Dedicated, October 18, 1958
‘Built in association with Anderson, Beckwith & Haible, and commissioned at a time when Rudolph had never designed anything larger than a three-bedroom house, the Wellesley Arts Center represents his tour de force of integration with an existing style – in this case pseudo-gothic. Careful study of proportion and massing led him to create a design combining the dimensional basis of the original with a novel massing and use of materials – including the use of porcelain-enameled aluminum sun-screens conceived as a kind of ‘built-in ivy’. The structure of the extension is in reinforced concrete and the facing materials are brick and limestone. The art department itself is linked to a classroom and auditorium block by a bridging exhibition gallery. The conical skylights – much criticized by opponents of Rudolph’s eclecticism – are intended to echo the repeated gables of the existing building.”
Spade, Rupert. Paul Rudolph. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1971. P. 124.
Images of Mary Cooper Jewett Art Center, Wellesley College
