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Adrian Janes (February 4, 1798 – March 2, 1869) was the owner of a significant American iron foundry in the Bronx, New York.

The foundry created iron work for many notable projects, including the Capitol Dome of the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington DC, the Bow Bridge in Central Park and railings for the Brooklyn Bridge. [1]

Around 1855, Janes, Beebe & Co. published an Illustrated Catalogue of Ornamental Iron Work. [2]

The company name is sometimes misattributed to James Bebe or James Beebe.

Biography

Adrian Janes was the son of Mary Warren and Alfred Janes. Alfred worked in the shoe business, kept the City Hotel at Hartford, manufactured looking glasses and engaged in the house painting business. Adrian had a sister, Eliza (b. March 2, 1796), who was the mother of the landscape painter, Frederic Edwin Church. [3] [4] Adrian Janes married Adaline Root in 1823, and had six children: Julia E, Henry, Edward, George, Charles B, and Mary E. [5] Adrian sold wallpaper and brushes in Hardford CT from 1821 to 1844; he was also an oil painter and presumably designed the wallpaper that he sold. “No doubt Frederic [Edwin Church] as a boy absorbed ideas about design, drawing and color from his Uncle Adrian [Janes].” [6]

In 1844, Adrian Janes and William Beebe founded the foundry, Janes, Beebe & Co. at 356 Broadway, New York (at the corner of Reade and Center Street). In 1857, the firm moved from Manhattan to Morrisania (the Bronx). The firm was dissolved in 1859 due to the death of William Beebe. From 1859 to 1863, the firm operated as Janes, Fowler, Kirtland & Co. (Adrian Janes, Charles Fowler and Charles A. Kirtland). By 1870, the firm changed its name to Janes & Kirtland and was located at 725 6th Avenue.

In April 1857 Adrian and Adeline Janes purchased a tract of land from Gouverneur Morris II and lived in a mansion on the property. Adrian Janes named the property Mary's Park, after this daughter (it is now known as St. Mary's Park). A photo of the residence can be viewed here. [7] [8]

Adrian Janes died in 1869 and is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx. [9] The business was continued by Charles A Kirtland until 1880; who was succeeded by Adrian Janes' son, Edward E Janes; who was succeeded by Edward E Janes' two sons, Henry and Herbert Janes. The firm operated under the name of Janes & Kirtland at 725 6th Avenue until the early 1940s. [7] [10]

Wallpaper business (1821-1844)

Between 1821 and 1844, Adrian Janes and Edwin Bolles operated a wallpaper business, Janes & Bolles, in Hartford CT. The firm holds the distinction of assembling the earliest known book of American wallpaper samples that has survived to present day. The book resides in the collection of Old Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge, MA. [11] [12]

Iron foundry (1844-c.1940)

Capitol Dome, Washington DC

  • Janes, Fowler, Kirtland & Co. was responsible for casting and erecting the cast iron Dome of the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, DC. [13] The dome was designed by the architect Thomas Ustick Walter. [14] Work started on the Dome in 1858 and continued into the Civil War. In 1863. President Lincoln proclaimed, “If people see the Capitol going on, it is a sign we intend the Union shall go on.” The Dome was completed in 1864, weighing nearly 9 million pounds and at a cost of $1 million.
  • A detailed look at the dome can be found here.
  • Papers relating to the construction of the dome are archived at the Cornell University Library as Collection No. 3244 and correspondence can be found here. [15]

Government Buildings

  • Ceiling of the Senate Chamber and House of Representatives [16] [17]
  • East Grand Stairs of the U.S. Capitol Building [16] [17] [18]
  • Congressional Library in the U.S. Capitol Building* (1852) [19] [20]
  • Patent Office, east wing furnace (1851) and west wing roof (1855) [16] [21] [22]
  • General Post Office [16]
  • Treasury Building [16]
  • Court House and Post Office, Portland, Maine (1871) [16]
  • Capitol building lanterns (1874) [23]

Brooklyn Bridge

Bow Bridge

  • Bow Bridge is one of the most iconic and photographed features of Central Park. Built in 1862, the bridge spans 60 feet across the Central Park Lake and connects Cherry Hill and the Ramble. Bow Bridge is named for its arc shape which resembles that of an archer's bow. It is the oldest cast-iron bridge in Central Park, and it is the second-oldest cast-iron bridge in the United States. It was designed by Calvert Vaux and Jacob Wrey Mould. [25]

