Preliminary Study for an Armory Building, Shattuck School

Cass Gilbert's watercolor rendering for a proposed armory at Shattuck School in Faribault, Minnesota showcases the Romanesque Revival style that defined American institutional architecture in the 1890s. The design features cylindrical towers with conical roofs, crenellated walls, and arched openings—elements that conveyed permanence and authority. Gilbert, trained at MIT and in European ateliers, became one of America's most prolific architects, designing the Woolworth Building and the Supreme Court. This preliminary study demonstrates the design process: a watercolor sketch presented to clients before construction, a standard practice that shaped how architects communicated vision before modern rendering technology.