Copy Richard Upjohn, Architect [1802-1878]

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Richard Upjohn

Richard Upjohn, Architect [1802-1878]

Born in England in 1802, Richard Upjohn was trained and worked as a cabinet maker. Sometime before 1830 he moved his family first to New Bedford, Massachusetts, then to Boston (where he worked with architect Alexander Parris, and ultimately, to New York where he made his mark as designer of the iconic Trinity Church, 79 Broadway, which "looks down" Manhattan's Wall Street.

Many of Upjohn's projects — mainly churches and private residences — are found in the northeast and in North Carolina.

In 1852 he published Upjohn's Rural Architecture: Designs, Working Drawings, and Specifications for a Wooden Church and Other Rural Structures.

In 1857 he co-founded the American Institute of Architects, serving as its first president.

Upjohn's son (Richard, 1828-1903) and grandson (Hobart, 1876-1949) both became architects.