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36-610: Cornish College of the Arts was founded in 1914 as the Cornish School of Music, by Nellie Cornish (1876–1956), a teacher of piano; at that time, she had been teaching music in Seattle for 14 years. In 1915, the school was known as The Cornish School of Music Language and Dancing. Cornish would go on to serve as the school's director for its first 25 years, until 1939. The Cornish School of Music began its operations in rented space in

72-525: A draftsman . Albertson moved to Duluth, Minnesota , in 1905, and then to Seattle in 1907 as the local representative of the New York City architectural firm Howells and Stokes . He was joined in the Seattle office by Joseph W. Wilson and Paul D. Richardson, who became his future partners. Albertson remained in Seattle after Howells and Stokes dissolved in 1917, and was the principal in several firms—Howells and Albertson (1920–28) (which succeeded

108-532: A department in 1916 headed by Chicago-trained Mary Ann Wells . That year, Cornish became one of the first West Coast schools of any type to offer a summer session. After the closing of their influential Chicago Little Theatre , Maurice Browne and Ellen Van Volkenburg were brought in to found the Drama Department in 1918; the department, with its incorporation of scenic design, music, and dance in its productions, became central to Cornish's plans to ally

144-589: A faculty member at the Cornish School. ) She returned to Seattle and modified her approach to teaching to incorporate Cady's ideas about using music education to impart a broader spiritual approach to life in general. However, the combination of disappointment in romance and a reconciliation with her father led her to turn over her studio to one of her assistants, Martha Sackett, and join her father in Alturas, California , where he had somewhat recovered his fortune. A plan for father and daughter to travel together to Europe

180-475: A woman she did not like, leading to a break with him. In her early twenties, she gave music lessons and did other tutoring in northwestern Oregon . She moved to Seattle in 1900, and took a studio in 1902 in the Holyoke Building (the center of Seattle music instruction at the time), which gave her a chance to meet nearly all of the city's leading music teachers. In 1904, she traveled to Boston for

216-600: Is composed of its original 1921 building on Capitol Hill and its grounds. The building, now known as Kerry Hall, contains the 200-seat PONCHO Concert Hall. Kerry Hall was designed in the Spanish Colonial Revival style by leading Seattle architect Abraham H. Albertson and is on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) as the "Cornish School". Cornish opened its new Main Campus in 2003 in

252-472: Is now the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools . Conceived by Cornish as "an elementary school of the arts—all the arts—with music as its major subject," the school initially taught only children, but it soon expanded to functioning also as a normal school (a teachers' college ) under Cady. Within three years it had enrolled over 600 students, expanded the age range of its students to college age, and

288-569: The Spanish–American War as a corporal in the U.S. Army and New York State National Guard . He served with Col. Theodore Roosevelt at the Battle of San Juan Hill and the Siege of Santiago . After the war, he returned to New York. Albertson worked in New York City for the architectural firm Clinton and Russell . He was one of its earliest employees after it opened in 1894 when he started as

324-560: The Stuart/Balcom House ), St. Anne’s Convent (1930), and an addition to the former Children’s Orthopedic Hospital. The architectural styles produced by Albertson varied greatly, including Spanish Revival , Art Deco , and Collegiate Gothic . Albertson became a member of the American Institute of Architects in 1910 and was once the national director. He was a chairman Seattle's building code committee, wrote

360-563: The 20th century. He was born in New Jersey and educated at Columbia University in New York. Early in his career, he moved to Seattle in the employ of a well-known New York architectural firm with that was developing a large area in downtown. He worked on many projects in Seattle from around 1910 through the 20s and early 30s. Some of his designs are Seattle landmarks and/or listed on the National Register of Historic Places . Albertson

396-587: The Boothe (or Booth) Building on Broadway and Pine Street. As Cornish developed the idea of her school, she initially turned to the Montessori-based pedagogical method of Evelyn Fletcher-Copp , but turned at last to the progressive musical pedagogy of Calvin Brainerd Cady , who had worked as musical director with John Dewey as the latter set up his seminal progressive educational project, what

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432-405: The Cornish School during the early part of their careers. Although she often moved among the rich and famous, Cornish did not have any particularly large sum of her own money, and was at times totally broke. Neither Cornish nor the school itself owned the custom-built 1921 building now known as Kerry Hall: the school was a tenant renting the building, which in turn was rather heavily mortgaged by

468-664: The Cornish School in 1914 and served as the school's director for the next 25 years. Within three years it had enrolled over 600 students, and was the country's largest music school west of Chicago. Her middle name reflects the year of her birth, the hundredth anniversary of the founding of the United States of America . Born July 1876 in Nebraska, she grew up first in Arlington, Oregon and then in Blaine, Washington , as

