Charles Bulfinch

Charles Bulfinch ( born August 8, 1763 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, † April 15, 1844 ) was an American architect. He is considered the first American-born man made architecture his profession.

Bulfinch worked both in his hometown of Boston and in Washington, DC, where he completed as Commissioner of Public Building Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol and the dome above it. His works are known for their simplicity, balance, and her good looks - with them the Federal Style was founded, dominated the American architecture of the 19th century.

Early life

Charles Bulfinch was born as the son of the famous physician Thomas Bulfinch and his wife Susan Apthorp on August 8, 1763 in Boston. He attended the Boston Latin School and later Harvard University, where he received a bachelor in 1781 and in 1784 a master's degree.

He then completed from 1785 to 1787 a grand tour of Europe, where he was influenced by the classical architecture in Italy and in England by the revolutionary architecture, among others, Christopher Wren, Robert Adam and William Chambers. Thomas Jefferson was in Europe something like his mentor, as he was himself later for Robert Mills.

With his return to the United States in 1787, he was appointed advocates and applicants in the world travel to the Columbia Rediviva under the command of Robert Gray. It was the first U.S. ship, which completely surrounded the world. In 1788, he married his first cousin, Hannah Apthorp. Her sons include Thomas Bulfinch (1796-1867), author of Bulfinch 's Mythology, and the Unitarian minister and author Stephen Greenleaf Bulfinch ( 1809-1870 ).

Career

The first, designed by Bulfinch building was the Hollis Street Church in 1788. Among his early works are beyond a monument series to the American Revolution on Beacon Hill (1789 ), the Federal Street Theatre ( 1793), which is partly at the Royal Crescent by John Wood ajar Tontine Crescent (1793-1794, now defunct ), the Old State House in Hartford (1796 ) and the Massachusetts State House (1798 ).

In the course of ten years Bulfinch built an amazing number of private houses in the Boston area, including the Pleasant Hill by Joseph Barrell (1793), three houses for Harrison Gray Otis (1796, 1800, 1806) and the John Phillips House (1804 ). He also built many church buildings in Boston, of which today only the St. Stephen's Church (built 1802-1804 ) is still standing.

From 1791-1795 and 1799-1817 Bulfinch was a member of the Boston Board of Selectmen, where he became its Chairman in the second period. In addition, he was Superintendent of the Boston Police and provided for the improvement of roads, drainage and lighting. Under his guidance, the infrastructure and also the administrative center of the city in a dignified classical style were converted. Bulfinch was responsible for the design of the Boston Common, the redesign and expansion of Faneuil Hall and the construction of the India Wharf. In his Boston time he also designed the Massachusetts State Prison (1803 ), the Boylston Market (1810 ), the University Hall, Harvard University ( 1813-1814 ), the Meeting House in Lancaster ( 1815-1817 ) and a leaf ( Bulfinch Building ) of the Massachusetts General Hospital ( 1818), whose completion was led by Alexander Parris, who worked in Boston for Bulfinch, when he was called to Washington.

Despite its diverse activities and its commitment to the city council several times Bulfinch was insolvent, for the first time in 1796. The month of July of the year 1811, he spent a result of debt defaults as a convict in a prison, which he ironically had designed himself. His work as a Selectman was not paid, and for the design and supervision of the State House, he received only $ 1,400.

In the summer of 1817 fell Bulfinch's roles as selectman together, designers and representatives of the city administration, when the then U.S. President James Monroe visited the city. Both men were almost without interruption during the week long visit together on the road, and a few months later Monroe Bulfinch appointed in 1818 as the successor to Benjamin Latrobe as Architect of the Capitol in Washington, DC, which had been burned down in part by the British in 1814. In this position, he received an annual income of $ 2,500 plus expenses.

As Commissioner of Public Building Bulfinch completed the wings and the central part of the United States Capitol, designed the West view as well as the portico and gave the original wooden dome of his own design, which was replaced mid-1850s through today's dome made ​​of cast iron. In 1829 he completed 36 years after the foundation stone to build the Capitol. During his time in Washington Bulfinch drew also plans for the State House in Augusta ( 1829-1832 ).

In 1830 he returned to Boston, where he died on April 15, 1844 and was buried in the King's Chapel Burying Ground. His grave, however, was later moved to Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge.

In 1943, an American Liberty freighter named SS Charles Bulfinch was put into service in 1971 and scrapped.

Selected works

Second house of Harrison Gray Otis, 85 Mount Vernon Street

Extension of Faneuil Hall

The University Hall, Harvard University

The Massachusetts General Hospital

Former Bell Tower on Boylston Market in Arlington

The First Church of Christ in Lancaster

The Maine State House in Augusta

The United States Capitol, 1846

The house of Joseph Coolidge, Boston, 1792

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