Institute
"The present-day National Museum of American History began with the 1923 plan for a National Museum of Engineering and Industry. The architectural firm McKim, Mead and White was contracted for the design of the new building on March 16, 1956. James Kellum Smith of McKim, Mead and White served as designer until his death when Walker Cain of the successor firm Steinman, Cain and White replaced Smith. In December 1957 the National Capital Planning Commission approved the site between 12th and 14th Streets on Constitution Avenue, just west of the Museum of Natural History. The site was cleared and ground was broken in August 1958 and construction began on October 5, 1959. It opened to the public on January 23, 1964 to five and a half million visitors in its first year. In 1969 the museum was renamed to the National Museum of History and Technology and in 1980 it was again renamed to the National Museum of American History." from Buildings of the Smithsonian Institution.
James died on February 18, 1961.
James was a member of the American Institute of Architects
American Institute of Architects
The American Institute of Architects is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to support the architecture profession and improve its public image...
(AIA) from 1929 and was named a fellow of the American Institute of Architects in 1944. He was also a member and Vice President of the National Institute of Arts and Letters.
James' son James Kellum Smith Jr., who goes by the name J. Kellum Smith Jr., was Secretary of the Rockefeller Foundation
Rockefeller Foundation
The Rockefeller Foundation is a prominent philanthropic organization and private foundation based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The preeminent institution established by the six-generation Rockefeller family, it was founded by John D. Rockefeller , along with his son John D. Rockefeller, Jr...
and then Vice President and Secretary of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Futher readings
- Stanny: The Gilded Life of Stanford White (ISBN 0029017815 / 0-02-901781-5), Paul R. Baker Hardcover: 483 pages; Publisher: Free Pr (October 1989)
- Triumvirate: McKim, Mead & White: Art, Architecture, Scandal, and Class in America's Gilded Age, Mosette Broderick (Hardcover - Oct 26, 2010)
- Paintings and Sculpture in the Collection of the National Academy of Design, David Bernard Dearinger, National Academy of Design (2004 U.S.) pg 198
External links
- McKim, Mead, and White
- http://books.google.com/books?id=PHH45aYubp4C&pg=PA198&lpg=PA198&dq=James+Kellum+Smith+(1893-1961)&source=bl&ots=yaomRePGlp&sig=kv2aBwIPq_9LFfTqAn6uLXQTB-4&hl=en&ei=0wI9TfTPPIO0lQeml9ihCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=James%20Kellum%20Smith%20(1893-1961)&f=false