504-701: The Denny Triangle area of downtown Seattle. The 1928, Art Deco-style Main Campus Center is listed on the NRHP as "William Volker Building". Other buildings of note are the Raisbeck Performance Hall constructed in 1915, a Seattle City Landmark under the name "Old Norway Hall", and the 1929 Notion Building. In 2015, the college opened the new 20-story Cornish Commons, which contains a residence hall, studios, and meeting rooms. Located on

540-988: The Seattle Center grounds is the Cornish Playhouse at Seattle Center, the college's premier performance venue. Built for the Century 21 Exposition of 1962, the Playhouse was leased to Cornish by the City of Seattle in 2013. Along with the 440-seat main stage, the complex includes the 100+ seat Alhadeff Studio Theater and a scene shop. The library at Cornish College specializes in art, dance, design, music, performance production, and theatre. As of 2011 it held 4,700 CDs, 40,000 books, has 2,200 videos, and subscribed to 154 periodicals. Its special collections include an image collection and 35 mm slides. Nellie Cornish Nellie Centennial Cornish (1876 – 1956)

576-847: The Seattle Tenement House Law, and was a director of the Seattle Social Welfare League, chairman of the Bi-state Federal Historical Monuments Survey, vice-chairman of the Washington State Emergency Public Works Board among other public positions. Seattle's Symphony station , built in 1990, contains a staircase with quotations inscribed on the risers from Albertson describing the Cobb Building, served by

612-441: The arts. Within three years it had enrolled over 600 students, and was the country's largest music school west of Chicago. The curriculum soon expanded to include subjects as diverse as eurhythmics , French language , painting , dance ( folk and ballet ), and theater . She went on to serve as the school's director for the next 25 years. Mark Tobey , Martha Graham , Merce Cunningham and John Cage spent time teaching at

648-440: The arts. Van Volkenburg also began a marionette department, the first such department in the country. By 1923, opera and modern dance had been added to the curriculum as well. In 1920, in recognition that music was no longer the school's central focus, the school's name was simplified to The Cornish School . By this time, too, the school had expanded its age range, and was offering classes and lessons from early childhood to

684-585: The building had been donated to the school in 1929, financial difficulties inevitably grew during the Great Depression . Ultimately, convinced that finances would not allow the school to do more than "tread water", Nellie Cornish resigned her position as head of the school in 1939. Cornish College of the Arts operates a three-part campus in the Capitol Hill, Denny Triangle, and Seattle Center areas of Seattle, Washington. Cornish's historic campus

720-672: The construction of the White-Henry-Stuart Building (1923), Cobb Building (1910), Stimson Building (1925) and the Metropolitan Theatre. Some of his best known designs include the Northern Life Tower built in (1927–29), the downtown YMCA (1929–31), St. Joseph’s Church and Cornish School (1920-21), the Mrs. Grant Smith residence at 619 W. Comstock Street (a designated Seattle landmark , now

756-613: The daughter of the town's first mayor, lawyer Nathan Armfield Cornish. In her early teens, she lived about half a year in Portland, Oregon , where she studied piano under Ebenezer Cook, a teacher of strong local reputation. Shortly after, her father's fortunes and her mother's health began to fail. Her parents moved to Spokane, Washington , where her mother died two years later; Nellie stayed in Blaine much of that time, teaching fourth grade although still in her teens. Her father remarried to

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792-413: The first resident chamber music group at an American school. In 1935, Cornish established the first (but ultimately short-lived) college-level school of radio broadcasting in the U.S. Through the 1920s, the school was often on the edge of financial failure, but was of a caliber that prompted Anna Pavlova to call it "the kind of school other schools should follow." Although the mortgage was paid off and

828-441: The group of supporters who owned it. In 1923, the entire financial arrangement nearly came crashing down, and only some last minute donations prevented the school from having to move to Los Angeles. The next year, the realty company that owned the building converted itself into a foundation to support the school, and took on its debts. However, there was no endowment , and finances remained precarious even through what Cornish called

864-615: The local office of Howells and Stokes after that firm closed); Albertson and Associates (1920–1933); and Albertson, Wilson, and Richardson (1935–1937) which reflected his associates becoming full partners. The latter firm, however, had little work due to the Great Depression . His final position was with the federal government, as chief architect of the Washington State office of the Federal Housing Authority from 1939 until his retirement in 1949. Alberston

