Adrian Janes

Adrian Janes (February 4, 1798 – March 2, 1869) was the owner of a significant American iron foundry in the Bronx, New York.

The foundry created iron work for many notable projects, including the Capitol Dome of the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington DC, the Bow Bridge in Central Park and railings for the Brooklyn Bridge.

Around 1855, Janes, Beebe & Co. published a
Illustrated Catalogue of Ornamental Iron Work

The company name is sometimes misattributed to James Bebe or James Beebe.

Biography

Adrian Janes was the son of Mary Warren and Alfred Janes. Alfred worked in the shoe business, kept the City Hotel at Hartford, manufactured looking glasses and engaged in the house painting business. Adrian had a sister, Eliza (b. March 2, 1796), who was the mother of the landscape painter, Frederic Edwin Church. Adrian Janes married Adaline Root in 1823, and had six children: Julia E, Henry, Edward, George, Charles B, and Mary E. Adrian sold wallpaper and brushes in Hardford CT from 1821 to 1844; he was also an oil painter and presumably designed the wallpaper that he sold. “No doubt Frederic dwin Churchas a boy absorbed ideas about design, drawing and color from his Uncle Adrian anes”

In 1844, Adrian Janes and William Beebe founded the foundry, Janes, Beebe & Co. at 356 Broadway, New York (at the corner of Reade and Center Street). In 1857, the firm moved from Manhattan to Morrisania (the Bronx). The firm was dissolved in 1859 due to the death of William Beebe. From 1859 to 1863, the firm operated as Janes, Fowler, Kirtland & Co. (Adrian Janes, Charles Fowler and Charles A. Kirtland). By 1870, the firm changed its name to Janes & Kirtland and was located at 725 6th Avenue.

In April 1857 Adrian and Adeline Janes purchased a tract of land from Gouverneur Morris II and lived in a mansion on the property. Adrian Janes named the property Mary's Park, after this daughter (it is now known as St. Mary's Park). A photo of the residence can b
viewed here

Adrian Janes died in 1869 and is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx. The business was continued by Charles A Kirtland until 1880; who was succeeded by Adrian Janes' son, Edward E Janes; who was succeeded by Edward E Janes' two sons, Henry and Herbert Janes. The firm operated under the name of Janes & Kirtland at 725 6th Avenue until the early 1940s.

Wallpaper business (1821-1844)

Between 1821 and 1844, Adrian Janes and Edwin Bolles operated a wallpaper business, Janes & Bolles, in Hartford CT. The firm holds the distinction of assembling the earliest known book of American wallpaper samples that has survived to present day. The book resides in the collection of Old Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge, MA.

Iron foundry (1844-c.1940)

Capitol Dome, Washington DC

* Janes, Fowler, Kirtland & Co. was responsible for casting and erecting the cast iron Dome of the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, DC. The dome was designed by the architect Thomas Ustick Walter. Work started on the Dome in 1858 and continued into the Civil War. In 1863. President Lincoln proclaimed, “If people see the Capitol going on, it is a sign we intend the Union shall go on.” The Dome was completed in 1864, weighing nearly 9 million pounds and at a cost of $1 million.
*A detailed look at the dome can b
found here

*Papers relating to the construction of the dome are archived at the Cornell University Library a

and correspondence can be found here.

File:Cast iron column for peristyle of dome, U.S. Capitol LCCN2009631386.jpg
File:Dome Peristyle Construction 1857 (9271964606).jpg
File:LincolnInauguration1861a.jpg
File:Construction of the U.S. Capitol Dome LCCN2004681888.jpg
File:Flickr - USCapitol - Construction of the U.S. Capitol Dome.jpg
File:Flickr - USCapitol - Construction of Capitol Dome Nearing Completion.jpg

Government Buildings

* Ceiling of the Senate Chamber and House of Representatives
East Grand Stairs
of the U.S. Capitol Building
*Congressional Library in the U.S. Capitol Building* (1852)
* Patent Office, east wing furnace (1851) and west wing roof (1855)
* General Post Office
* Treasury Building
* Court House and Post Office, Portland, Maine (1871)
*Capitol building lanterns (1874)

File:View of Old Senate Chamber from north - U.S. Capitol, Old Senate Chamber, Intersection of North, South, and East Capitol Streets and Capitol Mall, Washington, District of Columbia, DC HABS DC-38-A-2.tif, Senate Chamber
File:Hall of Representatives, the Capitol4a11687v.jpg, House of Representatives
File:Keim's illustrated hand-book. Washington and its environs- a descriptive and historical hand-book of the capital of the United States of America (1887) (14594755719).jpg, Grand stairs ceiling
File:The Congressional Library, by American Stereoscopic Company (New York).jpg, Congressional Library
File:U.S. Patent Office, 1869 (27880990095).jpg, Patent Office
File:The General Post Office, Department, from Robert N. Dennis collection of stereoscopic views.jpg, General Post Office
File:Treasury Department, by E. & H.T. Anthony (Firm).jpg, Treasury Building
File:Post Office, by M. F. King.jpg, Post Office, Portland ME

