Richard Upjohn & Son

Richard Upjohn & Son
Name	Richard Upjohn & Son
Founded	1859
Location	New York City, United States
Founders	Richard Upjohn; Richard Michell Upjohn
Dissolution	1895 (approx.)
Significant buildings	Trinity Church, St. James' Church, Boston Public Library, Kingscote
Significant projects	Gothic Revival commissions

Richard Upjohn & Son

Richard Upjohn & Son was a 19th-century American architectural firm based in New York City formed by the partnership of English-born architect Richard Upjohn and his son Richard Michell Upjohn. The firm operated during a period of intense urban growth and ecclesiastical patronage, contributing to the dissemination of Gothic Revival architecture in the United States and participating in institutional commissions across the Northeastern United States. Its practice intersected with prominent clients, professional organizations, and contemporaneous architects shaping built environments in Boston, Providence, Philadelphia, and other cities.

History

The partnership emerged from the established practice of Richard Upjohn after his successful work on Trinity Church and other ecclesiastical commissions, and it formalized with the entry of Richard Michell Upjohn into the firm in the 1850s. During the American Civil War era the firm navigated patronage networks linked to Episcopalian congregations such as St. James' Church and benefactors active in Newport, Rhode Island and Boston. Through the Reconstruction era and the Gilded Age the office accepted commissions ranging from parish churches to country houses connected to families like the Coggeshalls, Vanderbilts, and other New England and New York elites. The firm dissolved as architectural practice structures evolved late in the 19th century and as the younger Upjohn pursued independent projects and academic engagement with institutions such as the American Institute of Architects.

Firm Members and Leadership

Founders included Richard Upjohn, who emigrated from England and became a leading advocate for medieval precedent in American church design, and his son Richard Michell Upjohn, who trained in the firm and later expanded its portfolio. Associates, draftsmen, and collaborators who cycled through the office connected the firm to figures active in the AIA and regional architectural debates; these networks overlapped with contemporaries including Alexander Jackson Davis, Calvert Vaux, James Renwick Jr., and Henry Hobson Richardson. Clients and patrons who influenced project scope included members of the Episcopal Church, trustees from institutions like the Boston Public Library, and civic leaders in municipalities such as Providence, Rhode Island, Hartford, Connecticut, and Charleston, South Carolina.

Architectural Works and Notable Projects

The firm's work encompassed parish churches, rectories, country houses, and institutional buildings. Notable ecclesiastical commissions included projects in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Rochester, New York that adhered to medieval models popularized in England by figures such as Augustus Pugin and George Gilbert Scott. Country-house work linked the office to coastal estates in Newport, Rhode Island and suburban developments around Boston, contributing to houses comparable in social context to Kingscote and residences associated with families like the Astors and Bings. Institutional work intersected with civic collections such as the Boston Public Library and academic campuses including Yale University and Columbia University through smaller ancillary commissions. Restoration and alteration work connected the firm to projects involving preservation-minded owners and municipal authorities in cities like Philadelphia and Baltimore.

Design Style and Influence

The firm championed the principles of Gothic Revival architecture in the United States, translating medieval parish prototypes into American liturgical and social contexts; this aligned them with the ecclesiological movement led by clergy and scholars in the Episcopal Church and parish patrons influenced by John Henry Newman and the Oxford Movement. Stylistically their designs employed pointed arches, lancet windows, steeply pitched roofs, buttresses, and polychrome masonry that echoed precedents established by Richard Upjohn's earlier works and by British models such as St. Mary’s Church, Studley Royal. The firm’s aesthetic also engaged with contemporaneous American stylistic currents, including echoes of Picturesque movement principles advocated by Andrew Jackson Downing and ornamental approaches seen in works by Calvert Vaux and Alexander Jackson Davis.

Business Operations and Collaborations

Operating from a New York office, the firm combined commission-based practice with publication, pattern-book distribution, and participation in professional fora like the American Institute of Architects. Collaborations occurred with contractors, stained-glass studios, and landscape designers; suppliers and firms such as the Louis Comfort Tiffany studios, regional stonecutters in Connecticut and New Jersey, and carpentry shops in Boston frequently executed their designs. The office maintained correspondence with diocesan bodies, municipal boards, and patron committees to secure commissions and oversaw construction administration in locations ranging from Albany, New York to Providence, Rhode Island. Their project delivery reflected mid-19th-century professionalization trends that paralleled the emergence of architectural education at institutions like Columbia University and Harvard University.

Legacy and Preservation

Richard Upjohn & Son's surviving buildings contribute to historic districts and National Register listings across the Northeast, influencing later architects such as Henry Hobson Richardson and informing preservation efforts by organizations like the National Trust for Historic Preservation and local historical societies in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New York State. Their churches continue to function as liturgical centers and community landmarks, while domestic commissions provide study material for scholars at institutions including the Society of Architectural Historians, The Architectural League of New York, and university archives at Yale University and Columbia University. Conservation campaigns, adaptive reuse projects, and documentary research sustain the firm’s visibility within nineteenth-century American architectural historiography.

Category:Architectural firms of the United States Category:19th-century architecture in the United States