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American master balacksmith

Samuel Yellin

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The basics

Quick facts

Intro

American master balacksmith

Gender:

Male

Places:

United States of America

Is:

Blacksmith

The details

Biography

Introduction

Samuel Yellin (1885–1940), was an American master blacksmith, and metal designer.

Career

Born in Galicia, Poland where at the age of eleven he was apprenticed to an iron master. By the age of sixteen he had completed his apprenticeship. During that period he gained the nickname of "Devil," both for his work habits and his sense of humor. Shortly after this he left Poland, traveling through Europe to England, and from there, in 1906, he departed for America. By 1907 he was taking classes at the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art and within a year was teaching classes there, a position that he maintained until 1919.

Yellin Studio (1915).

In 1909, he opened his own shop and in 1915 the firm of Mellor, Meigs & Howe, for whom he designed and created many commissions, designed Yellin a new studio at 5520 Arch Street in Philadelphia where he was to remain until his death in 1940. The building continued to act as a functioning business under Yellin’s son, Harvey’s direction. After his demise it served as the Samuel Yellin Museum.

During the building boom of the 1920s, Yellin’s studio employed as many as 250 workers, many of them European artisans. Although Yellin appreciated traditional craftsmanship and design, he always championed creativity and the development of new designs. Samuel Yellin’s handiwork can be found on some of the finest buildings in America.

Honors

Yellin received awards from the Art Institute of Chicago (1919), the American Institute of Architects (1920), the Architectural League of New York (1922), and the Bok Civic Award from the City of Philadelphia (1925). He was a member of the Philadelphia Chapter of the American Institute of Architects and the T Square Club, the Philadelphia Sketch Club, and the Architectural League of New York.

Legacy

Samuel S. Yellin Elementary School in Camden, New Jersey, is named for him.

Selected works

Universities, colleges and schools

1922 advertisement.

Annapolis Colored High School, Annapolis, Maryland
Bowdoin College
Bryn Mawr College
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California
Drexel Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Eastman School of Music, Rochester, New York
Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Haverford College
Jewish Theological Seminary, New York, New York
Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio
Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey
Swarthmore College
University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- Cathedral of Learning
- Stephen Foster Memorial
University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas
University of Tulsa, Tulsa, Oklahoma
University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia
Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee
Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
- Harkness Tower (gates)
- Swartwout Building, Yale University Art Gallery

Robinson Memorial Gateway, Bowdoin College.
Entrance gates (1924), Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia.
Great Hall, Bryn Mawr College.
Cathedral of Learning, University of Pittsburgh.
Stephen Foster Memorial, University of Pittsburgh.

Institutional and commercial

(Alphabetical by state)

San Diego Air Station, San Diego, California
Aetna Life Insurance Co, Hartford, Connecticut
Peabody Museum, New Haven, Connecticut
Bok Singing Tower, Lake Wales, Florida
Sarasota Court House, Sarasota, Florida
Union Pacific RR Station, Boise, Idaho
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
Union Station, Indianapolis, Indiana
Baltimore Trust Company, Baltimore, Maryland
Detroit Institute of Art, Detroit, Michigan
Detroit Public Library, Detroit, Michigan
Detroit Society of Arts and Crafts, Detroit, Michigan
Grand Rapids Art Gallery, Grand Rapids, Michigan
University of Michigan Law Library, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Morristown Memorial, Morristown, New Jersey
Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Atlantic City, New Jersey
Victor Talking Machine Co, Camden, New Jersey
American Radiator Building, New York
Barclay-Vesey Building, New York
Central Savings Bank, New York
The Cloisters (Metropolitan Museum of New York), New York, New York
Dime Savings Bank, New York
Federal Reserve Bank of New York, New York
Ford Motor Company, New York
General Motors Co., New York
International Business Machine (IBM) New York
Salvation Arm Headquarters, New York, New York
Allegheny County Courthouse, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Fidelity Mutual Life Insurance Company Building, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Candoro Marble Works (showroom door), Knoxville, Tennessee
Fidelity Bankers Trust, Knoxville, Tennessee
Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington
Citizens Bank, Weston, West Virginia

Great Brass Door, Bok Singing Tower, Lake Wales, Florida
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
Detroit Institute of Art, Detroit, Michigan

Ecclesiastical

Baltimore Pro-Cathedral, Baltimore, Maryland
Blessed Sacrament Cathedral, Detroit, Michigan
Congregation Emanu-El of the City of New York, NY
Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, California
Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Akron, Ohio
Park Avenue Christian Church, New York
Salt Lake City Cathedral, Salt Lake City, Utah
St. Bartholomew’s Church, New York
St John’s Cathedral, Denver, Colorado
Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York
St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church, Canaan, Connecticut
Episcopal Church of the Evangelist, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Now Fleisher Art Memorial.
St. Mark's Episcopal Church (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), Pennsylvania
St. Patrick’s Cathedral, New York
St. Patrick’s Church, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Kansas City, Missouri

St. Thomas Church, New York
St. Vincent Ferrer, New York
Washington National Cathedral, Washington D.C.
Washington Memorial Chapel, Valley Forge Pennsylvania

Harrison Memorial Gates (1918), Washington Memorial Chapel, Valley Forge.
Fiske Portal (1922-23), St. Mark's Episcopal Church, Philadelphia.
Cross & candlesticks (1925), Resurrection Chapel, Washington National Cathedral.
Entrance grille (1934), Fleisher Art Memorial, Philadelphia.

Residential

Detail of stair railing (1924), Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C. Note Yellin's name and year.