num_pages: 295
description: The New York Times called Charles Bulfinch "the greatest American architect of his day," a man who "towered unmistakably above all others" in the task of bringing beauty and elegance to the Puritan architectural forms of his native New England. Born into a distinguished Boston family in 1763, Bulfinch spent two significant years touring Great Britain where he was greatly inspired by "the wonders of British architecture," and particularly by the graceful, classical structures of Sir Christopher Wren. Returning to a New England which was slowly abandoning the Puritan influence of the Colonial Period, he became the architect of transition-the man who would design the basic structure of a new, American city. Bulfinch's first executed design, the Hollis Street Church in Boston, reflected his belief that churches should be built in "a genuine church style," rather than in the hard, boxlike "meeting house" style of the Puritans. The elegant, genteel town houses which he built on Beacon Hill set the architectural standards for all of Boston in the early part of the nineteenth century, and along with his church design, their influences is still very much in evidence in the older parts of many New England cities. Bulfinch's work, it was found, was so simple and graceful that it actually harmonized with the styles of subsequent architectural periods, including the Greek Revival. Charles Place's biography of Charles Bulfinch is a fascinating, knowledgeable history of Bulfinch's public and artistic life. Containing 126 illustrations of his buildings and plans, and portraits of him and his contemporaries.
language: English
title: Charles Bulfinch-architect And Citizen
titlecomplete: Charles Bulfinch-architect And Citizen
ratings_count: 1
publisher: Da Capo Press