WAMPOLD COMPANIES GENSLER ANN CONNELLY FINE ART DASH DESIGN MESH DESIGN SUSAN HYMEL, ANGELA GREGORY HISTORIAN ELISE GRENIER, RESTORER
THE PARADE STARTS AT THE BANK. Erected as one of Baton Rouge’s first “skyscrapers” in 1924, the Louisiana National Bank was constructed during the Art Deco movement in art and architecture. Unlike most buildings of the time, the thirteen story building was designed against the grain of this popular art deco style and emphasized Greek Revival design elements like white marble, terrazzo floors, bronze fixtures and stonework details. As one of the few original tall buildings in Baton Rouge, this property has an iconic personality and feel. After the building was purchased and updated in the 1960’s it took on another layer of stylized and time honored design from the mid-century era. These two strong aesthetic ideas in architecture work in harmony within the space and serve to tell a unique story about the property and its influence on the contemporary Baton Rouge landscape.
The singing mayor, Jimmie Davis kicks off the celebration with his famous rendition of You Are My Sunshine as he rides through downtown Baton Rouge.
OBJECTIVE Following the vision of Mike Wampold and the design team from Gensler, the art collection at the Watermark Hotel has been selected to highlight the historical importance of the building while fostering a modern design aesthetic focused on reinvention, creativity, and a sense of playfulness. The program includes historically significant objects, whimsical sculptures, relevant photography and two-dimensional artwork highlighted by the lenticular prints in the entrance vestibule. The jewel of the property is the restored atrium ceiling that features sculptural murals from sculptor Angela Gregory.
BACKGROUND ON BATON ROUGE Downtown Baton Rouge is an active place during weekday business hours and a bustling place when parades, marathons and celebrations happen throughout the year. Downtown has also caught the interest of Hollywood productions; with numerous recent films being set on the streets of Baton Rouge. Traditionally, the city has been known to quiet down at night and on weekends when resident workers retreat to the suburbs. Recently, however, there has been a movement to restore vibrancy back to downtown. Today, a thriving arts scene is emerging at the Shaw Center for the Arts, followed by an expanding locally-driven culinary stage. Several new hotel properties and upscale living spaces have been developed to meet the needs of demand for the area. This growing culture has quickly attracted a wide group of professionals, creatives and new people looking to live and work in Downtown as well as becoming a priority spot for destination travelers looking to experience the best of Southern culture, history, and well known hospitality.
SCULPTOR / ARTIST ANGELA GREGORY: SCULPTURED MURALS A Key feature of the building are eight bas relief-style plaster murals by famed, Louisiana female artist Angela Gregory. They were commissioned in 1949 by The Louisiana National Bank when they made major renovations to the building. The Gregory murals are crafted in a WPA style and are painted with golden hues of yellows, beige and warm green. They are located in the entry of the building and in what was once a grand foyer to the Bank. They depict in tableau style, the history of progress along the Mississippi River in terms of industry, commerce and regional pride. Prominent local buildings are featured as well as the beloved university, LSU. A central mural heralding The Louisiana National Bank is also featured.
ELISE GRENIER Restorer to the Angela Gregory Murals
ANGELA GREGORY & THE GREGORY MURALS (excerpt from Susan Hymel) The eight murals covering the upper walls of The Gregory restaurant were created by New Orleans sculptor Angela Gregory (1903-90). Gregory graduated from the Newcomb School of Art in 1925 and moved to Paris with a scholarship from the New York School of Fine and Applied Arts. A year later she was accepted into the studio of the great French sculptor Antoine Bourdelle, who had worked with Auguste Rodin for several years. There she learned to sculpt using a chisel and mallet while absorbing the architectural sculpting. She returned to New Orleans from Paris in 1928 and launched her successful career in a field of art dominated by men and in an era when few women even held jobs. In 1940 Gregory became the first person to earn a Master’s degree in Architecture from Tulane University. Today her sculpture is found throughout Louisiana, including three public monuments and on the Louisiana State Capitol in Baton Rouge.
Gregory’s work may also be seen in the Watermark Hotel’s elevators. The first major commission of her career came in 1929 when she was selected by General Allison Owen of the New Orleans architectural firm of Diboll & Owen to design and execute models for all exterior and some interior sculpture on the New Orleans Criminal Courts Building located on Tulane Avenue at Broad St. The pelican reliefs were created using inspiration from the Gregory sculptures that flank the exterior corners of the New Orleans icon.
LAYERS OF ART & COMMERCE 1920’s architectural photography and commercial objects from the time period layered in with contemporary works of art and sculpture build complex layers of discovery for visitors and guests of the Watermark. The Louisiana National Bank Building inspired a selection of relevant objects including adding machines, scales, and telephones that will be given a new life through modern interpretation, accompanied by new works of art based on early 20th century icons like the Buffalo Nickle, restaurant matchboxes, and the influence of post war artwork. Building on the thematic design principals guiding the artwork program, legacy portraits of Baton Rouge’s Founding Fathers of Commerce are included in a playful homage that blends historic portraiture with elements of the 21st century; including headphones, iPhones and references to modern personal technology.
