Starrett & van Vleck (often spelled Starrett & Van Vleck) was an American architectural firm based in New York City[1] which specialized in the design of department stores, primarily in the early 20th century. It was active from 1908 until at least the late 1950s.
History
Goldwin Starrett, in or before 1918.
The senior partner, Goldwin Starrett, was born September 29, 1874, in Lawrence, Kansas, to William Aiken Starrett and Helen Martha (Ekin) Starrett, a noted educator and activist. Starrett was educated in his mother's school before enrolling in the University of Michigan, graduating with a degree in mechanical engineering in 1894. For the following four years he worked for D. H. Burnham & Company, architects of Chicago. Two of his elder brothers, Theodore Starrett and Paul Starrett, had also worked for Burnham. In 1898 he left Chicago for New York, where he joined the office of George A. Fuller & Company as a superintendent and assistant manager. In 1900 he joined Thompson–Starrett, the family contracting firm. Due to his architectural experience, during this period he designed several of the buildings built by the firm, including the Algonquin Hotel. In 1904 he was an incorporator of the E. B. Ellis Granite Company of Northfield, Vermont, and served as vice president of the company. Ellis was the granite contractor for the Washington Union Station, designed by D. H. Burnham & Company and built by Thompson–Starrett. In 1908 he withdrew from the company and established himself as an architect in New York. Shortly afterward, he formed a partnership with Ernest A. van Vleck.[2][3][4]
Ernest Alan van Vleck was born July 1, 1875, in Bell Creek Township, Burt County, Nebraska, to Cady Lycurgus van Vleck, a farmer, and Mary Ann (Lundy) van Vleck. After an education in the public schools of Fresno, California, and Red Creek, New York, he entered the architecture school of Cornell University, graduating in 1897. At his graduation he was awarded an architectural traveling fellowship, and so toured Europe for a year. On his return he joined Thompson–Starrett as an architect. He remained with the company until 1908, when he joined his former associate Goldwin Starrett in partnership.[5] The new firm was named Goldwin Starrett & van Vleck. They were joined in partnership by Oran Winthrop Rice in 1910, followed by Starrett's younger brother William A. Starrett in 1913.[6] At that time, the firm's name was changed simply to Starrett & van Vleck. Starrett died May 9, 1918, at home in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, and van Vleck became the firm's senior partner.[5] In 1919, van Vleck and Rice admitted Ernest Brooks, another Cornell graduate, into the partnership.[7] It was further expanded in 1924 to include Frank Gaertner, Herbert M. Hathaway, Otto A. Johnson and Frank L. Kirby.[8] The firm's name was not changed. In 1946 they were joined by Reginald E. Marsh following the dissolution of his firm, Tooker & Marsh.[9] Van Vleck died August 8, 1956, in St. Petersburg, Florida.[5] After van Vleck died, Marsh left to reestablish his own practice. The firm continued for a few years under Gaertner's leadership, but it is not known when it was finally dissolved. Their last identified completed project is Saint Barnabas High School in The Bronx, completed in 1959.
In Pittsburgh, Starrett & van Vleck was responsible for the design of the downtown flagship of the Gimbels Department Store which was built in 1914 for Kaufmann & Baer. Gimbels closed in Pittsburgh in 1987.[13] The building was renamed the Heinz 57 Center in 2002 after the remodeled building became the North American headquarters for the H.J. Heinz Co.[14] It was added to the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation as a Historic Landmark in 1982.[15] Near Pittsburgh, in 1912, they designed the house that later became the clubhouse of the Foxburg Country Club.[16]
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