This is a cross-post from the Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO.
“Ask a mason what he wants to build and he’ll say ‘An arch,’” says Bricklayers Local 1’s Matthew Redabaugh in the video that accompanies the “Palaces for the People: Guastavino and America’s Great Public Spaces” show currently at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C.
The show – sponsored in part by the International Union of Bricklayers & Allied Craftworkers – explores the accomplishments and the architectural legacy of the Guastavinos, a family of first-generation Spanish immigrants, who helped build many great American public spaces between 1881 and 1962, and revolutionized American architectural design and construction.
Click here to find out more about the show and the Building Museum, and listen to Susan Stamberg’s story on NPR.