Cass Gilbert

Cass Gilbert believed buildings should speak, and his structures declared America's arrival as a confident, modern power. Born in Ohio in 1859, he trained in the rigorous Beaux-Arts tradition, which emphasized grandeur, symmetry, and historical reference. His breakthrough came with the Minnesota State Capitol, a gleaming marble masterpiece that established his reputation. But it was the Woolworth Building in New York, completed in 1913, that made him famous. Soaring 792 feet, it was the world's tallest building, a Gothic-Revival skyscraper that Frank Woolworth called his 'cathedral of commerce.' Gilbert later shifted from commercial towers to civic monuments, arguing that skyscrapers had become too profit-driven. His final and most enduring public work is the United States Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C., a white marble temple that deliberately evokes the dignity of ancient law, giving the judicial branch a physical home equal to the other branches of government.