Richardson's brief career (born in 1838, he practiced from 1865 until his death in 1886) coincided with a time when the newly urbanized United States required an unprecedented number of new buildings of all types. To meet this need, Richardson melded medieval, vernacular, provincial, and primitive sources with an elemental consciousness of the natural environment, the force of gravity, and the tactile qualities of local building materials.
His ingenious combinations of seemingly disconnected elements yielded a series of powerful, unified structures, such as Trinity Church, Boston, and its rectory; the New York State Capitol and City Hall in Albany; the Allegheny County Courthouse and Jail in Pittsburgh; Austin and Sever Halls at Harvard University; the Ames Gate Lodge in North Easton, Massachusetts; and several houses, including the Glessner House in Chicago, the Mary Fisk Stoughton House in Cambridge, and Stonehurst, the Robert Treat Paine House in Waltham, Massachusetts. This publication pairs architectural historian Margaret Henderson Floyd and architectural photographer Paul Rocheleau to create the first full-color critical review of this important architect's work.
|
