Richard Upjohn

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Richard Upjohn (born January 22, 1802 in Shaftesbury , England , † August 16, 1878 in Garrison , New York ) was an American architect who was best known for his neo-Gothic church buildings. It is at least in part due to him that this architectural style achieved such popularity in the United States. Upjohn also did a number of works in the Italianate style , and helped make this architectural style famous in the United States. His son Richard Mitchell Upjohn also became a well-known architect and was a partner in Upjohn's architecture firm in New York City .

biography

Bird's Eye View of Trinity Church (1912)

Richard Upjohn was born in Shaftesbury, England. He wanted to train as a builder and carpenter ; eventually he became a master mechanic. He and his family emigrated to the United States in 1829, where they first settled in New Bedford , Massachusetts and moved to Boston in 1833 . Upjohn first worked as an architect there. His first major project was the entrances to Boston Common , and the first church he designed was St. John's Episcopal Church in Bangor , Maine . In 1839 he was commissioned to redesign New York's Trinity Church . That project was then abandoned and Upjohn was commissioned to design a new building, which was completed in 1846. His highly influential book Upjohn's rural architecture: Designs, working drawings and specifications for a wooden church, and other rural structures was published in 1852. The pattern designs in this publication were used by many master builders across the United States; several of these structures still exist today.

Upjohn founded the American Institute of Architects with 13 other architects on February 23, 1857 ; from 1857 he was chairman of this organization for around two decades until he was succeeded by Thomas Ustick Walter in 1876 . During this time he was involved in the design of many buildings in different architectural styles. Upjohn died in 1878 at his Garrison, New York home, which he had moved into in 1853. Architectural drawings and documents Upjohn and other family members of the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library of Columbia University , the New York Public Library and the Library of Congress kept.

Selected structures

St. Paul's Cathedral in Buffalo, New York, completed in 1851

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Lamia Doumato: Richard Upjohn, Richard Michell Upjohn, and the Gothic Revival in America ( English ). Vance Bibliographies, Monticello, Illiloins 1984, ISBN 0890281289 .
  2. ^ A b c d Everard M. Upjohn: Richard Upjohn, Architect and Churchman ( English ). Columbia University Press, New York City 1939.
  3. ^ Richard Upjohn, Architect . In: New York Times , August 16, 1878. Retrieved May 17, 2009. “ Richard Upjohn, one of the oldest and most prominent church architects of this country, died on Friday, in the seventy-seventh year of his ago. ... " 

Web links

Commons : Richard Upjohn  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Upjohn, Richard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American architect
DATE OF BIRTH January 22, 1802
PLACE OF BIRTH Shaftesbury
DATE OF DEATH August 16, 1878
Place of death Garrison