page_title: Frederick Lothrop Ames
section_title: Art collector and architecture patron
hierarchical_section_title: Frederick Lothrop Ames / Business interests / Art collector and architecture patron
caption_attribution_description: Photograph of a stained glass window entitled "Angel of Help" by John LaFarge (1835-1910), made 1886, in the Unity Church, North Easton, Massachusetts, USA. Window restored by Victor Rothman for Stained Glass, Yonkers, NY
context_page_description: Frederick Lothrop Ames was heir to a fortune in railroads and shovel manufacturing. He was Vice President of the Old Colony Railroad and director of the Union Pacific railroad. At the time of his death, Ames was reported to be the wealthiest person in Massachusetts.
context_section_description: Ames was known widely as an art collector. He was a trustee of Boston's Museum of Fine Art, and gave the museum a number of artworks including several large jades and crystals. Ames also donated two Rembrandts, portraits of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp and his wife dated 1632.
  Ames' collection also included "Pointer Dog" by Constant Troyon, "Tiger Hunt" by Eugène Fromentin, several landscapes by Charles-François Daubigny, and several other paintings by French Romanticists. On October 6, 1885, the Ames estate in North Easton was robbed of several paintings, including "Teybeck at Brousic" by Stanisław Chlebowski, and "Goose Girl" by Jean-François Millet.
  In 1882, Ames commissioned artist John La Farge to design a large stained glass window in Unity Church of North Easton as a memorial to his only sister, Helen Angier Ames. The work is called Angel of Help.
  Frederick (and others in the Ames family) commissioned architect Henry Hobson Richardson to build several buildings. The first was Ames Free Library, built with a $50,000 bequest from his father (Oliver Jr.)'s will. Construction was started 1878 and completed 1883. Perhaps the most notable was the Ames Building in Boston, built by Richardson's firm after his death. It was for many years the tallest skyscraper in Boston.
caption: Angel of Help by John La Farge, commissioned by Ames to honor his late sister Helen
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