Peter Bonnett Wight: Difference between revisions

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous edit
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
→‎Projects: add wikilink
added infobox, other minor article updates/fixes
 
(31 intermediate revisions by 18 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{Short description|American architect (1838–1925)}}{{Infobox architect
[[File:18970403.NYC.Academy of Design at the corner Twenty-Third St.&FourthAve.d.RMHunt.jpg|thumb|[[National Academy of Design]]]]
| name = Peter Bonnett Wight
| honorific_suffix = [[Fellow of the American Institute of Architects|FAIA]]
| image = -Peter Bonnett Wight- MET DP-14189-001 (cropped2).jpg
| death_date = {{death-date and age|September 8, 1925|August 1, 1838}}
| death_place = [[Pasadena, California]], U.S.
| birth_place = [[New York City]], [[New York (state)|New York]], U.S.
| birth_date = August 1, 1838
| education = [[City College of New York|Free Academy]] <small>(1855)</small>
| significant_buildings = {{hlist| [[Street Hall]] | [[New York Mercantile Library]] | [[National Academy of Design]] }}
⚫
}}


'''Peter B. Wight''' (1838–1925) was a 19th-century architect from [[New York City]] who worked there and in [[Chicago]].
'''Peter Bonnett Wight''' {{Post-nominals|list=[[Fellow of the American Institute of Architects|FAIA]]}} (August 1, 1838 – September 8, 1925) was an American 19th-century architect from [[New York City]] who worked there and in [[Chicago]].[[File:18970403.NYC.Academy of Design (1865; razed).jpg|thumb|[[National Academy of Design]]]]


==Biography==
==Biography==
⚫
Wight was born and raised in New York City (his family lived at 93 West 13th Street) and graduated in 1855 from the [[City College of New York|Free Academy]] (founded in 1848 and located on East 23rd Street at Lexington Avenue). He had associations with critic [[Russell Sturgis]] and was mentored by [[Thomas R. Jackson]], through whom he came to admire the work of American architect [[Richard Upjohn]] and the writings of English social reformer and art critic [[John Ruskin]]<ref name="Chicago">[https://web.archive.org/web/20110726063742/http://digital-libraries.saic.edu/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=%2Ffindingaids&CISOPTR=8020&REC=1 Peter Bonnett Wight Papers] Wyerson and Burnham Archives Art Accessed January 2010 Art Institute of Chicago</ref>
⚫
Wight's career "flourished in the 1860s and 1870s in New York, where he developed a decorative, historicist style that showed affinities to the work of European designers [[John Ruskin]] and [[Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin]]." After the [[Chicago fire of 1871]], Wight came to Chicago and developed his interest in modern technologies for fireproof construction, founding the '''Wight Fireproofing Co.''' by 1881. The firm "designed and manufactured hollow [[terra cotta]] [[tile]]s—impervious to fire and non heat-conductive—for construction." <ref>[http://www.artic.edu/aic/libraries/research/specialcollections/subject/prewwii.html Peter B. Wight] Art Institute of Chicago website
</ref>


⚫
Wight's career "flourished in the 1860s and early 1870s in New York, where he developed a decorative, historicist style that showed affinities to the work of European designers [[John Ruskin]] and [[Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin]]." After the [[Chicago fire of 1871]], Wight came to Chicago and developed his interest in modern technologies for fireproof construction, founding the Wight Fireproofing Co. by 1881. The firm "designed and manufactured hollow [[terra cotta]] [[tile]]s—impervious to fire and non heat-conductive—for construction."<ref>[http://www.artic.edu/aic/libraries/research/specialcollections/subject/prewwii.html Peter B. Wight] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120309150927/http://www.artic.edu/aic/libraries/research/specialcollections/subject/prewwii.html |date=2012-03-09 }} Art Institute of Chicago website</ref>
⚫
Wight was raised in New York City and graduated from the Free Academy. He had associations with critic [[Russell Sturgis]] and was mentored by [[Thomas R. Jackson]], through whom he came to admire American architect [[Richard Upjohn]] and English social reformer and art critic [[John Ruskin]]<ref name="Chicago">[http://digital-libraries.saic.edu/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/findingaids&CISOPTR=8020&REC=1 Peter Bonnett Wight Papers] Wyerson and Burnham Archives Art Accessed January 2010 Art Institute of Chicago</ref>


