James Betelle, Where Are You?

The Search for a Lost Architect

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To be good architecture, the design of the exterior of the building should express the character and purpose for which the interior of the building is used, as “truthful expression” is just as desirable in architecture as it is in all other things in life. — James O. Betelle, The American School Board Journal, April, 1919

Entries Tagged as 'Articles'

Betelle Matters

September 10th, 2007 · No Comments · Articles

It was inevitable I would begin writing externally about this web site’s titular subject. To that end, I’ve had a small article published in Matters, a community magazine based in Maplewood, New Jersey. Titled New Jersey Gothic: James Betelle and the Schools of South Orange and Maplewood, it appears, appropriately enough, in the August “Back [...]

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Ernest F. Guilbert, Where Are You?

April 28th, 2007 · 4 Comments · Articles, Biographical, Miscellaneous

If James Betelle was a mystery when this project began, than Ernest F. Guilbert, his partner, was a mystery wrapped in an enigma encased in a block of lucite. There was–and is–very little information regarding this architect who clearly had a strong influence on Betelle.
Today the mystery is lessened. I found his obituary in the [...]

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Betelle Takes a Stand

February 19th, 2007 · No Comments · Articles, Miscellaneous

Happy accidents are rare in the musty world of research, so I do all I can to make them happen. To that end, if I’ve gotten hold of a paper or journal with a specific article I need, I don’t leave it at that. I will comb the entire volume, and even flanking issues, in [...]

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Betelle in “Pencil Points”

February 3rd, 2007 · No Comments · Architecture, Articles

An interesting architecture magazine I discovered is Pencil Points: A Journal for the Drafting Room. Running from 1920 to 1943, Pencil Points was produced by, and for, working architects, not the more general public as with titles like Architecural Record.
Pencil Points Reader is a recent collection of articles spanning the journal’s run. It gives a [...]

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Essex County Hall of Records

October 31st, 2006 · No Comments · Architecture, Articles

Guilbert & Betelle designed the 1927 Essex County Hall of Records, in Newark, as a complement to the existing 1902 Court House by Cass Gilbert (to which they did the massive remodeling described in this article). Interestingly, James Betelle worked for Gilbert about that time; it’s possible he was involved in its construction as well. [...]

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