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John Edwin Ruethven Carpenter was born in Columbia,
Tennessee, on January 7, 1867. He received his schooling at the
University of
Tennessee in Knoxville, as well as what is now known as the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the Les Ecole de Beaux Arts
de
Paris. Upon returning to the United States, he established a
practice in New York City, where he remained until his death on June
11,
1932, at the age of 65.
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Carpenter's commissions included buildings of all shapes and
sizes in the cities of the Eastern United States. The work for which he
is
best known and honored is for innovation in design of
apartment buildings. His greatest achievement in this area of design was
generally
considered to be the 630 Park Avenue Building, which was
acknowledged to be the finest apartment plan ever developed in New York
City.
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The grandest project with which J.E.R. Carpenter was ever
involved was the development of a design for the Summer Capitol of the
United
States, which was to be sited on a mountain in West
Virginia. Carpenter, in 1918, produced a grand and beautiful plan, but
obviously the
project was dropped and nothing was built.
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In the design of the Hermitage Hotel, Mr. Carpenter utilized
his knowledge of the industrial structures and beauty of the Beaux Arts
classicism. The school of design encourages the individual
artist's taste and design to begin basically and simply. In the rising
architecture emerges the French Renaissance embellishments
and unites the exterior and the interior with repetitious designs.
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| The Architecture |
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As Nashville's only remaining grand hotel and commercial
example of Beaux Arts, The Hermitage Hotel is also a member of the
National
Register of Historic Places and a member of Historic Hotels
of America. It has a well-unified style in the mode of Beaux Arts
Classicism,
employing arched openings between coupled columns, a
five-level composition, and extravagant detailing influenced by the
French Renaissance
style.
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The building has notable continuity of design from exterior
to interior, even to the smallest details, and despite the differences
in
the materials used - metal, wood, plaster and glazed terra
cotta.
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The interior features elegant furnishings imported from all
over the world. Grecian and Tennessean marble accentuate the lobby,
while
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