Houghton Library collection of photographs of Henry Hobson Richardson architectural projects
Overview
Photographs of architectural projects of American architect Henry Hobson Richardson.
Dates
- Creation: 1870-1974
Language of Materials
Collection materials are in English.
Conditions Governing Access
Access restricted: original photographs may be consulted only by prior arrangement and with the permission of the Curator of Printing and Graphic Arts.
Conditions Governing Use
Images linked to the finding aid describing this collection are intended for public access and educational use. This material is owned and/or held by the Houghton Library, and is provided solely for the purpose of teaching or individual research. Any other use, including commercial reuse, mounting on other systems, or other forms of redistribution requires the permission of the curator.
Extent
4 linear feet (10 boxes)Interior and exterior photographs of architectural projects of American architect Henry Hobson Richardson. Includes photographs of architectural drawings, some from published source, and of buildings soon after their completion. Some photographs are of Richardson, his friends, and clients. Includes original photographs and collotypes reproducing drawings and early photographs, many with manuscript inscriptions.
Biographical / Historical
The architect Henry Hobson Richardson (1838-1886) was born and raised in Louisiana. He attended Harvard College and was the second American to enroll in the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Upon his return in 1866, he opened a small office in New York City in partnership with Charles Gambrill. In 1872 he received the design commission for Trinity Church in Boston and in 1874 he moved his home and office to Brookline to handle his growing practice in New England. The following years were to be the busiest and most successful years of his career until ill health caused his premature death in 1886 at the age of forty-seven. Richardson is known for his re-interpretation of French Romanesque architecture, called Richardson Romanesque.
Arrangement
Arranged into the following series:
- Richardson projects
- ___Connecticut
- ___Illinois
- ___Massachusetts
- ___New York
- ___Ohio
- ___Pennsylvania
- ___Boston and Albany Railroad Stations
- Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge projects
- ___Connecticut
- ___Pennsylvania
The architectural projects are arranged according to their geographical location except for the Boston and Albany railroad station projects listed at the end of the Richardson projects series. The building codes following the project names are those used in the H. H. Richardson Drawings Collection (MS Typ 1096). Projects without a building code are not represented in the H. H. Richardson Drawings Collection.
Physical Location
PF (Lamont E7)
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Henry Richardson Shepley, 1942.
Bibliography
- OCHSNER: Ochsner, Jeffrey Karl. H. H. Richardson, complete architectural works. [Cambridge, MA: MIT Press], c1982.
- O'GORMAN: O'Gorman, James F. H. H. Richardson and his office: a centennial of his move to Boston, 1874: selected drawings. [Cambridge, Mass.]: Department of Printing and Graphic Arts, Harvard College Library, 1974.
Processing Information
Processed by: Caroline Duroselle-Melish
- Title
- Houghton Library, collector. Houghton Library collection of photographs of Henry Hobson Richardson architectural projects, 1870-1974 (MS Typ 1070): Guide.
- Status
- completed
- Author
- Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- hou01926
Repository Details
Part of the Houghton Library Repository
Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.
Houghton Library’s Reading Room is free and open to all who wish to use the library’s collections.
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