Alexander Wadsworth Longfellow Jr. (August 18, 1854, Portland, Maine – February 16, 1934, Portland) 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 ...

and nephew of poet

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator. His original works include "Paul Revere's Ride", ''The Song of Hiawatha'', and ''Evangeline''. He was the first American to completely transl ...

Biography

Alexander Wadsworth Longfellow Jr. was the son of Alexander Wadsworth Longfellow Sr. (1814–1901), a

U.S. Coast Survey The United States Coast and Geodetic Survey (abbreviated USC&GS), known from 1807 to 1836 as the Survey of the Coast and from 1836 until 1878 as the United States Coast Survey, was the first scientific agency of the United States Government. It ...

topographer, and the former Elizabeth Clapp Porter. After graduating from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

in 1876, he studied

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

and the

École des Beaux-Arts École des Beaux-Arts (; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth century ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, then worked as senior draftsman in Henry Hobson Richardson's office.

Career

After Richardson's death in 1886, Longfellow teamed up with Frank Ellis Alden (1859–1908) and Alfred Branch Harlow (1857–1927) to found the firm of Longfellow, Alden & Harlow, with offices in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

and

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

. The firm designed the

Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh is the public library system in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Its main branch is located in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, and it has 19 branch locations throughout the city. Like hundreds of other Carn ...

and the

City Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...

. They also designed the

Arnold Arboretum The Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University is a botanical research institution and free public park, located in the Jamaica Plain and Roslindale neighborhoods of Boston, Massachusetts. Established in 1872, it is the oldest public arboretum in N ...

headquarters, the Hunnewell Building, in 1892 which was constructed with funds donated by philanthropist-horticulturalist Horatio Hollis Hunnewell in 1903. Longfellow later moved to Boston, where he worked in association with his cousin, William Pitt Preble Longfellow (1836–1913). He designed several structures around Harvard, including the Brattle Theatre, the Phillips Brooks House, the

Semitic Museum The Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East (HMANE, previously the Harvard Semitic Museum) is a museum founded in 1889. It moved into its present location at 6 Divinity Avenue in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1903. Description From the beginning, ...

, the Bertram and Eliot Halls at

Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and functioned as the female coordinate institution for the all-male Harvard College. Considered founded in 1879, it was one of the Seven Sisters colleges and he ...

, and chemical laboratories. He also designed the Washington Street Elevated, the Theodore Parker Church in

West Roxbury West Roxbury is a neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts bordered by Roslindale and Jamaica Plain to the northeast, the town of Brookline to the north, the cities and towns of Newton and Needham to the northwest and the town of Dedham to the ...

, the Merrill Memorial Library in Yarmouth, ME, the Curtis Memorial Library in Brunswick, ME and a

Maine Historical Society The Maine Historical Society is the official state historical society of Maine. It is located at 489 Congress Street in downtown Portland. The Society currently operates the Wadsworth-Longfellow House, a National Historic Landmark, Longfellow Ga ...

library building. He served on the board of directors of the Dedham Pottery company and designed their plant. Longfellow also designed and built Eliestoun, a large shingle-style summer home, rare in the midwest. Eliestoun was completed in 1890 and is on the

Principia College Principia College (Principia or Prin) is a private liberal arts college in Elsah, Illinois. It was founded in 1912 by Mary Kimball Morgan with the purpose of "serving the Cause of Christian Science." "Although the College is not affiliated wit ...

campus in Elsah, Illinois.

Works

Image:Cambridge, Massachusetts City Hall - Elevation and Floor Plans.jpg, Floor plans for the Cambridge City Hall. Built between 1888–1889. Image:Eliestoun building.jpg, alt=Eliestoun, Eliestoun House was designed by Longfellow. It was completed in 1890 and is on the

campus. Photographed in 2014. Image:Arboretum Headquarters.JPG, The

headquarters, the Hunnewell Building named after Horatio Hollis Hunnewell, designed by Longfellow, Alden & Harlow in 1892. Image:Agassiz Road Duck House.jpg, Duck house designed by Longfellow, in Boston's Back Bay Fens. Built in 1897.

Interests

Longfellow was one of the founders of The Society of Arts and Crafts of Boston, active in the Boston Marine Museum, and a trustee of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and the

Boston Athenæum The Boston Athenaeum is one of the oldest independent libraries in the United States. It is also one of a number of subscription library, membership libraries, for which patrons pay a yearly subscription fee to use Athenaeum services. The instit ...

References

Bibliography

Margaret Henderson Floyd Margaret Henderson Floyd (1932 – 18 October 1997) was Professor of Architectural History at Tufts University. She was an expert on Boston architecture. Her writing includes several titles on the work of late 19th-century American architects i ...

, "Architecture after Richardson: Regionalism before Modernism--Longfellow, Alden, and Harlow in Boston and Pittsburgh",

University of Chicago Press The University of Chicago Press is the largest and one of the oldest university presses in the United States. It is operated by the University of Chicago and publishes a wide variety of academic titles, including ''The Chicago Manual of Style'', ...

(1994).

External links

*
"Alden & Harlow Collection"
at

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...

"Longfellow Family Architects"
at the

Longfellow House–Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site The Longfellow House–Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site (also known as the Vassall-Craigie-Longfellow House and, until December 2010, Longfellow National Historic Site) is a historic site located at 105 Brattle Street in Cambridge ...

Friends of Eliestoun
website {{DEFAULTSORT:Longfellow, Alexander Wadsworth Jr. 1854 births 1934 deaths Harvard University alumni MIT School of Architecture and Planning alumni Architects from Boston Architects from Portland, Maine