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Triumvirate: McKim, Mead & White: Art, Architecture, Scandal, and Class in America's Gilded Age
A rich, fascinating saga of the most influential, far-reaching architectural firm of their time and of the dazzling triumvirate—Charles McKim, William Mead, and Stanford White—who came together, bound by the notion that architecture could help shape a nation in transition. They helped to refine America’s idea of beauty, elevated its architectural practice, and set the standard on the world’s stage.
Their world and times were those of Edith Wharton and Henry James, though both writers and their society shunned the architects as being much too much about new money. They brought together the titans of their age with a vibrant and new American artistic community and helped to forge the arts of America’s Gilded Age, informed by the heritage of European culture.
McKim, Mead & White built houses for America’s greatest financiers and the Astors, Joseph Pulitzer, the Vanderbilts, Henry Villard, and J. P. Morgan, among others . . . They designed and built churches—Trinity Church in Boston, Judson Memorial Baptist Church in New York, and the Lovely Lane Methodist Church in Baltimore . . .
They built libraries—the Boston Public Library—and the social clubs for gentlemen, among them, the Freundschaft, the Algonquin of Boston, the Players club of New York, the Century Association, the University and Metropolitan clubs. . . .
They built railroad terminals—the original Pennsylvania Station in New York City—and the first Roman arch in America for Washington Square (it put the world on notice that New York was now a major city on a par with Rome, Paris, and Berlin). They designed and built Columbia University, with Low Memorial Library at the centerpiece of its four-block campus, and New York University, and they built, as well, the old Madison Square Garden whose landmark tower marked its presence on the city’s skyline . . .
Mosette Broderick’s Triumvirate is a book about America in its industrial transition; about money and power, about the education of an unsophisticated young country, and about the coming of artists as an accepted class in American society.
Broderick, a renowned architectural and social historian, brilliantly weaves together the strands of biography, architecture, and history to tell the story of the houses and buildings Charles McKim, William Mead, and Stanford White designed. She writes of the firm’s clients, many of whom were establishing their names and places in upper-class society as they built and grabbed railroads, headed law firms and brokerage houses, owned newspapers, developed iron empires, and carved out a new direction for America’s modern age.
Their world and times were those of Edith Wharton and Henry James, though both writers and their society shunned the architects as being much too much about new money. They brought together the titans of their age with a vibrant and new American artistic community and helped to forge the arts of America’s Gilded Age, informed by the heritage of European culture.
McKim, Mead & White built houses for America’s greatest financiers and the Astors, Joseph Pulitzer, the Vanderbilts, Henry Villard, and J. P. Morgan, among others . . . They designed and built churches—Trinity Church in Boston, Judson Memorial Baptist Church in New York, and the Lovely Lane Methodist Church in Baltimore . . .
They built libraries—the Boston Public Library—and the social clubs for gentlemen, among them, the Freundschaft, the Algonquin of Boston, the Players club of New York, the Century Association, the University and Metropolitan clubs. . . .
They built railroad terminals—the original Pennsylvania Station in New York City—and the first Roman arch in America for Washington Square (it put the world on notice that New York was now a major city on a par with Rome, Paris, and Berlin). They designed and built Columbia University, with Low Memorial Library at the centerpiece of its four-block campus, and New York University, and they built, as well, the old Madison Square Garden whose landmark tower marked its presence on the city’s skyline . . .
Mosette Broderick’s Triumvirate is a book about America in its industrial transition; about money and power, about the education of an unsophisticated young country, and about the coming of artists as an accepted class in American society.
Broderick, a renowned architectural and social historian, brilliantly weaves together the strands of biography, architecture, and history to tell the story of the houses and buildings Charles McKim, William Mead, and Stanford White designed. She writes of the firm’s clients, many of whom were establishing their names and places in upper-class society as they built and grabbed railroads, headed law firms and brokerage houses, owned newspapers, developed iron empires, and carved out a new direction for America’s modern age.
