Thomas Hastings

In 1885, Thomas Hastings, FAIA, with John Merven Carrère, founded one of the most influential architectural firms of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Carrère & Hastings. Following Carrère’s death in 1911, Hastings continued on with the firm until his own death in 1929. Hastings studied at Columbia University then went to Paris to study at the École des Beaux–Arts, where he became acquainted with Carrère; they both worked for McKim, Mead & White in the mid-1880s before opening their own firm. Their Beaux-Arts training is apparent in the firm’s work, which includes the New York Public Library; the Cannon House Office and Russell Senate Office Buildings; the interior of the Metropolitan Opera House; and the Mary Scott Townsend Mansion, now the Cosmos Club, in Washington, D.C. Following Carrère’s death, Hastings continued to design numerous landmarks, including the Henry Clay Frick mansion and the Victory Arch in Madison Square in New York City; the American Embassy and Devonshire House in London; the Memorial Amphitheater at Arlington National Cemetery; and the Butt-Millet Memorial Fountain with Daniel Chester French in Washington, D.C. Hastings was active in the National Academy, the Society of Beaux-Arts Architects, the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design, Institut de France, and the Architectural League of New York; he also served as treasurer of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Among his many honors, he was made a Chevalier of the French Legion of Honor, received a Royal Institute of British Architects Royal Gold Medal in 1922, and was awarded several honorary doctorate degrees. Papers and drawings of Carrère & Hastings (1899–1930) are housed at Avery Library, Columbia University.