Rafael Guastavino - 1842 / 1908 - The Brickbuilder February 1908

RAFAEL GUASTAVINO, Originator of the cohesive tile construction which bears his name, died at his home in Asheville, N. C., February 2, 1908. He was born in Valencia, Spain, in 1842. Coming from a family of musicians, a portion of his early life was spent in the study of music. At seventeen he entered the office of D. José Nadal, an architect of Valencia, and from there he went to Barcelona, where he took the full University course, and afterwards entered the School of Architecture.

Having embraced the profession of a builder as well as architect, as was then customary in Spain, he was largely engaged for many years in the erection of mills,factories, and other types of buildings, in which the necessity of fireproof construction was evident, and while erecting these he had every opportunity to experiment with concrete and tile for floor and roof constructions. He was guided by the study of the architecture of the Byzantines and Persians, whose influence had been felt in Spain from the third to the fourteenth century.

At the time of the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia, in 1876, a number of photographs of his work as an architect and inventor were exhibited in the Spanish government section; and having received a medal for these. he felt encouraged by that alone to visit this country as soon as he could find it convenient to do so. This did not occur until 1881.

His first work in this country was done in 1886 in a four-story private house on 78th Street, New York, and later in the Arion Club, 59th Street, whose building committee accepted his proposition, when they ascertained that with his arches they could make a saving of over $5,000 in two floors alone, largely on account of the amount of iron that was omitted.

With this experience and a series of experiments that he undertook in New York, he commenced the study of his art along scientific lines, and endeavored to adduce formulas based on constants, which for the first time in his experience he was able to obtain.

Mr. Guastavino was appointed architect for the Spanish Government Pavilion at the World’s Fair, in 1893, at Chicago, which was a replica of “La Lonja" at Barcelona, Spain, which was built in 1492.

At the invitation of the president of the American Institute of Architects, he read a paper before the International Congress of Architects, which was held at Chicago in 1893, on “Masonry Construction,” which created a considerable amount of interest and discussion, and was considered one of the ablest papers presented. He was also appointed one of the international judges on a jury of awards for the Architectural exhibit in the Exposition.

Perhaps no better estimate of the man could be given than that by William E. Blodgett, who for twenty years has been associated with Mr. Guastavino in his work. He says:

“I distinctly remember my first meeting him some twenty years since, at the time he was starting on his first really large and interesting task in the line of construction which he originated and developed, the Boston Public Library. This building is still in some ways the best illustration of the possibilities of the timbrel vault
construction, because of the diversity of its problems,the barrel arches, groined arches, and domes, all of them structural in their character, carrying the floor load, and also because of the fact that it was the first instance, in this country at least, of the use of that finished repressed and glazed tile development which latterly has become so largely a component part of the development of the system.

“Contrary to the general impression as to the Spanish character, I found him an extraordinarily alert and active man, both physically and mentally; in fact, I never met a quicker man in all my experience; a very hard worker day and night himself, he demanded the same kind of service from those associated with him always industrious and never idling. While these characteristics softened very slightly with the passing of the years, they obtained up to the time of his decease, and though recently he did not devote himself so exclusively to the business of the company with which his name is identified, he always maintained a supervisory oversight, and spent the remainder of his time, not in ease, but in other forms of activity, to which his very versatile mind easily lent itself.

“ Mr. Guastavino was an ardent lover of the truthful and the beautiful in the arts, and felt that his chosen profession of architecture was one of the noblest callings of man, and to it he gave all the wealth and energy of his resourceful nature."

As the personality of Mr. Guastavino was so largely identified with the type of construction which he originated, the inquiry naturally arises as to whether there are those left who can successfully carry on and develop the system with which his name has been so long associated. Some ten or a dozen years ago, the business was put into a corporate form, and his son, bearing the same name, has been vice-president and general superintendent of the company, having in charge the laying out and designing of the work and the superintending of the larger and more difficult problems, so practically the burden of this technical work has fallen on him during these years. He has stepped into his father's place as presi­dent of the company. Mr. Blodgett, who for the past twenty years has been the business man of the concern, and treasurer of the company, will still have charge of these affairs as before. With the company retaining the personnel which has been a part of the equipment for many years, so far as the execution of contracts and the interests of the profession are concerned, but little, if any, change will be noted.