Dear Colleagues:

For those of you in New York City or planning travel there in the
next few weeks, this is a reminder about an important architecture
exhibition now taking place at the Merchant's House Museum. The
museum is located at 29 East 4th Street, (between Lafayette Street
and Bowery) New York, NY 10003, telephone: 212-777-1089

The exhibition features 23 American architecture books from the
University of Notre Dame Architecture Library's Rare Book Collection.
Thomas Gordon Smith, professor of architecture at Notre Dame, is the
chief curator of the show.

Details on the exhibition are included below.

Best regards,
Jane Devine



The landmark Merchant's House Museum --
New York City's only family home preserved intact, inside and out,
from the 19th century -- will be the site of a major Classical America
exhibition, "Minard Lafever and His Circle: The Diffusion of Grecian
Architecture in the United States, 1830-1860," opening Thursday,
October 26, 2000.  The exhibit will be on view through Monday,
December 11, 2000.

Classical America is sponsoring the exhibition and colloquium along
with four other nonprofit groups, including the Merchant's House
Museum, the Institute of Classical Architecture, the University of
Notre Dame, and the Speros Basil Vryonis Center for the Study of
Hellenism.

"Classical America is delighted to be undertaking this first major
study of one of the most influential American architects of the
19th-century," said Richard Franklin Sammons, Chairman of the Board of
Directors. "Through his publications and his designs, along with the
work of the architects in his circle, Minard Lafever had a profound
impact on America's public and domestic architecture.  By timing our
exhibit to coincide with the Metropolitan Museum of Art's wide-ranging
fall exhibit focused on the same period, 1825-1861, we will be able to
offer scholars, students, and the general public an in-depth look at
his career and his great legacy."

Added chief curator Thomas Gordon Smith: "Lafever was directly
inspired by the rediscovery during the 18th century of Greek monuments
in Athens, and he developed a distinctive expression for classical
buildings that remains influential to this day.  Thanks to the
generosity of many lenders to the exhibit, we will show how a small
group of dedicated architects changed forever the face of the built
environment in New York City.  We will also examine the cultural
out-flow of this movement and its effect on the architecture of New
Orleans, Charleston, and other southern cities as well as the
architecture of the midwest and on out to Oregon and gold-rush-era
California.  The exhibition will range throughout two floors of the
Merchant's House, and will have something in it to interest anyone
wanting to learn more about the culture and commerce of 19th-century
America."

Margaret Halsey Gardiner, Executive Director of the Merchant's House
Museum, commented: "In terms of its scope, this is an unprecedented
exhibit for the Museum, and our landmarked Greek Revival interiors
will be a perfect setting for the architectural models, drawings,
photographs, and books being assembled here from collections across
the country.  It will also give us the welcome opportunity to showcase
significant items from our own collections in a new context, and help
further our mission to educate the public about 19th-century history
and culture as uniquely represented by the Merchant's House. What we
hope visitors will come away with is a better appreciation of the
origins of the classical elements that distinguish historic buildings
in their own neighborhoods and communities - and how strongly those
buildings reflect the vision of a small group of New York City's
architects in particular."

---------------------------------------
Jane Devine, Architecture/Art Librarian
Chair, Art Libraries Society of North America
Midstates Chapter
Architecture Library, 117 Bond Hall
University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, Indiana 46556-5652
tel:219-631-9401/631-6654
fax:219-631-9662
email: [log in to unmask]
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