[Frontier and title page for The Story of Architecture in America, by Thomas E. Tallmadge. С надписью Касса Гилберта]

Cass Gilbert's copy, with his inscription commenting on the frontispiece, an illustration of a skyscraper by Eliel Saarinen: This design was not built. If it had been built it would have been disappointing to its admirers. It is thin - it has no "third dimension" - thickness or relief. It does not terminate. It just stops. It lacks composition. It gets weaker and more irresolute the further it goes. There is not even rhythm in its offsets. The very extravagant praise it has received is largely a matter of fad and has no sound basis. Saarinen is a good little man and clever, but it is a mistake to class this work among the great things. CG.
Cass Gilbert, architect of the U. S. Supreme Court building and the Woolworth Building in New York, wrote lengthy notes in the margins of this book, disagreeing with Tallmadge's statements.
Gift ; American Institute of Architects / American Architectural Foundation ; 2010 ; (DLC/PP-2010:100)
Forms part of: The AIA/AAF Collection (Library of Congress)
Unprocessed in PR 13 CN 2010:100.
NA705 .T3 AIA Rare Hunt. Volume does not bear label with call number. Call number is on slip inserted in volume.
Found in WV1, Row 9, March 24, 2017. Hunt Library project.