John Russell Pope (4/2/1874-8/27/1937) New York, New York (F.A.I.A.)

One of the country's most distinguished architects, the designer of many buildings of outstanding character both here and abroad, nearly all of them in the Classic tradition. Born in New York, son of John Pope, an artist and Associate of the National Academy of Design, the youth attended the College of the City of New York, and for three subsequent years studied architecture at Columbia's School of Mines under Professor William R. Ware. In 1895 Pope won the McKim Roman Scholarship, and in the following year the Schermerhorn Scholarship, with the privilege of two years of study at the American Academy in Rome, a period which he devoted to intensive training in draftsmanship. From Rome he wen.S. and also in France and England. He was architect of the Temple of Scottish Rite, the National Archives Buildings, the Art Gallery built for Andrew Mellon, opened in 1941 as the National Gallery of Art, the Pharmaceutical Institute, Constitution Hall, 1929; National Christian Church on Thomas Circle, and 1931; and the Jefferson Memorial, all in Washington. Among other executed designs of this architect was the Abraham Lincoln Memorial near Hodgenville, Kentucky; Nassau County Hospital, Long Island, New York; the First Presbyterian Church at New Rochelle, New York (winner of the 1929 Christian Herald Award); additions to the Metropolitan Museum and the Henry Frick Art Gallery in New York; Memorial Hospital, Syracuse New York; City Hall, Plattsburgh, New York; University Baptist Church and the Museum of Art in Baltimore, Maryland; and Payne Whitney Gymnasium, New Haven, last of the Gothic Buildings at Yale University. He also prepared a general plan for the future development of a number of American Universities, among them Yale, Johns Hopkins, Syracuse, and Dartmouth. In London, England, the Duveen wing of the British Museum built to house the Parthenon marbles, the new Sculpture Halls of the Tate Gallery, and the U.S. Government Building were built from Mr. Pope's plans, while at Montfaucon, France, stands a great shaft of white marble, the American Battle Monument, designed by him to commemorate the victory of the first American Army in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, dedicated in 1937. In addition to all of the before mentioned work, Mr. Pope designed with equal skill many residences of distinctive design for his clients, demonstrating his highly diversified talents. The recipient of many honors during his career, in 1917 he was awarded a Medal of Honor by the Architectural League of New York, in 1919 the Gold Medal Award of the New York Chapter, A.I.A., Honorary diploma of the Jean Leclair Institute of France (Ecole des Beaux Arts) in 1922, and in 1924 was made a Chevalier of the French Legion of Honor. A member of the American Institute of Architects, advanced to Fellowship in 1907, he was an Honorary Corresponding member of the Royal Institute of British Architects, the Beaux Arts Institute of Design, National Institute of Arts and Letters, and an Academican of National Academy of Art. Appointed by President Wilson Hoover of the National Board of Consulting Architects. He was also a former Trustee of the American Academy at Rome, and served as President form 1933 until the time of his death. Early in August of 1937, Mr. Pope was stricken ill at his home in Newport, Rhode Island, and was removed to his residence in New York where his death later occurred.