Wight opened his own office in 1862 and produced designs for the "highly decorative and polychromatic" design for the High Victorian Gothic [[National Academy of Design]].<ref name="Chicago"/> Wight was involved in the establishment of the [[Society for the Advancement of Truth in Art]] in 1863, before leaving New York after a decline in commission to move to Chicago after the [[Great Chicago Fire of 1871]] where demand for architects who could help with rebuilding was high.<ref name="Chicago"/>
Wight opened his own office in 1862 and produced designs for the "highly decorative and polychromatic" High Victorian Gothic [[National Academy of Design]].<ref name="Chicago"/> In 1863, he helped establish the [[Society for the Advancement of Truth in Art]]. Following a decline in commissions in the early 1870s, he moved to Chicago where the [[Great Chicago Fire of 1871]] had created demand for architects to help with rebuilding.<ref name="Chicago"/>


In Chicago he worked with [[Asher Carter]] and then [[William Drake]].<ref name="Chicago"/> Wight designed commercial and residential buildings, as well as furniture and wallpaper in the [[Eastlake style]].<ref name="Chicago"/> He retired to [[Pasadena, California|Pasadena]], California in 1918 where he died in 1925.<ref name="Chicago"/>
In Chicago he worked with [[Asher Carter]] and then [[William Drake (architect)|William Drake]].<ref name="Chicago"/> Wight designed commercial and residential buildings, as well as furniture and wallpaper in the [[Eastlake style]].<ref name="Chicago"/> He retired to [[Pasadena, California]] in 1918 where he died in 1925.<ref name="Chicago"/>


[[Isaac G. Perry]]'s work designing [[The New York State Inebriate Asylum]] may have been assisted by Peter Bonnett Wight (1838–1925), the head draftsman in [[Thomas R. Jackson]]'s firm, but Wight's role in the project is not well documented.
[[Isaac G. Perry]]'s work designing [[The New York State Inebriate Asylum]] may have been assisted by Peter Bonnett Wight (1838–1925), the head draftsman in [[Thomas R. Jackson]]'s firm, but Wight's role in the project is not well documented.
Line 17: Line 26:
[[Russell Sturgis]] was associated with Wight from 1863 to 1868 and then practiced alone until 1880. [[George Keller (architect)]] worked at his firm in New York.
[[Russell Sturgis]] was associated with Wight from 1863 to 1868 and then practiced alone until 1880. [[George Keller (architect)]] worked at his firm in New York.


Bonnett's design for [[Yale University]]'s Street Hall incorporated both the School of the Fine Arts (the first such school on a U.S. college campus<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=sj8EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA44&dq=first+Yale+%22school+of+fine+arts%22&client=safari&cd=2#v=onepage&q=first%20Yale%20%22school%20of%20fine%20arts%22&f=false|title=Traditions and techniques are watchwords at Yale's school of the fine arts|date=February 12, 1940|volume=8|issue=7|journal=Life|page=44}}</ref>) and galleries for exhibiting art. The building's entrances from the college campus and Chapel Street reflected "the donor's wishes and symbolically uniting school and city." <ref name="art"/>
Wight’s design for [[Yale University]]'s Street Hall incorporated both the School of the Fine Arts (the first such school on a U.S. college campus<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sj8EAAAAMBAJ&q=first+Yale+%22school+of+fine+arts%22&pg=PA44|title=Traditions and techniques are watchwords at Yale's school of the fine arts|date=February 12, 1940|volume=8|issue=7|magazine=Life|page=44}}</ref>) and galleries for exhibiting art. The building's entrances from the college campus and Chapel Street reflected "the donor's wishes and symbolically uniting school and city."<ref name="art"/>


