Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1906-07-19

Stanford White, the noted architect
recently shot and killed in New York
by Harry Kendall Thaw of Pittsburg.
needed forty-eight hog - the day, so
varied were his activitieS and so eney-
getic and enthusiastic his personality,
says the New York Herald Those
who saw him about the theaters in the
evenings and in the restaurants of
Broadway late at night would scarce
~ have realized it unless they had
known him well that ten or twelve
hours of his day had been filled with
the hardest kind of professional work.
1t was no unusual thing with him
when he was interested in some great
project and pushed for time to work
all the way around the clock twenty
four hours at a stretch.
His whole life was dominated by the
art idea, and his own home, his Office
and the studio high III the Madison
Square Garden tower had that same
touch of individuality. The apart
ments in the tower We're decorated by
him in accordance with his own I'M
conventional ideas. Here it was his
custom to give SupperS after the thea
ter to his friends, and in his circle of
friendship were all kinds and condi-
tions. Some nights lie entertained
there men and women of society. on
other occasions he was host to 4 COM
pany of artists and authors, and fire.
quently there were supperS attended
by the reigning theatrical favorites.
Fifteen or twenty of the sprightliest
beauties of the stage were sometimes
invited there to supper in the ornately
furnished room in the top of the Giral-
da tower. Connected with it was a
kitchen, where on short notice Il sup
per for hundred persons could be
prepared, so lavish was the hospitality
there dispensed. The tower itself gave
no sign of the gayety which so often
filed its upper rooms.
One of the remarkable gifts of Mr..
White was his ability to arrange the
most artistic effects from things which
TO others would have been only Il con
fused tumble His studio represented
great outlay, for in its decorations
were costly tapestries. bronZes and
paintings. The prevailing color scheme
was red as far as the walls We're con-
cerned, and the skillful arrangement
of rugs and tiger skins and crystal
globes produced striking effect. Pen
dant from the ceiling was Il globe of
crystal and cut glass, two feet in diam
eter, from which Il mellow radiance
was suffuSed over the richly decorated
apartment, which suggested i mysteri-
Gus fairyland.
1t was Mr.. Whites idea years ago to
retire TO the country after he had gain
ed Il competence, and for that purpose
he acquired his estate in st. james,
n. y. The life of the city attracted
him even i'll summer, however. and at
all seasons of the year he found New
York interesting, for it fitted his vary
ing moods.
Mr.. White was an early riser, and
no matter how late he had been out
the night before lie usually was up at
6 or o'clock in the morning. He went
to his office at o'clock and worked
as hard as any of his subordinates.
He usually remained until late in the
afternoon, and then started to visit
some of his clubs ut or o'clock
in the evening. His chief recreation
was the theater, and often he visited
ing. He belonged to the corps of first
nighters,' yet when he looked at por
ton of a play he would drop into the
theater where it was produced two or
three times a week.
Mr. White was not fond of reading.
He preferred to go and see things and
talk, for in that way he gained ideas
at first hand. He was q creator in his
work and never content to take any
thing from books.
One of his friends remarked recently
that he had spoken ON several occa-
sions of the automobile as being more
useful to him than any invention of
which he had ever awaited himself. 1t
gave him an opportunity of going
quickly from place to place, for his
mind was always active. He would
hurry to some country house the build
ing of which he was experimenting,
then return to the city and look over
structures in which the firm was inter
ested. His automobile would take him
to three or four clubs, and then he
would return home for dinner or go to
one of the fashionable restaurants,
where he was well known.
He went from place to place. how
ever, more with the idea of seeing life
than anything else.
Those who had his friendship and
confidence speak of his death IS an
irreparable loss to architecture, for he ;
had many plans for the artistic i'm
provement of the American art of
building which he hoped to see carried
out in the next ten years.