John Haviland (December 15, 1792 – March 28, 1852) was an English-born American architect who was a major figure in American
Neo-Classical architecture, and one of the most notable architects working from Philadelphia during the nineteenth century.[1]
Biography
Born December 15, 1792, at Gundenham, near
Wellington, England, Haviland was apprenticed in 1811 to a London architect. In 1815, he unsuccessfully pursued an appointment to the Russian Imperial Corps of Engineers. In Russia, however, he met
George von Sonntag and
John Quincy Adams, who encouraged him to work in the United States. He arrived in Philadelphia in 1816, and soon established himself as one of the few professional architects in the city.
By 1818, Haviland produced a book, The Builder's Assistant, which appeared in three volumes over several years. This publication was one of the earliest architectural pattern books written and published in North America, and likely the first to include Greek and Roman
classical orders.
During this time, Haviland unwisely speculated financially on his own projects, including commercial arcades in Philadelphia and New York, as well as an amusement park. He was eventually forced into bankruptcy, tarnishing his professional reputation in Philadelphia. Elsewhere, however, Haviland's reputation as a designer of prisons brought him important commissions, including the New Jersey Penitentiary,
The Tombs in New York City, and prisons in Missouri, Rhode Island, and Arkansas.
Edward Haviland, also a prison architect, was born to John as well.[5]
Death and interment
Haviland died in Philadelphia on March 28, 1852, and was buried in the family vault at St. Andrews Church in Philadelphia (now the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of St. George). That vault had been designed by Haviland himself.[6]
Architectural work, partial listing
Philadelphia buildings
Additions & alterations to
Old City Hall, 5th & Chestnut Sts., Philadelphia (1820).
First Presbyterian Church (Washington Square Presbyterian), SE corner 7th & Locust Sts., Philadelphia (1820–22, demolished 1939).
St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, 256 S. 8th St., Philadelphia (1822–23). Now Greek Orthodox Cathedral of St. George.
Art and the empire city: New York, 1825-1861, an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Haviland (see index)