==Projects==
==Projects==
*[[Street Hall]] (1867), named for [[Augustus Russell Street]], a New Haven native and Yale graduate (Class of 1812),<ref name="art">[http://www.yale.edu/opa/arc-ybc/v31.n16/story10.html Art gallery's history is showcased in new exhibit] January 31, 2003 Volume 31, Number 16 Yale Bulletin and Calendar</ref> and Peter Bonnett Wight's only building at [[Yale University]]
*[[Street Hall]] (1867), named for [[Augustus Russell Street]], a New Haven native and Yale graduate (Class of 1812),<ref name="art">[http://www.yale.edu/opa/arc-ybc/v31.n16/story10.html Art gallery's history is showcased in new exhibit] January 31, 2003 Volume 31, Number 16 Yale Bulletin and Calendar</ref> and Peter Bonnett Wight's only building at [[Yale University]]
*[[Manierre Building]] and [[Lennox Building]]
*[[Manierre Building]] and [[Lennox Building]]
*[[Mercantile Library (New York)]] (1869) Montague Street between Clinton and Court Streets, [[Brooklyn]], New York (demolished)<ref name="photographs">Wayne Andrews [http://books.google.com/books?id=oxXAHXkaQHcC&pg=PA66&dq=peter+bonnett+wight&lr=&cd=29#v=onepage&q=peter%20bonnett%20wight&f=false Architecture in New York: a photographic history] page 66</ref>
*[[New York Mercantile Library]] (1869) Montague Street between Clinton and Court Streets, [[Brooklyn]], New York (demolished)<ref name="photographs">Wayne Andrews [https://books.google.com/books?id=oxXAHXkaQHcC&dq=peter+bonnett+wight&pg=PA66 Architecture in New York: a photographic history] page 66</ref>
*Interior of the [[Williamsburgh Savings Bank Building (175 Broadway)]]<ref>{{Cite NY1880|pages=954-955}}</ref>
*[[New York Academy of Design]]<ref>[http://digital-libraries.saic.edu/cdm4/results.php?CISOOP1=all&CISORESTMP=results.php&CISOVIEWTMP=item_viewer.php&CISOMODE=grid&CISOGRID=thumbnail%2CA%2C1%3Btitle%2CA%2C1%3Bcreato%2CA%2C0%3Brelati%2C200%2C0%3Bnone%2CA%2C0%3B20%3Btitle%2Cnone%2Cnone%2Cnone%2Cnone&CISOBIB=title%2CA%2C1%2CN%3Bsubjec%2CA%2C0%2CN%3Bdescri%2C200%2C0%2CN%3Bnone%2CA%2C0%2CN%3Bnone%2CA%2C0%2CN%3B20%3Btitle%2Cnone%2Cnone%2Cnone%2Cnone&CISOTHUMB=20+%284x5%29%3Btitle%2Cnone%2Cnone%2Cnone%2Cnone&CISOTITLE=20%3Btitle%2Cnone%2Cnone%2Cnone%2Cnone&CISOHIERA=20%3Bsubjec%2Ctitle%2Cnone%2Cnone%2Cnone&CISOSUPPRESS=1&CISOPARM=%2Fcasc+%2Fhalic+%2Fmagic+%2Fmqc+%3ACISOSEARCHALL%3AWight+Peter+Bonnett Art Institute of Chicago photographs]</ref> 23rd Street and Fourth Avenue New York City<ref name="photographs"/>
*[[New York Academy of Design]]<ref>[http://digital-libraries.saic.edu/cdm4/results.php?CISOOP1=all&CISORESTMP=results.php&CISOVIEWTMP=item_viewer.php&CISOMODE=grid&CISOGRID=thumbnail%2CA%2C1%3Btitle%2CA%2C1%3Bcreato%2CA%2C0%3Brelati%2C200%2C0%3Bnone%2CA%2C0%3B20%3Btitle%2Cnone%2Cnone%2Cnone%2Cnone&CISOBIB=title%2CA%2C1%2CN%3Bsubjec%2CA%2C0%2CN%3Bdescri%2C200%2C0%2CN%3Bnone%2CA%2C0%2CN%3Bnone%2CA%2C0%2CN%3B20%3Btitle%2Cnone%2Cnone%2Cnone%2Cnone&CISOTHUMB=20+%284x5%29%3Btitle%2Cnone%2Cnone%2Cnone%2Cnone&CISOTITLE=20%3Btitle%2Cnone%2Cnone%2Cnone%2Cnone&CISOHIERA=20%3Bsubjec%2Ctitle%2Cnone%2Cnone%2Cnone&CISOSUPPRESS=1&CISOPARM=%2Fcasc+%2Fhalic+%2Fmagic+%2Fmqc+%3ACISOSEARCHALL%3AWight+Peter+Bonnett Art Institute of Chicago photographs]</ref> 23rd Street and Fourth Avenue New York City<ref name="photographs"/>
*Grant Park design considerations (lithograph drawing with [[Lorado Taft]] and writings 1915 and 1916)
*Grant Park design considerations (lithograph drawing with [[Lorado Taft]] and writings 1915 and 1916)
*[[Thomas P. Jacobs House]] (1867), [[Louisville, Kentucky]] in a polychromatic Gothic style <ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=8eFSK4o--M0C&pg=PA30&dq=peter+bonnett+wight&lr=&cd=42#v=onepage&q=peter%20bonnett%20wight&f=false The Kentucky encyclopedia] By John E. Kleber</ref>
*[[Thomas P. Jacobs House]] (1867), [[Louisville, Kentucky]] in a polychromatic Gothic style <ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=8eFSK4o--M0C&dq=peter+bonnett+wight&pg=PA30 The Kentucky encyclopedia] By John E. Kleber</ref>


==Bibliography==
==Bibliography==
*''The Development of New Phases of the Fine Arts in 1884 America'' Chicago: Inland Architect Press 1884
*''The Development of New Phases of the Fine Arts in 1884 America'' Chicago: Inland Architect Press 1884

