Paul Philippe Cret, FAIA

Year Awarded: 1938
Born: October 24, 1876; Lyon, France
Died: 1945; Philadelphia


Projects
• 1937: Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, D.C.
• 1937: Federal Reserve Board Building (now the Eccles Building), Washington D.C.
• 1923: Barnes Foundation, Merion, Pa.
• 1921: Detroit Institute of Art
• 1916: Indianapolis Central Public Library


Biography
Paul Cret was a native of Lyon, France. He studied architecture first at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Lyon; after winning the Prix de Paris in 1896, he moved to the Paris Ecole and studied under Pascal, graduating in 1903. While at Paris, Cret won the Rougevin Prize and the Grand Medal of Emulation for his abilities as a draftsman.

After graduation, Cret moved to Philadelphia to teach design at the University of Pennsylvania; he remained there off and on until he retired in 1937. In 1907 he began private practice and partnered with Albert Kelsey on the design of the Pan American Union in Washington, D.C. He also won a competition for the Indianapolis Public Library in 1914, which he collaborated on with Zantzinger, Borie, & Medary.

Cret was in France when World War I started; he remained there, serving in the French Army, until the end of the war. He received the Croix de Guerre and was made an officer in the Legion of Honor for his service. When he returned to the United States, the Roosevelt family asked Cret to design a memorial to their son, who had died in the war. From this project, he became affiliated with the American Battle Monuments Commission and worked with the organization as a consultant for the remainder of his career.

During the 1920s, Cret worked on designs for the Detroit Institute of Arts with Zantzinger, Borie, & Medary, the Frankford War Memorial in Philadelphia, the Barnes Foundation Gallery in Merion, Pa., and the Integrity Trust Company of Philadelphia. He worked on the master plans for Brown University and the University of Pennsylvania. Cret wrote articles about the Beaux-Arts style and modernist principles of design. Throughout his career, he designed war memorials, civic buildings, and industrial complexes.
Cret was affiliated with many organizations, among them the American Philosophical Society, French Benevolent Society, the National Academy of Design, the National Institute of Arts and Letter, and the Society of Beaux-Arts Architects. He served on the Art Jury of the City of Philadelphia, the National Fine Arts Commission for two terms, and as chairman of the American Institute of Architects National Committee on War Memorials.

Cret received an honorary master of arts from Brown University (1929) and honorary degrees from the University of Pennsylvania (1913) and Harvard University (1940).

He was awarded a gold medal at the Salon des Champs Elysees in 1903, a Medal of Honor of the Architectural League of New York in 1920, and the Bok Award in 1931. He also received the Paris Grand Prix, the Prize of Honor at the 5th Pan American Congress of Architects at Montevideo with Zantzinger, Borie, & Medary, and the Award of Merit from the Pennsylvania Alumni Society.