The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-06-30
From the New York Sun.

fTOnl the NeW 1Oik olil,
 TANFORD WHITE gave up his | NN studio apartments in Madison " Square tower about a year ago. His departure from the building, which Is regarded as his greatest architectural monument ended series of merry
 maldngs which made his ''bachelor quar- ters" there one of the most attractive centers in the city. He used his studio in A professional way to paint in water colors and to work out architectural de- signs in matters that were separate from the firm work of NrcKim, Mead & White, but the chief use or the rooms was as meeting place for gatherings of theatrical and other folk to whom night life was | attractive.
 The rooms were decorated with things that White had gathered in his frequent trips to Europe. The draperies and rugs, the furniture and adornments were of | the florid style of three centuries ago that prevailed in Italy and France. His tastes ran to decoration quite as much as to architecture. and his apartments in | the tower more fully revealed the ar- tistic side of the man than any of his purely professional achievements.
 In the field of decoration White had
 established a place for himself unlike
 that of any other architect. He was ac- customed to make trips to Europe to se- | cure collections of various kinds He
 would get materials for a Francis 1.
 room, or Louis XVI. room, bring them | home and store them. to be sold later to | some rich man who was looking for fads in household decorations. Sometimes he
 would collect windows and doors. At
 other times he would SCOUT France and
 Italy for hangings and draperies. 1 It was said yesterday that one wealthy
 New Yorker now dead, had paid White
 hundreds of thousands of dollars for ma-
 terial picked up abroad.
 There was great diversity of opinion
 yesterday in the architectural world as
 to Whites standing as an architect
 Some of the architects did not hesitate
 to say that he was the greatest in the profession in this country since II. H. l Richardson. Others asserted that he shone largely by the reflected light of his
 partners, Mckim and Mead. It is cer-
 tain that no architect was called upon oftener to serve on juries to pass upon
 the merits of designs for the great build | ings of the country than White. Those who decried his abilities said
 that much of the work ascribed to White I lv ba of fol i'm of
 Their tastes ran to the severely classic | designs and to what Is known as the
 field of pure architecture It was de-
 clared that White. disciple of the French
 and Italian schools. could not have de- | signed many of the buildings for which
 he got credit as member of the firm of
 McI<im, Mead & White. One architect
 said yesterday:
 '"rhe Boston Public Library, the Co.,
 lumbia University buildings. the Willard house, the Agricultural building at the l Chicago Worlds Fair and other creations
 of the McKim firm were not and could
 not have been designed by White. All | through them runs the genius of MT. Mo- { Kim. White ran to the lighter style of l architecture. the fiorid, the modern, and l not to the Greclan UT tne se'eie anu | monumental style of purely classic archi- | lecture.
 His mood was that of gaiety, and 1t expressed itself in his designs. The
 bases of Saint Gaudens' statutes lent themselves to his mood, and some of his best work was done in connection with | them. He was essentially an artist | rather than an architect, and his infiu- | ,nce in his firm was along the lines os the artistic rather than along the strict standards of architectural expression. It got to be the custom to attribute any very fine work of the firm of which he