608 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2010
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245 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
April 7, 2012
Very disappointing. This is aimed at people interested in MMW's three-surnamed clients and odd social constructs rather than people interested in architectural history. I know a great story is hiding in all this dreck, but it's not apparent. There's enough material here for 3-4 books, given the hand of a skilled and firm editor!
November 1, 2023
I've had this title either in my orbit or physically on my shelf for four years now, but after finishing it, I've never launched a book into the Goodwill bin so fast. The last two chapters, detailing the author's argument and underscoring the "ship" imagery in relation to the firm's motto had potential, but I wish these had indeed served as a guide. I found the book to be poorly organized and thought the author got caught up in drawing connections and inferences that were either not pertinent or, worse, irresponsible in my opinion. There are some outright factual errors in the portions discussing White, Harry Thaw, and Evelyn Nesbit, and, broadly, I was often dissatisfied with the citations when verifying the sources of particular claims. The biggest ick was seeing Prof Broderick say that compared to the “other chorus girl chasers,” White wasn’t the worst. I couldn’t stomach that comparison when there’s predatory behavior at play collectively.
I know Prof. Broderick is very respected in her field, which made my disappointment with this book even more perplexing.
I know Prof. Broderick is very respected in her field, which made my disappointment with this book even more perplexing.
December 8, 2024
I started reading this book because I'm interested in architecture, and the synopsis grabbed my attention as I was browsing e-books. Unfortunately, the book quickly lost my interest by endlessly dwelling on genealogical and personal details of one of the subjects. The writing can only be described as "ponderous." Consider this passage from the first chapter:
Writers in glass houses should avoid throwing stones.
The language of this letter is so stilted and mechanical that it comes as no surprise to us to read the final words, which confirm that these opinions on professional training come from the advice of others whose wisdom he has sought. Miller McKim had no fortune to leave his children, and he puzzled over how to improve the prospects of his underachieving son. The profession of engineering, he had heard, could advance a youth quickly. Especially given the opening of the American West, mining engineering seemed the best ticket of all. Charlie had never shown much inclination for science, but pressure was now placed on him to go to the best American college and to enroll in the program with direct employment prospects.
Writers in glass houses should avoid throwing stones.
December 5, 2010
On the night of June 25, 1906, architect Stanford White attended the opening performance of "Mamzelle Champagne" at the rooftop theater of Madison Square Garden, a grand New York entertainment venue that he had designed. As the orchestra played "I Could Love a Thousand Girls," an emotionally unbalanced Pittsburgh millionaire named Harry K. Thaw approached White’s table. Recently married to the beautiful Evelyn Nesbit, a showgirl whom White had seduced some years earlier, Thaw produced a revolver from beneath his overcoat and shot White three times in the head. The newspapers called it the murder of the century...
The rest of my review is available online here:
http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articl...
The rest of my review is available online here:
http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articl...
September 17, 2021
Needed a good editor. Lots of good content, but also lots of extraneous asides. One result was too many names to readily keep track of. Organization also is poor - sometimes it was chronological; other times topical.
May 24, 2022
This is a very strange book. It does a fantastic job of bringing Charles McKim to life and giving him the credit he deserves. It also goes into detail on several major projects and the stories behind them.
The author has a bizarre fixation on these men's sexuality, and seems determined to find evidence of their homosexuality in the most innocuous places.
"By all accounts, Millet is reported to have lived life to its fullest. At times he seemed to be living in the United States for extended periods with specific men. This may just indicate friendship, or possibly a connection to the undercurrent of homosexual attachments common in this set."(p.351)
"Were McKim and Cadwalader more than best friends who traveled together to Europe every summer and to shooting clubs in the American South in the fall and winter? Likely not."(p.444)
There are several more examples of this kind of innuendo and baseless assertions made by the author. It's like the author desperately wants all these men to have been gay. It's very weird. If they were gay then huzzah for them but if there isn't any evidence why is the author implying they were throughout the book? Did anyone else find this odd?
