Nathan Corwith Wyeth (April 20, 1870 – August 30, 1963) was an American architect. He is best known for designing the West Wing of the White House, creating the first Oval Office. He designed a large number of structures in Washington, D.C., including the Francis Scott Key Bridge over the Potomac River, the USS Maine Mast Memorial, the D.C. Armory, the Tidal Basin Inlet Bridge, many structures that comprise Judiciary Square, and numerous private homes—many of which now serve as embassies. He also co-designed the Cannon House Office Building, the Russell Senate Office Building, the Longworth House Office Building, and an addition to the Russell Senate Office Building.
Early life and education Nathan Corwith Wyeth was born on April 20, 1870, in Chicago, Illinois, to Charles Jones and Julia Elizabeth ( MacReynolds) Wyeth.(Wyeth, Nathan Corwith, Passport Application, 7 September 1920. [dob: 20 April 1870, Chicago; Father: Charles J., pob: Galena]. National Archives and Records Administration, Passport Applications, January 2, 1906 - March 31, 1925; Roll #: 1351; Volume #: Roll 1351 - Certificates: 87876-88249.(Wyeth, Nathan Corwith, Social Security Application [578-26-6370], May 1956 [dob: 20 April 1870, Chicago; Father:: Charles J.; Mother: Julia MacReynolds], Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 [database on-line]. Wyeth was of English stock on his father's side. His ancestor, Nicholas Wyeth, emigrated to the United States from Saxtead in about 1640, and settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 1832, Wyeth's grandfather, Dr. Jacob Wyeth, accompanied his brother Nathaniel Jarvis Wyeth, part of the way to the then-wilderness of Oregon. On his return trip, he decided to move the family to Galena, Illinois. Through his father, Nathan Wyeth was a fourth cousin to the painter Newell Convers "N.C." Wyeth, and the painter Andrew Wyeth was his fourth cousin once removed.
Nathan's father, Charles, was the wealthy co-owner of Wyeth and Vandervoort, a company that sold malt for use by brewers of alcoholic beverages. He was also a member of the Chicago Board of Trade. Nathan was just a year old when his parents carried him to safety out of the city when the Great Chicago Fire struck in October 1871.
Charles Wyeth died in 1873 when Nathan was three years old. His will left $100,000 ($ in dollars) in trust for his wife and sons Nathan and Leonard. In 1881, Julia Wyeth married General Orlando B. Willcox, a lawyer who rose to the rank of Brevet Major General of Volunteers during the American Civil War and served as a colonel in the 29th Infantry Regiment after the war. Willcox later transferred to the 12th Infantry Regiment, and moved to San Francisco, California, to take up his command. He was appointed Commander of the Department of Arizona in 1878, and in 1886 was made head of the Department of the Missouri. He retired on April 16, 1887, at the rank of brigadier general in the regular army, after which he became governor of the Soldiers' Home in Washington, D.C., on February 27, 1889. But Nathan did not travel with his stepfather. Instead, he attended a series of boarding schools: Racine College (an Episcopal preparatory school in Racine, Wisconsin), the Harrington School (a preparatory school in New Bedford, Massachusetts), and Adams Collegiate Institute (a preparatory school in Sackets Harbor, New York).
In 1888, N. Corwith and Company—the firm which held the Wyeth funds in trust—went bankrupt. The firm had commingled the Wyeth trust funds with those of its other businesses, and the bankruptcy wiped out the trust as well. The Wyeths sued, and the Supreme Court of Illinois held in their favor in 1888. Although it is unclear if the Wyeths recovered much money, enough was received to pay for Nathan and Leonard's secondary and higher education.
Nathan was 18 years old in 1888. Despite the financial setbacks of his trust fund, he began his post-secondary education by studying watercolor painting in Belgium and Switzerland. Wyeth returned to the United States in the summer of 1889 and studied at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. He was awarded a first prize for his work, and graduated first in his class. In summer 1890, he enrolled as an art student at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France. He studied under Duray Pascal, switched his major to architecture, and received his Architect Diplômé par le Gouvernement from the school in 1899.
Wyeth's first notable architectural design can be traced to 1891, while he was still studying in France. This effort was a fourth-floor addition to the Lemon Building at 1729 New York Avenue NW in Washington, D.C. It was an important commission, for the building was the headquarters of the American Institute of Architects. (The structure was razed in 1971.)
Early work
After graduating from the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Wyeth took a job with Carrère and Hastings, a New York City-based company that was one of the most prominent architectural firms in the United States. He left the firm in 1900 and moved to Washington, D.C., where he took a position at the Office of the Supervising Architect in the United States Department of the Treasury (the government agency which, at the time, designed all federal office buildings). After two and a half years there, he transferred to the office of the Architect of the Capitol, working under Elliott Woods. Although he worked there just eight months, there is evidence that he helped design both the Cannon House Office Building and the Russell Senate Office Building.
Private practice Wyeth left government employment to form his own private architectural practice in 1904. During the next 14 years, he designed a large number of residences, office and retail buildings, and local government offices. In 1907, he briefly formed the firm of Wyeth & Cresson with noted local architect William Penn Cresson (husband of sculptor Margaret French Cresson). But the association lasted only a year.
