THE
AMERICAN ARCHITECT
FOUNDED 1876
ELIZA G. RADEKE MUSEUM BUILDING, RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN, PROVIDENCE, R. I.
William T. Aldrich, Architect
By Richard F. Bach, of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
EVERY building for a museum of art erected in America nowadays embodies a statement of principle, more than that, a kind of challenge, as well as a solution of local problems. In some cases the latter becomes the more trying because certain items of museum theory demand satisfaction at the same time that site and cost engage the attention of architect and director. Principles of museum work have been taking shape rapidly in recent years; museums of art are too young to have given us yet sufficient wisdom to permit codification of principles, though we might, out of experience gained as a result of
over-indulgence in an expensive trial-and-error method, expand upon matters, pertinent to the architect’s scope, such as museum functions, theories of display, methods of practical management, feasible plans for communities of stated sizes, lighting, not to mention the matter of basilica vs. ˮgallery and corridor” types as basic plans for sizable buildings, and the now insistent question: must a museum of art be monumental?
Then there is the further consideration that museums of art differ among themselves as to whether they are city owned and public or privately
Photo by Weber
AMERICAN ARCHITECT
FOUNDED 1876
ELIZA G. RADEKE MUSEUM BUILDING, RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN, PROVIDENCE, R. I.
William T. Aldrich, Architect
By Richard F. Bach, of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
EVERY building for a museum of art erected in America nowadays embodies a statement of principle, more than that, a kind of challenge, as well as a solution of local problems. In some cases the latter becomes the more trying because certain items of museum theory demand satisfaction at the same time that site and cost engage the attention of architect and director. Principles of museum work have been taking shape rapidly in recent years; museums of art are too young to have given us yet sufficient wisdom to permit codification of principles, though we might, out of experience gained as a result of
over-indulgence in an expensive trial-and-error method, expand upon matters, pertinent to the architect’s scope, such as museum functions, theories of display, methods of practical management, feasible plans for communities of stated sizes, lighting, not to mention the matter of basilica vs. ˮgallery and corridor” types as basic plans for sizable buildings, and the now insistent question: must a museum of art be monumental?
Then there is the further consideration that museums of art differ among themselves as to whether they are city owned and public or privately
Photo by Weber