Encyclopedia
| Henry Hobson Richardson
Encyclopedia
|
| Tutorials | Encyclopedia | Dictionary | Directory |
|
Henry Hobson Richardson
Henry Hobson Richardson, portrait by Sir Hubert von Herkomer 
Trinity Church in Boston is one of Richardson's most famous works. 
Richardson's work can be seen in many areas around Boston, such as Ames Free Library in North Easton. Henry Hobson Richardson (September 29, 1838–April 27, 1886) was a prominent American architect of the 19th century whose work left a significant impact on, among others, Boston, Pittsburgh, Albany, and Chicago.
BiographyRichardson was born at Priestly Plantation in St. James Parish, Louisiana and spent part of his childhood in New Orleans, where his family resided on Julia Row in a red brick house designed by the architect Alexander T. Wood. He was the great-grandson of inventor and philosopher Joseph Priestley. Richardson went on to study at Harvard College. Initially he was interested in civil engineering, but eventually shifted to architecture which led him to go to Paris in 1860 to attend the famed École des Beaux Arts. He didn't finish his training there, as family backing failed during the U.S. Civil War. Nonetheless, he was only the second US citizen to attend the École— Richard Morris Hunt was the first. The school was to play an increasingly important role in training Americans in the following decades. Richardson returned to the U.S. in 1865. The style that Richardson favored, however, was not the more classical style of the École, but a more medieval-inspired style, influenced by William Morris, John Ruskin and others. Richardson developed a unique idiom, however, adapting in particular the Romanesque of southern France. The 1872 Trinity Church in Boston solidified Richardson's national reputation and provided major commissions for the rest of his life. It was also a collaboration with the construction and engineering firm of the Norcross Brothers, with whom the architect would work on some 30 projects. Evidence of Richardson's contemporary recognition is that, of ten buildings named by American architects as the best in 1885, fully half were his: Trinity Church, Boston, Albany City Hall, Sever Hall at Harvard University, the New York State Capitol in Albany (as a collaboration), and Town Hall in North Easton, Massachusetts. Richardson died in 1886 at age 47 of Bright's disease, a kidney disorder. He was buried in Walnut Hills Cemetery, Brookline, Massachusetts. Though not a Richardson design, H.H. Richardson's house in Brookline, MA should also be mentioned in any discussion of his buildings. Richardson spent much of his later years in the house and had a studio attached in order to limit travel (probably due to his health problems). The house has fallen into disrepair and was listed in 2007 as an endangered historic site[1]. Major WorkRichardson's most acclaimed work is Trinity Church in Copley Square, Boston, part of one of the outstanding American urban complexes built as the center piece of the newly developed Back Bay. The Boston Public Library was built across from it later by Richardson's former draftsman, Charles Follen McKim. The interior of the church is one of the leading examples of the Arts and crafts aesthetic in the US. A series of small public libraries donated by patrons for the improvement of New England towns makes a small coherent corpus that defines Richardson's style: libraries in Woburn, North Easton, Malden, Massachusetts, the Thomas Crane Public Library (Quincy, Massachusetts), and Billings Memorial Library on the campus of the University of Vermont[2]. These buildings seem resolutely anti-modern, with the atmosphere of an Episcopalian vicarage, dimly lit for solemnity rather than reading on site. They are preserves of culture that did not especially embrace the contemporary flood of newcomers to New England. Yet they offer clearly defined spaces, easy and natural circulation, and they are visually memorable. Richardson's libraries found many imitators in the "Richardsonian Romanesque" movement. Richardson also designed six railroad stations for the Boston & Albany railroad company as well as two stations for other lines. These buildings were more subtle than his churches, municipal buildings and