To fund this Appellate Courthouse at 27 Madison Avenue (corner of E. 25th Street) the City of New York budgeted $700,000, which was a huge sum for a building then. One-third of the money went for artwork. The Municipal Arts Society was then successfully encouraging the use of art in public buildings. The building came in under budget and was completed in time for its scheduled opening on Jan. 2, 1900. John La Farge oversaw the interiors, all of which relates, in some fashion, to the Law. The building is an important, if often overlooked and somewhat decayed, work of art. The architect was James Brown Lord. He was heavily influenced by the 16th-century architect Andrea Palladio.
James Brown Lord
(b. 1859 NY d. NY 1902)
the architect came from a prominent family. He was the grandson of James Brown (founder of the private banking firm of Brown Brothers) on his mother's side; and lawyer Daniel Lord (senior partner and founder of the once prominent law firm of Lord, Day, and Lord) on his father's side. Lord graduated Princeton University and then studied with the prominent church architect William A. Potter. He designed many of New York's best-known structures: the two Delmonico Restaurant buildings in lower Manhattan (1891, Beaver Street and South William Street), the Hospital for Babies and the Appellate Court building (1900-1902, Madison Avenue at 35 E. 25th Street). The Appellate Court was his most recognized design. It was the first building in America where the architect had entire control over the sculptures, mural decorations and construction of the building. Lord is buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn.
John La Farge
(b. 1835 NY d. Newport, RI 1910)
made contributions to the world of painting and decoration of building interiors that are still admired today. He grew up in a French-speaking family. His grandfather gave him art instruction. While enrolled at Columbia Grammar School, he learned English watercolor techniques. He studied with the landscape painter Rιgis-Franηois Gignoux, who also taught George Inness.La Farge traveled to Europe in 1856 and worked at Thomas Couture's studio. He returned to the States via England, and was impressed by the Pre-Raphaelite paintings at the great Manchester Art Treasures exhibition of 1857. The exhibition caused La Farge to take up painting. In 1859, he moved to Newport, RI, to study with the painter William Morris Hunt the American Barbizon School painter. La Farge's style used free brushwork and unusual color combinations. He painted outdoor landscapes; he made floral still-life paintings and he began to collect Japanese prints. These prints became influential on a number of European and American artists. They had a profound influence on La Farge. As he became recognized for his paintings, his interests changed. He began to paint large murals and work in the medium of stained glass. He was commissioned to decorate the interior of Trinity Church, Boston (designed by H.H. Richardson). La Farge took on the large-scale decorative program and created a design that integrated the architecture with the interior painted and decorative works. He hired master artists to work with him, like early European guilds. Augustus Saint-Gaudens was one of the artists. La Farge's work was a combination of medieval, Renaissance and Oriental elements. When the work was unveiled in 1877, it was a success. The period that followed is known as the 'American Renaissance' in the arts and architecture. La Farge made more murals: St. Thomas Church (1878) and the Ascension Church (1888) in New York; the Walker Art Building (1898) at Bowdoin College in New Brunswick, ME; the Baltimore Court House (1898) and numerous private residences. La Farge worked in an opalescent stained-glass technique that he developed in 1879, and used it in mosaic, inlay, and sculpture, with subtle and splendid results. His wealthy patrons included Cornelius and William Henry Vanderbilt and William Whitney. La Farge won France's Lιgion d'Honneur in 1889 for his decorative glass technique. Louis Comfort Tiffany and others copied him. La Farge developed lavish pictorial motifs for his stained glass. His work was America's contribution to the Art Nouveau movement. La Farge traveled to Japan in 1886 and to the South Sea Islands in 1891. He wrote books and essays on art, which inspired his own children. His son Christopher Grant La Farge (1862-1938) was an architect and partner in the firm of Heins & La Farge. His son Bancel La Farge (1865-1938) was a muralist and stained-glass artist. His grandson was the Pulitzer prize-winning author Oliver Hazard Perry La Farge (190163).
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1) Madison Square Park & Vicinity Map [37]
