Casting model for an urn, Sandbeck Park - Special Thanks To: Moor, Baker & Associates Architects PA

Crouching Aphrodite - Special Thanks To: Louise K. Kaufman

Sleeping Ariadne

Discobulus

Bust of Juno

Jacob and Esau from the Gates of Paradise

Head of Hesiod

Entablature from the Basilica of Santa Croce - Special Thanks To: Clem Labine

Plaster Cast Collection

Scroll to browse highlights on view in the ICAA Cast Hall, including pieces deaccessioned from The Metropolitan Museum of Art as well as the Dick Reid Teaching Collection.

In 2004, the Metropolitan Museum of Art deaccessioned a historic collection of 120 plaster casts. The Metropolitan Museum of Art identified the ICAA as an appropriate steward of this significant collection due to the organization’s ongoing efforts to perpetuate the classical tradition in architecture and the related arts. The collection of plaster casts represents rare, high artistry in the craft of mold making and casting, and is an invaluable part of an education in traditional architecture and the allied arts. The ICAA uses the cast collection as a visual teaching aid, enabling students to view and draw from the finest examples of classical elements from masterpieces abroad.

Dick Reid was one of the world’s leading architectural artisans and restored numerous Medieval, Renaissance, and Enlightenment-era buildings in and outside of London, including the Somerset House, Windsor Castle, and the Spencer House. In 2005, Mr. Reid retired and donated the items in his shop, some of which are also visible on this page, to be used as a visual teaching aid for the ICAA.

The Plaster Cast Hall is possible thanks to the generous support of Flower Construction, Foster Reeve & Associates, and Seth Weine.

The ICAA would like to thank the following Cast Hall donors for their transformational support:

Peter Pennoyer Architects


EXPLORE THE CAST HALL'S RESOURCES, SCHOLARSHIP, AND COLLECTION



Past Exhibitions



Visiting the Collection

Highlights of the plaster cast collection are on view in the ICAA’s Cast Hall by appointment. School groups are encouraged to visit and take advantage of our free programming that is tailored to each individual visiting group.

For educators interested in visiting the Cast Hall, click here to learn more about our Cast Hall programming and here to read descriptions of previous programs.

Please email [email protected] or call 212-730-9646 × 115 to arrange a visit and discuss our curriculum options.

Admission to view the collection is free. Please consider making a donation to support the collection and the ICAA's educational initiatives.

Chapel roof boss from Sheffield Cathedral
British

Coffer ceiling model in painted and gilded wood made during the restoration of St. George’s Chapel, Cathedral Church of St. Peter and St. Paul (Sheffield, England) by the architect Donald Buttress in the 1980s to finalize the color scheme.

Provenance

Dick Reid Teaching Collection

Dimensions

32 3/4 x 32 3/4 x 7 1/2 in. (HWD)

Location:

20 West 44th Street, New York, NY

Plaster cast of a chimney-piece capital
British

This plaster cast of a chimney piece capital was used to carve a marble reproduction of the chimney during the restoration of The Great Room, Spencer House, London in 1992. The capital was designed by James “Athenian” Stuart between 1756-1766 and is based on the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates in Athens, which was erected in 334 B.C. The original marble chimney piece is now at Althrop House, where it was moved during World War II.

Provenance

Dick Reid Teaching Collection

Dimensions

8 5/8 x 13 1/2 x 8 5/8 in. (HWD)

Location:

20 West 44th Street, New York, NY

Savoy Theatre - Center Boss
British

This painted plaster cast is of a Center Boss from the Savoy Theatre on The Strand, City of Westminster, London. The original design for the interior of the theatre was by Basil Ionides in 1929. This boss was modeled and cast after a fire in the 1990s so that it could be used during a restoration project.

Provenance

Dick Reid Teaching Collection

Dimensions

2 13/16 in. dia: 8 11/16 in.

Location:

20 West 44th Street, New York, NY

Head of Hesiod
British

Plaster cast of the head of the Hesiod term on the chimney piece of the Palm Room, Spencer House (London). Its pair is a cast of the head of Homer. The original marble terms were carved by Peter Scheemakers (1691-1788), a Flemish sculptor working in London. The forms of the heads were inspired by ancient Roman bust in the Capitoline Museum (Rome, Italy). Though this marble chimney piece was designed for Spencer House, it was moved to the other Spencer family estate, Althrop, during World War II. The graphite points and lines on the surface of the plaster cast of Hesiod indicate that it was used to guide the carving of a copy in marble. This copy was installed by Dick Reid and his workshop in the restored Spencer House in the 1990s. A cast of the central panel of the chimney piece is displayed in the ICAA Studio.

Provenance

Dick Reid Teaching Collection

Dimensions

14 x 12 x 6 in. (HWD)

Location:

20 West 44th Street, New York, NY

Putti centerpiece of chimneypiece in Dining Room of Spencer House
British

Provenance

Dick Reid Teaching Collection

Dimensions

13 x 26 x 3 in.

