His most significant surviving building is the
Union League of Philadelphia (1864–65), a High Victorian,
Second Empire gentlemen's club constructed of brick and brownstone.
His career is overshadowed by that of his former student and one-time partner,
Frank Furness (Fraser, Furness & Hewitt: 1867-71), whose influence is visible in Fraser's Washington, D.C. mansions for
James G. Blaine and John T. Brodhead.[1]
He served as acting supervisory architect for the U.S. Treasury (December 1878 - May 1879), created a master plan for the
U.S. Capitol grounds, submitted among others a design for the
Washington Monument[2] and served later on the commission to complete
Robert Mills's project of the Washington Monument.
He maintained a residence in
Riverton, New Jersey, and designed a number of buildings there. By 1888, he had entered into a partnership with his son Archibald, and continued working until about 1902.[3]
^George E. Thomas, Jeffrey A. Cohen & Michael J. Lewis, Frank Furness: the Complete Works (Princeton University Architectural Press, 1991 revised 1996), p. 305.
^Henry van Brunt:
The Washington Monument.,
Internet Archives, „American Art and Art Collections“, Walter Montgomery (Editor), E. W. Walker and Company, Boston 1889, page 360.
^John Fraser from Philadelphia Architects & Buildings