File:Brooklyn Bridge, Looking East, New York City Side, July 7, 1899. (5833478432).jpg, Brooklyn Bridge
File:Bow Bridge, by E. & H.T. Anthony (Firm).png, Bow Bridge
File:BROADWAY BETWEEN MAIN AND THIRD STS., I.O.O.F. FOUNTAIN - Town of Madison, Madison, Jefferson County, IN HABS IND,39-MAD,41-31.tif, Broadway Fountain
File:00 1563 Cosco - Compania de Jesus.jpg, Plaza de Armas
File:Capitol Building Lamps (27520100890).jpg, Capitol Lanterns
File:Bromley Bronx Plate 07 publ. 1942.jpg, St. Mary's Park

Brooklyn Bridge

* The firm produced cast-iron railings for the Brooklyn Bridge

Bow Bridge

* Bow Bridge is one of the most iconic and photographed features of Central Park. Built in 1862, the bridge spans 60 feet across the Central Park Lake and connects Cherry Hill and the Ramble. Bow Bridge is named for its arc shape which resembles that of an archer's bow. It is the oldest cast-iron bridge in Central Park, and it is the second-oldest cast-iron bridge in the United States. It was designed by Calvert Vaux and Jacob Wrey Mould.

Fountains

* Forsyth Park Fountain at Forsyth Park in Savannah, Georgia (1858)
* Soldiers' Memorial Fountain in Poughkeepsie, New York (1870)
Broadway Fountain
in Madison, Indiana (firs
displayed
at the 1876 Centennial Exposition; presented to Madison IN in 1884; replaced by a reproduction in 1981)
* Abbeville, South Carolina
* Plaza de Armas Fountain in Cusco, Peru
*Fountains were sent to Cuba, Haiti, the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii), Mexico, South America and China. (To be confirmed - Haitian fountain could be at Place Madan Kolo in Gonaives, Haiti
see photo

*Advertisement for garden ornaments can b
found here
1860)

Furniture

* In 1859, Congress ordered forty-eight benches for the Hall of the House of Representatives (i.e., the House chamber). The sides of the benches were designed by Constantino Brumidi and cast by Janes, Beebe & Co. The benches were loaned to several sites over the years. 14 of the benches (and 2 reproductions) now reside in the Capitol Rotunda. A photo of the bench can b
found here.
*Janes, Beebe & Co. produced iron benches (settee) and chairs in the Victorian rustic style (commonly referred to as twig garden benches). A marked example is held by the Smithsonian Institution a
inventory no. 1980.006
Unmarked examples are held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art a
inv no. 69.159.2
the Brooklyn Museum a
inv no. 72.180.4
and Historic New England as inv no
1948.758
Benches with the foundry's makers mark are exceedingly rare.

Cast-iron benches
(attributed to Janes Beebe & Co.) were added by President Fillmore to the south grounds of the White House around 1852.
* By 1927, the firm was manufacturing a line of kitchen cabinets, called the "White House Line" ( catalog I, catalog II) a
advertised here

Sculptures and other works

* Advertisement for religious statuary can b
found here
* Pillot dogs at the Pillot House in Sam Houston Park, Houston TX - The original sculptures (c.1870) were reproduced in 1989.

Cast-iron gazebo
was installed on the campus of Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee in 1853.
* Cast-iron veranda, Zephaniah Jones House, 1024 10th Street, NW, Washington DC (apparently demolished).
* Janes also worked with cast zinc sculpture.
*Household items by Janes & Kirtland were included in the 1934 exhibition
Machine Art
at the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Cooking Ranges and Furnaces

* Furnaces installed in St. Patrick's Cathedral and Trinity Church.
* Stove in the Vanderbilt Mansion, Hyde Park NY
* Cooking range in the Edgar Allan Poe Cottage, Bronx NY
* Kitchen stove at Hyde Hall, Cooperstown NY
inventory no. 2014.22
* Cooking ranges in the late 19th century can be found in thi
catalog

St. Mary's Park

* St. Mary's Park (and a Protestant Episcopal church that once stood on Alexander Avenue and East 142nd Street until 1959) takes its name from Adrian's daughter, Mary. In the park's north end is Janes’ Hill, where the Janes mansion once stood.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Janes, Adrian

American landscape and garden designers
American industrialists
Wallpaper manufacturers
Foundries in the United States
1798 births
1869 deaths
History of the Bronx
19th-century American businesspeople
Ironworks and steel mills in the United States