The Mary Cooper Jewett Arts Center

Jewett Arts Center
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The Mary Cooper Jewett Arts Center

Site overview

The Mary Cooper Jewett Arts Center is important not only as the work of architect Paul Rudolph, but also for its harmonious union with its surroundings on the Wellesley College campus while remaining a strong statement of modern architecture. Rudolph related the Arts Center to the historic campus by quoting the Collegiate Gothic style in the building's elaboration. The main exterior material of the Arts Center is brick, matched in color to the brick of the surrounding structures. He used a bay width of 15 feet to correspond with the width of existing bays on the Collegiate Gothic buildings on Norumbega Hill. Pointed aluminum skylights on the roof of the visual arts wing echo the shape of the dormers on the Gothic structures. In addition, the concrete copings are similar in texture and color to the limestone moldings of the window and door surrounds on the adjacent buildings. Finally, Rudolph employed the use of clustered columns of a concrete aggregate reminiscent of the Gothic columns in texture and color. In 1961, the building’s patron family established the Jewett Arts Center Maintenance Fund, endowed to ensure continued maintenance of the building. (Adapted from the Council of Independent Colleges Historic Campus Architecture Project)

Primary classification

Education (EDC)

Secondary classification

Recreation (REC)Religion (REL)

Terms of protection

Protected and managed by Wellesley College

Author(s)

Elyse Marks | | 2/2/2011

How to Visit

Private university building

Location

106 Central Street
Wellesley College
Wellesley, MA, 02481

Country

US

Designer(s)

Other designers

Main Architect: Paul RudolphOther contributing designer(s): The architecture firm of Anderson, Beckwith & Haible

Related chapter

New England

Commission

1955

Completion

1958

Commission / Completion details

Comissioned ca. 1955Completed 1958

Original Brief

The project required him to design a modern building in character with the neo-Gothic campus and tower, and was a scheme that needed to relate to these predetermined historic surroundings. His design solution was not a replica, but created instead a modern design using the height, scale and proportions of the structure and particularly the rhythm of the sunscreens and roof lights to echo the neo-Gothic features of the existing college.Rudolph related the Arts Center to the surrounding buildings on Wellesley's campus by quoting the Collegiate Gothic style in the building's elaboration. The main exterior material of the Arts Center is brick, matched in color to the brick of the surrounding structures. He used a bay width of 15 feet to correspond with the width of existing bays on the Collegiate Gothic buildings on Norumbega Hill. Pointed aluminum skylights on the roof of the visual arts wing echo the shape of the dormers on the Gothic structures. In addition, the concrete copings are similar in texture and color to the limestone moldings of the window and door surrounds on the adjacent buildings. Finally, Rudolph employed the use of clustered columns of a concrete aggregate reminiscent of the Gothic columns in texture and color.

Significant Alteration(s) with Date(s)

None

Current Use

Of whole site: Parking, open green space, garden space, and central outdoor common areaOf principal components: Jewett Art Gallery, the central component, is no longer the home of Wellesley’s art collection but instead a venue for student artworks and faculty exhibits designed for teaching. Of other elements: Jewett Arts Center currently contains Wellesley’s Music Library, a collection of 50,000 books, music scores, recordings and periodicals, 22 practice studios, classrooms, listening rooms, and Wellesley’s 63,000 volume art and architecture library. Of surrounding areas: The campus of Wellesley College

Current Condition

Of whole site: Routinely maintained by Wellesley CollegeOf principal components: Generally well kept and regularly cleaned/servicedOf surrounding areas: Landscaped areas routinely maintained by Wellesley College landscape crew

General Description

Rudolph was commissioned to design the building circa 1955, coinciding with his appointment as Dean of the Architecture School at Harvard University. The Jewett Arts Center was built to replace the Farnsworth Art Building, which had been constructed in 1889 and was reaching its capacity in the early 1900s. The Building was intended to house the Music and Arts Departments, as well as the 320-seat Jewett Auditorium, to be used for music performances, theater events, lectures, and symposia.The building is composed of three sections: two wings, one devoted to the visual arts and one to the performing arts, are bridged by an exhibition gallery. The original design intent was to locate studios in the upper stories of the visual arts wing. thus, large expanses of glass and skylights were used to provide the maximum amount of natural light. An interesting feature of this wing of the building is the \"brise-soleils" shielding the windows on the north and south elevations. These porcelain-on-aluminum grilles provide a sunscreen, cutting the sun's glare and adding textural richness to the building. The performing arts wing is a more solid and inward-looking structure because it does not have the same large-scale use of glass.

Construction Period

1956-1958

Original Physical Context

The campus of Wellesley College

Technical

The architect Paul Rudolph employed innovative design techniques to the building, separating the building from traditional neighboring campus buildings visually but not impairing the aesthetic techniques employed by Rudolph to relate the modern building to the classically designed adjacent buildings. An example one of these “techniques” would be Rudolph’s inclusion of \"brise-soleils" panels shielding the windows on the north and south elevations.

Social

This building represents an important period in the development of Wellesley College, and its’ administrative shift towards the acceptance of modern architecture and ideas into the design of the institution's traditional campus.

Cultural & Aesthetic

The location of the Jewett Arts Center location on the Academic Quadrangle affirms the importance of the arts at Wellesley College. The building also acts as a gateway, bringing people from the parking area on the west side or at the rear of the building into the heart of the campus, the academic quadrangle. This is accomplished through an elaborate system of stairs, which pull the visitor beneath the building and up onto Norumbega Hill. As one passes under the gallery of the Jewett Arts Center to surmount the stairs, the Stone Tower becomes the central focus.

Historical

Historically, this building is a unique representation of the modern design movement in American architecture by a significant and influential architect of that period. The building is also representative of a distinctive sub-category of the modern movement: the inclusion of stylistically modern buildings into the traditional architectural setting of college campuses, creating a harmony of old and new in their unique design.

General Assessment

This building has value for many obvious reasons: The commission for this building came to Paul Rudolph at a time when he had never designed anything larger than moderately sized residential homes. therefore, the building has become an important example of Rudolph’s early style in conjunction with older, more classically designed buildings. However, The Jewett Arts Center is important not only as the early work of a well-known architect, but also for its harmonious union with its surroundings while remaining a strong statement of modern architecture.

References

\"Jewett Arts Center." Historic Campus Architecture Project. The Council of Independent Colleges, Nov. 2006. Web. 28 Jan. 2011. .