William Strickland The First Native American Architeci and Enfjineer By TOSEPH JACKSON Philadelphia MCMXXII CORNELL UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE LIBRARY William Strickland The First Native American Architect and Engineer By JOSEPH JACKSON Philadelphia MCMXXII nly -fifty copies This is No.../..f Only fifty copies printed. :i: f/^/L^4^*^ The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924015658606 -tar, William Strickland WILLIAM STRICKLAND SEVENTY-FIVE years ago Philadelphia was regarded as the Athens of America, owing to its pre-eminence in literature and the classic simplicity of its architecture, which, as was only logical in a city which had some of the best examples of Georgian, or Colonial, buildings to be found in the country at that time, was strongly impregnated with Greek forms. When the history of the architecture of Philadelphia is written— some persons may be of the belief that it has been attempted once or twice — it will be plain that the influence that animated all the early structural design after the city had begun the erection of great public buildings is traceable to one or two men. The flrst of these, in point of chronology, is the English architect and engineer, Benjamin Henry Latrobe, and second, his most eminent pupil, William Strickland. Our art annals have dealt rather shabbily with Strickland, and yet there remain even now, more distinguished ex- amples of his work than of any other early Amer- ican architect and engineer. As an illustration of how Strickland has been handled by the average biographical dictionary. Simpson's Lives of Eminent Philadelphians Lately Deceased, which was published the year of Strick- land's death, devotes nine lines to his work, while the mere catalogue of the great buildings he erect- ed in his native city alone could not be listed in such short space. Dunlap, in his History of the Arts of Design, gave eleven lines to William Strickland, and three lines to his brother George. It should be said in defense of Dunlap, however, that he confesses his letters of inquiry to the arch- itect were ignored. Appleton's Cyclopaedia of American Biography contains a notice of about the same length. That Strickland's work is un- known in his own city is not therefore remark- able, but the last city in which he worked at his profession, paid him the distinguished honor of laying him to rest in a crypt in the building he had designed— the Capitol at Nashville, Tenn. It should be mentioned that there are a half-a-dozen valuable references to Strickland in Scharf & Westcott's "History of Philadelphia." William Strickland was the son of a success- ful builder — but they did not call them that in those days. He himself gave his business as that of house carpenter. He was a charter member of the House Carpenters' Society, the rival of the Carpenters' Company, and when the society pub- lished its book of prices in 1812, the first chal- lenge to the methods pursued by the older organi- zation, William Strickland made the designs for the plates which illustrate it. One of these is particularly interesting, since it portrays a sec- tional view of the stairway in Independence Hall, although not so labelled. It proves, however, that even in 1812 Strickland had been studying the architectural details of the old State House, which he was to make better known throughout the world, by capping its tower with a steeple that has given character to the building and has ever since been a kind of trade-mark for Philadelphia and a symbol for the nation. Willam Strickland was born in Philadelphia in 1787, but it is not known exactly where. The di- rectories for 1785 do not contain the name of John Strickland, although they do list a Widow Strick- land, who may have been William's grandmother, living in a house on Second street south of Chest- nut. In the directory for 1791, the next directory for Philadelphia that was published, contains the name of John Strickland, house carpenter, who is described as living at number 12 Spruce street, at that time a tavern kept by Valentine Peca, or Pecan. It was about nine years later that B. Henry Latrobe came to Philadelphia and took a house on Arch street near Ninth while he completed his great waterworks for Philadelphia. To his office came young Strickland, whom he regarded as very gifted but wayward. At this time it is evident that Strickland had thoughts of becoming a great painter; certainly all of his ideas at the time ran toward the graphic arts. When, in 1807, his father went to New York City to remodel the Park Theatre there at the instance of John J. Holland, an English architect and scene painter who had been brought to this country by Thomas Wignell, one of the first managers of the first Chestnut Street Theatre, he appears to have taken his son, William, with him. It was about this time that Dunlap remarks having seen Strickland in the scene room of the Park Theatre which Dun- lap managed, and mentions that he was working under Hugh Reinagle, a scene painter whom he probably had known in Philadelphia; because Reinagle had been scene painter at the Chestnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia, while that play- house was partly under his father's control. The senior Reinagle, an accomplished musician and conductor, was joint manager with Wignell. It was not until Strickland had reached ma- turity that we begin to find him actively engaged in architecture and engineering. It is true that he designed the Masonic Hall in Chestnut street between Seventh and Eighth streets, erected in 1810 and burned in 1819. This structure was Gothic in style, and consequently showed none of the classic Greek influence which Strickland must have imbibed in the office of the elder Latrobe. It should be understood that until Latrobe 8 came to Philadelphia the average public building erected here was the joint work of an amateur architect and a practical house carpenter, or builder. It is well known that the old State House, now Independence Hall, was erected from the de- sign of a lawyer, Andrew Hamilton ; that the mag- nificent facade of the first bank of the United States, now the Girard National Bank, was a suggestion of a wealthy gentleman, Samuel Blod- get, who gave the builder a picture of the Dublin Exchange for a pattern; that the front of the main building of the Pennsylvania Hospital, that is the Pine street facade, was designed by a tal- ented auctioneer, John' Dorsey, who,, evidently flushed with success, erected his historic Gothic Mansion on Chestnut street west of Twelfth street and gave Philadelphians for a generation some- thing to talk about. It was far and wide adver- tised as a perfect example of Gothic style. An engraving of this abnormal