Stanford White
Architect
Died when: 52 years 228 days (631 months)Star Sign: Scorpio
Stanford White (November 9, 1853 – June 25, 1906) was an American architect.He was also a partner in the architectural firm McKim, Mead & White, one of the most significant Beaux-Arts firms.
He designed many houses for the rich, in addition to numerous civic, institutional, and religious buildings.His temporary Washington Square Arch was so popular that he was commissioned to design a permanent one.
His design principles embodied the "American Renaissance".In 1906, White was shot and killed at the Madison Square Theatre by Harry Kendall Thaw, in front of a large audience during a musical theatre performance.
Thaw was a wealthy but mentally unstable heir of a coal and railroad fortune who had become obsessed by White's alleged drugging, rape and subsequent relationship with his wife Evelyn Nesbit, which started when she was 16, four years before their marriage.
She had married Thaw in 1905 and was a famous fashion model who was performing as an actress in the show.
With the elements of a sex scandal among the wealthy and the public killing, the resulting sensational trial of Thaw was dubbed "The Trial of the Century" by contemporary reporters.
Thaw was ultimately found not guilty by reason of insanity.
