Teamwork at McKim, Mead & White

Abstract This article examines the work of McKim, Mead & White as the product of a collective creative effort. Using the records of the firm, it analyzes how buildings were produced through the collaboration of the partners with a large staff of designers, draftsmen, specification writers, construction specialists, and clerical workers. By reconstructing the process of architectural production in one of the first large American firms, the article examines the many different kinds of skilled labor that were involved and documents the contributions of workers who have remained mostly invisible. It also investigates how the large firm generated new kinds of social relationships and conflicts in a high-pressure working environment.