The Architect The Architecture The Hospital

The Architect Henry Hobson Richardson was born in Louisiana on September 29, 1838, a descendant on his mother's side of Joseph Priestley (who is credited with the discovery of oxygen and the invention of soda pop). Henry Hobson Richardson, known as "Fez" to his family and friends, was raised in New Orleans, but spent quite a bit of time at his grandparents' property in St. James Parish.. After spending some months at New Orleans College (now Tulane University), in 1856, HHR went to Harvard to study. As a handsome, wealthy, charming and athletic youth, Richardson’s student years at Harvard were noted for their celebrations—not scholarship. While his academic career was nothing to brag about, he did manage to make contacts that would sustain his architectural career throughout the remainder of his short life. After graduation from Harvard, Richardson went to Paris to study architecture at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. The Civil War kept Richardson in Paris. Upon returning to the United States, he began making his mark on American Architecture. His vision was eventually labeled the "Richardsonian" school. This vision mixed the Medieval Romanesque architecture of old with a newly fueled vision that was all his own. Richardson created a studio intended to resemble an artist's atelier, "where one lived and felt art, and the hours did not count." He purposely situated it in Brookline, Mass., an out-of-the-way Boston suburb, so that clients would need to travel a distance to see him. When they arrived he made a point of dressing in his mystic robe to greet them and sounding a temple gong to summon his office boy. Visitors were made to feel like aesthetic pilgrims to that exotic domain. In addition to loyal and supportive clients, Richardson also attracted talented teammates. He was an acutely perceptive critic who seldom drew, so he nurtured the skills of fine draftsmen and artisans. His studio boasted many well-known talents including the young architects Charles McKim and Stanford White, sculptor Augustus Saint Gaudens, and designer William Morris. Even muralist Edward Burne-Jones worked for Richardson. In February 1859, before going to the Ecole des Beaux Arts , Richardson became engaged to Julia Hayden, the sister of one of his Harvard classmates. After returning to America and winning his first commission in 1866—Unity Church in Springfield, Massachusetts, he and Julia were married in January 1867. The couple had six children: Julia Hayden (b. 1867), John Cole Hayden (b. 1869), Mary Houghton (b. 1871), Henry Hyslop (b. 1872), Philip (b. 1874) and Frederick Leopold William (b. 1876). After living on Staten Island, the family moved to Brookline, Massachusetts in 1874, where Richardson would spend the remainder of his life. Richardson died April 27, 1886, at age 48, of Bright’s Disease—a chronic renal disorder. A man of great proportions: over six feet tall and well above 300 pounds, his life was a series of health problems.