Francis H. Kimball

Reading Terminal Headhouse, 1115-41 Market St., Philadelphia, PA (1891-93). Now part of the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

Francis Hatch Kimball (1845–1919) was an American architect practicing in New York City, best known for his work on skyscrapers in lower Manhattan and terra-cotta ornamentation. He was an associate with the firm Kimball & Thompson. His work includes the Empire Building, Manhattan Life Insurance Building, and Casino Theatre (Broadway).

Life

Kimball was born in Kennebunk, Maine. He went on to study architecture in England, and his former Catholic Apostolic Church (New York City) (1897) was praised by influential architectural critic Montgomery Schuyler as "no more scholarly Gothic work in New York."[1]

Kimball was a pioneer in the use of ornamental terra-cotta in the United States, evident on the Corbin Building, on a striking row of townhouses that he designed at 133-143 West 122nd Street in Harlem, and on the Montauk Club in Park Slope, Brooklyn. A 1917 New York Times article describing him as the "father of the skyscraper" notes his bankruptcy.

Works before 1892

Works as part of Kimball & Thompson (1892-1898)

From 1892 to 1898, he was part of Kimball & Thompson which built:

Works after 1898

Empire Building, Broadway and Rector St (Photographed 1898)

References

Notes

  1. 1 2 Gray, Christopher. New York Streetscapes: Tales of Manhattan’s Significant Buildings and Landmarks. (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2003), p.163.
  2. Stern, Robert A. M., Mellins, Thomas, and Fishman, David. New York 1880: Architecture and Urbanism in the Gilded Age. (New York: The Monacelli Press, 1999), p.896
  3. "Landmarks Preservation: EMPIRE BUILDING" (PDF). Landmarks Preservation Commission. June 25, 1996. Retrieved 2009-04-04.
  4. "Emporis: Kimball and Thompson". Emporis.com. Retrieved 2009-04-04.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 |Office for Metropolitan History, "Manhattan NB Database 1900-1986," (7 Feb 2010)


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