William Louis Ayres (1874–November 30, 1947), better known by his professional name Louis Ayres, was an American architect who was one of the most prominent designers of monuments, memorials, and buildings in the nation in the early part of the 20th century."Architects Chosen to Advise on Plans for Mall Triangle," Washington Post, May 20, 1927. His style is characterized as Medievalist, often emphasizing elements of Romanesque Revival and Italian Renaissance, and Byzantine Revival architecture.Grossman, "Architecture for a Public Client: The Monuments and Chapels of the American Battle Monuments Commission," Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, May 1984, p. 127. He is best known for designing the United States Memorial Chapel at the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery and Memorial and the Herbert C. Hoover U.S. Department of Commerce Building."Louis Ayres, Noted As Architect, 73," New York Times, December 1, 1947.
Life and career
He was born in 1874 in Bergen Point, New Jersey, to Mr. and Mrs. Chester D. Ayres.Placzek, Macmillan Encyclopedia of Architects, 1982, p. 120."Mrs. Twining to Wed Wednesday," New York Times, November 24, 1928. He graduated from Trinity School, a preparatory school located in New York City. He attended Rutgers University, graduating in 1896 with a degree in electrical engineering. After graduation, he spent three years with the firm of McKim, Mead, and White, but left (along with several other architects in the firm) to join the firm of York and Sawyer. He became a partner in the firm in 1910.
By 1921, he was one of the most prominent architects in the nation. From 1921 to 1925, he served on the prestigious U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, the federal advisory panel which had statutory approval over all major building projects in Washington, D.C.Thomas E. Luebke, ed., Civic Art: A Centennial History of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, 2013): Appendix B, p. 539."Architects' Medal Goes to Louis Ayres," New York Times, April 6, 1933. His four-year term expired in 1925, and he did not seek reappointment."Garfield's Son Named to Fine Arts Board," Washington Post, October 30, 1925. The same year, he was one of the three judges on a panel which awarded the commission for the Liberty Memorial in Kansas City, Missouri, to Harold Van Buren Magonigle."Magonigle Gets Award," New York Times, June 30, 1921.
In 1935, Ayres was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate member, and became a full member in 1936.
Meuse-Argonne Chapel One of Ayres' most prominent commissions came in 1925, when he was asked to design a chapel for an American military cemetery in Europe. Congress created the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) in 1923 in part to consolidate the United States Department of War's divisions for military cemeteries and for stone and bronze battlefield map memorials, and in part to build, operate, and maintain American military cemeteries overseas.Grossman, "Architecture for a Public Client: The Monuments and Chapels of the American Battle Monuments Commission," Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, May 1984, p. 120. The ABMC was deeply influenced by Charles Moore, the chair of the Commission of Fine Arts and whose agency had final approval over the design of the cemeteries and memorials. The ABMC's plans changed and changed again over the next several years, and by 1925 it was ready to hire ""the most prominent architects in the country" for its plans.Grossman, "Architecture for a Public Client: The Monuments and Chapels of the American Battle Monuments Commission," Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, May 1984, p. 125. Ayres was commissioned to design the chapel at Meuse-Argonne, the largest and most important of the three sites.Grossman, "Architecture for a Public Client: The Monuments and Chapels of the American Battle Monuments Commission," Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, May 1984, p. 136. Ayres submitted two simple, classical designs and one French Romanesque design. Although both a classical and Romanesque design were approved for construction, the final chapel is Romanesque in style, shorter than proposed, and the colonnades on either side of it reduced in length.Grossman, "Architecture for a Public Client: The Monuments and Chapels of the American Battle Monuments Commission," Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, May 1984, p. 137. The chapel was dedicated on Memorial Day in 1937, the 20th anniversary of the American entry into World War I.Grossman, "Architecture for a Public Client: The Monuments and Chapels of the American Battle Monuments Commission," Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, May 1984, p. 143.
Ayres' continued to serve the architectural profession in many important ways in the 1920s. He was one of three judges on a panel which in 1925 awarded the design for the proposed Theodore Roosevelt memorial to be built in West Potomac Park in Washington, D.C."Roosevelt Memorial Contest Ends Today," New York Times, October 1, 1925; "Roosevelt Design of J.R. Pope Chosen," New York Times, October 7, 1925; "Pope Is Roosevelt Memorial Designer," Washington Post, October 7, 1925.The memorial was never constructed. In 1926, Rutgers University presented him with an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters."139 at Rutgers Get Degrees in Course," New York Times, June 13, 1926. He also was a member of the Prix de Rome scholarship and Rome Prize fellowship committees from 1926 to 1938."Award Prix de Rome Today," New York Times, May 25, 1926; "Yale Man's Design Wins A Fellowship," New York Times, June 2, 1927; "Give Fellowships for Study Abroad," New York Times, May 10, 1928; "Chicago Student Wins Prix de Rome," New York Times, June 6, 1929; "Rome Fellows Announced," New York Times, April 10, 1929; "Student Architect Wins $8,000 Award," New York Times, June 5, 1930; "Club With Bar Wins the Prix de Rome," New York Times, May 7, 1931; "Rome Prize Is Won By State Park Aide," New York Times, May 11, 1932; "Prix de Rome Won By PWA Architect," New York Times, April 24, 1934; "Four Prix de Rome Are Awarded Here," New York Times, May 16, 1935; "Prix de Rome Aspirants," New York Times, May 12, 1936; "Four Win Grants of Rome Academy," New York Times, May 18, 1937; "Rome Prize Is Won By Princeton Man," New York Times, May 26, 1938.
