Griffith Thomas (1820—1879) 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 ...

. He partnered with his father, Thomas Thomas, at the architecture firm of T. Thomas and Son."Correspondence: The Death of Mr. Griffith Thomas"
''The American Architect and Building News'' Vol. 5 No. 161, January 25, 1879, pp. 29–30. Online at Google Books. Architecture writer

Christopher Gray Christopher Stewart Gray (April 24, 1950 – March 10, 2017) was an American journalist and architectural historian,Schneider, Daniel B (August 27, 2000)"F.Y.I. Hell's Kitchen in the Raw" ''The New York Times''. March 4, 2010. noted for his week ...

called him "one of the most prolific architects of the period" (the mid-19th century). The

American Institute of Architects The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to su ...

in 1908 called him "the most fashionable architect of his generation." Many of his notable buildings are found in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Griffith Thomas was interred at

Green-Wood Cemetery Green-Wood Cemetery is a cemetery in the western portion of Brooklyn, New York City. The cemetery is located between South Slope/ Greenwood Heights, Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Borough Park, Kensington, and Sunset Park, and lies several bl ...

, in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

in 1879. His own marble monument is simple in comparison to the ornate structures he built during his lifetime.

Selected works

* St. Nicholas Hotel (1853), 507-27 Broadway, demolished. 1,000 guest rooms. *

Fifth Avenue Hotel The Fifth Avenue Hotel was a luxury hotel located at 200 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, New York City from 1859 to 1908. It had an entire block of frontage between 23rd Street and 24th Street, at the southwest corner of Madison Square. S ...

(1859), 200 Fifth Avenue (23rd to 24th Streets), demolished. Replaced by

Robert Maynicke Robert Maynicke (1849-1913) was an American architect. At his death, the ''New York Times'' called him "a pioneer in the building of modern loft buildings."Astor Library The Astor Library was a free public library in the East Village, Manhattan, developed primarily through the collaboration of New York City merchant John Jacob Astor and New England educator and bibliographer Joseph Cogswell. It was primarily me ...

(1859 expansion), 444

Lafayette Street Lafayette Street is a major north-south street in New York City's Lower Manhattan. It originates at the intersection of Reade Street and Centre Street, one block north of Chambers Street. The one-way street then successively runs through Chi ...

. Now the center section of

The Public Theater The Public Theater is a New York City arts organization founded as the Shakespeare Workshop in 1954 by Joseph Papp, with the intention of showcasing the works of up-and-coming playwrights and performers.Epstein, Helen. ''Joe Papp: An American Li ...

. *Mortimer Building (1862), 935-939 Broadway (159 Fifth Avenue) Flatiron House. Now Restoration Hardware Building . *

National Park Bank The National Park Bank was founded in 1856 in New York City, and by the late 19th century, it did more commercial business than any other bank in the country. History The bank built a significant Second Empire early skyscraper at 214-18 Broadway ...

Building (1868, altered 1905), 214-18 Broadway, demolished 1961 *

Pike's Opera House Pike's Opera House, later renamed the Grand Opera House, was a theater in New York City on the northwest corner of 8th Avenue and 23rd Street, in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. It was constructed in 1868, at a cost of a million dollar ...

(1868), 8th Avenue & 23rd Street, later renamed the Grand Opera House, demolished 1960. * Arnold Constable Building (1869),

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

& West 19th Street * New York Life Insurance Building (1870), 346 Broadway. Altered and expanded by

McKim, Mead & 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), Wil ...

, 1904. * 12 East 53rd Street (1872). Altered by Raleigh C. Gildersleeve, 1906. * Gunther Building (1872), 469-75 Broome Street, cast-iron facade. *Hotel Bristol (1875), 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue, New York City, for the former shipbuilder and financier

William H. Webb William Henry Webb (June 19, 1816 – October 30, 1899) was a 19th-century New York City shipbuilder and philanthropist, who has been called America's first true naval architect. Early life William Henry Webb was born in New York on June ...

, demolished. *Kimball House Hotel (1870) Entire city block between Whitehall (now Peachtree) Street, Decatur Street, Pryor Street, and Wall Street, Atlanta, with William Parkins, burned 1883. 500 rooms, early use of elevators and central heating, 4-story lobby, 16 shops.Funderburke, Richard D. "William H. Parkins (1836-1894)." New Georgia Encyclopedia. 17 July 2013. Web. 18 July 2019.

Notes

External links

"The Gunther Building"
New York Architectural Images.
"Arnold Constable Building"
by edenpictures, on Flickr.

by Christopher Gray, ''New York Times'', February 10, 2002.

The Masterpiece Next Door, archived by Internet Archive's Wayback Machine on December 7, 2008.
Green-Wood Cemetery Burial Search
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Griffith 1820 births 1879 deaths 19th-century American architects