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For other persons named Richard Hunt, see Richard Hunt (disambiguation). There have been a number of people named Richard Hunt: Richard Hunt (artist (born 1951 a Canadian carver and artist Richard Hunt (editor
Richard Morris Hunt
Richard Morris Hunt

Richard Morris Hunt (October 31, 1827–July 31, 1895) was a preeminent figure in the history of American architecture. Events 445 BC – Ezra reads the Book of the Law to the Israelites in Jerusalem (see Nehemiah 91 NLTse Year 1827 ( MDCCCXXVII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common Events 30 BC - Battle of Alexandria: Mark Antony achieves a minor victory over Octavian 's forces but most of his army subsequently Year 1895 ( MDCCCXCV) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year The term architecture (from Greek αρχιτεκτονικήarchitektoniki) can be used to mean a process a profession or documentation

Contents

Biography

Born in Brattleboro, Vermont, Hunt was the son of Jane Maria Leavitt, born to an influential family of Suffield, Connecticut, and Hon. Brattleboro is a town in Windham County, Vermont, United States, located in the southeast corner of the state along the state line with New Hampshire Jonathan Hunt, a U. S. congressman whose own father was the lieutenant governor of Vermont, and scion of a wealthy and prominent Vermont family. [1] Richard Morris Hunt was the brother of the Boston painter William Morris Hunt, and the photographer and lawyer Leavitt Hunt. William Morris Hunt ( March 31, 1824 - September 8, 1879) American painter, was born at Brattleboro Vermont (Hunt was named for Lewis Richard Morris, a family relation, who was a U. Lewis Richard Morris ( November 2, 1760 - December 29, 1825) was a United States Representative from Vermont and a S. Congressman from Vermont and the nephew of Gouverneur Morris, an author of large parts of the U. Gouverneur Morris ( January 31, 1752 November 6, 1816) was an American statesman who represented Pennsylvania in the S. Constitution. )[2]

Following the early death of his father, Hunt's mother took the family to Europe, where they remained for more than a decade, first in Switzerland and later in Paris. In 1846 Hunt was the first American architect to attend the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, and was regarded well enough to supervise work on the Louvre under Napoleon III. École des Beaux-Arts ("School of Fine Arts" refers to a number of influential Art schools in France. Paris (ˈpærɨs in English; in French) is the Capital of France and the country's largest city The Louvre Museum (Musée du Louvre located in Paris is the world's most visited art museum a historic monument and a national museum of France Napoléon III, also known as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte (full name Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte) (20 April 1808 9 January 1873 was the first President After his return in 1855, he founded the first American architectural school at his Tenth Street Studio Building (beginning with only four students), co-founded the American Institute of Architects and from 1888 to 1891 served as the Institute's third president, brought the first apartment building to Manhattan in a burst of scandal, and set a new ostentatious style of grand houses for the social elite and the eccentric, competitive new millionaires of the Gilded Age. The Tenth Street Studio Building, constructed in New York City in 1857 was the first modern facility designed solely to serve the needs of artists The American Institute of Architects (AIA is a professional organization for Architects in the United States. In American history, the Gilded Age refers to major growth in population in the United States and extravagant displays of wealth and excess of America's upper-class during

Facade of Yale University's Scroll and Key Society, displaying Moorish gate and patterned forecourt.
Facade of Yale University's Scroll and Key Society, displaying Moorish gate and patterned forecourt. Scroll and Key Society is a senior or secret society established by " John Porter, William Kingsley Samuel Perkins Enos Taft Lebbeus Chapin George Jackson

Hunt's greatest influence is his insistence that architects be treated, and paid, as legitimate and respected professionals equivalent to doctors and lawyers. He sued one of his early clients for non-payment of his five percent fee, which established an important legal precedent. One of his 1859 students at the Tenth Street Studio, William Robert Ware, was deeply influenced by Hunt and went on to found the first two university programs in architecture: MIT in 1866, and Columbia in 1881. William Robert Ware ( 27 May 1832 &ndash 9 June 1915) born in Cambridge Massachusetts into a family of the Unitarian The Graduate School of Architecture Planning and Preservation at Columbia University in New York City, also known simply as GSAPP, is regarded as one of

Despite his extensive social connections in Newport among the richest Americans of his generation, Hunt was widely admired for his energy and good humor. Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about 30 miles (48 km south of Providence Legend has it that while on a final walk-through of one of his Vanderbilt mansions, Hunt discovered a mysterious tent-like object in one of the ballrooms. Investigating, he found it was canvas covering a life-sized statue of himself, dressed in stonecutters' clothes, all carved in secret as a tribute by the gang of stonecutters working on the house. Vanderbilt permitted the statue to be placed on the roof of the mansion.