libraries, but still unmistakably his. After his death, more than 20 other stations were built in Richardson's style for the Boston and Albany line by the firm of Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge, all draftsmen of Richardson at the time of his death. All of the Boston and Albany stations were landscaped by Richardson's frequent collaborator, Frederick Law Olmsted. Additionally, a railroad station in Orchard Park, NY (near Buffalo) was built in 1911 as a replica of Richardson's Auburndale station in Auburndale, MA. The original Auburndale station was torn down in the 1960's during construction of the Massachusetts Turnpike. Of the original Richardson stations on the Boston and Albany line, all have been converted into new uses (such as restaurants). Two of the stations built by Shepley, Rutan, and Coolidge (both in Newton, MA) are still used by Boston's MBTA (green line) public transit service. Other Work
Richardsonian Romanesque
Richardson is one of few architects to be immortalized by having the honor of having a style named after him. "Richardsonian Romanesque", unlike Victorian revival styles like Neo-Gothic, was a highly personal synthesis of the Beaux-Arts predilection for clear and legible plans, with the heavy massing that was favored by the pro-medievalists. Significant to Richardson's style was his picturesque massing and roofline profiles, along with his mastery of rustication and polychromy, semi-circular arches supported on clusters of squat columns, and round arches over clusters of windows on massive walls. Following his death, the Richardsonian style was perpetuated by a variety of proteges and other architects, many for civic buildings like city halls, county buildings, court houses, train stations and libraries, as well as churches and residences. These include:
Chronological list of extant works[3]
Images<gallery> Image:RichardsonAlbanyCityHall.jpg|Albany City Hall, Albany, New York Image:RichardsonBrattleSqBoston.jpg|Brattle Square Church, Boston, Massachusetts, with sculpture by Frédéric Bartholdi (who did the Statue of Liberty) Image:Trinity Church, Boston, Massachusetts - front oblique view.JPG|Trinity Church, Boston Image:RichardsonChaneyHartford.jpg|Cheney Building, Hartford, Connecticut Image:AlleghenyCtyCourthouse-082904.jpg|Allegheny County Courthouse, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Image:Grace Episcopal Church (Medford, MA) - west facade.JPG|Grace Episcopal Church, Medford, Massachusetts Image:Old Colony Railroad Station (North Easton, MA) - view from southeast.jpg|Old Colony Railroad Station, North Easton, Massachusetts Image:RichardsonGateHouseNEaton.jpg|Ames Gate Lodge, North Easton, Massachusetts Image:Oakes Ames Memorial Hall (North Easton, MA) - front facade.JPG|Oakes Ames Memorial Hall, North Easton, Massachusetts Image:Ames Free Library (North Easton, MA) - oblique view.JPG|Ames Free Library, North Easton, Massachusetts Image:Thomas Crane Public Library, Quincy, Massachusetts (Front view).JPG|Thomas Crane Public Library, Quincy, Massachusetts Image:Converse Memorial Library (Malden, MA) - angle view.JPG|Converse Memorial Library, Malden, Massachusetts Image:Woburn, Massachusetts, Library with statue of Benjamin Thompson.JPG|Winn Memorial Library, Woburn, Massachusetts Image:RichardsonGlessnerChicago1.jpg|John J. Glessner House, Chicago, Illinois Image:Robert Treat Paine Estate - exterior view.JPG|Robert Treat Paine Estate, Waltham, Massachusetts Image:William Watts Sherman House (Newport, RI) - from southwest.jpg|William Watts Sherman House, Newport, Rhode Island Image:Sever Hall (Harvard University) - east facade.JPG|Sever Hall, Harvard University Image:Austin Hall, Harvard University.JPG|Austin Hall (Harvard University) Image:Ames Monument (Laramie, Wyoming).jpg|Ames Monument, Laramie, Wyoming Image:BagleyMemorialFountainDetroit.jpg|Bagley Memorial Fountain, Detroit, Michigan </gallery> Notes
References
External links
ar:???? ?????????? fr:Henry Hobson Richardson it:Henry Hobson Richardson pl:Henry Richardson ru:?????????, ????? ?????? Source: Wikipedia | The above article is available under the GNU FDL. | Edit this article
|
|
top
©2008-2009 TutorGig.com. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Statement
