Edward Blum (architect)

Edward Blum (1867–1944) was an architect born in Paris, who, with his brother George, designed apartment and office buildings, most of which are in New York City.[1]

Blum received his degree in architecture from Columbia University in 1899. Edward and George studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris.[2] They are known for their Art Nouveau and Art Deco apartment houses,[3] examples of which include the Phaeton, The Rockfall, The Admaston, The Dallieu, The Gramercy House, The Adlon, and The Gramont.[4][5]

Christopher Gray of the New York Times wrote that the "buildings do everything differently... They treat the surface of the building almost like a textile, a rich continuous surface. They avoid any detail found in the traditional classical vocabulary. They use mosaic tile, art tile, very elongated Roman brick and sinuous panels of terra cotta. Their copperwork, for store trim or entrance canopies, is richly worked, like the cover of a medieval manuscript. Their ironwork cannot be found in any catalogue."[5]

Edward Blum died in Sunnyside, Queens, New York, aged 77.[6]

References

edit
  1. ^ Dolkart, Andrew; Tunick, Susan (1993), George & Edward Blum: Texture and Design in New York Apartment House Architecture, New York: The Friends of Terra Cotta Press, p. 2, ISBN 9780963606105
  2. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2014-11-25.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. ^ Gray, Christopher. "Crowning Achievements for Two Brother-Architects", New York Times, 2 March 2008. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
  4. ^ "The Admaston | New York City Upper Westside Condominiums". Archived from the original on 2015-04-26. Retrieved 2014-11-25.
  5. ^ a b Gray, Christopher. "Streetscapes/The Blum Apartment Houses; Deft, Nonconformist Touches, Many Since Vanished", New York Times, 17 October 1993. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  6. ^ "Brief Biographies of American Architects Who Died Between 1897 and 1947", Society of Architectural Historians. Retrieved 19 October 2014.