Statue of Liberty, Pedestal by Richard Morris Hunt
Statue of Liberty, Pedestal by Richard Morris Hunt

Hunt designed New York's Tribune Building, one of the earliest with an elevator, in 1873. New York ( is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous Year 1873 ( MDCCCLXXIII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Other buildings of note that Hunt designed include the Theological Library and Marquand Chapel in Princeton, the Scroll and Key building at Yale, and the Fogg Museum of Art at Harvard. See also Princeton Township New Jersey, Borough of Princeton New Jersey Princeton Borough New Jersey Princeton Township New Jersey this The Fogg Art Museum is the oldest of Harvard University 's art museums Until the Lenox Library, none of Hunt's American works were in the Beaux-Arts style with which he is associated. Late in his life he became involved in the Chicago's World's Columbian Exposition in 1893, at which his Administration Building received the gold medal from the Royal Institute of British Architects. Chicago (ʃɪˈkɑːgoʊ is the largest City by population in the state of Illinois and the American Midwest of the United States. Year 1893 ( MDCCCXCIII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA is a Professional body for Architects in the United Kingdom.

In New York City, Hunt's handiwork can be seen on the austere pedestal of the Statue of Liberty and on the elegant 5th Avenue facade of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Liberty Enlightening the World (La liberté éclairant le monde commonly known as the Statue of Liberty (Statue de la Liberté was presented The Metropolitan Museum of Art is an art museum located on the eastern edge of Central Park, along what is known as Museum Mile in New York City, The only one of Hunt's New York City buildings that has not been destroyed now houses Hostelling International - New York (formerly American Youth Hostels) on the east blockfront of Amsterdam Avenue between 103d and 104th Streets in Manhattan. American Youth Hostels Inc is a 501(c(3 nonprofit membership organization founded in 1934 whose formal name is Hostelling International USA (abbreviated "HI-USA" Erected in 1883 and entered into the National Register of Historic Places in 1975, this neo-classic building features dormer windows and a mansard roof similar to those Hunt used on his Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina, pictured below on this page. This popular youth hostel was originally built for the Association for the Relief of Respectable Aged Indigent Females, a charity created in 1813 with the help of financier Peter G. Stuyvesant (a descendant of the Dutch colonial governor Peter Stuyvesant) and John J. Astor. Peter Stuyvesant (originally Pieter or Petrus, Peter is never mentioned in historical records (c For other pages relating to Astor see John Jacob Astor (disambiguation John Jacob Astor (born Johann Jakob or Johann Jacob Astor) ( July In later years it was used as a nursing home, but by the 1970s was abandoned and became a burned-out "shooting gallery" used by drug dealers and derelicts. Its current use as a flagship youth hostel came into being in 1988. According to an article in The New York Times:

The project is a rare collaborative effort involving a West Side community group, a midtown developer, an international foundation, two Wall Street securities firms, seven government agencies and 300 profit-seeking investors in 30 states. . . . . In 1980, the city's Office of Economic Development awarded a grant to Valley Restoration, which in turn hired the consulting firm of Buckhurst, Fish, Hutton & Katz to study the feasibility of converting the building into a hostel. The consultants concluded that a youth hostel containing 477 beds was feasible, along with a restaurant of 126 seats and a small theater. Efforts were then made to bring together community leaders, a youth hostel organization and a developer to put forward a plan.

