Henry Hobson Richardson, "First American Architect"

Born:

September 29, 1838 in Louisiana

Died:

1886

Education:

• Public and private schools in New Orleans
• Harvard College
• Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris

Famous Buildings:

• 1883-1888: Allegheny County Courthouse, Pittsburgh, PA
• 1872-1877: Trinity Church, Boston, MA
• 1885-1887: Glessner House, Chicago, IL

Related People:

• Frank Furness
• Stanford White
• Charles Follen McKim
• John Ruskin
• Frederick Law Olmsted

About Henry Hobson Richardson:

During his short life, Henry Hobson Richardson designed churches, courthouses, train stations, libraries, and other important civic buildings. Featuring semicircular "Roman" arches set in massive stone walls, Richardson's unique style became known as Richardsonian Romanesque.

Henry Hobson Richardson is known as the "First American Architect" because he broke away from European traditions and designed buildings that stood out as truly original. Also Henry Hobson Richardson was only the second American to receive formal training in architecture. (The first was Richard Morris Hunt.)

The architects Charles F. McKim and Stanford White worked under Richardson for awhile, and their free-form Shingle Style grew out of Richardson's use of rugged natural materials and grand interior spaces.

Other important architects influenced by Henry Hobson Richardson include Louis Sullivan, John Wellborn Root, and Frank Lloyd Wright.