Seattle Asian Art Museum - Seattle, WA
N 47° 37.799 W 122° 18.887
10T E 551478 N 5275403
The museum is located in the 1933 Art Deco building which was originally home to the Seattle Art Museum's main collection.
Waymark Code: WM183V4
Location: Washington, United States
Date Posted: 05/24/2023
Views: 1
The Seattle Asian Art Museum is housed in a historic Art Deco building designed in 1933 by Carl F. Gould of the architectural firm Bebb and Gould.
The Gould building was designated a Seattle landmark in 1989,and officially added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.
Carl Frelinghuysen Gould (24 November 1873 – 4 January 1939) also spelled Carl Freylinghausen Gould, was an architect in the Pacific Northwest, and founder and first chair of the architecture program at the University of Washington. As the lead designer in the firm Bebb and Gould, with his partner, Charles H. Bebb, Gould was responsible for many notable Pacific Northwest buildings, such as the original Seattle Art Museum and for the campus plan of the University of Washington.
By the 1930s, Bebb's role in Bebb and Gould declined and the firm's work began to reflect the emergence of Art Deco. This new direction was reflected in the design for the Seattle Art Museum building (1931–1933) (now the Seattle Asian Art Museum) in Volunteer Park. (The design of the front elevation reflects the influence of draftsman Walter Wurdeman who had joined Bebb and Gould after graduating from the University of Washington.)
Gould's design for the Seattle Art Museum was the first art museum in the country to be built in the modern style. His design development drawings for the museum are unique among those in the Gould collection for their precise dating. They reveal the design sequence from his earliest neoclassical efforts to his final modern solution. With no windows or surface relief, except at the ends and central entrance, the building achieved an imposing monumentality. Local wilkeson sandstone was used to finish the west entrance facade, while aluminum was chosen to highlight the museum's entrance doors, grille and the two exterior fountains. As they were needed office and exhibition space were added to the rear of the building in subsequent decades, although these additions did not conform to the original expansion plans developed by Bebb & Gould.
Style: Art Deco
Structure Type: Culture/Entertainment
Architect: Carl Frelinghuysen Gould
Date Built: 1933
Supporting references: [Web Link]
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