Original Proposal for St. Bartholomew's Church, 1916

Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue 

Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue, one of America’s foremost architects widely known for his ecclesiastical structures, was commissioned in 1914 to design the third site of St. Bartholomew’s Church on Park Avenue. Prior to St. Bartholomew’s, Goodhue’s stylistic forte was Gothic Revival, a style he reinterpreted in a modern manner, particularly in the design of one of his other major works, New York City's Church of the Intercession (1912-1915).

Goodhue was born in 1869 in Pomfret, Connecticut. Educated at home, he was fortunate to have an artist neighbor who who taught him to draw. In 1884, at the age of fifteen, he began his architectural career in New York City as an apprentice to James Renwick, Jr., architect of St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Goodhue quickly revealed his talents, moving up from office boy to the important post of “delineator,” in the nineteenth century architectural firm a key position.

While in Renwick’s office, Goodhue also exhibited his extraordinary artistic abilities by designing a complete typeface, “Cheltenham”, still widely used. He was soon designing entire books, such as an exquisite edition of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnets from the Portuguese.  

After joining the architectural firm Cram and Wentworth in 1891, Goodhue refined his use of the Gothic form, bringing its design elements into the 20th Century with recognizable modern iconography and modern construction methods and materials. In 1914, he established his own firm, wishing to expand his creativity beyond the confines of the Neo-Gothic. The California State Pavilion at the Panama-California Exposition in San Diego, for example, was one of Bertram Goodhue Associates' first commissions and its style is Spanish Baroque. 

Stanford White 

Stanford White (1853-1908) of the preeminent architectural firm McKim, Mead & White designed the St. Bartholomew's Triple Portal in 1901 for the Church at its previous location on Madison Avenue. Inspired by the "porch" of the Abbey Church of Saint-Gilles-du-Gard in Provence (ca. 1170), this would be the final flourishing of White’s love affair with Provencal Romanesque architecture. 

The Romanesque was a primary source of inspiration for Richardson, whose work launched the “Richardson Romanesque” style in America. White would have a chance to see the real thing in July 1878 when he traveled to Provence with architect Charles McKim and sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens. 

In a letter to his parents from Paris, White described St. Gilles as having “the best piece of architecture in France, the triple marble porch of the church.”  A quarter of a century later, he would design the new entrance to St. Bartholomew’s Madison Avenue with his much-admired St. Gilles-du-Gard triple portal as inspiration.

 Bertram Goodhue Associates - Mayers, Murray, and Phillip

In the spring of 1924, after a trip to Los Angeles where he was involved in building the public library, Goodhue succumbed to a heart attack, just days before his fifty-fifth birthday. Following his death, his office was reorganized as Bertram Goodhue Associates to complete outstanding commissions. This included the St. Bartholomew's Community House and the Great Dome. In 1931, the firm was renamed by its principal partners, Francis L.S. Mayers, Oscar Harold Murray, and Hardie Phillip. The firm closed in 1940.