Isaiah Rogers (August 17, 1800 – April 13, 1869) was an American architect from Massachusetts who eventually moved his practice south, where he was based in
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...
, and
Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line w ...
, Ohio. He completed numerous designs for hotels, courthouses and other major buildings 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 ...
, Massachusetts, and New York City, before that relocation.
He was appointed in 1863 as the
Supervising Architect of the United States, serving into 1865; the position was then attached to the Department of the Treasury. He also practiced in
Mobile, Alabama
Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population within the city limits was 187,041 at the 2020 census, down from 195,111 at the 2010 census. It is the fourth-most-populous city in Alabama ...
after the American Civil War.
Background
Rogers was born in
Marshfield, Massachusetts
Marshfield is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States, on Massachusetts's South Shore. The population was 25,825 at the 2020 census.
It includes the census-designated places (CDPs) of Marshfield, Marshfield Hills, Ocean Bluf ...
to Isaac Rogers, a farmer and shipwright, and his wife Hannah Ford. In 1823 he married Emily Wesley Tobey of
Portland, Maine
Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metropo ...
. The couple had eight children, four of whom survived infancy. Two of his sons followed him into the profession of architecture.
Rogers was a student of
Solomon Willard
Solomon Willard (June 26, 1783 – February 27, 1861) was a carver and builder in Massachusetts who is remembered primarily for designing and overseeing the Bunker Hill Monument, the first monumental obelisk erected in the United States.
Back ...
. He became one of the country's foremost hotel architects and was renowned for Boston's
Tremont House (the first hotel with indoor plumbing), the
Astor House in New York City, and the
Exchange Hotel in
Richmond, Virginia
(Thus do we reach the stars)
, image_map =
, mapsize = 250 px
, map_caption = Location within Virginia
, pushpin_map = Virginia#USA
, pushpin_label = Richmond
, pushpin_m ...
. He designed the Burnett House in Cincinnati, then the largest and most elegant hotel in the Midwest. He also designed New York's
Astor Opera House
__NOTOC__
The Astor Opera House, also known as the Astor Place Opera House and later the Astor Place Theatre, was an opera house in Manhattan, New York City, located on Lafayette Street between Astor Place and East 8th Street. Designed by Isaia ...
(1847).
With William Keeley, Rogers designed
The Cathedral of the Assumption,
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...
in the
Neo-Gothic
Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...
style. Upon its completion in 1852, the 287-foot spire was North America's tallest.
His design for the fourth
Hamilton County, Ohio
Hamilton County is located in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 830,639, making it the third-most populous county in Ohio. The county seat and largest city is Cincinnati. The county ...
Hamilton County Courthouse was for a massive three-story building, measuring 190 feet square. The building closely resembles Rogers'
Merchants Exchange building, Wall Street in New York City. He also designed the Boston
Merchants Exchange.
Rogers was the supervising architect, the last of five, who worked on the
Ohio Statehouse
The Ohio Statehouse is the state capitol building and seat of government for the U.S. state of Ohio. The Greek Revival building is located on Capitol Square in Downtown Columbus. The capitol houses the Ohio General Assembly, consisting of the H ...
. He completed the building in 1861.
In 1853, Rogers founded an architecture firm in
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...
with another architect named
Henry Whitestone. That firm was originally named Rogers, Whitestone & Co., Architects. It is still practicing today under the name of
Luckett & Farley
Luckett & Farley is an architecture, engineering, and interior design firm based in Louisville, Kentucky. It was founded in 1853, making it (along with SmithGroup) the oldest continually operating architecture firm in the United States that is ...
Architects, Engineers, & Interior Designers.
From 1863 to 1865, due to his friendship with fellow Cincinnatian
Salmon P. Chase
Salmon Portland Chase (January 13, 1808May 7, 1873) was an American politician and jurist who served as the sixth chief justice of the United States. He also served as the 23rd governor of Ohio, represented Ohio in the United States Senate, a ...
, Secretary of the Treasury, Rogers was appointed as
Supervising Architect of the United States. In this role, he designed and patented four burglar-proof
vaults built in the northwest corner of the
U.S. Treasury Building in 1864. Their lining consisted of two layers of
cast iron
Cast iron is a class of iron– carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuri ...
balls interposed between the traditional alternating plates of
wrought iron
Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.08%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4%). It is a semi-fused mass of iron with fibrous slag inclusions (up to 2% by weight), which give it a wood-like "grain" ...
and hardened steel. The balls, held loosely in specially formed cavities, were designed to rotate freely upon contact with a drill, or any other tool, thereby preventing a burglar from penetrating. The design was first used for two vaults built in the New York Sub-Treasury in 1862 (this building is now use as
Federal Hall National Memorial
Federal Hall is a historic building at 26 Wall Street in the Financial District of Manhattan in New York City. The current Greek Revival–style building, completed in 1842 as the Custom House, is operated by the National Park Service as a na ...
). Similar vaults were built in custom houses in Detroit,
Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line w ...
, and Chicago.
Selected architectural works
File:Thomas Gaff House (Hillforest).jpg, Thomas Gaff House (Hillforest)
Image:MerchantExchange 1852.jpg, Merchants Exchange (Boston)
The Merchants Exchange building (1842-1890) in Boston, Massachusetts was built in 1841 from a design by architect Isaiah Rogers. Centrally located on State Street, it functioned as a hub for business activities in the city.