One of Wyeth's most prominent early commission was the Tidal Basin Inlet Bridge connecting East Potomac Park and West Potomac Park. Both parks were formerly part of the waters of the Potomac River. Beginning in 1881, material dredged from the river was placed in the tidal flats west and south of the city, creating the western half of the National Mall, the Washington Channel, and the Tidal Basin. The Tidal Basin was designed so that fresh water would flow in via its southern strait, and then flush outward into the Washington Channel. In 1907, the United States Army Corps of Engineers decided that gates were needed at the southern inlet to prevent the basin's water from backflowing into the Potomac (thus ensuring a flush into the channel). The Corps decided that a bridge should be built along with the gates, so that the roadway around the Tidal Basin would make a complete circuit. Wyeth was the only architect considered for the bridge job. His employment was approved in early February 1908, and by early April he'd completed the bridge plans. Although his design for a two-tier bridge was only partially implemented (the top tier was removed for budget reasons), work on the bridge was largely complete by June 1909.
Among the many notable private residences Wyeth built during this first phase of his private practice were the Nathan C. and Isabelle Wells House at 1609 Connecticut Avenue NW in 1904; the new front facade and rear addition to the Dr. J. H. Bryan House at 818 17th Street NW in 1904; the Dr. Bernard L. Hardin House at 1313 Connecticut Avenue NW in 1905; the Anna Jenness Miller House at 2205 Massachusetts Avenue NW in 1905; the John R. McLean House at 1509 H Street NW in 1905; the F.A. Keep House (built 1906) and the C. Russell Peyton House (built 1908), both at 2249 R Street NW (formerly the Embassy of Sweden, now the Embassy of Kenya); with William P. Cresson, the Louis Arthur Coolidge House (now the Embassy of Zambia) at 2419 Massachusetts Avenue NW in 1907; the Mrs. Norman Williams House at 1227 16th Street NW in 1907; the Mrs. John McGowan House at 1424 16th Street NW in 1907; the Helen Churchill Candee House at 1149 16th Street NW in 1909; the Sara S. Wyeth House (now the Chilean ambassador's resident in Washington, D.C.) at 2305 Massachusetts Avenue NW in 1909;; the Gibson Fhanestock House (now the Embassy and Chancery of Haiti) at 2311 Massachusetts Avenue NW in 1910; with Francis P. Sullivan, the Mrs. George Pullman House (now the Russian ambassador's residence) at 1125 16th Street NW in 1910; the Granville Fortescue House (now the Embassy of Malawi) at 2408 Massachusetts Avenue NW in 1911; the Franklin MacVeagh House (formerly the Embassy of Mexico and now the Mexican Cultural Institute) at 2829 16th Street NW in 1911; the Misses Nellie and Isabelle Sedgeley House at 2406 Massachusetts Avenue NW in 1911; the Dr. William H. Wilmer House at 2101 R Street NW in 1912; and the Charles C. Glover House at 4200 Massachusetts Avenue NW in 1913.
One of Wyeth's largest commissions in this period came in 1913, when he designed a new building for the Columbia Hospital for Women at 2425 L Street NW.; ;
Government commissions An avid socialite, Wyeth's short time working for the federal government had won him a wide range of important friends. These led to a number of important commissions between 1904 and 1918. In 1909, he entered and won a competition to redesign the West Wing of the White House, turning a temporary structure into a permanent office complex. The Lemon Building addition had helped him win the commission, Wyeth's design for the West Wing, construction on which ended in October 1909, was a one-story structure which included the first and original Oval Office—which mimicked the Blue Room and Yellow Oval Room in the Executive Residence. (The Oval Office was moved in 1934 from the center of the south wall of the West Wing to the southeast corner of the building.)
The following year, Wyeth oversaw the remodeling of the British Embassy in the District of Columbia. He was appointed "local architect" of the embassy in 1909, and held the position until 1919.
Wyeth was hired to design the USS Maine Mast Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery in May 1913. Congress had approved a memorial in 1910, but little progress had been made. The United States Commission of Fine Arts (CFA), which had legal authority to advise regarding the siting and design of monuments and memorials, had reviewed preliminary designs submitted by the Army Corps of Engineers and had declined to approve any of them. Privately, the CFA voiced its opinion that the designs submitted were very poor. The commission advised the War Department to select a designer rather than hold a competition, and recommended Wyeth. The Secretary of War agreed, and Wyeth was hired in May 1913 to submit a design.;
World War I and post-war work
War work: 1917 to 1919 On October 17, 1917, Wyeth was hired by the United States Army Corps of Engineers to co-design the newly approved Francis Scott Key Bridge. Wyeth worked with Major Max C. Tyler, an engineer with the Corps of Engineers, to design the bridge, which crossed the Potomac River between the Rosslyn neighborhood of Arlington County, Virginia, and the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. The bridge was completed in 1923.
When the United States entered World War I in April 1918, Wyeth sought to join the military. He loved France, and was deeply upset at reports of the destruction and loss of life there. Too old at age 47 to be conscripted, he sought an architectural job with the Army as a way of helping the French people. Wyeth was released from his bridge contract with the Army Corps of Engineers in 1918 so he could be commissioned as a major in the United States Army. For the duration of the war, he worked for the Hospital Division of the Office of the Surgeon General, designing temporary hospitals for construction in France.