Tag Archives: magazine

“A Great Architect”

This article appeared in the October, 1929 issue of Fortune Story magazine. Fortune Story was a 15¢ pulp magazine filled with these kinds of up-lifting, moralistic tales aimed at impressionable younger readers. The only new information it garnered was G&B’s first office being “in an attic room over an art store”, but the writing is so colorful I couldn’t resist sharing it.

Fortune Story Magazine

A GREAT ARCHITECT

Fortune Story Magazine, October, 1929 Vol. 27, No. 3

From a two-dollar-a-week office boy to the position of America’s foremost designer of schools is the record of James O. Betelle. The secret of his success can be found in the old formula of hard work plus perseverance which all must follow who seek fame and fortune.

The son of parents of humble circumstances, Betelle had to leave school at the age of sixteen. But the youth early decided to become an architect, and made up his mind that he would provide himself with the best possible education for his chosen work.
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Great Neck High School

Great Neck High SchoolThe December, 1931 issue of The Architectural Forum article, “Nine Senior High School Buildings” featured two Guilbert & Betelle schools; Great Neck High School and The Bronxville School. The text and illustrations for Great Neck High School (now Great Neck North High School) are shown here.

While Betelle is on record as preferring the Collegiate Gothic style, GNHS is very much a traditional Colonial design, of which he did numerous buildings. As the text points out, this was to make the school “harmonize with the history and architecture of the community.” Another interesting point is on the plan: the angled front facade hides the fact that an optimistically symmetrical portion of the school was left unbuilt as a “future addition.” Whether the school ever had an addition which followed Betelle’s plan, I don’t know.

Great Neck High School, Great Neck, L.I., N.Y.
Guilbert & Betelle, Architects

EXTERIOR: The Colonial character of the building was decided upon as being in harmony with the history and earlier architecture of the community. The walls are of red brick, with limestone trim, and the roof is of green slate. The windows are of wood, double hung.

Great Neck High School Floor PlanINTERIOR: The corridors and stairs have glazed-brick wainscoting, plaster walls and ceilings. For most of their length the corridors are lined with lockers. The classrooms, library, administrative offices, etc., have plaster walls, chestnut trim, and maple floors. Corridor floors are of concrete. Toilet rooms have tile floors and walls, and metal toilet partitions. The building is heated by direct steam radiation, and ventilated by unit ventilators; the controlled cut-off system permits heating of the library, auditorium, and cafeteria independently of the balance of the building.

Great Neck High School General ViewCOST AND CONSTRUCTION: The building is of fireproof construction, with solid brick walls, concrete floor slabs and steel framework over the large spans of the auditorium and gymnasium. The non-bearing partitions throughout are of terra cotta. Total cost, exclusive of land and architect’s fee, was $907,000, or 1,905,000 cu. ft. at 46 1/2 cents per cu. ft.


“The Trend in School Building Design”

newark-fine-art1.jpgThe following article by JOB appeared in the May, 1932 issue of “Architecture” (Volume LXV, No. 5, Charles Scribner’s Sons). In it, he waxes philosophic about the current and future trends in school design. Early on it reads a bit surly, as he diplomatically defends against the rising cost of school construction, but then settles into forward-looking optimism, such as the idea of city-wide programs to instruct large groups of students via “radio instruction by television.”

Included are a number of photographs and plans from the original article (there are way too many to show them all).

The Trend in School Building Design
By James O. Betelle, F.A.I.A.
Of the Firm of Guilbert & Betelle, Architects, Newark, N.J.

Prosperous times for the past ten years, together with a greater demand for public education, have brought a great number of school buildings throughout the country. The erection of these buildings has furnished an opportunity, through experience, for the educated and architects to improve them, not only in design and construction, but also in layout, thereby making them more suitable and usable as educational structures.
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Bald, Smiling School Builder Betelle

James O. BetelleToday I ventured over to the Boston Public Library (I’m up in Massachussets this week on vacation), to try and get some odds-and-ends info on Betelle. Having gotten hold of the text of his Time Magazine article a few weeks ago, I wondered if there might have been a photograph to accompany it.

After marveling at the beautiful mosaic ceilings in the entrance hall (awaiting my guest card to be processed), I headed up to the book delivery desk, where my volumes were waiting for me. Wisely I had called ahead the day before to have them pulled. I heaved the three, 800lb. volumes up to the 3rd floor, where another one (the May, 1932 issue of Architecture; a post on this is coming soon) was stored.

Flipping open the bound volume of the 1931 Time Magazines, I fanned and leafed towards the August issue, brimming with cautious anticipation. Ignoring the cover, ignoring the quaint period ads and articles, a skimmed the table of contents and plowed right to page 29. And there he was– James O. Betelle, looking right at me from seventy-five years ago, bald and smiling as promised in the text. His photo is captioned, “One cannot play hard a greater part of the night…”

Nice to finally meet you, James.

“Architectural Styles as Applied to School Buildings”

The following article by Betelle appeared in the April, 1919 edition of The American School Board Journal. Much of it reads as somewhat repetitive and obvious, but given ASBJ was directed at educators, not architects, the simplistic overview of concepts is understandable. Where JOB does get more specific is in explaining the benefits of the Collegiate Gothic style for schools, noting that windows may be larger and closer-spaced as compared to Colonial or Classical designs. He also notes that Collegiate Gothic is also cheaper, as “it does not require the heavy cornices, balustrades, pediments, or high pitched roofs, which are so characteristic of the Colonial period.”

Architectural Styles as Applied to School Buildings
James O. Betelle, of the firm of Guilbert & Betelle, Newark, N.J.

Cos Cob High School

Now that our thoughts are being directed to the construction of the much needed new school buildings, let us give a little more thought to the style of architecture to be used on the exterior of the buildings. Only in this way can we hope to improve upon the commonplace buildings, which are now so plentiful throughout the country. The importance of giving the floor plan a great deal of thought and study in order to arrive at the best results is pretty well appreciated, but the style of the exterior has not been so carefully considered. It is quite possible to design a school building which, taken by itself, would be attractive and beautiful, but still inappropriate to its surroundings,. That there is a lack of knowledge on the part of school boards and school superintendents regarding the different styles of architecture which can be used in school buildings, and their proper sue, is clearly shown by the many inappropriate and ill-adapted schools located in all parts of the country. It is with a view of explaining and illustrating in a brief way the various architectural styles as applied to school buildings that this article is being written.

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