The Drawings of Architect Henry Hobson Richardson

Talk Highlights:

• Join authors Jay Wickersham, Chris Milford, and Hope Mayo as they discuss their new book about architect Henry Hobson Richardson, the greatest American architect of the 19th century and an inspiration to Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright
• Hear about Richardson’s friendship and artistic partnership with Frederick Law Olmsted, the creator of Central Park and his neighbor on Staten Island
• See the extraordinary drawings for Richardson’s & Olmsted’s collaborations on the Buffalo State Insane Asylum and the New York State Capitol in Albany, as well as many other Gilded Age landmarks designed by Richardson
• Learn how Richardson shaped the artistry and careers of his young assistants Charles McKim and Stanford White, who would become New York’s leading architects of the next generation

About this Event:

Architectural historians Jay Wickersham, Chris Milford, and Hope Mayo will share visual treasures from the Henry Hobson Richardson drawings collection housed in Harvard’s Houghton Rare Book Library – ranging from Richardson’s own concept sketches, to beautiful ink and watercolor studies by McKim, White, and other gifted young architects who began their careers in his studio. The drawings are featured in the authors' recently released book, Henry Hobson Richardson: Drawings from the Collection of Houghton Library, Harvard University.

About the authors:

Jay Wickersham is an architect, lawyer, and architectural historian who taught for many years as a professor of architecture in practice at Harvard. 

Chris Milford is a partner in the architectural firm of Milford & Ford Associates, specializing in historic preservation and restoration. Wickersham and Milford have co-authored multiple articles on Richardson’s work, and were instrumental in preserving five Richardson buildings and associated Olmsted landscapes in the town of North Easton, Massachusetts.

Hope Mayo, a renowned expert in rare books, drawings, prints, and manuscripts, is the former Curator of Printing and Graphic Arts at Harvard’s Houghton Library, where she oversaw the Richardson collection.

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Photo Credits

Header Image: Andrews House north elevation. Presentation drawing of near-final design, probably by McKim. P. 43

Gallery, clockwise from top left:

1. Andrews House north elevation. Presentation drawing of near-final design, probably by McKim.
2. Book Cover
3. Rendered perspective of dining room fireplace by White. P. 91
4. Richardson in business dress. Photographed by Marian (Clover) Hooper Adams, at the Adamses’ house in Washington, D.C., January 18, 1884.
   P. 13
5. Billings Memorial Library, University of Vermont. Cutaway perspective study of reading room with apsidal bay
6. Brookline studio staff, c. 1886, including Robert D. Andrews, William Welles Bosworth, Charles A. Coolidge, Alfred O. Elzner, John Evans, John G. Howard, Alexander W. Longfellow, and Charles H. Rutan.
   P. 28
7. Marshall Field Wholesale Store, Chicago, study of front (Adams Street) elevation. P. 36-37, 201