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This architectural cartouche and engaged column, executed in the Beaux-Arts style, was one of a series adorning the roofline of the now demolished White-Henry-Stuart Building.
The White-Henry-Stuart Building was part of the Metropolitan Tract development. This is one of the nation’s earliest examples of urban planning, located in a rectangle formed by Seneca St., Third Ave., Union St., and Sixth Ave., and built by the Metropolitan Building Company. The development was jointly financed by local and east coast investors, who hired the New York architectural firm Howells and Stokes to create a master plan for the entire tract. Both architects studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris.
The architects utilized art and materials to coordinate each building façade, creating a unified campus. To experience the architect’s vision firsthand, visit the Cobb building at 4th Ave. and Union St., also part of the Metropolitan Tract, constructed in 1910. Look up to the roofline and note the cartouches. They are the same as our example here.
The cartouche functions as a monumental sculpture, invoking a sense of grandeur and alluding to identity of place. However, the feather headdress is regalia more typical of Great Plains tribes, not the Pacific Northwest. The architects may have found their source material in the photography of Edward S. Curtis (American, 1889-1952), noted for taking over 40,000 photographs of members of over 80 indigenous tribes.
Victor Schneider also designed sculptures for various other buildings such as the Cobb and Artie buildings, and the Orpheum, Pantages, Palomar and Coliseum theatres.