Fountains

Furniture

Sculptures and other works

  • Advertisement for religious statuary can be found here [39]
  • Pillot dogs at the Pillot House in Sam Houston Park, Houston TX - The original sculptures (c.1870) were reproduced in 1989. [40] [41]
  • Cast-iron gazebo was installed on the campus of Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee in 1853. [42] [43]
  • Cast-iron veranda, Zephaniah Jones House, 1024 10th Street, NW, Washington DC (apparently demolished). [44]
  • Janes also worked with cast zinc sculpture. [45]
  • Household items by Janes & Kirtland were included in the 1934 exhibition ' Machine Art' at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. [46]

Cooking Ranges and Furnaces

St. Mary's Park

  • St. Mary's Park (and a Protestant Episcopal church that once stood on Alexander Avenue and East 142nd Street until 1959) takes its name from Adrian's daughter, Mary. In the park's north end is Janes’ Hill, where the Janes mansion once stood. [49] [50] [7]

References

  1. ^ "ST. MAry's PARK | Historic Districts Council's Six to Celebrate". 13 August 2013.
  2. ^ Janes & Kirtland. Illustrated catalogue of ornamental iron work, manufactured by Janes, Beebe & Co. ... New York: C.A. Alvord. OCLC  40502019.
  3. ^ Janes, Frederic (1868). The Janes family : a genealogy and brief history of the descendants of William Janes, the emigrant ancestor of 1637, with an extended notice of Bishop Edmund S. Janes, D.D. and other biographical sketches. Robarts - University of Toronto. New York : Dingman.
  4. ^ Kelly, Franklin (1989). Frederic Edwin Church (PDF). National Gallery of Art, Washington.
  5. ^ Loomis, Elias (1880). The descendants (by the female branches) of Joseph Loomis : who came from Braintree, England, in the year 1638, and settled in Windsor, Connecticut in 1639. Boston Public Library. New Haven (CT) : Tuttle, Morehouse and Taylor.
  6. ^ Howat, John K. (2005-01-01). Frederic Church. Yale University Press. ISBN  978-0-300-10988-7.
  7. ^ a b c d e Piper, John E. "The Janes & Kirtland Iron Works". The Bronx County Society Journal. XI (2. Fall, 1974): 52.
  8. ^ McNamara, John (1978). History in Asphalt: The Origin of Bronx Street and Place Names, Borough of the Bronx, New York City. Published in collaboration with the Bronx County Historical Society [by] Harbor Hill Books. ISBN  978-0-916346-31-7.
  9. ^ Twomy, Bill (July 8, 2008). "Do You Remember". No. 28. Bronx Times.
  10. ^ "New-York Tribune". January 10, 1902. p. 9. ISSN  1941-0646. Retrieved 2021-07-26 – via National Endowment for the Humanities.
  11. ^ "The Rosetta Stone of Wallpaper?Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum | Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum". Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum. 22 September 2014. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
  12. ^ Lynn, Catherine (1980). Wallpaper in America: From the Seventeenth Century to World War I. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN  978-0-393-01448-8.
  13. ^ Terrell, Ellen (20 May 2015). "The Capitol Dome: Janes, Fowler, & Kirtland Co". blogs.loc.gov. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  14. ^ "Guide to the Janes, Fowler, Kirtland & Co. Records,1859-1863". rmc.library.cornell.edu. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
  15. ^ United States congressional serial set. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office. 1817.
  16. ^ a b c d e f Bronx (Borough) Direct. Morrisania and Tremont directory ... New York Public Library. pp. XXVIII.{{ cite book}}: CS1 maint: others ( link)
  17. ^ a b Keim, De B. Randolph (De Benneville Randolph) (1887). Keim's illustrated hand-book. Washington and its environs: a descriptive and historical hand-book of the capital of the United States of America. The Library of Congress. Washington, D.C. p. 86.
  18. ^ "East Grand Stair, Senate wing". U.S. Capitol Visitor Center. Retrieved 2021-09-06.
  19. ^ Johnston, William Dawson (1904). History of the Library of Congress: Volume I, 1800-1864. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 292.
  20. ^ Keim, De B. Randolph (1887). Keim's illustrated hand-book. Washington and its environs: a descriptive and historical hand-book of the capital of the United States of America. The Library of Congress. Washington, D.C. p. 81.
