Beaux Arts Balls and Belles: Women at the Iconic Architectural Event

By Kate Reggev

It feels like every October, an iconic photo of architects dressed up as various buildings at the 1931 Beaux Arts Ball gets surfaced, acting as inspiration for architect’s Halloween costume creation and headpiece fabrication. And while there are no women featured in that memorable image, there were in fact dozens – maybe even hundreds! – of creatively-outfitted women dressed in similar ensembles at the very same event. And so we decided to sdive into the history of the Beaux Arts Balls and consider the role of women at these masked events.

1931, Boston Globe. Wearing NYC At Night.

It probably comes as no surprise that the origins of the Beaux Arts Ball, in one way or another, can be traced back to France and, of course, the École des Beaux-Arts – namesake not only for the glamorous ball but also for the style of architecture popular in the United States around the turn of the twentieth century. Indeed, it was in the last decade of the nineteenth century that the ball has its roots, just around the time the style was getting established across the Atlantic. More specifically, in 1892, French architect and then-student Charles Cravio developed the idea for a “bal” – a masquerade ball – over the course of a dinner (and maybe a little too much wine?) in a restaurant on Rue Chere Midi in Paris’ Left Bank (oh, that bohemian life!). The first bal des Quat'z'Arts (Ball of the Four Arts) was envisioned as a celebratory coming-together of students from the four different disciplines at the school: architecture, painting, sculpture, and engraving.

For all the formality and rigor that we today associate with Beaux Arts architecture, the early bals were, frankly, anything but: they started wild and rowdy with costumed attendees dining and dancing, but often ended raucous and borderline illegal (no exaggeration!), with nude female model contests (yes, you read that right) and oversized floats that were drunkenly paraded around the city. In fact, the bal of 1893 was riotous – it quite literally led to three days of student protests and riots when some of its organizers were taken to trial for the presence of three art models, scantily clad as Cleopatra and her assistants.

Edgy and maybe… off-putting for female attendees as it sounds, the gender dynamic at these balls was particularly complex. These early bals were organized by students, all of whom were male – at least initially, since the school did not accept women until 1897. Virtually the only women in the studios before the turn of the century were art models, who frequently posed nude and were often subjected to the multi-faceted environment of the studios: they were simultaneously placed on a pedestal (metaphorically and physically) for their embodiment (pun intended!) of idealized feminine form and beauty, and yet also mocked for being working class and naked the moment they stepped off their sacred elevated position. The brilliant cultural historian Lela Kerley, in her excellent book Uncovering Paris: Scandals and Nude Spectacles in the Belle Époque, explains their delicate position as nude on the pedestal, naked the moment they toed off it.

It was under these circumstances that the models attended the bals, where their presence was simultaneously familiar because of their regular appearance in the studios, but also exotic and enticing, since they were no longer in a place of study and work. While there are visual records of the bals and written ones from the male perspective, I have yet to come across any that might discuss what it would have been like from the female point of view at these early Bals des Quat’z-Arts; however one can imagine that it might have ranged from thrilling and fun to humiliating and physically offensive.

Over the ensuing decade or so, it appears that the bal became slightly more formal, with printed invitations and specified themes originating in ancient societies. And over time, that tamer version migrated its way across the ocean to the United States, implanting itself firmly into the psyche of former pupils at the École who had established the Society of Beaux-Arts Architects in New York. The organization attracted the city’s well-to-do architects, and together they put on the first Beaux Arts Ball in the United States at the (very appropriately Beaux Arts style) Hotel Astor. The theme? “Venice Through The Ages.” The food and wine? Plentiful. The semi-nude female models? Thankfully not present, it seems.

Instead, the event brought an elite crowd that, in concert with the grand, formal setting, created a distinctly different atmosphere than the Parisian bal: where the Parisian bal was raucous, bohemian, and student-driven, the American one was elaborate and sophisticated, organized and attended by some of the city’s most well-known socialites and architectural leaders. The New York Times called it “by far the most brilliant and artistic event of the Winter social season,” with the likes of Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt and Peter Cooper Hewitt present. Indeed, the Ball as it was celebrated and received by the public in the U.S. was a long ways away from the student-organized, eccentric atmosphere of its Parisian cousin (ahem… cousine?).

This sophisticated location and environment also meant that the gender dynamics were dramatically different from what was seen and experienced in Paris: gone were the nearly-nude female models, the layered relationships between the students and their models, the youthful energy and feeling of freedom. Interestingly, although the New York event was attended by both genders, it remained in the hands of men to organize, design, and decorate the event. Composed of architect and muralist James Munroe Hewlett, prolific architect Whitney Warren, and architect and future dean of MIT William Emerson, the ball’s Committee on Decorations read like a who’s who in Beaux Arts design in New York City.

Yet in a way, the lack of women involved in the planning shouldn’t be too surprising: only a handful of women gained admission to the École by 1914, and even fewer were American (trailblazer Julia Morgan, of course, was a meaningful exception). According to historian and professor Meredith L. Clausen, there were fewer than five female graduates in architecture from the Ecole de Beaux-Arts by the time of the first American Beaux Arts Ball; however, there were a handful of practicing female architects by the 1910s in New York City, and it’s still disappointing – although by no means surprising – that they were not involved in planning the event.

Women Costumes at the 1931 Beaux Arts Ball, Printed in The Spur.

