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34-716: Davis was born in New York City and studied at the American Academy of Fine Arts, the New-York Drawing Association, and from the antique casts of the National Academy of Design . Dropping out of school, he became a lithographer and from 1826 he worked as a draftsman for Josiah R. Brady, a New York architect who was an early exponent of the Gothic Revival style . Brady's Gothic 1824 St. Luke's Episcopal Church

68-411: A designer of country houses. His villa "Lyndhurst" at Tarrytown, New York , is his most famous house. Many of his villas were built in the scenic Hudson River Valley —where his style informed the vernacular Hudson River Bracketed that gave Edith Wharton a title for a novel—but Davis sent plans and specifications to clients as far afield as Indiana. Around 1850, he designed Sharswood Plantation for

102-622: A domesticated Gothic Revival style, which could be executed in carpentry, and also containing the first of the Italianate style "Tuscan" villas, flat-roofed with wide overhanging eaves and picturesque corner towers. Unfortunately, the Panic of 1837 cut short his plans for a series of like volumes, but Davis soon formed a partnership with Andrew Jackson Downing , illustrating his widely read books. Additions to Vesper Cliff were built in 1834. The 1840s and 1850s were Davis's two most fruitful decades as

136-683: A new academy and the National Academy of Design was born. Morse had been a student at the Royal Academy in London and emulated its structure and goals for the National Academy of Design. The mission of the academy, from its foundation, was to "promote the fine arts in America through exhibition and education." In 2015, the academy struggled with financial hardship. In the next few years, it closed its museum and art school, and created an endowment through

170-591: A similar pavilion for his colleague and fellow NYYC founder, John Clarkson Jay , on Jay's Long Island Sound waterfront property in Rye, New York , in 1849. Although this building was taken down in the 1950s, the original setting and garden where it was once located is part of a National Historic Landmark site and open to the public. Inspired in part by friend Andrew Jackson Downing , Davis constructed several Gothic Revival cottage-style homes in Central New York , including

204-558: A singular history of American art and architecture as constructed by its creators. The academy organizes major exhibitions and loans their works to leading institutions around the world, in addition to providing resources that foster scholarship across disciplines. Among the teaching staff were numerous artists, including Will Hicok Low , who taught from 1889 to 1892. Another was Charles Louis Hinton, whose long tenure started in 1901. The famous American poet William Cullen Bryant also gave lectures. Architect Alexander Jackson Davis taught at

238-599: Is Whitby Castle, designed in 1852 for Davis' lifelong friend William Chapman. The building is part of the Boston Post Road Historic District (Rye, New York) and retains many original features. Today it is used as the clubhouse for the Rye Golf Club . Davis was invited to become a member of the American Institute of Architects shortly after its founding in 1857. In the late 1850s, Davis worked with

272-499: Is an honorary association of American artists , founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse , Asher Durand , Thomas Cole , Martin E. Thompson , Charles Cushing Wright , Ithiel Town , and others "to promote the fine arts in America through instruction and exhibition." Membership is limited to 450 American artists and architects, who are elected by their peers on the basis of recognized excellence. The original founders of

306-460: Is the oldest surviving structure in Rochester, New York . Davis made a first independent career as an architectural illustrator in the 1820s, but his friends, especially painter John Trumbull , convinced him to turn his hand to designing buildings. Picturesque siting, massing and contrasts remained essential to his work, even when he was building in a Classical style. In 1826, Davis began working in

340-581: The Dutch Reformed Church upriver in Newburgh, inspired by the Temple of Poseidon , both positioned for the viewing of maritime travelers. He continued in partnership with Town until shortly before Town's death in 1844. In 1831, he was elected an associate member of the National Academy. From 1835, Davis began work on his only publication, Rural Residences , the first pattern book for picturesque residences in

374-552: The 1850s created the first entirely Gothic revival college campus, built in brick and stuccoed to imitate stone. Davis's plan for the Barracks quadrangle was interrupted by the Civil War ; it was sympathetically completed to designs of Bertram Goodhue in the early 20th century. Davis is credited with coining the term " Collegiate Gothic ", documented in a handwritten description of his own "English Collegiate Gothic Mansion" of 1853 for

