John A. Wood (June 11, 1837 – December 18, 1910), 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 ...

. His work in upstate New York included projects in

Poughkeepsie Poughkeepsie ( ), officially the City of Poughkeepsie, separate from the Town of Poughkeepsie around it) is a city in the U.S. state of New York. It is the county seat of Dutchess County, with a 2020 census population of 31,577. Poughkeepsi ...

and

Kingston, New York Kingston is a Administrative divisions of New York#City, city in and the county seat of Ulster County, New York, United States. It is north of New York City and south of Albany, New York, Albany. The city's metropolitan area is grouped with t ...

as well as four armories, in Kingston, Newburgh,

Bethel Bethel ( he, בֵּית אֵל, translit=Bēṯ 'Ēl, "House of El" or "House of God",Bleeker and Widegren, 1988, p. 257. also transliterated ''Beth El'', ''Beth-El'', ''Beit El''; el, Βαιθήλ; la, Bethel) was an ancient Israelite sanct ...

, and

Watertown Watertown may refer to: Places in China In China, a water town is a type of ancient scenic town known for its waterways. Places in the United States *Watertown, Connecticut, a New England town **Watertown (CDP), Connecticut, the central village ...

. His work in Tampa, Florida includes the

Tampa Bay Hotel Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough Coun ...

and

Old Hillsborough County Courthouse The Hillsborough County Courthouse was constructed in 1892 in the block bounded by Madison Street, Lafayette Street (now Kennedy Boulevard), Florida Avenue, and Franklin Street. This replaced an older courthouse in the same place. Designed by Joh ...

. His hotel work included the design of the Piney Woods Hotel, Oglethorpe Hotel, Mizzen Top Hotel, and

Grand Hotel A grand hotel is a large and luxurious hotel, especially one housed in a building with traditional architectural style. It began to flourish in the 1800s in Europe and North America. Grand Hotel may refer to: Hotels Africa * Grande Hotel Beir ...

. The Tampa Bay Hotel was listed on the National Historic Register in 1972.

Biography

Wood was born in

Bethel, New York :''This is the article about the Sullivan County, New York town. For the Dutchess County, New York hamlet, see Bethel, Pine Plains'' Bethel is a town in Sullivan County, New York, United States. The population was estimated at 4,255 in 2010. T ...

. He began his career in 1863 in

before moving his office to 153

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 ...

in New York City. He completed several projects in the area of

as well as in

Brunswick, Georgia Brunswick () is a city in and the county seat of Glynn County in the U.S. state of Georgia. As the primary urban and economic center of the lower southeast portion of Georgia, it is the second-largest urban area on the Georgia coastline after Sa ...

. Wood's parents were Stephen C. Wood and Mary Crist Wood.Kingston, New York: the architectural guide
by William Bertholet Rhoads, James Bleecker Wood is buried in the Evergreen Cemetery in Bethel. Wood established his practice in

by 1863. The buildings he designed in the area include several on and around the

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely follo ...

campus. He also did work in Kingston, including the New York State Armory (1878) and, at the end of his career, the Stuyvesant Hotel (1910). He also designed the Tremper House by

Mount Tremper Mount Tremper, officially known as Tremper Mountain and originally called Timothyberg, is one of the Catskill Mountains in the U.S. state of New York. It is located near the hamlet of Phoenicia, in the valley of Esopus Creek. At in elevation, ...

(constructed for wholesale grocery businessmen Thomas and Jacob Tremper), one of the earliest railroad resorts in the

Catskill Mountains The Catskill Mountains, also known as the Catskills, are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains, located in southeastern New York. As a cultural and geographic region, the Catskills are generally defined as those areas c ...

. It was located by the Phoenicia stop of the

Ulster and Delaware Railroad The Ulster and Delaware Railroad (U&D) was a railroad located in the state of New York. It was often advertised as "The Only All-Rail Route to the Catskill Mountains." At its greatest extent, the U&D extended from Kingston Point on the Hudson R ...