At the same time, women were still a major focus for the Beaux Arts Ball in the newspaper coverage of the event, and they continued to be at the center for decades to come. From these early days, the Beaux Arts Ball was one part a design-driven fundraiser, one part socialite ball, creating a unique environment where the party planning was, for once, done not by the female elite but rather by exclusively design professionals.

The Ball was still held into the trying years of the Great Depression, when it continued to command newspaper headlines and even seemed to thrive in popularity and attendance. The Ball of 1931 – today seen as a hallmark year with its future-looking theme of “Fête Moderne – a Fantasie in Flame and Silver” and for its architect attendees dressed as buildings – was a rare exception to the previously historically-inspired themes (then again, not entirely a shock for an organization that promoted historically-inspired design!). A short newsreel, captured by WABC radio, of a handful of male architects (no women, yet again!) dressed as buildings they designed remains one of the most memorable visuals of the event, and is considered nothing short of iconic in architectural circles. Costumed architects included Chester Aldrich dressed as the Union Club at 69th and Park; William F. Lamb as the Empire State Building; William Van Alen as his Chrysler Building; A. Stewart Walker as the Fuller Building at 57th and Madison; Leonard Schultze as one of the Waldorf-Astoria towers; Ely Jacques Kahn as the Squibb Building at 58th and Fifth; Ralph Walker as the Art Deco 1 Wall Street; and Joseph Freedlander as the Museum of the City of New York, at 103rd and Fifth Avenue.

The lack of women included in the architectural coverage of the event is particularly disappointing because there were, by the 1920s, a handful of well-known practicing female architects in New York City (remember when we covered that here?). Some of the female attendees, even if they weren’t dressed as specific buildings, certainly had outstanding design-inspired outfits: the New York City skyline at night; an elegant shard of ice; a silver-toned piece of stone; graphic Art Deco-inspired forms, and more.

1940, NYT. Constructing scenery for the Beaux Arts Ball.

On the other hand, since the Beaux Arts Ball had evolved into a melding of the arts world and high society, it was also an event where women – particularly debutantes and socialites – received ample coverage: images of their portraits, photos and descriptions of their outfits, and even seating arrangements were frequently published. When the late renowned architectural historian and New York Times columnist Christopher Gray wrote that “just fragmentary descriptions and only a few photographs remain” of the event, we know that isn’t true. In fact, all he had to do was look at more diverse sources that focused less on the architecture and more on fashion or social aspects, such as Town & Country or Women’s Wear Daily, to see dozens of photographs of attendees exhibiting their sensational garb and creativity. So exciting were the outfits that were developed for the event that they were shown off in a preview, or “dress parade,” as the New York Herald Tribune called it, 10 days before the ball at the glamorous Restaurant Princess at 280 Park Avenue. The outfits were photographed and meticulously described in newspapers across the country, and ultimately the ball awarded the a prize for the best female costume – a trip to Paris! (Attendance at the original bal not included.)

Although the New York Beaux Arts Ball took a pause in the late 1930s, it was resuscitated in 1940 to benefit, you guessed it, France and its war effort. By this point, however, the Beaux Arts Ball had rapidly spread to other cities across the country. Washington, D.C. and Baltimore both held their first Beaux Arts Balls in 1915, and were followed by many cities including Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; St. Petersburg, Florida; Chicago; Detroit; Pittsburgh; Los Angeles; and many more.

In New York, specifically, other organizations carried the Beaux Arts Ball flag after the Society dropped it yet again in the 1940s. The National Urban League, a historic civil rights and urban advocacy organization, held their own Beaux Arts Ball starting in 1940 through the 1960s – likely, at least in (large) part, because of discrimination or the unspoken racial segregation of high society and the few Black architects in New York prior to that time. The Ball, often held at the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem, remained a costumed affair, but retained little direct connection to the architecture community and instead focused on supporting and raising funds for the League.

It wasn’t until 1990 that New York’s architecture-focused Beaux Arts Ball was revived, this time by The Architectural League (the Society for Beaux Arts Architecture ultimately morphed into several other organizations, today semi-surviving as the Van Alen Institute). With its rebirth, the days of debutantes posing for press photos, contests for the best female costume, and historically-inspired themes that involved parading elephants or dressing up as a Venetian countess were over. But despite the updated nature of the event, it couldn’t totally avoid history if it tried: many of the attendees at the 1990 revival hearkened back to that fateful 1931 Ball and dressed as buildings, complete with headpieces in the shape of the grid of Manhattan or the Campanile in, you guessed it, Venice.

Read on for more:

Bernard Hautecloque, Juillet 1893, le Mai 68 de la III° République, Editions du Félin, 2020.

Christopher Gray, THE BEAUX-ARTS BALL: A New Age of Architecture Ushered in Financial Gloom in The New York Times. Jan. 1, 2006

This Week in Universal News: Beaux-Arts Ball, 1931. National Archives. Posted In Motion Pictures, Universal News Collection

Lela L. Felter-Kerley, The Sexual Politics of Female Public Nudity in Belle Epoque Paris, January 2009. Conference: 123th Annual Meeting American Historical Association.

Lela F. Kerley, Uncovering Paris: Scandals and Nude Spectacles in the Belle Époque.

Meredith L. Clausen, The Ecole des Beaux-Arts: Toward a Gendered History in The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, June 2010, 69(2):153-161.