Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue, Ecclesiastical Architect

Born:

April 28, 1869 in Pomfret, Connecticut

Died:

April 23, 1924

Education:

Studied for six years under James Renwick, architect of Grace Church and St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York.

Important Buildings:

• 1915: Panama-California Exposition Buildings, San Diego, California
• 1922: Nebraska State Capitol
• 1924: National Academy of Sciences Building
• 1924: Master Plan for the Califorinia Institute of Technology

About Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue:

Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue was an innovator who combined Gothic and Hispanic designs with modern ideas. He revolutionized church architecture by reawakening Medieval traditions. His fanciful Spanish Churrigueresque buildings for the Panama-California Exposition brought new energy to Spanish Colonial Revival architecture in the United States.

Goodhue never attended college. Instead, at age fifteen he went to work in the New York office of Renwick, Aspinwall and Russell. In 1898, he formed his own partnership with Cram, Goodhue and Ferguson. Although Goodhue's early works were noted for their high Gothic style, he later adopted a lighter, Romanesque style. By the end of his career, his work tended toward simple, classical lines. Today Goodhue is considered an American modernist.