900-593: The remaining buildings in the Metropolitan Tract. Albertson designed a significant modification to the waterfront for a new Seattle Railroad and Marine Terminal, but the project was abandoned due to the more pressing needs of World War I . The war brought him other government work including the Navy Yard Hotel in Bremerton , and various apartments, houses, and schools. Albertson supervised

936-612: The school in 1939. After leaving her school, Cornish spent three years of "rest and gardening" in California; spent half a year in an unsuccessful New York-based venture to improve children's radio programming; and then spent four years as head of the Pittsfield Community Music School ( Pittsfield, Massachusetts ). She spent her last years mainly in California, and sometimes in Seattle. Cornish never married. According to Nancy Wilson Ross, "Twice she

972-434: The school's "golden years" in the mid-1920s. This remained the case even after the mortgage was paid off and the building donated to the school in 1929, and financial difficulties inevitably grew during the Great Depression . The Board neither raised an endowment nor otherwise put the school on a financial footing that would allow it to do more than "tread water." Ultimately, this led Cornish to resign her position as head of

1008-526: The station and located just across University Street. In addition to sentence-long quotations, the public art installation includes a silhouette of Albertson. In 1915, Albertson married Claire D. Fox, who was born in Illinois c.  1872 , in Kitsap County, Washington . After her death in 1946, Albertson married Elizabeth G. Henry in Seattle. Albertson died April 18, 1964, in Seattle after

1044-490: The summer to learn the Evelyn Fletcher-Copp 's Montessori -influenced method of teaching piano to young children. From this, she evolved her own technique of teaching. By 1911, when she left for Los Angeles, California to study for six weeks with Calvin Brainerd Cady , she was a very well established Seattle music teacher, with a suite of five studio rooms and two assistants. (She would later hire Cady as

1080-585: The undergraduate level. The school gathered a board of trustees from among Seattle's elite, who funded the school through the hard economic times during and after World War I , and raised money for a purpose-built school building. Finished in 1921, the Cornish School building, now known as Kerry Hall , opened for the 1921–22 academic year. The Cornish Trio of the 1920s—Peter Meremblum, Berthe Poncy (later Berthe Poncy Jacobson), and Kola Levienne—may have been

1116-461: Was a pianist, teacher, writer, and founder of the Cornish School (now Cornish College of the Arts ) in Seattle , Washington . She was influenced by the pedagogical ideas of Maria Montessori as well as Calvin Brainerd Cady 's ideas about teaching broader values through music education. Martha Graham described her as "a small, round, plump little lady with the dynamism of a rocket." She founded

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1152-682: Was born April 14, 1872, in Hope Township, New Jersey , to New Jersey natives Edward H. Albertson, a grocer, and Victoria [nee Newman] Albertson. In 1880, he was living in Hackettstown and subsequently lived in New York City for more than a decade, including time attending Columbia University , where he graduated, with scholarship assistance, from the Columbia School of Architecture with a Ph.B in 1895. He served in Cuba during

1188-474: Was deeply in love and lost the men to other women…" She adopted the orphaned Elena Miramova as her daughter. In 1921, Cornish led a successful fundraising drive to save the Seattle Symphony . Abraham H. Albertson Abraham Horace Albertson (April 14, 1872 – April 18, 1964) was an American architect who was one of Seattle, Washington 's most prominent architects of the first half of

1224-783: Was scotched by the outbreak of World War I ; plans to study in New York City also fell through, as did an effort to establish herself in Salt Lake City . She returned to Seattle , where she founded the Cornish School in 1914. In 1918, Cornish invited poet Maurice Browne and actress Ellen Van Volkenburg to found a theater department at her school. The Brownes were founders of the Chicago Little Theatre , which they closed in 1917. The department, with its incorporation of scenic design, music, and dance in its productions, became central to Cornish's plans to ally

1260-403: Was the country's largest music school west of Chicago. Nellie Cornish recruited opportunistically where she saw talent, and the school soon offered classes as diverse as eurhythmics , French language , painting , dance ( folk and ballet ), and theater . In 1915, the first full academic year, eurhythmics was added and the first studio arts classes taught. Dance, with a ballet focus, became

1296-565: Was the local representative of Howells and Stokes planning the redevelopment of the original downtown Seattle site of the University of Washington . The Metropolitan Tract was, at the time, the largest development of a downtown site undertaken in the United States. He also supervised other work of Howells and Stokes in the west, including San Francisco's Royal Insurance Building . After the demise of Howells and Stokes, Albertson (with Wilson and Richardson) continued on to complete most of

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