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408-632: The 1852-completed Reuel E. Smith House , which is included in the National Register of Historic Places . In 1851, Davis completed Winyah Park , one of approximately eighteen or more Italianate houses he designed in the 1850s. Winyah was built for Richard Lathers, who had studied architecture with Davis in New York in the 1830s. It was situated on Lathers's estate in the town of New Rochelle in Westchester County , New York. For this design Davis won

442-682: The Classical style. A series of consultations over state capitols followed, none apparently built entirely as Davis planned: the Indiana State House , Indianapolis (1831–1835), elicited calls for his advice and designs in building other state capitols in the 1830s: North Carolina's (1833–1840, with local architect David Paton), the Illinois State Capitol , often attributed entirely to the Springfield, Illinois architect John F. Rague , who

476-739: The Harrals of Bridgeport, Connecticut. He married Margaret Beale in 1853 and had two children. With the onset of Civil War in 1861, patronage in house building dried up, and after the war, new styles unsympathetic to Davis's nature were in vogue. In 1867, he designed the Hurst-Pierrepont Estate . In 1878, Davis closed his office. He built little in the last thirty years of his life, but spent his easy retirement in West Orange drawing plans for grandiose schemes that he never expected to build, and selecting and ordering his designs and papers, by which he

510-541: The National Academy of Design were students of the American Academy of the Fine Arts . However, by 1825 the students of the American Academy felt a lack of support for teaching from the academy, its board composed of merchants, lawyers, and physicians, and from its unsympathetic president, the painter John Trumbull . Samuel Morse and other students set about forming a drawing association to meet several times each week for

544-540: The Virginian planter Nathaniel Crenshaw Miller. He designed Blandwood , the 1846 home of Governor John Motley Morehead that stands as America's earliest Italianate Tuscan Villa. Innovative interior features, including his designs for mantels and sideboards , were also widely imitated in the trade. Other influential interior details include pocket shutters at windows, bay windows , and mirrored surfaces to reflect natural light. The Greek Revival style William Walsh House

578-452: The academy found its longstanding name "National Academy of Design", under which it was known to one and a half centuries. In 1997, newly appointed director Annette Blaugrund rebranded the institution as the "National Academy Museum and School of Fine Art", to reflect "a new spirit of integration incorporating the association of artists, museum, and school", and to avoid confusion with the now differently understood term " design ". This change

612-473: The academy occupied a mansion at 1083 Fifth Avenue , near 89th Street; it had been the home of sculptor Anna Hyatt Huntington and philanthropist Archer M. Huntington , who donated the house in 1940. The National Academy of Design shared offices and galleries with the National Arts Club located inside the historic Samuel J. Tilden House , 14-15 Gramercy Park South from 2019 until 2023. Currently

646-559: The academy. Painter Lemuel Wilmarth was the first full-time instructor. Silas Dustin was a curator. Vesper Cliff Vesper Cliff ( also known as Tioga Terrace , Glenbetsy , and Robert C. John House ) an architecturally distinguished Greek Revival-style residence located immediately outside of the Town of Owego in Tioga County, New York . The oldest part of the house was built in 1791 with an addition of "plank" construction which

680-556: The artist Frederic Remington purchased one of these cottages from which he created his estate "Endion", which served as the studio for most of his artistic career. The success of "Winyah Park" and "Lathers's Hill" generated other important commissions for Davis in New Rochelle, including two cottage-villas, Wildcliff and Sans Souci , which he designed for members of a prominent Davenport family. Both homes feature Davis's signature central gable . Another extant Gothic Revival commission

714-416: The basis of recognized excellence. Full members of the National Academy are identified by the post-nominal "NA" (National Academician), associates by "ANA". At the heart of the National Academy is their ever-growing collection. Academicians choose and contribute a work of their own creation, building upon the academy's distinguished legacy. Today, their permanent collection totals over 8,000 works and tells

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748-657: The entrepreneur Llewellyn S. Haskell to create Llewellyn Park in West Orange, New Jersey , a garden suburb that was one of the first planned residential communities in the United States. Davis designed buildings for the University of Michigan in 1838, and in the 1840s he designed buildings for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill . At the Virginia Military Institute , Jackson's designs from 1848 through