== See also ==
* [[Structural clay tile]]


==References==
==References==
Line 38: Line 51:
{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}


{{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]]. -->
| NAME = Wight, Peter Bonnett
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
| SHORT DESCRIPTION = American architect
| DATE OF BIRTH = 1838
| PLACE OF BIRTH =
| DATE OF DEATH = 1925
| PLACE OF DEATH =
⚫
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wight, Peter Bonnett}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wight, Peter Bonnett}}
[[Category:1838 births]]
[[Category:1838 births]]
[[Category:1925 deaths]]
[[Category:1925 deaths]]
[[Category:American architects]]
[[Category:19th-century American architects]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Chicago, Illinois]]
[[Category:20th-century American architects]]

Latest revision as of 15:13, 23 June 2023

Peter Bonnett Wight
FAIA
BornAugust 1, 1838
New York City, New York, U.S.
DiedSeptember 8, 1925 (1925-09-09) (aged 87)
Pasadena, California, U.S.
EducationFree Academy (1855)
OccupationArchitect
Buildings

Peter Bonnett Wight FAIA (August 1, 1838 – September 8, 1925) was an American 19th-century architect from New York City who worked there and in Chicago.

National Academy of Design

Biography[edit]

Wight was born and raised in New York City (his family lived at 93 West 13th Street) and graduated in 1855 from the Free Academy (founded in 1848 and located on East 23rd Street at Lexington Avenue). He had associations with critic Russell Sturgis and was mentored by Thomas R. Jackson, through whom he came to admire the work of American architect Richard Upjohn and the writings of English social reformer and art critic John Ruskin[1]

Wight's career "flourished in the 1860s and early 1870s in New York, where he developed a decorative, historicist style that showed affinities to the work of European designers John Ruskin and Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin." After the Chicago fire of 1871, Wight came to Chicago and developed his interest in modern technologies for fireproof construction, founding the Wight Fireproofing Co. by 1881. The firm "designed and manufactured hollow terra cotta tiles—impervious to fire and non heat-conductive—for construction."[2]

Wight opened his own office in 1862 and produced designs for the "highly decorative and polychromatic" High Victorian Gothic National Academy of Design.[1] In 1863, he helped establish the Society for the Advancement of Truth in Art. Following a decline in commissions in the early 1870s, he moved to Chicago where the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 had created demand for architects to help with rebuilding.[1]

In Chicago he worked with Asher Carter and then William Drake.[1] Wight designed commercial and residential buildings, as well as furniture and wallpaper in the Eastlake style.[1] He retired to Pasadena, California in 1918 where he died in 1925.[1]

Isaac G. Perry's work designing The New York State Inebriate Asylum may have been assisted by Peter Bonnett Wight (1838–1925), the head draftsman in Thomas R. Jackson's firm, but Wight's role in the project is not well documented.

Russell Sturgis was associated with Wight from 1863 to 1868 and then practiced alone until 1880. George Keller (architect) worked at his firm in New York.

Wight’s design for Yale University's Street Hall incorporated both the School of the Fine Arts (the first such school on a U.S. college campus[3]) and galleries for exhibiting art. The building's entrances from the college campus and Chapel Street reflected "the donor's wishes and symbolically uniting school and city."[4]

Projects[edit]

Bibliography[edit]

  • The Development of New Phases of the Fine Arts in 1884 America Chicago: Inland Architect Press 1884

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f Peter Bonnett Wight Papers Wyerson and Burnham Archives Art Accessed January 2010 Art Institute of Chicago
  2. ^ Peter B. Wight Archived 2012-03-09 at the Wayback Machine Art Institute of Chicago website
  3. ^ "Traditions and techniques are watchwords at Yale's school of the fine arts". Life. Vol. 8, no. 7. February 12, 1940. p. 44.
  4. ^ a b Art gallery's history is showcased in new exhibit January 31, 2003 Volume 31, Number 16 Yale Bulletin and Calendar
  5. ^ a b Wayne Andrews Architecture in New York: a photographic history page 66
  6. ^ Stern, Robert A. M.; Mellins, Thomas; Fishman, David (1999). New York 1880: Architecture and Urbanism in the Gilded Age. Monacelli Press. pp. 954–955. ISBN 978-1-58093-027-7. OCLC 40698653.
  7. ^ Art Institute of Chicago photographs
  8. ^ The Kentucky encyclopedia By John E. Kleber

Further reading[edit]

  • Sarah Bradford Landau P.B. Wight: Architect, Contractor, Critic, 1838-1925. Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1981
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Peter_Bonnett_Wight&oldid=1161565355"