Samuel Yellin (1885 - 1940) Polish American Blacksmith

Samuel Yellin (1884–1940) was an American master blacksmith and metal designer.

Biography

Samuel Yellin was born in the Russian Empire in 1884 to a Jewish family in Mohyliv-Podilskyi, Ukraine. He was apprenticed to a master ironsmith when he was eleven years old. He finished his apprenticeship at the age of sixteen in 1900. He left Ukraine shortly after and travelled across Europe. He arrived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in approximately 1905, where his mother and two sisters had already settled; his brother arrived around the same time. Samuel Yellin began taking classes at the Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Art in early 1906. Within a few months, he was teaching there, a job he held until 1919.

He began his metalsmith shop in 1909. In 1915, he built and created a new studio for Samuel Yellin Metalworkers at 5520 Arch Street in Philadelphia for Mellor, Meigs & Howe, for whom he designed and created many commissions. Although Samuel Yellin died in 1940, his firm continued in the same location for decades under Samuel Yellin’s son, Harvey. Clare Yellin, Samuel Yellin’s granddaughter, took over the firm after Harvey Yellin died. The company is still in operation today.

During the 1920s construction boom, Samuel Yellin Metalworker employed up to 250 people, many of whom were European artisans. Yellin was an expert on traditional craftsmanship and design, but he also promoted innovation and the development of new designs. Samuel Yellin’s work can be found in some of America’s most prestigious structures.

Recognition

The Art Institute of Chicago (1919), the American Institute of Architects (1920), the Architectural League of New York (1922), and the City of Philadelphia’s Bok Civic Award were among the honours bestowed to Yellin (1925). He was a member of the T Square Club, the Philadelphia Sketch Club, the Architectural League of New York, and the Philadelphia Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

Sources

Byars, M., & Riley, T. (2004). The design encyclopedia. Laurence King Publishing.

Wikipedia contributors. (2021, September 30). Samuel Yellin. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 20:04, November 14, 2021, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Samuel_Yellin&oldid=1047425282

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