The author has a bizarre fixation on these men's sexuality, and seems determined to find evidence of their homosexuality in the most innocuous places.
"By all accounts, Millet is reported to have lived life to its fullest. At times he seemed to be living in the United States for extended periods with specific men. This may just indicate friendship, or possibly a connection to the undercurrent of homosexual attachments common in this set."(p.351)
"Were McKim and Cadwalader more than best friends who traveled together to Europe every summer and to shooting clubs in the American South in the fall and winter? Likely not."(p.444)
There are several more examples of this kind of innuendo and baseless assertions made by the author. It's like the author desperately wants all these men to have been gay. It's very weird. If they were gay then huzzah for them but if there isn't any evidence why is the author implying they were throughout the book? Did anyone else find this odd?
November 4, 2025
A disjointed book that provides the backstory to these three men and how they formed one of the foremost and formidable architectural firms of America's Gilded Age. It goes into much (too much?) detail on their many early residential commissions and the various social connections that secured these clients. McKim and White get in-depth biographical treatments; Mead less so as his background is less well documented. By no means the definitive book on MM&W, it provides a window into New York and Boston society during this era.
July 16, 2022
Ever since my job as tour guide at the Rosecliff I have been interested in these architects. This is a thorough telling of the span of the company as well as the personal lives of the main players in the Guilded Age of Newport and around the world. The photographs are all black and white and could be better reproductions.
May 20, 2022
Very disjointed
February 20, 2023
Rich people who build monuments to themselves, then die. Monuments are then demolished. 🤮 Most excellently researched! Very dry.
June 18, 2014
McKim, Mead & White were one of THE American architectural firms in the status-obsessed late 1800s and early 1900s. They managed to make social connections with some of the richest families in America and to convert their connections into commissions.
Because upper-class homeowners wanted to display their wealth and appear sophisticated, MMW designed houses that were ostentatious, overly decorated, and derivative of established European styles. Because the owners often married to acquire a fortune or gain status, the homes probably weren't very happy inside, either.
Today, MMW is more remembered for its public and commercial buildings, some of which were classically beautiful but conservative.
Unfortunately, a large part of this book is devoted to tracing the social origins of their commissions; more anthropology than architecture.
Because upper-class homeowners wanted to display their wealth and appear sophisticated, MMW designed houses that were ostentatious, overly decorated, and derivative of established European styles. Because the owners often married to acquire a fortune or gain status, the homes probably weren't very happy inside, either.
Today, MMW is more remembered for its public and commercial buildings, some of which were classically beautiful but conservative.
Unfortunately, a large part of this book is devoted to tracing the social origins of their commissions; more anthropology than architecture.
August 25, 2018
A rollicking account of the at-first upstart triumvirate, progressing through growing pains, plum commissions and some losses, to the apex of the American architectural profession, with more than a dash of the gossip, peccadillos and eccentricities of the gilded upper classes of the late nineteenth century east coast and more than a whiff of sexual and other scandals, including the one that resulted in the trial of the century!
November 10, 2011
I didn't so much as read this book straight through, but I skipped around and read the parts of the book that seemed interesting. I was mainly interested in the great works of the team in New York and Newport.
Credit to the author for including a lot of photos.
Credit to the author for including a lot of photos.
March 6, 2013
Very interesting from a social/historical perspective on the architectural and social development of NYC, and the vacation destinations of the movers and shakers of the late 1800s. Packs a lot of information on several subjects without filling out any of them fully.
March 11, 2011
Very enjoyable especially with respect to friends within the circle of MMW. Don't really know if there is anything new here... but a good summary of the firm.
June 18, 2012
Greer story of the architects and of this unique era of New York society.
March 3, 2016
Very interesting, but too dry and too much complicated history of every client. Fascinating history of an epic time in American architecture.
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October 13, 2013Could not finish. I downloaded book from the library and there were too many letters missing from the words. Reading it was like doing a puzzle.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews