RICHARD KELLY WORKS
In the brief history of architectural lighting as a profession, Richard Kelly is widely recognized as one of its pioneers and great contributors. He collaborated on over 300 major projects including the Seagram Building, the Kimbell Art Museum, The Yale Center for British Art and Lincoln Center, all highlighted in this exhibition. As these landmarks broke new ground in architecture, so did Kelly’s lighting design.
Kelly’s passion for light developed at a young age, while his professional involvement with lighting was gradual. While he was majoring in science and English literature (and took all his electives in architecture) at Columbia University in New York, he also designed lighting fixtures for a local manufacturer. Soon after graduation in 1932 he opened an office, as he described, “for designing and selling lighting ideas and the equipment to make them work.” 1
Wartime restrictions having interrupted his design work, in 1942 Kelly returned to his studies, attending Yale University School of Architecture. There he studied with Stanley McCandless, a master of theatrical illumination. In addition to learning valuable theatrical lighting techniques, he assimilated McCandless’ ideas about light intensity, color, distribution and control, and their influence on human emotion. Kelly realized that light could be manipulated to create excitement or boredom, comfort or discomfort. Based on his understanding of “light energy impacts” he identified three types of light: focal glow or highlight, ambient luminescence or graded washes and the play of brilliants or sharp detail.
Richard Kelly’s philosophy and its application in practice, are a lasting legacy. Much of the lighting and lighting control equipment available today was initially developed in response to lighting solutions which Kelly identified. The drawings and photographs presented in this exhibit were chosen to represent the strength of Kelly’s work and indicate its impact on today’s lighting for architecture.
SELECTED PROJECTS
Apartment Houses
860 Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL; 1950. Mies van der Rohe, arch.
900 Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL; 1951. Mies van der Rohe, arch.
Commonwealth Promenade Apartments, Chicago, IL; 1952. Mies van der Rohe, arch.
Banks
Chase Manhattan Bank, New York, NY; 1959. Skidmore Owings & Merrill, archs.
Bankers Trust Building (headquarters); also Lincoln Center Branch of Bankers Trust, New York, NY; 1963.
Henry Dreyfuss, arch.; Shreve Lamp & Harmon, designer; Emery Roth & Sons, assoc. archs.
Northern Trust Bank Building, Chicago, IL; 1964. C.F. Murphy, arch.
First National Bank (now called Chase Tower); Chicago, IL; 1969. C.F. Murphy, arch.
Royal Bank of Canada, Montreal, Canada; 1963. I. M. Pei, arch.
Civic
US Embassy, Oslo, Norway; 1954. Eero Saarinen, arch.
Toronto City Hall, Toronto, Canada; 1965. Viljo Revell; John B. Parkin Assoc., arch.
Clubs
Stork Club Cub Room, New York, NY; 1940. Sherman Billingsley, owner
Lido de Paris (nightclub) at the Sands Hotel, Las Vegas, NV, 1958. Jac Lessman, designer
Corporate
IBM Educational Center, Poughkeepsie, NY; 1956. Eliot Noyes, arch.
IBM World Headquarters: Showroom, Exterior, Calculator Room, President’s Office, New York, NY; 1956.
Eliot Noyes, arch.
General Motors Technical Center (entire, including exterior lighting), Warren, MI; 1956. Saarinen and Saarinen, arch.
Seagram Building (entire); also Brasserie Extension, Barbershop, Seagram’s Publicity Department,
New York, NY; 1957. Philip Johnson, arch., with Mies Van der Rohe
IBM Olympic Data Processing Center, Squaw Valley, CA; 1960. Eliot Noyes, arch.
John Deere & Co., Moline, IL; 1963. Eero Saarinen, arch.
Place Ville Marie, Office Building Lobby, Montreal, Canada; 1963. I.M. Pei, arch.
Cultural
Lincoln Center, Plaza and Fountain, New York, NY; 1965. Harrison & Abramovitz, archs.
Lincoln Center, Philharmonic Hall, New York, NY; 1963. Max Abramovitz, arch.
Lincoln Center, New York State Theater, New York, NY; 1964. Philip Johnson, arch.
Lincoln Center, Repertory Theater, New York, NY; 1965. Eero Saarinen, arch.
Clowes Memorial Auditorium, Indianapolis, IN; 1963. John Johansen, arch.
Exhibit
New York World’s Fair, American Home Building, Living Kitchen, New York, NY; 1939. Fordyce & Hamby, arch.
“Good Design” (Permanent Exhibition, Merchandise Mart), Chicago, IL; 1952. Paul Rudolph, arch.
New York World’s Fair, New York State Pavilion, New York, NY; 1964. Philip Johnson, arch.
Exterior
Flamengo Park (O Parque do Flamengo), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; 1965. Roberto Burle Marx, landscape arch.
