A. Page Brown, born Arthur Page Brown (December 1859 – January 21, 1896), was an American

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

known for buildings that incorporated classical styles in the Beaux-Arts manner. Having first worked in the office of

McKim, Mead and White McKim, Mead & White was an American architectural firm that came to define architectural practice, urbanism, and the ideals of the American Renaissance in fin de siècle New York. The firm's founding partners Charles Follen McKim (1847–1909), ...

in New York City in 1879, he established his own firm in 1884 and hired a young

Willis Polk Willis Jefferson Polk (October 3, 1867 – September 10, 1924) was an American architect, best known for his work in San Francisco, California. For ten years, he was the West Coast representative of D.H. Burnham & Company. In 1915, Polk oversaw t ...

as a draftsman. In 1889 Brown moved his office to

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

to take advantage of the city's growth. Brown is best known for designing the

San Francisco Ferry Building The San Francisco Ferry Building is a terminal for ferries that travel across the San Francisco Bay, a food hall and an office building. It is located on The Embarcadero in San Francisco, California and is served by Golden Gate Ferry and San ...

, which opened in 1898, and at the time was the largest project ever undertaken in San Francisco. He is credited with introducing the

Mission Revival The Mission Revival style was part of an architectural movement, beginning in the late 19th century, for the revival and reinterpretation of American colonial styles. Mission Revival drew inspiration from the late 18th and early 19th century ...

style to Santa Barbara, with his designs for residences along Garden Street. The style was widely adopted in Santa Barbara and has shaped its visual identity.

Early life and education

Arthur Page Brown was born in

Ellisburg, New York Ellisburg is an incorporated town in Jefferson County, New York. The population was 3,474 at the time of the 2010 census. The town is in the southwestern corner of the county and is south of Watertown. Ellisburg is named after early European-Am ...

, in Jefferson County; he was descended from Yankees from New England. His formal education in architecture consisted of a year at the Cornell University School of Architecture, but he left in 1879 to join the newly established architectural firm of

. From 1883 to 1884 he traveled extensively through Europe, where he was influenced by

Beaux-Arts architecture Beaux-Arts architecture ( , ) was the academic architectural style taught at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, particularly from the 1830s to the end of the 19th century. It drew upon the principles of French neoclassicism, but also incorp ...

, based on Neoclassical and

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

styles.

Marriage and family

He married Lucy Pryor on February 25, 1886, at the Church of the Transfiguration in Manhattan, also known as "The Little Church Around the Corner."; she was the daughter of Sara Agnes Rice and

Roger Atkinson Pryor Roger Atkinson Pryor (July 19, 1828 – March 14, 1919) was a Virginian newspaper editor and politician who became known for his fiery oratory in favor of secession; he was elected both to national and Confederate office, and served as a gen ...

. Lucy and her six Pryor siblings were all born in

Petersburg, Virginia Petersburg is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 33,458. The Bureau of Econ ...

; her father was a general in the Confederate Army during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

. Their family moved to New York City in the late 1860s to recover from postwar poverty. Roger A. Pryor became a successful attorney, active in Democratic Party politics, and later was appointed as justice to the New York State Supreme Court.

Sara Agnes Rice Pryor Sara Agnes Rice Pryor, born Sara Agnes Rice (February 19, 1830 – February 15, 1912), was an American writer and community activist in New York City. Born and reared in Virginia, she moved North after the American Civil War with her husband and ...

founded several heritage organizations and was active in civic affairs. She also had several books, including novels, histories and memoirs, published by the

Macmillan Company Macmillan Publishers (occasionally known as the Macmillan Group; formally Macmillan Publishers Ltd and Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC) is a British publishing company traditionally considered to be one of the 'Big Five' English language publi ...

in the early 1900s. Her memoirs were the basis of joint biography of her and her husband by John C. Waugh, which was published in 2002. The Browns had three children together.