The financing of this successful preservation and re-use project was unusual. According to the Times article:

The developer was Bertram Lewis, chairman of Sybedon, a group of Manhattan investment bankers specializing in high-stakes real estate deals. . . . The terms of a 1984 agreement between the three groups had Valley Restoration buying the property from the city, which had acquired it in a 1978 tax foreclosure action. The $687,500 price was a payment to Valley from a limited partnership consisting of Sybedon and a group of investors. Last December a public offering of shares through Thomson McKinnon Securities raised $5. 2 million from 300 investors in 30 states. The Metropolitan New York Council of American Youth Hostels agreed to manage the building and channel profits from the fees for the rooms back to the limited partnership to repay the investors.

Among the employees who worked in Hunt's firm was Franco-American architect and fellow Ecole des Beaux Arts graduate Emmanuel Louis Masqueray when went on to be Chief of Design at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Franco-American Emmanuel Louis Masqueray (1861-1917 was a preeminent figure in the history of American architecture, both as a gifted designer of landmark buildings The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, informally known as the Saint Louis World's Fair, was an international exposition held in St Louis. Hunt often employed sculptor Karl Bitter to enrich his designs. Karl Theodore Francis Bitter ( December 6, 1867 in Vienna &ndash April 9, 1915) was an Austrian born United States Both Hunt and his frequent collaborator, landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, were associated with the City Beautiful Movement, and Hunt was the first president of the Municipal Art Society that grew out of the movement. Frederick Law Olmsted ( April 25, 1822 &ndash August 28, 1903) was an American landscape designer and father of American The City Beautiful movement was a Progressive reform movement in North American Architecture and Urban planning that flourished in the 1890s and The Municipal Art Society of New York (MAS is a nonprofit membership organization which advocates for excellence in Urban design, Urban planning, Contemporary Nevertheless, Olmstead, an advocate of "naturalistic" architecture and landscape design famously clashed with Hunt in 1863 over Hunt's proposal for "Scholar's Gate," a formal entrance to Central Park at 60th Street and Fifth Avenue. Central Park is a large public Urban park in New York City, with about twenty-five million visitors annually According to Central Park historian Sarah Cedar Miller, Central Park Commissioner and influential New Yorker Andrew Haswell Green, was a major supporter of Hunt. Andrew Green ( 1820 - November 13, 1903) was a New York lawyer city planner civic leader and agitator for reform When the park commissioners adopted Hunt's design, Olmstead and his partner Calvert Vaux protested and resigned their positions with the Central Park project. Calvert Vaux ( December 20, 1824 – November 19, 1895) was an architect and landscape designer Hunt's plan for Scholar's Gate was never built and Olmstead and Vaux subsequently rejoined the project. [3] Nevertheless, there were to be other reminders of Hunt in Central Park.

Hunt died in 1895 and was buried at the Common Burying Ground and Island Cemetery in Newport, Rhode Island. Common Burying Ground and Island Cemetery on Farewell and Warner Street in Newport Rhode Island was founded in 1640 and contains over 5000 graves including a colonial Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about 30 miles (48 km south of Providence In 1898, 3 years after Hunt's death in Newport, the Municipal Art Society commissioned the Richard Morris Hunt Memorial, designed by sculptor Daniel Chester French and architect Bruce Price. Daniel Chester French ( April 20 1850 &ndash October 7 1931) was an American sculptor. Bruce Price ( 12 December, 1845 &ndash 29 May, 1903) was the Architect of many of the Canadian Pacific Railway 's [4] The memorial is installed in the wall of Central Park across Fifth Avenue from today’s Frick Museum at 70th Street. The Frick Collection is an art museum located in Manhattan, New York City, United States.

Residential Works

Biltmore Estate, Asheville, North Carolina
Biltmore Estate, Asheville, North Carolina

Sources

References:

  1. ^ The History of the Descendants of John Dwight, of Dedham, Mass., Benjamin Woodbridge Dwight, New York, 1874
  2. ^ Obituary of Richard Morris Hunt, The New York Times, August 1, 1895
  3. ^ Miller, Sara Cedar: Central Park, An American Masterpiece p. 57. Harry N. Abrams, Inc, 2003 ISBN 0-8109-3946-0.
  4. ^ [1] History of the Municipal Art Society (official site)

External links

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