Henry Hobson Richardson

Henry Hobson Richardson - Architect

Few architects have made such important contributions to the field that a style has been named for them. Henry Hobson Richardson is such a man. His interpretation of the Romanesque style with its heavy massing and highly textured materials, has become known as Richardsonian Romanesque.

Richarson (1836-1888) was born in Louisiana. Following his graduation from Harvard, he studied architecture at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, becoming only the second American to be formally trained in architecture. Returning to the U.S. he set up practice in New York with Charles Dexter Gambrill. In 1872 a massive fire destroyed much of Boston's downtown. One of the buildings lost was Trinity Church. Richardson won the competition to design and build the new church. Started in 1873, the massive stone building with its round arches, polished columns, and towers, was completed in 1877. Trinity Church firmly established Richardson as an architect of note. In the following ten years he designed approximately 50 buildings, most in this same style. Though the style remained the same, he designed a variety of different types of buildings, including libraries, train stations, residences, and commercial buildings. In each you can see the rich texture of the material (stone), and the rhythmical pattern of the openings (round arches). It is these characteristics which have been borrowed by architects across the country and used to create such buildings as the Wapello County Courthouse in the Richardsonian Romanesque style.

Building designed by Richardson include:

•     Albany, New York - City Hall
•     Boston, MA - Boston and Albany Railroad Station
•     Boston, MA - Trinity Church
•     Cambridge, MA - Stoughton House
•     Chicago, IL - Glessner House
•     Chicago, IL - Marshall Field Warehouse
•     Woburn, MA - Woburn Public Library

For more information about Richardson see:
Richardson Romanesque 1870's-1900
The Architecture of Henry Hobson Richardson