The Ideal City In Hugh Ferris's The Metropolis Of Tomorrow
Occassionally in the course of my research of buildings in our area, I come across a familiar name. Last week exactly that happened. In looking into the history of 35 East 9th Street, I found that it had a famous resident at one time, Hugh Ferriss.
For those who aren’t familiar with the name, you probably are familiar with his work. Ferriss was the master draftsman of his time of the American metropolis, both real and ideal. In the course of his career, he rendered hundreds of buildings and projects around the country, but it was his visions for the ideal city, particularly as illustrated in his book The Metropolis of Tomorrow, that would earn him his fame and legacy, which still resonates today.
Born in 1889, Ferriss earned his degree in architecture from Washington University (MO) in 1911. The following year, he moved to New York and worked for Cass Gilbert as a draftsman until 1915, when he set out on his own and worked as a free-lance delineator (an artist who creates renderings of other architects designs usually for promotional or planning purposes). Initially, his commissions were for illustrations and advertisements in magazines, but by the early …show more content…
The 1916 Zoning Ordinance, the first of its kind in the United States, regulated building use, area, and height of new buildings. It imposed height and setback limits and distinguished between residential and industrial districts. The Hugh Ferriss drawings of 1922, known as “The Four Stages” or “Evolution of the Set-back Building,” are perhaps the most iconic and influential architectural images of the 1920s. Widely exhibited and published, they inspired other architects to understand the rules of New York’s 1916 zoning law not as a restriction, but as a form-giving principle for a new, modern
For those who aren’t familiar with the name, you probably are familiar with his work. Ferriss was the master draftsman of his time of the American metropolis, both real and ideal. In the course of his career, he rendered hundreds of buildings and projects around the country, but it was his visions for the ideal city, particularly as illustrated in his book The Metropolis of Tomorrow, that would earn him his fame and legacy, which still resonates today.
Born in 1889, Ferriss earned his degree in architecture from Washington University (MO) in 1911. The following year, he moved to New York and worked for Cass Gilbert as a draftsman until 1915, when he set out on his own and worked as a free-lance delineator (an artist who creates renderings of other architects designs usually for promotional or planning purposes). Initially, his commissions were for illustrations and advertisements in magazines, but by the early …show more content…
The 1916 Zoning Ordinance, the first of its kind in the United States, regulated building use, area, and height of new buildings. It imposed height and setback limits and distinguished between residential and industrial districts. The Hugh Ferriss drawings of 1922, known as “The Four Stages” or “Evolution of the Set-back Building,” are perhaps the most iconic and influential architectural images of the 1920s. Widely exhibited and published, they inspired other architects to understand the rules of New York’s 1916 zoning law not as a restriction, but as a form-giving principle for a new, modern