Product Description

Richard Morris Hunt is the definitive biography of the man who was widely regarded by his contemporaries as the dean of American architects and who was a seminal figure in establishing architecture as a profession in the United States. Covering all of Hunt's major commissions—including his famous fifth Avenue mansions and Newport "cottages"—the book provides a fresh look at the artistic achievements of America's Gilded Age.

Paul Baker's reassessment of Hunt's works naturally covers his most famous buildings, such as The Breakers and Marble House in Newport, Biltmore House in North Carolina, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the base for the Statue of Liberty. But it also reveals Hunt's designs for houses on a more intimate scale, public buildings and monuments, and commercial structures.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1512990 in Books
• Published on: 1986-03-20
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 604 pages

Review
"An excellent biography... a book I recommend to those whose interest in American architecture is more than just casual."
— Russell Lynes, Architectural Digest

"This excellent architectural biography is a well-produced book with an elaborate format."
— Paul Goldberger, The New York Times Book Review

About the Author
Paul R. Baker is Professor of History and Director of the American Civilization Program at New York University.

Customer Reviews

The `Dean' of American Architects
This is an excellent portrait of the quintessential Gilded Age society architect: a man famous for some of the best-loved Newport and Asheville mansions, as well as the base of Bartholdi's `Statue of Liberty' and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Each is amply discussed in this text, as well as a diverse array of other work (housing, churches, schools, hospitals, libraries, civic monuments, etc).

Hunt's practice (1855-94) illustrates a nascent American profession. It encouraged close collaboration with associated fields (sculptors, artists, landscape architects), implementation of professional standards (drawings and specifications, fee structures, competition judgment, design copyright), social networking (Century Association, Union League, American Institute of Architects), and encouragement of American-based training (MIT, the first architectural school, was founded in 1868) combined with foreign study (the American Academy in Rome).

Trained at the École des Beaux-Arts, Hunt had the talent (and good fortune) to form close links with immensely wealthy patrons like the Astors and Vanderbilts. He was not untouched by tragedy: his father (a Vermont lawyer and US congressman) died when he was five years old, and two brothers committed suicide. Nonetheless, he built a famous firm and an envied portfolio. Two sons carried on his work, and his legacy is still widely enjoyed today.

Published in 1980, this (hardcover) edition includes a lucid 461 page text, 125 illustrations, and an appendix with a chronological list of works.

Highly recommended.

Readers may also want to consult `The Architecture of Richard Morris Hunt' edited Susan R. Stein (University of Chicago Press 1986) for a collection of essays and larger folio prints (including Hunt's travel sketches and student work at the École des Beaux-Arts).

Richard Morris Hunt in Detail
This is an excellent biography if you have a serious interest in Hunt. It spares no details and is quite long. I didn't like the way the pages were set up, the words were too close to the binding to read at ease.