Samuel Yellin, Blacksmith
Behind the panel Samuel Yellin, Blacksmith · series G, Makers.
Samuel Yellin (1884–1940) was born in the Russian Empire, in the region of present-day Belarus or Ukraine. He apprenticed to a blacksmith as a child and emigrated to the United States in 1906, settling in Philadelphia.
The workshop
Yellin taught at the Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Art and opened his own shop by 1909. He moved to a purpose-built studio on Arch Street, where, at its peak in the 1920s, a large workforce of smiths produced architectural ironwork for architects across the country.
The work
Yellin's shop made gates, grilles, railings, hinges, lighting fixtures and hardware for universities, churches, banks and homes, including Washington National Cathedral, buildings at Yale and Princeton, and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. He insisted on hand forging, leaving hammer texture visible, and drew on medieval and Renaissance ironwork while developing his own style.
The craft
A blacksmith heats iron or steel in a forge until it is plastic, then shapes it with hammer and anvil: drawing out, upsetting, bending, twisting, punching and forge welding. Yellin's smiths worked in teams, with a master directing strikers.
Why he is in the Hall of Makers
Yellin shows that a traditional trade can reach the highest level of architecture. Modern metalworkers, welders and ornamental ironworkers carry his standards forward.
Further reading
Samuel Yellin Metalworkers archive; Jack Andrews, Samuel Yellin, Metalworker (2000).
