Category Archives: Articles

Re-Education of the Adult a War Necessity

Beyond architecture, James Betelle occasionally wrote about grander social issues.  This article was written in 1917, shortly after the U.S.’s entry into World War I. Transcribed from The American Architect, Vol. CXII, August 22, 1917, No. 2174.

Re-Education of the Adult a War Necessity 

During the past three years the United States in its various governmental departments has been a careful observer of the experiences of the other countries engaged in war, with a view to profiting by the lessons taught.

An interesting study of conditions as at present existing in Canada, and which will undoubtedly be duplicated in this country at a later period when our military operations develop, is that of the reeducation of the disabled soldier. Many men invalided home to Canada have been found upon discharge from the hospital to have become incapacitated from the pursuit of their former line of work. For this reason they have been forced through necessity to accept work at a reduced rate of wages, and in many instances have become a charge on the Dominion.

Continue reading →

His Earthly Labors

The Newark Sunday Call of December 3, 1916, offered this brief obituary for Ernest F. Guilbert, who died two days earlier:

Few men in the last generation have left a more enduring mark upon this community than one who came here less than a decade ago, and who now has ceased his earthly labors. We refer to Ernest F. Guilbert, appointed supervising architect of Newark’s public schools in 1908. He gave to Newark school buildings a maximum of attractiveness and usefulness for a minimum of cost. He made few errors from the strictly utilitarian or structural sides, and none from the artistic and aesthetic angles. The Newark State Normal School, Central and South Side High Schools, Cleveland and other elementary schools are among the monuments Mr. Guibert has left behind him. His was a rare spirit trammeled in a frail body. He gave to Newark far more than he received from it, although this fact will only become generally appreciate now that he is gone. He was an educator quite as truly as those who deal with textbooks and toil in classrooms; he made the old grim factory-like school construction a dead letter; the old order vanished upon his arrival. So potent have been his teaching that Newark will never again be content with the architectural monstrosities of the past with which it is still scarred; and he did it all in little more than half a dozen years.

 

Restored chandeliers installed at Washington Irving Intermediate School

Ten beautifully restored chandeliers were recently installed in the auditorium at the Washington Irving Intermediate School of Tarrytown, New York.

The school recently underwent a major renovation which included larger classrooms, an expanded library, a new art room, renovated music rooms, a new nurses station and renovations of the existing offices.

A wonderful restoration job from 2009. The article does makes a few errors; the Washington Irving school isn’t in “Betelle’s signature collegiate-gothic style”, but rather Georgian, and Guilbert & Betelle was located in Newark, NJ, of course, not NYC at that time (I know, I can’t help nitpick).

Something Beautiful

The April, 1915 issue of The School-Arts Magazine (“For Those Interested in Drawing & Handicraft”) ran a flowery piece, “Something Beautiful”, extolling the “rhythmic and refined” qualities of the Ridge Street School and Newark Normal School. Preceding the glowing praise are quotes from Ralph Adams Cram, “architect of some of the finest Gothic churches in America” (and notably the campus of Princeton University). Edited portions below.

~~

ridgeEverybody knows of the work of Ralph Adams Cramm [sic]. Having made one reputation as the architect of some of the finest Gothic churches in America, he is now making another as the architect of some of the finest polychromatic structures in America, the buildings of the Rice Institute at Houston, Texas. But not so many people know of Mr. Cramm’s literary productions. Here is a quotation from his “Ministry of Art”:

“Art may no longer remain ‘cribbed, cabined, and confined’ in the private possession of those who can pay its price: as it is the language of the people, so must it become their free possession. Architecture has always been for all men, for none could hide its light—or darkness, perhaps—under a bushel; but all the other arts must come forth into the open, and in the church, the school, the public buildings of city and state, offer themselves and their wide beneficence to all humanity.”

Newark Normal School AudThose who had charge of the building of the Ridge School, and of the State Normal School, Newark, N. J., evidently agreed with Mr. Cramm as to the influence of good architecture, and secured architects who could produce it. The initial illustration shows the inviting entrance to the Ridge School. How rhythmic it is! Three stories high, the features of each are in a triple group: steps, columns, arches; tablet, windows, transoms; lunnettes, ornaments, crown. Then, reading horizontally; the features are in threes again: three entrance arches, three windows, three groups of ornament. How refined it all is! “Nothing too much” as the Greeks used to say.

The other shows the stage in the Auditorium of the State Normal School, Newark, N. J. Again notice the rhythmic sub-divisions into thirds both ways. Notice also that all the prominent lines are vertical and horizontal. The result is a design refined and rich yet unobtrusive, as the frame for a stage should be. Guilbert & Betelle, of Newark, N. J., were the architects to whom our thanks and congratulations are due for adding to the beauty of the world.

Montrose School Gets Patched

Marcia Worth of Patch, a local community portal, has written a nice piece on Montrose School in South Orange, New Jersey.

“The Montrose school yard boasts what I consider to be the most beautiful birch tree in town. It’s also a fine tree for climbing, according to my neighbor, who indicated a branch far from the ground. There, she recalled, pointing at a scratch I could barely see, were her sons’ initials, carved into the tree one day at recess.”

Montrose is a rather unique design for the town and a sentimental favorite of mine.