New-York tribune., 1905-03-19
ACADEMY WELL INSURED.
CASTS HURT.
Building Only a Temporary StrUct-
ure-AmpIe Funds for another.

Frederick Dielman, president of the National
Academy of Design, said yesterday that the
loss to the academy by the fire which early
yesterday damaged the permanent collection Of
paintings IN th- buldIng at 1Iith-st- ana An
sterdan-ave could not be ascertained at once
It hoped, however. that it would be small,
as the fire did not reach the large meeting room
in which they were hung. Many Of the pictures
had been taken from the walls and placed under
, tarpaulins.
The antique room, however. with its large
collection of casts. a total wreck. Many
! of these casts had been steadily in use since
their purchase in Paris by Robert r. Livingston,
at the time United States Ambassador to
France, in the first years of the nineteenth CEN
tury. They were purchased for the American
Academy of Fine Arts which founded in
1902 by De Witt Clinton, Robert r. Livingston,
John Trumbull and other prominent New
Workers. The Academy OF Design formed
by a secession from that body, and later ac-
quired its property, of which the casts were
perhaps the principal item. The collection in
cluded the finest reproductions of the Elgin
marbles. Besides their sentimental and historic
value, it was a question whether they could be
replaced by casts of so good a quality. They
included the "Satyr' and "Hermes" of Praxit-
ees and "Theseus" and Gaia" and "Thalas-
sa" from the pediment of the Parthenon.
Mr.. Dielman went on to say:
The building cost US $4,000 and was insured
for S2OOO0 1 believe the insurance Will be
ample to cover the damage to the paintings
The building was temporary, in the sense that it
building might be erected in 110th-st. or else
where. There will be some interruption of
school work for several hundred young people,
but measures will be taken at once to get quar-
ters for the remainder of the present school
year.
The academy for the present is holding its old
MI T1ar1fh ooloe
ing the issue of the agitation which is being
conducted by the United Arts Societies to the
end of enrichng New-Yor with adequate ex-
hibition galleries and building a central art
home We waiting to see if the movement
Will receive the necessary encouragement. 1t
may be SAID without preach or confidence that
the scheme has been apparently near fruition at
various times. but by untOward circumstances
still remains unaccomplished.
It is of interest to recall that the original esti-
mated cost for building and maintaining the
various parts of the proposed permanent home
of the Academy of Design was as follows
Schools. $250O00; retrospective gallery, $780,
Geo. main gallery 100000; sculpture gallery
100000; smaller galleries. $4,000 to $4,000
each; hemicyce. 1925. 900, and stairway, $75 600
The academy owns. without encumbrance, the
site on Cathedral Parkway Drive. covering six
teen city lots, worth $249O00 1t has building
fund for the erection of the new academy build
ing Of about 100000 holds trust funds for the
of its schools TO the amount of 100000, and
has set aside a fund for maintenance Of $1,000
The upper half of the building. which
tained six classrooms filled with works of art.
was practically burned out The glass opening
of the mansard roof the north slope was
wrecked. The lower floor, devoted to reception
rooms parlors and Offices suffered from water
Among the paintings damaged We're some by
Gilbert Stuart, including d Portrait of Mrs.
Valley, of Boston" and by Samuel F. B. Morse,
inventor of the telegraph the Suydam colec-
ton; portrait miniatures by Aschenbach, pict-
ures by Diaz. by John Trumbull, the painter of
Washington; a portrait of Trumbul himself by
Twibill, and paintings by Peale Wyatt Eaton
and Edward May.
Some OF the statuary broken and chipped
and some of the paintings SCARED and torn.
Much of the damage can be repaired
The fire originated in the west end of the
building between the floor of the second story
and the ceiling of the first The switches con-
trolling the electric lighting wires are in this
part Of the building, and IL is supposed that
defective insulation started the blaze.
While working on the second floor William
Brown, OF Engine No. 16 was knocked down
and buried by a portion Of the ceiling. He was
covered with a heap OF plaster and broken
glass and could not move Other firemen dug
him out with hooks and axes. lie was cut all
over his body.