building was given in a number of the Port Folio in 1816. Mr. Dorsey also supplied the architectural design for the old Market street bridge across the Schuylkill river, always called the Permanent Bridge. Philadelphia was thirsting for tasteful archi- tecture at the moment that Strickland appears on the scene. The psychological hour and the man fortunately were to meet. Even Latrobe admits that the design of his first architectural work in Independence Haij. this country, and one structure that was for many- years admired— the Pennsylvania Bank, on Sec- ond street north of Walnut street, was suggested by the president of that institution, Samuel M. Fox, who insisted on something after the Greek. Latrobe was a trained architect and engineer when he came to this country, and his influence was immediately ^felt. Designs of our public buildings at once improved, not only that, but the opportunity to have a building properly designed created a demand for improvements, and they were made. Latrobe was active in the establish- ment of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and, in addition to teaching classes there, on more than one occasion delivered addresses on the general subject of the state of art in this country and how it might be developed. Strickland was an active, imaginative young man; and one who just overflowed with energy. In the realm of art he was at home, whether paint- ing a landscape or a portrait; drafting a bridge or a bank or engraving in line or aquatint. In this latter process he became one of the most suc- cessful engravers of his time. However, it is Strickland, the architect and engineer, that prob- ably will last longest in fame, but it should be mentioned that between the years 1811 and 1820 he engraved many plates for the magazines here, notably the Port Folio and the Analectic. He also 11 engraved, in aquatint, the 14 plates which iUus- trate Captain David Porter's "Journal of a Cruise Made to the Pacific Ocean in the Years 1812, 1813 and 1814," which was published in 1815. Some of these plates were afterwards used in the Port Folio to illustrate reviews of the book. Strickland engraved many pictures of sea- fights, after paintings by William Birch, as well as of frontier forts, that figured in the War of 1812. He painted and engraved a portrait of Commodore Perry, and engraved for the Port Folio a portrait of Captain Meriwether Lewis, after St. Memin. A large folding plate of Wash- ington Hall, from a drawing by his brother George adorns one of the number's of the Port Folio for the year 1816. All the while Strickland was engraving plates for publication he was engaged as an architect, with his office on Arch street between Ninth and Tenth streets. He designed and superintended the erection of the following public buildings in Phil- adelphia : Old Masonic Hall, in Chestnut street. Second Chestnut Street Theatre, Chestnut and Sixth streets. First United States Custom House, on Second street. St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, Tenth street north of Chestnut. 12 St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Third street, south of Walnut (remodeling). Philadelphia Bank, Fourth and Chestnut streets. Mechanics' Bank, Third street, south of Mar- ket street. Arch Street Theatre, Arch street near Sixth. State House steeple (Independence Hall). Musical Fund Hall, Locust street west of teighth. United States Naval Asylum, Gray's Ferry Road and Bainbridge street. University of Pennsylvania, Ninth street > south of Market. Blockley Almshouse, Thirty-fourth and Pine streets. Bank of the United States (present Custom House). Merchants' Exchange, Dock and Walnut streets. United States Mint, Juniper and Chestnut streets. Friends' Asylum, Frankford. Mickve Israel Synagogue, Cherry street west of Third. It is interesting to note that of this list of 18 buildings erected nearly a century ago, eleven are still in existence, although some of these have been 13 St. I'aiti/s Enscoi'AL Chukch subject to alterations in the meantime. It appears that after returning from the Park Theatre, where he was engaged in painting scenes in company with Hugh Reinagle, young Strick- land opened a studio in Philadelphia on Arch street, near Tenth. In the directory for 1809 he is described as "landscape painter, etc., 262 Mul- berry street." During the next two years he con- tinued to be designated in this way. There was no directory issued for the year 1812, but in the one issued for 1813 we first find William Strick- land definitely set down as Architect. Thereafter he is designated as architect and engineer, and the loss that American landscape painting suf- fered, if it is at all computable, is entirely offset by the great gain the country made by the addi- tion of Strickland to its engineers, builders and architects. It may be calmly said that Strickland gave to his native city much of the dignity and fame it enjoyed for two generations for the high character of its architecture. He left Philadel- phia a tradition that never has been entirely for- gotten by the members of his profession. While Strickland set up for architect in 1813, it will be recalled that at the time the War of 1812 was on, and the country was naturally not think- ing of building projects. It is not possible now to make anything like a complete list of the build- ings that Strickland designed and constructed, 15 but from obvious data, his first important public work of architecture was the Masonic Hall on Chestnut street," west of Seventh, which was erected in 1809-10, and burned in 1819. The next important structure with which he was connected as principal constructor was the Friends' Asylum, at Frankford. This hospital was erected in 1817, at a period when Strickland still was devoting some of his time to engraving aquatints. In 1818 he designed the first Custom House, Second street south of Dock. The Second Bank of the United States having been authorized by Congress and the building occupied by the First Bank having become the property of Stephen Girard, it became necessary to build a new bank and Strickland was selected as archi- tect and engineer. At the suggestion of Nicholas Biddle, it is said, a classic style of architecture was used. The front of the building, which the present generation knows as the Custom House, on Chestnut street east of Fifth, was a free copy of the Parthenon and seems to have set the stamp of approval for the Classic style on subsequent jpublic buildings erected in Philadelphia. Begun in 1819, the bank building was not fin- ished until the year 1824, and in the meantime Strickland was engaged in many other undertafc- igs of a large character. At this time he was not only the most prominent architect and engineer 16