Stanford White: Letters to His Family

Reproduced here for the first time, the intimate letters written by Stanford White (1853-1906) reveal much more about the private man than about his public persona as a fashionable Gilded Age architect and socialite. This captivating collection of candid letters, assembled and preserved by the architect's son, span nearly 50 years, from White's childhood to shortly before his untimely death (he was murdered in 1906). Many of the letters appear in facsimile reproduction and include architectural sketches and other drawings from White's travels in the United States, Mexico, and Europe. This volume, which also reproduces photographs and watercolors, adds valuable insight into the life of one of the most prominent architects in late 19th-century America. Of particular interest are the letters penned to the two people White was closest to--his mother and his wife--drawing an engaging, funny, and charming self-portrait. Writing from Paris in 1878, and reproaching himself for not having written sooner, he begins a letter to his mother with, "I ought to have my head punched and be sat on generally."