Raymond Hood Photograph Collection
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Abstract
The Raymond Hood Photograph Collection spans the years 1911-1913 and primarily contains photographs of buildings designed by architect Raymond Hood. Buildings pictured are: the Daily News building, the McGraw-Hill building, the American Radiator Company building, all in New York City, the Chicago Tribune Building, and the National Radiator building in London. Photographs of private homes, apartment buildings, churches, memorials, World's Fair exhibits, and competition drawings are also included.
Biographical Note
Raymond Mathewson Hood (1881-1934) was born in Rhode Island and attended Brown University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, where he studied architecture and design. Hood returned to the United States and established an independent architectural practice in New York in 1914. He entered architectural competitions and took an industrial design job designing radiator covers for the American Radiator Company.
In 1922 Hood, in partnership with the architect John Mead Howells, won the design competition for the new Chicago Tribune Building. This prestigious assignment led to more commissions for large office buildings, such as the American Radiator Company Building, the Daily News Building, and the McGraw-Hill Building, all in New York City. In addition to large office towers, Hood designed apartment buildings, single-family residences, memorials, churches, tombs, and college dormitories. He worked under his own name and also in partnership with Howells, as well as with engineer J. Andre Fouilhoux, and architect Frederick Godley.
Hood also contributed designs for Rockefeller Center, but died before the project came to completion. Hood often used the Art Deco style and collaborated with artists to create murals and sculptures that set his designs apart from other architects. Hood served as president of the Architectural League of New York from 1929 to 1931 and received its Medal of Honor in 1926.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged in four series:
Missing Title
- Series I. Completed Structures
- Series II. Competition Designs and Plans
- Series III. Exhibitions
- Series IV. Other
Scope and Content Note
The Raymond Hood Photograph Collection spans the period from 1911-1933 and primarily contains photographs of buildings designed by architect Raymond Hood. During his career, Hood worked in partnerships with other architects, including the firms of Godley, Fouilhoux, and Barber; Hood & Howells; Hood & Fouilhoux; Hood, Godley & Fouilhoux; and Hood & Murchison. Hood's work with all these firms is included in this collection. The projects were designed for the United States, except for one building built in London, England. The collection is divided into four series: Completed Structures; Competition Designs and Plans; Exhibitions; and Other.
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Access Restrictions
Open to qualified researchers.
Photocopying undertaken by staff only. Limited to twenty exposures of stable, unbound material per day. See guidelines in Print Room for details.
Use Restrictions
Permission to reproduce any Print Room holdings through publication must be obtained from:
Rights and Reproductions
The New-York Historical Society
Two West 77th Street
New York, NY 10024Phone: (212) 873-3400 ext. 282Fax: (212) 579-8794
The copyright law of the United States governs the making of photocopies and protects unpublished materials as well as published materials. Unpublished materials created before January 1, 1978 cannot be quoted in publication without permission of the copyright holder.
Preferred Citation
This collection should be cited as Raymond Hood Photograph Collection, PR 148, Department of Prints, Photographs, and Architectural Collections, The New-York Historical Society.
Provenance
Gift of Harrison & Abramovitz, July 10, 1950.
About this Guide
Edition of this Guide
Repository
Series I: Completed Structures
Scope and Contents note
Series I. includes both interior and exterior photographs of structures designed by Raymond Hood. Within this series, structures are arranged alphabetically by state and city and thereunder are filed by date. A few tombs, mausoleums, and memorials are included in this series, but the majority of the structures are office buildings and private homes. Three of Hood's major projects, the Daily News Building and the American Radiator Building, both in New York City, and the Chicago Tribune Tower, are well-represented. Some images of the Daily News Building were taken by New York photographer Thurman Rotan (1903-1991). In most other cases the photographer is not known.
Interior and exterior views of four Rex Cole showrooms in Brooklyn and Queens are included here. Rex Cole was a refrigerator distributor, and Hood designed free-standing buildings to showcase the new lines of household appliances.
In addition to the Daily News Building, Hood designed two homes for Colonel Joseph Medill Patterson, the paper's publisher. Patterson's large home in Ossining, New York included a rooftop observatory. Hood also designed a small apartment building in Manhattan for Patterson. Other residences included in this series include the Manhattan townhouse of John Green, the luxurious Beaux Arts Apartments, and Hood's own home in Stamford, Connecticut.
