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Biography |
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RAFAEL GUASTAVINO |
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| Rafael Guastavino was born in Spain in 1842. He emigrated to the United States and introduced his signature architectural innovations -- fireproof vaults and domes after the models found in Spanish vernacular architecture for centuries. He modified the vernacular construction technique by adapting the vaulting structure to steel-frame. His early work with Charles McKim in the 1880's on the Boston Public Library was very influential on his later construction and style. McKim recognized Guastavino's skill at building domes and vaults and he put him to work on the vaults of the Boston Public. His acknowledged skill at this task resulted in a focus for the architect and he quickly formed a company called the Guastavino Fireproof Construction Company that later included his son Rafael, Jr., as co-owner. The superb workmanship of the Guastavino's may be seen in many notable buildings in New York City, including the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and the Oyster Bar in Grand Central Station. The company persisted until 1962 when it ceased operation. It has been recorded that over 1,000 structures throughout the United States have benefited from the work of the Guastavino's. | |||
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| The Guastavinos, father and son, worked frequently with Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue, the architect of notable Gothic churches and the Nebraska State Capitol. Goodhue had an interest in Mexican architecture, which he put to use in his designs for the Panama-Pacific exposition in San Diego in 1915. These tiles were designed for the Dater house in Montecito, California, but were also used in San Diego and at the Goodhue hotel in Colon, Panama. Goodhue, more than any other architect the Guastavinos worked with, took advantage of the decorative possibilities of the surfaces of the Guastavino vaults and domes. | |||
| The Guastavino home in Black Mountain has melted back into the earth with only a few remnants left to remind the visitor that the once grand home and furnaces were a central focus for the visitor of the late 1800's. | |||
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| The Guastavino papers are held by the Avery Library at Columbia University where they were donated in 1988 by Dr. George R. Collins, professor of Art History at Columbia who had served as custodian of the papers for the Guastavinos since 1963. | |||
| See also: http://www.guastavino.net/, the Guastavino project at MIT that seeks to document the work of the Guastavino Company in the Boston area. | |||
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