Federal Triangle In 1927, Ayres won a major commission to design the U.S. Department of Commerce building, an award which became one of his most important architectural designs. He also played a major role on a board which helped plan the Federal Triangle government office building complex.
The U.S. federal government had struggled with the need to build a number of large governmental office buildings since the mid-1910s, but little had been done."Wide Federal Plan for Buildings Told." New York Times. June 6, 1926. In January 1924, the Public Buildings Commission recommended that a new series of federal office buildings be built near the White House."$50,000,000 Plea for Buildings Here Goes to Congress," Washington Post, January 4, 1924; Gutheim and Lee, Worthy of the Nation..., 2006, p. 181; Abrams, Capital Sporting Grounds..., 2009, p. 12. In 1926, the U.S. Congress enacted the Public Buildings Act, which, among other things, authorized the United States Department of the Treasury to begin construction on the Federal Triangle complex of buildings."Coolidge Signs Bill for New Buildings," New York Times, May 26, 1926; "$165,000,000 Public Building Measure Signed By Coolidge," Washington Post, May 26, 1926; Cannadine, Mellon: An American Life, 2008, p. 373, 375-376.Goode, "Introduction: The Creation of Monumental Washington in the 1930s," in Wentzel and Goode, Washington by Night: Vintage Photographs From the 30s, 1998, p. 13. However, disagreements among the three planning bodies overseeing the project (Commission on Fine Arts, Public Buildings Commission, and U.S. Treasury) proved so fundamental that a year-long delay ensued. To end the disagreement, a Board of Architectural Consultants was created on May 19, 1927, to advise the groups on the development of the project."Architects Chosen to Advise on Plans for Mall Triangle." Washington Post. May 20, 1927. Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Charles S. Dewey recommended Ayres as one of the consultants,Bedford, John Russell Pope: Architect of Empire, 1998, p. 143. and his appointment was almost immediately approved.Gutheim and Lee, Worthy of the Nation..., 2006, p. 182. Design work on all buildings was postponed in May 1927 to allow the Board to conduct its work."Planners Suggest Justice building Location Change," Washington Post, May 7, 1927. The Board of Architectural Consultants first met on May 23, 1927, at which time it considered a plan to create a single building ringing Federal Triangle rather than six to eight individual structures."Architects Considering Public Buildings Plan," Washington Post, May 24, 1927. In June 1927, Ayres and the other consultants approved construction of the Department of Commerce and Internal Revenue Service structures as stand-alone buildings on the previously proposed sites."Federal Building Plans Announced By Treasury," Washington Post, June 21, 1927. A month later, Ayres and the other Board members proposed constructing eight buildings, connected by plazas, semi-circular colonnades, and other architectural and landscaping elements."Triangle Sites Studied By Architectural Board," Washington Post, July 12, 1927. The Department of Commerce building was set on the west side of 15th Street NW between B and D Streets NW.
For the architectural style of the buildings, Ayres and the other Board members relied heavily on recommendation of the 1902 McMillan Plan that federal buildings in the District of Columbia be built in the Neoclassical style.Gutheim and Lee, Worthy of the Nation..., 2006, p. 184-185. Both the Board and Treasury Secretary Mellon rejected the Modern style then heavily in vogue. Rather than a mass of tall, imposing buildings, two unifying open spaces (intended for ceremonial use, and under discussion by the Board at least by March 1928) would be utilized.Speers, "Washington's Aspect Is Undergoing Change," New York Times, March 18, 1928. The first would be a Circular Plaza (inspired by the Place Vendôme)McCormick, "Building the Greater Capital," New York Times, May 26, 1929. bisected by 12th Street NW, and which would require the demolition of the Old Post Office Pavilion. The second would be a rectangular Grand Plaza on the east side of 14th Street NW between the proposed Department of Commerce building (west side of 14th Street NW) and the proposed Post Office Department building (east side of 13th Street NW). The construction of the Grand Plaza would have required the demolition of the District Building.