BEFORE PHOTO
AFTER PHOTO
Nolan Stewart Dougherty
BEFORE PHOTO
AFTER PHOTO
Elbert E. Moore
BEFORE PHOTO
AFTER PHOTO
Benjamin B. Taylor
BEFORE PHOTO
AFTER PHOTO
William Preston Barnes
BEFORE PHOTO
AFTER PHOTO
Joe Gottlieb
BEFORE PHOTO
AFTER PHOTO
Lee Griffin
Options 1
LEE GRIFFIN *These are Doug’s currency font suggestions
Option 2
LEE GRIFFIN
VINTAGE TOUCHES
ARTIFACTS & EXPERIENCES
The thematic design and custom art collection curate a guest experience that inspires a creative sense of wonder and provides a glimpse into a bygone era. The interior environment is built on the existing materials, preserving architectural components like the rich marble staircase, bank vault door and the iconic elevator cars. The original finishes of the property layered in with contemporary elements co-develop a truly authentic space that plays with scale, color and mark making.
The formal entrance to The Watermark through the original 1924 vestibule allows for a spatial opportunity to surprise and engage a guest the moment they enter the building. Larger than life lenticular prints flank each side of the vestibule with custom illustrated imagery that subtly dances across the wall as you walk into the main lobby. The nature of the artwork is to create a dynamic experience where imagery appears one way when entering the building and changes upon exiting. Artist interpretations of Lady Liberty, Thomas Jefferson and Napoleon set the stage for entering the building with a playful sense of Louisiana’s colorful history.
DINING & SOCIAL Milford’s on Third pays homage to the New York-style deli, offering hand-crafted traditions in modern applications. The restaurant is named in remembrance of a grocery store in northern Louisiana that was owned by Mr. Milford Wampold. Milford’s grandson, Mike Wampold, now continues his grandfather’s legacy in his restaurant, Milford’s on Third. Here, he incorporates Wampold family recipes into unique sandwiches, delicious salads and signature mouth-watering pickles. Milford’s on Third is located inside the Watermark Hotel, at the corner of Convention and Third Street in downtown Baton Rouge.
A LIVELY HUB FOR GUESTS COMMUNITY LOCALS DESTINATION SEEKERS BUSINESS TRAVELERS
SALON WALL CONCEPT
ANGELA GREGORY AND THE GREGORY MURALS The eight murals covering the upper walls of The Gregory restaurant were created by New Orleans sculptor Angela Gregory (1903–90). Gregory graduated from the Newcomb School of Art in 1925 and moved to Paris with a scholarship from the New York School of Fine and Applied Arts. A year later she was accepted into the studio of the great French sculptor Antoine Bourdelle, who had worked with Auguste Rodin for several years. There she learned to sculpt using a chisel and mallet while absorbing the architectural sculpting principles of form, story and design. She returned to New Orleans from Paris in 1928 and launched her successful career in a field of art dominated by men and in an era when few women even held jobs. In 1940 Gregory became the first person to earn a Master’s degree in Architecture from Tulane University. Today her sculpture is found throughout Louisiana, including three public monuments and on the Louisiana State Capitol in Baton Rouge.
Gregory’s work on the murals was undertaken in 1948–49 as part of the renovation of the 1925 art deco-style twelve-story headquarters for Louisiana National Bank. H.T. Underwood, who specialized in bank modernization projects, served as architect for the renovation. Underwood hired Gregory to help him develop an architectural remedy that would cover the second-floor balconies surrounding the U-shaped bank lobby and that would illustrate the relation of banking to transportation and other Louisiana developments. In creating the murals Gregory first presented scale models to illustrate her design solutions to the architect, engineer, and bank board. The final low-relief murals enclosed the balconies with reinforced, prefabricated plaster slabs which were cast in New Orleans and delivered to Gregory’s studio while the plaster was still barely wet but thoroughly set. She carved the designs into the slabs with a pneumatic hammer. The sculpted slabs were then transported to Baton Rouge and installed. Gregory moved to Baton Rouge for four months and worked to paint and complete final sizing of the murals, all accomplished while working on scaffolding because the panels were already in place.
Gregory’s work may also be seen in the Watermark Hotel’s elevators. The first major commission of her career came in 1929 when she was selected by General Allison Owen of the New Orleans architectural firm of Diboll & Owen to design and execute models for all exterior and some interior sculpture on the New Orleans Criminal Courts Building located on Tulane Avenue at Broad St. pelican reliefs were created using inpiration from the Gregory sculptures that flank the exterior corners at the top of that building. Her architectural sculpture on the exterior of the Louisiana State Capitol features eight of the twenty-two profiles of famous Louisiana men at the fourth floor level and the bronze railing that circles the state relief map on the interior’s first floor. Other sculpture in the Baton Rouge area includes the Henry Watkins Allen monument in Port Allen and railings on several buildings on the LSU campus. During WW II Gregory worked for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to design the camouflage plan for Harding Field. Her largest public monument is the Bienville Monument in New Orleans, which honors the FrenchCanadian founder of New Orleans and was designed and completed in the years just after the murals. The models and a storyboard timeline for the Bienville sculpture are displayed in the Old State Capitol.
4221 Perkins Road Baton Rouge, LA 70808 225.927.7676 art@annconnelly.com