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Upper West Side, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States


The Master Building, erected in 1928-29 to house an apartment hotel and museum, is an innovative and significant example of the work of Harvey Wiley Corbett, an architect influential in skyscraper design, and expresses his successful employment of sculptural massing, vertical emphasis, and the minimal, yet elegant, use of surface ornamentation and historically-inspired detailing. The design of the building includes many strong and well-integrated features representative of the best of New York City's Art Deco style skyscrapers, including patterned brickwork which varies in color from dark at the base to light at the tower, setbacks, irregular and faceted massing of the upper stories, and an ornamental cap.

The use of comer windows, influenced by modem European architecture, was the most innovative feature of the building and was cited in contemporary accounts as the first appearance of this feature in a skyscraper in New York City and particularly appropriate for a building with views of Riverside Park and the Hudson River. The Master Building was commissioned by Louis L. and Nettie Horch, followers and patrons of the Russian artist and mystic Nicholas Roerich, to whom the museum was dedicated and from whom the building derives its name; this unusual combination of uses is masterfully reflected in the design. The building has played an important cultural role in New York City, housing first the Roerich Museum and later the Riverside Museum, as well as an art school, the Master Institute of United Arts, and most recently the Equity Library Theater. The Master Building continues to be a distinctive feature in the Upper West Side skyline as one of the most prominent structures along Riverside Drive.

"Art Rears a Skyscraper"

The Master Building, a skyscraper planned with the unusual dual function of housing both an art museum ami an apartment hotel, brought together three men influential in the arts in New York City. Designed by prominent skyscraper architect Harvey Wiley Corbett, the building was commissioned by foreign exchange broker Louis L. Horch, a wealthy patron of the Russian artist and mystic Nicholas Roerich. A combined venture in real estate development and artistic patronage, the project incorporated a museum dedicated to Roerich's work and facilities for public education in the arts, fulfilling the artist's ideal of uniting the arts with daily life. Innovative in its program, the scheme nonetheless reflected several cultural and architectural trends of the era, and, as described by Corbett in the spirit of the project, ushered in a "new era in art as the first living home of art, [a place] where art and human beings will grow and develop side by side.

Nicholas Roerich (1874-1947), who arrived in New York in 1920, fostered a combination of aesthetic and theosophist philosophies, including the tenet that art should be incorporated into everyday life. Roerich, who advanced the theosophist belief in ancient masters who could relay messages and wisdom to modem man, considered himself a master and advised his followers in that role. The activities of the Russian artist, who worked in a neo-primitivist style and is perhaps best remembered today as the set designer for Igor Stravinsky's ballet, "Le Sacre du Printemps" (1920), included exploration of the Himalayan region and advocacy of world peace through the promotion of the Roerich Peace Banner and Pact, a movement to protect cultural monuments during war. The charismatic artist attracted the interest of a large group of New Yorkers who supported him and the institutions he founded: the Roerich Museum where the artist's paintings were exhibited? the Master Institute of United Arts which sought to provide instruction in all of the arts; and the Corona Mundi International Art Center which was devoted to widening the appreciation of art through exhibitions and publishing projects.

Chief among Roerich's New York supporters were Louis Horch and his wife, Nettie, who shared Roerich's interests in art and religion. Mrs. Horch was an ardent patron of the arts and considered art education to be a form of public service; the Horches devoted considerable energy and funding to the Master Institute of United Arts and had been instrumental in the backing and management of the Roerich Museum since its founding in 1923. As president of the museum, Horch purchased several hundred paintings from the artist and provided exhibition space in an apartment house he owned at 310 Riverside Drive on West 103rd Street which was the future site of the Master Building. While the artist was trekking through the Himalayan region from 1925 to 1928, Horch and the Friends of the Roerich Museum furthered plans for the Master Building, Horch's property having been deeded to the Master Institute of United Arts.

The re-opening of the Roerich Museum in the lower stories of the Master Building

The Sheldonian Theatre was erected in 1664-8 to a design by Sir Christopher Wren (1632-1723) from funds donated by Gilbert Sheldon (1598-1677), who during his long career held office as Warden of All Souls Bishop of London and Archbishop of Canterbury and was elected as Chancellor of the University of Oxford. In 1994 the Theatre was described by the European Commission as "one of the architectural jewels of Oxford". Its purpose was to provide an appropriate secular venue for the principal meetings and public ceremonies of the University, and this remains its purpose today.

Here, the University conferred MAs on its alumni on September 14, 2007.