782-703: The first architectural prize at the New York World's Fair of 1853–1854. He used its most striking feature, two adjacent yet contrasting towers, in a much larger house named Grace Hill, built in Brooklyn between 1853 and 1854. In both Winyah and Grace Hill, broad octagonal towers serve as visual anchors for the taller square towers. Lathers later employed Davis to design four additional "investment houses" on his property which became known as "Lathers's Hill" . The homes included two Gothic cottages and "Tudor Villa" constructed in 1858, and "Pointed Villa" constructed in 1859. In 1890,

816-553: The first recognizably modern architectural office and designed many late Classical buildings, including some of public prominence. In Washington, Davis designed the Executive Department offices and with Robert Mills the first Patent Office building (1834–1836). He also designed the Custom House of New York City (1833–1842). Bridgeport City Hall , constructed in 1853 and 1854, is a later government building Davis designed in

850-406: The home of the National Academy of Design is at 519 West 26th Street, 2nd Floor with offices as well as meeting, event and exhibition space. The academy is a professional honorary organization, with a school and a museum. One cannot apply for membership, which since 1994, after many changes in numbers, is limited to 450 American artists and architects. Instead, members are elected by their peers on

884-509: The office of Ithiel Town and Martin E. Thompson, the most prestigious architectural firm of the Greek Revival . In the office Davis had access to the best architectural library in the country, in a congenial atmosphere where he gained a thorough grounding. They designed Sachem's Wood in New Haven, Connecticut, which was built from 1820 to 1830. From 1829, in partnership with Town, Davis formed

918-408: The rhythm of the central portico , all under a unique drum capped by a low saucer dome. With Town's partner James Dakin, he designed the noble colossal Corinthian order of the Greek Revival " Colonnade Row " on New York's Lafayette Street, the very first apartments designed for the prosperous American middle class (1833, half still standing). Two years after its completion, Davis was hired to design

952-468: The sale of its New York real estate holdings. Today, the academy advocates for the arts as a tool for education, celebrates the role of artists and architects in public life, and serves as a catalyst for cultural conversations that propel society forward. According to the academy, its 450 National Academicians "are professional artists and architects who are elected to membership by their peers annually." After three years and some tentative names, in 1828

986-410: The study of the art of design. Still, the association was viewed as a dependent organization of the American Academy, from which they felt neglected. An attempt was made to reconcile differences and maintain a single academy by appointing six of the artists from the association as directors of the American Academy. When four of the nominees were not elected, however, the frustrated artists resolved to form

1020-437: Was added in 1834, a monumental temple-fronted addition designed by architect Alexander Jackson Davis . Also on the property is an unusual barn with a distinctive neoclassical facade treatment (barn has since collapsed), as well as a chicken coop and ice house . It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005. This article about a historic property or district in Tioga County , New York , that

1054-663: Was at work on the Iowa State Capitol at the same time, and in 1839, the committee responsible for commissioning a design for the Ohio Statehouse asked his advice. The resulting capitol in Columbus, Ohio, often attributed to the Hudson River School painter Thomas Cole consulting with Davis and Ithiel Town , has a stark Greek Doric order colonnade across a recessed entrance, flanked by recessed window bays that continue

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1088-618: Was built at Albany, New York , and Gothic Revival style Belmead was built near Powhatan, Virginia , in 1845. Two smaller but well known structures designed by Davis include one built for John Cox Stevens in 1845; Stevens was the first Commodore of the New York Yacht Club and the small Carpenter Gothic building on his property near Hoboken was given to NYYC to be used as its first clubhouse. This building, fondly called "Station 10", still exists and can be found in Newport. Davis built

1122-937: Was determined to be remembered. They are shared by four New York institutions: the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library at Columbia University , the New York Public Library , the New-York Historical Society , and the Metropolitan Museum of Art . A further collection of Davis material has been assembled at the Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library . Davis is interred in Bloomfield Cemetery in Bloomfield, New Jersey . National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design

1156-699: Was reversed in 2017. The academy occupied several locations in Manhattan over the years. Notable among them was a building on Park Avenue and 23rd Street designed by architect P. B. Wight and built 1863–1865 in a Venetian Gothic style modeled on the Doge's Palace in Venice . Another location was at West 109th Street and Amsterdam Avenue . From 1906 to 1941, the academy occupied the American Fine Arts Society building at 215 West 57th Street. From 1942 to 2019,

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