John McArthur, Jr.

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John McArthur, Jr. 1860
Philadelphia City Hall (1871-1901)

John McArthur, Jr. (born May 13, 1823 in Bladnock, Scotland , † January 8, 1890 in Philadelphia ) was an American architect of the Gilded Age .

Born in Scotland, he emigrated to the United States at the age of ten and came to Philadelphia, where he later completed an apprenticeship as a carpenter and attended the architecture school of the Carpenters' Company of the City and County of Philadelphia and courses at the Franklin Institute . At the age of 25, he won his first contract in 1848 for the Philadelphia House of Refuge (now Glen Mills Schools ) and in the following years designed several hotels, churches and private houses in Philadelphia as well as public facilities and office buildings. For example the Continental Hotel (1860) and the Public Ledger Building (1867) of the newspaper of the same name in Philadelphia. His work was characterized by the characteristic mansard roofs in the style of the Second Empire . McArthur's best-known building is the Philadelphia City Hall , begun in 1871 and not seen to be completed in 1901. It was the tallest building in the United States at the time and the tallest office building in the world. During the American Civil War he bought 24 makeshift military hospitals, such as the Mower General Hospital with 2,600 beds in 1862 .

  • The Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia (1856). The wooden top was removed in 1912 due to structural problems.

  • The “old” Public Ledger Building of the newspaper of the same name in Philadelphia, built in 1867. After it was demolished in 1920, new building in the same location by Horace Trumbauer in 1924.

  • The makeshift Mower General Hospital (1862) during the American Civil War , lithograph by James Fuller Queen.

  • The Children's Department of the Presbyterian Hospital in Philadelphia (1888).

Web links

Commons : John McArthur, Jr.  - Collection of Images, Videos, and Audio Files

literature

  • Lawrence Wodehouse: John McArthur, Jr. (1823-1890). In: Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians. Vol. 28, No. 4, 1969, pp. 271-283.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Roger W. Moss: McArthur, John, Jr. (1823-1890). Philadelphia Architects and Buildings, The Athenaeum of Philadelphia, accessed February 22, 2014.
  2. ^ Views of the House of Refuge, Philadelphia (1885).  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. The Library Company of Philadelphia, accessed February 22, 2014.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / lcpdams.librarycompany.org  
  3. ^ Molly Berger: Hotel Dreams: Luxury, Technology, and Urban Ambition in America, 1829-1929 (Studies in Industry and Society). Johns Hopkins University Press, 2011, ISBN 978-0-8018-9987-4 , pp. 97-110.
  4. ^ Joseph J. Korom, Jr .: Skyscraper Facades of the Gilded Age: Fifty-One Extravagant Designs, 1875-1910. McFarland, 2013, ISBN 978-0-7864-7072-3 , pp. 120 f.
  5. ^ Mower USA General Hospital, Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia. World Digital Library, accessed February 22, 2014.
  6. ^ Friedrich von Esmarch: First aid station and field hospital: Lectures for prospective military doctors and voluntary nurses. Hirschwald, Berlin 1871, p. 128 f.
personal data
SURNAME McArthur, John Jr.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American architect
DATE OF BIRTH May 13, 1823
PLACE OF BIRTH Bladnock, Scotland
DATE OF DEATH January 8, 1890
Place of death Philadelphia