Cass Gilbert's West Virginia State Capitol (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781938228469)

Ann Thomas Wilkins retired as Associate Professor of Classics at Duquesne University. She is author of Villain or Hero: Sallust's Portrayal of Catiline and of articles on Bernini and Ovid, the Tullianum prison in Rome, and the relationship between the architecture and urban developments of the ancient Roman emperor Augustus and the 20th-century dictator Mussolini.

David G. Wilkins is Professor Emeritus of the History of Art and Architecture at the University of Pittsburgh. He served as both Director of the University's Art Gallery and as Chair of the department. In 2005 he was honored by the College Art Association with their national Award for the Distinguished Teaching of Art History. His books include Donatello, Art Past/Art Present, History of Italian Renaissance Art, and A Reflection of Faith: St. Paul Cathedral, Pittsburgh, 1906-2006.

By 1921, when he was selected to design the West Virginia Capitol, Cass Gilbert had become one of the most famous architects in the world. While his international reputation was largely based on the Woolworth Building, for many years the world's tallest building, his reputation in America was rooted in his Minnesota State Capitol. Gilbert was also recognized for the integrity of his practice and his ability to manage simultaneously the construction of large-scale projects. Although he was a contemporary of European and American architects who championed modernism, such as Frank Lloyd Wright, Gilbert was a traditionalist whose writings and buildings--including the West Virginia State Capitol--demonstrate his profound dedication to the forms, motifs, symbolism, and proportions of the Classical style.