Nationality American Name Ernest Flagg Role Architect | Occupation Architect Parents Jared Bradley Flagg Children Betsey Flagg Melcher | |
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Spouse(s) Margaret E. Bonnell (m. 1899) Projects United States Naval Academy Education Ecole nationale superieure des Beaux-Arts Books Genealogical Notes on the Founding of New England: My Ancestors Part in that Undertaking Buildings Scribner Building, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Singer Building, Charles Scribner's Sons Building, Dark Island Structures Singer Building, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Scribner Building, Engine Company 33 Fireho, Gwynne Building | ||
AGT7-15 Skyline Masters - 2017
Ernest Flagg (February 6, 1857 – April 10, 1947) was a noted American architect in the Beaux-Arts style. He was also an advocate for urban reform and architecture's social responsibility.
Contents
- AGT7 15 Skyline Masters 2017
- AGT7 06 The Roll of the dice 2017
- Early life and education
- Professional career
- Personal life
- Projects
- Selected writings
- References
AGT7-06 The Roll of the dice 2017
Early life and education
Flagg was born in Brooklyn, New York. His father Jared Bradley Flagg was an Episcopal priest and a notable painter. Ernest left school at 15 to work as an office boy on Wall Street. After working with his father and brothers in real estate for a few years, he designed duplex apartment plans in 1880 with the architect Philip Gengembre Hubert, for the co-operative apartment buildings Hubert was known for.
Cornelius Vanderbilt II, Flagg's cousin through his marriage to Alice Claypoole Gwynne, was impressed by Flagg's work and sent him to study at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris from 1889–1891, under his patronage.
Professional career
In 1891, Flagg began his architectural practice in New York, greatly influenced by his knowledge of the French ideas of architectural design, such as structural rationalism.
During this time he joined with John Prentiss Benson to create Flagg & Benson, which later became Flagg, Benson & Brockway with the addition of Albert Leverett Brockway. FB&B designed St. Luke's Hospital in New York City.
In 1894, he established the architectural firm of Flagg & Chambers with Walter B. Chambers, whom he met in Paris. Usually, Flagg alone credited for some of the work he and Chambers worked on together, such as the Corcoran Gallery of Art.
Louisa Flagg Scribner, Flagg's sister, was the wife of Charles Scribner II. Through this familial connection, Flagg designed six structures located in Manhattan for the publishing family.
His contributions to zoning and height regulations were essential to New York's first laws governing this aspect of the city's architecture. Flagg argued in favor of zoning laws which would regulate the height and setback of buildings, to allow light and air to reach the streets below them. He was a president of the New York Society of Beaux-Arts Architects. A small collection of Flagg's personal and professional papers is held in the Department of Drawings & Archives at Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library at Columbia University.
Personal life
Ernest Flagg married Margaret E. Bonnell on June 27, 1899 in New York City. They had one daughter, Betsey Flagg, who married John Melcher and become a well-respected small-scale portrait painter.
In 1912, Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Flagg were on their way to a party held by Stowe Phelps, a fellow architect, when their limousine struck and killed a boy (James McNamara) who had suddenly skated in front of the car. The couple drove the boy to the hospital but he died en route.