15 Facts About Ernest Flagg

Ernest Flagg was an American architect in the Beaux-Arts style.

Ernest Flagg was an advocate for urban reform and architecture's social responsibility.

Ernest Flagg's father Jared Bradley Flagg was an Episcopal priest and a notable painter.

In 1891, Ernest Flagg began his architectural practice in New York, greatly influenced by his knowledge of the French ideas of architectural design, such as structural rationalism.

Faithful to his Beaux-Arts training, Ernest Flagg allowed space around the tall building for light to enter, which was unusual for the time.

Ernest Flagg developed innovative techniques toward that end and in 1922 published the book Small Houses, Their Economic Design and Construction.

Ernest Flagg packaged these techniques and ideas into the Flagg System, and collaborated with builders scattered across the US to build them.

Ernest Flagg argued in favor of zoning laws which would regulate the height and setback of buildings, to allow light and air to reach the streets below them.

Ernest Flagg was a president of the New York Society of Beaux-Arts Architects.

The homes that Ernest Flagg designed are modest, low to the ground, with stone walls, and often with steep roofs, distinctive ridge dormers, and round-capped chimneys.

Ernest Flagg generally considered surface decoration "sham," and preferred to suggest styles with the general form of the building, adding interest with chimneys and dormers.

Ernest Flagg tested some of his designs for modest homes on his Staten Island estate, and many of these demonstration models are still in use.

Ernest Flagg worked with particular builders, training them on his system.

The builder sent the clients' requirements to Ernest Flagg, he sent back plans, the builder and local inspectors adjusted the plans for local building codes, and the builder constructed the home.

Ernest Flagg married Margaret E Bonnell on June 27,1899, in New York City.