The collection contains no photographs of Rockefeller Center.
The series is arranged based on geographical location, and thereunder by date.
Connecticut--Greenwich
Morris residence, 1924
Connecticut--Stamford
Hood residence, 1925
Delaware--Wilmington
Hotel Dupont additions, 1911, 1913, 1919
Illinois--Chicago
Chicago Tribune Tower--Competition designs and plans, 1922-1925
Chicago Tribune Tower--Exterior views, 1922-1925
Chicago Tribune Tower--Interior views, 1922-1925
Thomason tomb, 1924
Bethany Union Church, 1926
Illinois--Rockford
Medill McCormick mausoleum, 1927
New Jersey--Montclair
Soldier's Memorial, 1926
New York--New York City--Brooklyn
Rex Cole showrooms [Bay Ridge], 1929-1933
New York--New York City--Manhattan
Mori's Restaurant, 1919
John Green residence, 1920
American Radiator Building--Exterior views, 1924
American Radiator Building--Interior views, 1924
American Radiator Building--Ephemera, 1924
NBC Studios, 1927
Patterson apartment building, 1928
Daily News Building--Exterior views, 1929-1930
Daily News Building--Interior views, 1929-1930
Beaux Arts Apartments, 1930-1931
McGraw-Hill Building, 1930-1931
New York--New York City--Queens
Rex Cole showrooms [Flushing], 1929-1933
New York--Ossining
Patterson residence--Exterior views, 1930
Patterson residence--Interior views, 1930
New York--Sands Point
Brooks residence [includes portfolio], 1933
New York--Tarrytown
St. Vincent de Paul Asylum, 1924
Pennsylvania--Scranton
Masonic Temple and Scottish Rite Cathedral [includes portfolio], 1926-1929
Tennessee--Nashville
George Peabody Collegge for Teachers building, 1929
England--London
National Radiator Building [Ideal House], 1928
Series II: Competition Designs and Plans
Scope and Contents note
Series II. includes photographs and photostats of drawings submitted by Hood to various architectural competitions. Any drawings or plans for buildings that were completed are housed in Series I along with photographs of the completed buildings. Included here are a plan for a resort community in South Carolina, a plan for a Methodist National Cathedral, designs for an ocean liner, two courthouses and a town hall, and two speculative projects envisioning future high-rise development in New York City.
The series is arranged by geographical location, and thereunder by date.
New Jersey--Ridgewood
Ridgewood Municipal Buildng [Town Hall], 1926
New York--Dobbs Ferry
Country Tower, 1932
New York--New York City
City of Towers, 1927
Manhattan 1950, 1929
New York--Rockland County
Rockland County Courthouse, 1928
Ohio--Columbus
Methodist National Cathedral, 1927
Pennsylvania--Philadelphia
Girard College Chapel, 1930
South Carolina--Myrtle Beach
Arcady, 1929
Wisconsin--Milwaukee
Milwaukee County Courthouse, 1929
Unidentified Location
Academy of Music, 1920
USA Lines ocean liner, 1929
Series III: Exhibitions
Scope and Contents note
Series III. Exhibitions contains images from the 11th annual American Industrial Art Exhibition, held in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1929, and A Century of Progress Exhibition, the Chicago World's Fair of 1933-1934. For the former, Hood designed a business executive's office and an apartment house loggia. For the Chicago World's Fair, Hood designed the Electrical Building Pavilion, as well as an exhibition garden for the American Radiator Company, and an exhibit for General Electric. Photographs of all these are found in this series.
The series is arranged chronologically.
American Industrial Art Exhibition
American Industrial Art Exhibition, 1929 Feb.-Sep.
A Century of Progress Exhibition
American Radiator exhibition garden, 1929-1933
Electrical Building design, 1929-1933
General Electric exhibit, 1929-1933
Series IV: Other
Scope and Contents note
Series IV. Other includes several photographs of a frieze from a Hood building that could not be identified, as well as views of buildings designed by other architects, such as the Roerich Museum, and a few miscellaneous photographs, including an aerial view of Manhattan and a group portrait of the Chicago chapter of the American Institute of Architects.