Career

In New York, Brown joined the office of McKim, Mead & White in 1879; he left for a brief period, returning in 1882. After an extensive tour of Europe (1883-1884), Brown rejoined the firm in 1884. At that point, he started doing some additional work for

Nancy Fowler McCormick Nancy Maria "Nettie" McCormick (; February 8, 1835 – July 5, 1923) was an American philanthropist. Through marriage, she became a member of the prominent McCormick family. Early life Nettie was born on February 8, 1835, at Brownsville in Ont ...

, a Chicago philanthropist. Under her patronage, he opened his own office in December 1884, under the name A. Page Brown, and hired the young

as a draftsman. In 1889 Brown was commissioned by Mary Ann Deming Crocker to design a mausoleum for her late husband, the wealthy California industrialist, Charles Crocker. The massive granite structure is located on "Millionaire's Row" at Mountain View Cemetery in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

. Mrs. Crocker also commissioned him to design the Crocker Old People's Home in San Francisco. These opportunities allowed Brown to move his office to San Francisco where the city's rapid development would offer greater opportunities. He persuaded

to go with him to

, and the two were among a number of talented architects who moved from the East Coast at the end of the 19th century and established firms in San Francisco. With his newly established office, his highly regarded upper-class social contacts, a developed East Coast portfolio, and a talented staff that included not only

, but

Bernard Maybeck Bernard Ralph Maybeck (February 7, 1862 – October 3, 1957) was an American architect in the Arts and Crafts Movement of the early 20th century. He was an instructor at University of California, Berkeley. Most of his major buildings were in ...

and

A. C. Schweinfurth A. C. Schweinfurth (1864–1900), born Albert Cicero Schweinfurth, was an American architect. He is associated with the First Bay Tradition. The son of a German woodcarver who had immigrated to the United States a decade before his son Albert wa ...

, Brown was the favored architect of San Francisco society. His reputation for bringing the most contemporary design aesthetic from the East Coast created the perception that he led the "reorientation of San Francisco architecture from the Victorian to the academic sphere," popularizing the Beaux-Arts style.Longstreth (1983/1998), ''On the Edge of the World'', pp. 6-7 In 1892 Brown designed the

, a ferry terminal for both commuters and travelers who visited San Francisco. When completed in 1898, the Ferry Building was the largest single project undertaken in the city up to that time. Located on the Embarcadero at the foot of

Market Street Market Street may refer to: *Market Street, Cambridge, England *Market Street, Fremantle, Western Australia, Australia * Market Street, George Town, Penang, Malaysia *Market Street, Manchester, England *Market Street, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia ...

, it was a prominent structure intended to be a symbol of the city, and its 245-foot clock tower, which Brown designed after the 12th-century

Giralda The Giralda ( es, La Giralda ) is the bell tower of Seville Cathedral in Seville, Spain. It was built as the minaret for the Great Mosque of Seville in al-Andalus, Moorish Spain, during the reign of the Almohad dynasty, with a Renaissance-style ...

bell tower in

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, could be seen across the city and the bay. Prior to the 1930s (when both the

Golden Gate The Golden Gate is a strait on the west coast of North America that connects San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean. It is defined by the headlands of the San Francisco Peninsula and the Marin Peninsula, and, since 1937, has been spanned by t ...

and Bay bridges were completed), the Ferry Building was the second busiest transportation terminal in the world, seeing an average of 50,000 commuters a day. In 1894, Brown introduced the

style to Santa Barbara, where it became popular for a variety of building types, shaping the visual identity of the city to this day. Brown, Polk, Maybeck, and Schweinfurth were also associated with the

First Bay Tradition First Bay Tradition (also known as First Bay Area Tradition or San Francisco Bay Region Tradition) was an architectural style from the period of the 1880s to early 1920s. Sometimes considered a regional interpretation of the Eastern Shingle Style, ...

, which they helped popularize along with other architects. In 1896 Arthur Page Brown died at his home in Burlingame, California of severe injuries suffered in a runaway horse and buggy accident. At the time of his death, the Ferry Building was still under construction; it was opened in 1898.

Early life and education

Marriage and family

Career

References

Further reading