  21. ^ Meigs, Montgomery Cunningham (2001). Capitol Builder: The Shorthand Journals of Montgomery C. Meigs, 1853-1859, 1861 : a Project to Commemorate the United States Capitol Bicentennial, 1800-2000. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 218.
  22. ^ United States Congressional Serial Set. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1852. p. 36.
  23. ^ Keim, De B. Randolph (1887). Keim's illustrated hand-book. Washington and its environs: a descriptive and historical hand-book of the capital of the United States of America. The Library of Congress. Washington, D.C. p. 58.
  24. ^ "Edward Janes Obit". Hartford Courant. 1902-01-11. p. 5. Retrieved 2021-08-14.
  25. ^ "Bow Bridge in Central Park". www.centralpark.com. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
  26. ^ "Soldiers' Memorial Fountain and Park (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. Retrieved 2021-08-26.
  27. ^ "Broadway Fountain--Madison, Indiana: A Discover Our Shared Heritage Travel Itinerary". www.nps.gov. Retrieved 2021-07-20.
  28. ^ "Documents/GardensAbbeville.pdf" (PDF). S.C. Gov Events and Documents. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 December 2016. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  29. ^ "Broadway Fountain--Madison, Indiana: A Discover Our Shared Heritage Travel Itinerary". www.nps.gov. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  30. ^ "Broadway Fountain--Madison, Indiana: A Discover Our Shared Heritage Travel Itinerary". www.nps.gov. Retrieved 16 June 2016. French sculptor J.P.Victor Andre modeled the fountain's design (model #5 in the Janes, Kirtland catalog) after either one of the Place-de-la-Concorde fountains in Paris or one at London's Crystal Palace.
  31. ^ Bronx (Borough) Direct. Morrisania and Tremont directory ... New York Public Library.{{ cite book}}: CS1 maint: others ( link)
  32. ^ The Horticulturist and Journal of Rural Art and Rural Taste 1860-01: Vol 15. Internet Archive. Open Court Publishing Co. January 1860.{{ cite book}}: CS1 maint: others ( link)
  33. ^ "History with a Side of Mystery: the Rotunda Benches | AOC (Spring 2015 issue of AOC's Foundations & Perspectives)". www.aoc.gov. Retrieved 2021-08-25.
  34. ^ "Cast Iron Bench". WHHA (en-US). Retrieved 2021-07-25.
  35. ^ Monkman, Betty C. (2000). The White House : its historic furnishings and first families. Internet Archive. Washington, D.C. : White House Historical Association ; New York : Abbeville Press. ISBN  978-0-7892-0624-4.
  36. ^ Janes & Kirkland (1930). The White House Line of sectional steel units (patented construction) : catalogue No.6. Columbia University Libraries. New York : Janes & Kirkland, Inc.
  37. ^ Janes & Kirtland (1927). The kitchen that make a house a home : [catalog]. Columbia University Libraries. [New York] : [Janes & Kirtland, Inc.]
  38. ^ House & Garden 1926-08: Vol 50 Iss 2. Internet Archive. Condé Nast Publications, Inc. 1926.{{ cite book}}: CS1 maint: others ( link)
  39. ^ Sadliers' Catholic Directory, Almanac And Ordo 1874. New York, D.& J. Sadlier & Co. 1874. p. 624.
  40. ^ "Pillot Dogs". www.houstontx.gov. Retrieved 2021-07-25.
  41. ^ "A Doggie Named Azalea". The Heritage Society. Retrieved 2021-07-25.
  42. ^ "Historic Campus Architecture Project". Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  43. ^ "Center Gazebo". belmontmansion. Retrieved 2021-07-20.
  44. ^ Metals in America's historic buildings. Internet Archive. Washington : U.S. Dept. of the Interior, Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service, Technical Preservation Services Division. 1980.{{ cite book}}: CS1 maint: others ( link)
  45. ^ Grissom, Carol. Zinc sculpture in America, 1850-1950. - Free Online Library. University of Delaware Press. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
  46. ^ "MOMA.1934.Machine Art". Issuu. Retrieved 2021-07-25.
  47. ^ Ornamental Ironwork: Fountains, Statuary, Vases, Urns, Lawn Furniture, Pedestals, Baptismal Fonts, Animals Veranda, Summer House. Pyne Press. 1971.
  48. ^ "[Trademark registration by Janes & Kirtland for Beebe Range brand Cooking Ranges]". Library of Congress. Retrieved 2021-07-25.
  49. ^ "ST. MAry's PARK | Historic Districts Council's Six to Celebrate". 13 August 2013.
  50. ^ "St. Mary's Park Highlights : NYC Parks".