History
The Mercha ...
(1852)
Image:Captain Robert Bennet Forbes House (Milton, MA) - front facade.jpg, The Captain Robert Bennet Forbes House
File:Ohio Statehouse columbus.jpg, Ohio Statehouse
The Ohio Statehouse is the state capitol building and seat of government for the U.S. state of Ohio. The Greek Revival building is located on Capitol Square in Downtown Columbus. The capitol houses the Ohio General Assembly, consisting of the H ...
File:55-wall-street.jpg, Merchants Exchange building, Wall Street (National City Bank Building)
Image:Tremont House, Boston.jpg, Tremont House, 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 ...
, Massachusetts
* 1827
Tremont Theatre (Boston), later rebuilt as
Tremont Temple
The Tremont Temple on 88 Tremont Street is a Baptist church in Boston, affiliated with the American Baptist Churches, USA. The existing multi-storey, Renaissance Revival structure was designed by architect Clarence Blackall of Boston, and opene ...
(1896)
* 1829
Tremont House,
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 ...
* 1830
Old State House, Boston, redesign (with
William Washburn) in the Classical Revival style to serve as a City Hall until 1841
* 1832–33 Commercial Wharf,
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 ...
* 1833 Bangor House,
Bangor, Maine
* 1833
Captain Robert Bennet Forbes House,
Milton, Massachusetts
Milton is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States and an affluent suburb of Boston. The population was 28,630 at the 2020 census. Milton is the birthplace of former U.S. President George H. W. Bush, and architect Buckminster Fuller. ...
* 1836
John Jacob Astor House, a hotel on the site of Astor's home in New York City that lasted 80 years. In 1913 city officials announced that "the southern half of the hotel was to be torn down to accommodate construction of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company subway (now the N and R lines). Two years later, 217 Broadway was built." It was first called the Astor House Building and then the Astor Building.
[David W. Dunla]
"Commercial Property; Former Astor Office Building Looks Back, and Up"
''New York Times,'' July 7, 1999
* 1836
Merchants Exchange building, Wall Street
* 1840
Egyptian revival
Egyptian Revival is an architectural style that uses the motifs and imagery of ancient Egypt. It is attributed generally to the public awareness of ancient Egyptian monuments generated by Napoleon's conquest of Egypt and Admiral Nelson's defeat ...
gate for
Old Granary Burying Ground 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 ...
* 1841
Merchants Exchange (Boston)
The Merchants Exchange building (1842-1890) in Boston, Massachusetts was built in 1841 from a design by architect Isaiah Rogers. Centrally located on State Street, it functioned as a hub for business activities in the city.
History
The Mercha ...
* 1842 New York Merchants Exchange, later the New York Customs House, New York City
* 1843
Egyptian Revival
Egyptian Revival is an architectural style that uses the motifs and imagery of ancient Egypt. It is attributed generally to the public awareness of ancient Egyptian monuments generated by Napoleon's conquest of Egypt and Admiral Nelson's defeat ...
gate and fence for
Touro Cemetery
::
Touro Synagogue Cemetery (also known as the Jewish Cemetery at Newport), dedicated in 1677, is located in the colonial historic district of Newport, Rhode Island, not far from the Touro Synagogue. Other Jewish graves are found nearby as part o ...
in
Newport, Rhode Island
Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and northeast of New Yor ...
* 1845
Kent-Valentine House,
Richmond, Virginia
(Thus do we reach the stars)
, image_map =
, mapsize = 250 px
, map_caption = Location within Virginia
, pushpin_map = Virginia#USA
, pushpin_label = Richmond
, pushpin_m ...
* 1846
Howard Athenaeum
The Howard Athenæum (1845–1953), also known as Old Howard Theatre, in Boston, Massachusetts, was one of the most famous theaters in Boston history. Founded in 1845, it remained an institution of culture and learning for most of its years, fina ...
,
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 ...
* 1850s
Thomas Gaff House,
Aurora, Indiana
Aurora is a city in Center Township, Dearborn County, Indiana, United States. The population was 3,750 at the 2010 census.
Geography
Aurora is located at (39.058551, -84.906351).
According to the 2010 census, Aurora has a total area of , of wh ...
* 1852
Cathedral of the Assumption in Louisville, Kentucky was designed by William Keeley and Rogers
* 1859 Oliver House,
Toledo, Ohio
Toledo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. A major Midwestern United States port city, Toledo is the fourth-most populous city in the state of Ohio, after Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, and according ...
*
Maxwell House Hotel
The Maxwell House Hotel was a major hotel in downtown Nashville. Because of its stature, seven US Presidents and other prominent guests stayed there over the years. It was built by Colonel John Overton Jr. and named for his wife, Harriet (Maxwell) ...
,
Nashville, Tennessee (destroyed by fire, Christmas 1961)
See also
*
Richard Bond (architect)
Richard Bond (1798–1861) was an early American architect who practiced primarily in Boston, Massachusetts.
Life and career
Richard Bond, son of a farmer, was born March 5, 1798, in Conway, Massachusetts. He was drawn to the study of architec ...
References
;Notes
;Additional sources
Burglar-proof vaults, US Department of the Treasury
External links
New York Architecture Images
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rogers, Isaiah
1800 births
1869 deaths
People from Marshfield, Massachusetts
19th-century American architects
Architects from Massachusetts
Architects from Boston
Architects from New York City
Architects from Cincinnati