Location:

20 West 44th Street, New York, NY

Carved oak screen
British

The original design for the woodwork is by Lewis Wyatt (1813-1817), for St. Mary’s Parish Church in Cheshire, England. This reproduction was made by molding the original oak screen and then casting expanded polyurethane foam into the mold. The hardened foam was then stained and polished to match the appearance of the original stained oak. Reid’s workshop often used this method to reproduce long lengths of intricate woodwork quickly and affordably.

Provenance

Dick Reid Teaching Collection

Dimensions

8 x 47 x 1 in. (HWD)

Location:

20 West 44th Street, New York, NY

Crown molding
British

The alternating egg and shell motif found in this molding was used by John Carr (1723-1807) in many of his houses. Newburgh Priory is a Tudor building in Coxwold, North Yorkshire, England that has undergone multiple renovations, including one between 1750-1760 led by architect John Carr.

Provenance

Dick Reid Teaching Collection

Dimensions

3 x 36 x 2 in. (HWD)

Location:

20 West 44th Street, New York, NY

Casting model for an urn, Sandbeck Park - Special Thanks To: Moor, Baker & Associates Architects PA
British

This wooden model was used for the casting fiberglass urns with a stone finish to be placed on the roof of the front facade of Sandbeck Park in York. The original urns were in stone and designed by the Palladian architect James Paine (1717-1789).

Provenance

Dick Reid Teaching Collection

Dimensions

28 1/4 in.

Location:

20 West 44th Street

Model For Memorial For Mary De St Pol Countess Of Pembroke
British

This wooden model was used to develop a stone memorial for Mary de St. Pol, Countess of Pembroke (1304-1377) in the North Ambulatory of Westminster Abbey. Mary de St. Pol founded Pembroke College, the earliest Cambridge college to survive on its original site with an unbroken constitution from its first foundation. On Christmas Eve 1347 Edward III granted Mary de St. Pol a license fo the founding of Pembroke College. The finished painted stone shield related to this model was installed in the North Ambulatory of Westminster Abbey in 1991 at the wish of Bryan Earle King, Fellow of Pembroke College.

Provenance

Dick Reid Teaching Collection

Location:

20 West 44th Street

Ionic Capital With Eagle
British

These capitals adorned pilasters carved with wood patterns in the Mantegna Gallery, and were restored during the late 1990s. The Mantegna Gallery was added to the Tudor portion of the palace in 1689-1698 by architect Sir Christopher Wren (1632-1723) and master of works William Talman (1650-1719). The pilasters separated the nine paintings of The Triumphs of Caesar, by Andrea Mantegna. Mantegna, one of the most famous and important artists of the early Italian Renaissance, painted The Triumphs for the Gonzaga family palace in Mantua, probably between 1484 and 1506. Charles I bought the entire collection of the Gonzaga family in 1620 and installed The Triumphs in Hampton Court Palace where they have hung since. The nine paintings depicted the ancient Roman ruler Julius Caesar on a triumphal chariot returning from his successful military campaigns. He is in a procession of Roman soldiers, standard-bearers, musicians and the spoils of war: captured weapons, artworks, gold and silver, prisoners, and exotic animals including elephants. As Ancient Rome was one of the strongest and richest empires in all of history, later rulers, like Charles I, collected Roman sculpture and imagined themselves as Roman emperors.

Provenance

Dick Reid Teaching Collection

Dimensions

12 1/2 x 17 3/4 x 4 1/4 in.

Location:

20 West 44th Street

Ceiling Relief From 8 Queen Street, Edinburgh, Scotland
British

This plaster cast of the ceiling, the original of which designed by Robert Adam (1728-1792) between 1770-1771, was used during the restoration of 8 Queen Street Edinburgh, Scotland. The restoration was done by Simpson and Brown Architects with advice from Ian Gow in 1990. Reid created new ceilings and chimney pieces as part of the project.

Provenance

Dick Reid Teaching Collection

Location:

20 West 44th Street

Complete Skirting From Palm Room, Spencer House
British

This complete skirting from the Palm Room of Spencer House, London has water-leaf, flower, and ribbon and leaf designs.

Provenance

Dick Reid Teaching Collection

Location:

20 West 44th Street

St. Anselm Wooden Panel
British

These two wooden panels with the letters S and A, for St. Anselm, in an escutcheon were damaged in a fire that took place on Christmas Day 1992 in the Church of St. Anselm and St. Cecilia in London. The carved wood panels were part of the original design of the church, which was completed by Frederick Arthur Walters (1849-1931) in 1908. Walter's designed the church in an adapted continental Renaissance style, which must have responded to the fact that the congregation had strong ties to the Kingdom of Sardinia.

Provenance

Dick Reid Teaching Collection

Location:

20 West 44th Street