Following up my article on the history of the Jefferson Market branch library as a courthouse (WVN, Dec. 2014), and the arraignment there of Harry Thaw, the killer of architect Stanford White, here is a photograph of the gravestone for White and his wife, Bessie Springs Smith White. They are buried in the Saint James Episcopal Church Graveyard, Long Island. I was hiking there recently and the hike leader pointed out the stone and another hiker, Sandhya, kindly took this photograph. (White’s wife was of the Smith of Smithtown family.)
Among White’s many designs were two Greenwich Village icons: the Washington Square Arch and the Judson Memorial Church on Washington Square South.
Harry Thaw was a Philadelphia heir who married the young Evelyn Nesbit. On June 25, 1906, while they dined in the rooftop restaurant at Madison Square Garden, White entered. White was Nesbit’s first seducer and Thaw knew it. Thaw walked over to White’s table and shot him three times in the face. White died instantly—in another building he had designed.
—Clive I. Morrick
Mr. White was a remarkably talented architect. I enjoyed the TV clip on YouTube after recovering from surgery. I enjoyed learning and admiring his life’s achievements. Thank u 💓 and God rest in peace.