Hospitality
The Desert Inn, also the Painted Desert Room, Las Vegas, NV; 1950. Jac Lessman, arch. Designer: Wilbur Clark, owner.
Virgin Isles Hotel, St. Thomas, VI; 1950. Harold Sterner, arch.
Pier 66 Hotel & Marina, Ft. Lauderdale, FL; 1964. Philips Petroleum Architectural Dept., George Downs & Milton Dornblaser, archs.
Squaw Valley Inn, Squaw Valley, CA; 1965. Shepley Bulfinch Richardson & Abbot, arch.
Library
The Exeter College Library, Exeter, NH; 1972. Louis I. Kahn, arch.
Museums and Galleries
Corning Museum of Ancient Glass, Corning, NY; 1951. Harrison & Abramovitz, arch. Thomas Buechner, director
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT; 1953. Louis Kahn, arch.
Asia House (museum & office building), New York, NY; 1959. Philip Johnson, arch.
Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute (museum), Utica, NY; 1960. Philip Johnson, arch.
Museum of Western Art (now Amon Carter Museum), Forth Worth, TX; 1961. Philip Johnson, arch.
Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE; 1963. Philip Johnson, arch.
Museum for Pre-Columbian Art, Dumbarton Oaks (including exterior lighting), Washington, DC; 1964. Philip Johnson, arch.
Museum of Modern Art, new 54th Street Buildings and Garden, New York, NY; 1964. Philip Johnson, arch.
National Museum of Israel, Jerusalem, Israel; 1965. Dora Gad, arch.
Bielefeld Museum, Bielefeld, Germany; 1965. Philip Johnson, arch.
Timken Art Gallery (now Timken Museum of Art); San Diego, CA; 1965. Frank Hope and Assoc., arch.
The Kimbell Museum of Fine Art, Fort Worth, TX; 1972. Louis I. Kahn, arch.
The Yale Center of British Art and British Studies, New Haven, CT; 1974. Louis I. Kahn, arch.
Residences
Nelson Rockefeller House, Seal Harbor, ME; 1942. Wallace Harrison, arch.
Edgar J. Kaufman, Sr. House, Palm Springs, CA; 1947. Richard Neutra, arch.
Philip C. Johnson House (The Glass House), New Canaan, CT; 1948-9. Philip Johnson, arch.
Jean de Menil House, Houston, TX; 1950. Philip Johnson, arch.
John Johansen House, New Canaan, CT; 1953. John Johansen, arch.
Robert Wiley House, New Canaan, CT; 1953. Philip Johnson, arch.
Eliot Noyes House, New Canaan, CT; 1955/1963. Eliot Noyes, arch.
Boissonas House, Darien, Connecticut; 1957, and Boissonas House, Cap Ferrat, France; 1960. Philip Johnson, arch.
Restaurants
The Four Seasons at the Seagram Building, New York, NY; 1959. Philip Johnson, arch.
La Fonda Del Sol, Time-Life Building, New York, NY; 1961. Alexander Girard, arch. Restaurant Assoc. owner
Retail
Tiffany & Co., new building, main floor, New York, NY; 1938. James Gordon Carr, arch.
Bonwit Teller, New York, NY; 1948. William Pahlman, designer
Science
Bell Telephone Laboratories, Holmdel, NJ; 1950. Eero Saarinen, arch.
IBM, Thomas J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown, NY; 1961. Eero Saarinen, arch.
Atomic Reactor Center, Rehovet, Israel; 1964. Philip Johnson, arch.
Transportation
JFK International Airport, Arrivals (now Terminal 5), New York, NY; 1962. Eero Saarinen, arch.
Dulles International Airport (entire), Dulles, VA; 1963. Eero Saarinen, arch.
Universities
Brandeis University, Dining Hall and Recreation Building, and Dormitories; Waltham, MA; 1952. Eero Saarinen, arch.
Drake University Dormitories, Des Moines, IA; 1952. Eero Saarinen, arch.
MIT, Kresge Auditorium, Cambridge, MA; 1957. Eero Saarinen, arch.
Concordia Senior College, Fort Wayne, IN; 1958. Eero Saarinen, arch.
Brown University, Computing Center, Providence, RI; 1961. Philip Johnson, arch.
MIT, Earth Science Building, Cambridge, MA; 1963. I.M. Pei, arch.
Houses of Worship
Illinois Institute of Technology (Chapel), Chicago, IL; 1955. Mies van der Rohe, arch.
Knesis Tifereth Israel Temple, Port Chester, NY; 1956. Philip Johnson, arch.
“Roofless” Chapel, New Harmony, IN; 1960. Philip Johnson, arch.
The First Church of Christ, Scientist, New York, NY; 1971. Richard Kelly, arch.
Exhibition curated by Renee Cooley and Matthew Tanteri.
1 Life Notes – R. Kelly 1974.
2 Lighting As An Integral Part of Architecture. R. Kelly 1952, College Art Journal, Vol. XII.