Spitzer School Exhibits George Post Drawings for CCNY Campus

Digital reproductions of 45 illustrations, many showing ornamentation details, on display February 3 through May 9

“Building the Modern Gothic: George Post at City College,” an exhibit of digital reproductions of 45 original drawings by Mr. Post for his design of The City College of New York campus, will be on display February 3 through May 9 in the Atrium Gallery of City College’s Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture. An opening reception will be held 6 – 8 p.m. Monday, February 3.
 

In 1897, Mr. Post won a competition to design City College’s new uptown campus, located at West 138th Street and Convent. He designed a complex consisting of five neo-Gothic structures built from Manhattan schist with terra cotta trim plus the surrounding landscape, which included four arches, a central quad, retaining walls and lighting.

Approximately 2,500 original architectural drawings made for the project by Mr. Post and his associates are now housed at the New-York Historical Society. The society produced the digital reproductions at the request of Spitzer School Dean George Ranalli, who curated the exhibit.

“These are great buildings that were designed to work well with their surroundings and landscape,” Dean Ranalli said. “Exhibiting the drawings gives our students an opportunity to understand how the decisions behind the original ideas for the campus were carried out through the construction.”

The drawings also provide a glimpse at how architects worked more than a century ago and provide an opportunity to relook at ideas about ornamentation and decoration, as well as the way buildings were made and how they related to open space, he added.

The Atrium Gallery is open to the public 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Monday thru Friday. The Spitzer School of Architecture building is located at 141 Convent Ave. (at 135th Street), New York.

About The City College of New York
Since 1847, The City College of New York has provided low-cost, high-quality education for New Yorkers in a wide variety of disciplines. More than 16,000 students pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees in: the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences; the Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture; the School of Education; the Grove School of Engineering; the Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education, and the Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership. U.S. News, Princeton Review and Forbes all rank City College among the best colleges and universities in the United States.

About the Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture
The Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture at The City College of New York is the only public school of architecture in New York City. It offers programs in Architecture, Urban Landscape Architecture, and Urban Design, and has a student population of approximately 350. Its emphasis on the urban situation as a generator of ideas about the appropriateness of programs and forms in the city landscape is one of the school’s most original aspects. Architecture studios currently pursue programs that are civic, institutional, residential, and commercial allowing the student an in-depth experience of these project types as they are projected into the urban landscape of New York City.

MEDIA CONTACT

Ellis Simon
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