CONTEMPORARY NY
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Boring and Tilton 

001-ellisisl.jpg (75517 bytes) The Main Building of Ellis Island was designed in the French Renaissance style and composed of brick laid in Flemish bond and trimmed with limestone and granite  "boasting quoins, rustification, and splendid belvederes."  Triple-arch entrances that rose well into the second story marked the east and west sides in a grand style.  Both Boring and Tilton attended the Ecole des Beaux Arts which may explain the influence of the French Renaissance style on the project.  An analysis in Architectural Record (1902) pointed out the "bloated" character of the detailing and reasoned that the heavy handedness of the facade along with the chromatic scheme made the building easier to read from a distance, appropriate for one situated on an island in a busy harbor.  
001 ELLIS ISLAND  

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