. Hotel design became his specialty and Wood achieved a reputation for his architectural style, especially his use of

Moorish Revival Moorish Revival or Neo-Moorish is one of the exotic revival architectural styles that were adopted by architects of Europe and the Americas in the wake of Romanticist Orientalism. It reached the height of its popularity after the mid-19th centur ...

style. The Tampa Bay Hotel is his most famous work, a striking five-storied, 511-room building with ornate

Victorian architecture Victorian architecture is a series of architectural revival styles in the mid-to-late 19th century. ''Victorian'' refers to the reign of Queen Victoria (1837–1901), called the Victorian era, during which period the styles known as Victorian we ...

features (sometimes referred to as gingerbread), as well as Moorish architectural features including

minaret A minaret (; ar, منارة, translit=manāra, or ar, مِئْذَنة, translit=miʾḏana, links=no; tr, minare; fa, گل‌دسته, translit=goldaste) is a type of tower typically built into or adjacent to mosques. Minarets are generall ...

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. The word derives, via Italian, from ...

s, and

dome A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...

s. The resort was built for

Henry B. Plant Henry Bradley Plant (October 27, 1819 – June 23, 1899), was a businessman, entrepreneur, and investor involved with many transportation interests and projects, mostly railroads, in the southeastern United States. He was founder of the Plant Sy ...

, a railroad and shipping tycoon. It is now part of the

University of Tampa The University of Tampa (UT) is a private university in Tampa, Florida. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. UT offers more than 200 programs of study, including 22 master's degrees and a broad variety of majors, ...

campus A campus is traditionally the land on which a college or university and related institutional buildings are situated. Usually a college campus includes libraries, lecture halls, residence halls, student centers or dining halls, and park-like se ...

and is known as Plant Hall. It contains the

Henry B. Plant Museum The Henry B. Plant Museum (Plant Museum) is located in the south wing of Plant Hall on the University of Tampa's campus, located at 401 West Kennedy Boulevard in Tampa, Florida. Plant Hall was originally built by Henry B. Plant as the Tampa Bay Ho ...

. Wood stated his dislike for Queen Anne style in the '' Thomasville Times'' in 1886: "Dear Sir – Please correct the statement in Saturday’s Times that the ‘Piney Woods Hotel is built in the Queen Anne style.’ Neither the Piney Woods nor any other hotel that I have ever designed is in that beastly style, which is at best no style at all."March/ 1709 Reynolds Street, Brunswick
March/ April 2009 Golden Isles Magazine The summer home of Effingham Brown Sutton in West Islip, New York (ca. 1870)consisted of a mansion and several fine cottages. The main house, Woodruff Sutton cottage, and gate house were razed by railroad magnate Edwin Hawley. The last original building, owned by George Nicholas in later years, was demolished in the 1950s. Wood's design for the Grand Hotel (Highmount, New York) was a project for Thomas Cornell, owner of

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

steamship A steamship, often referred to as a steamer, is a type of steam-powered vessel, typically ocean-faring and seaworthy, that is propelled by one or more steam engines that typically move (turn) propellers or paddlewheels. The first steamships ...

s and the

. Cornell concluded that a hotel near the railroad would boost traffic and draw wealthy clients who would be hours away from

Grand Central Station Grand Central Terminal (GCT; also referred to as Grand Central Station or simply as Grand Central) is a commuter rail terminal located at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Grand Central is the southern terminus ...

in New York City. The three-story hotel included elegant features such as turrets, and a covered

piazza A town square (or square, plaza, public square, city square, urban square, or ''piazza'') is an open public space, commonly found in the heart of a traditional town but not necessarily a true geometric square, used for community gatherings. ...

along its 350-foot length. Wood's design for a large hotel in

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...

was covered by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' in a January 6, 1894 article.

List of works

* Bardavon Opera House (1869), Poughkeepsie, New York *Kingston City Almshouse (1874), Kingston, New York *Kingston Argus Building (1874, demolished), Kingston, New York * Newburgh Free Library (1875), Newburgh, New York * New York State Armory (1878), Kingston, New York *Watertown Armory (1879), Watertown, New York (demolished 1966) * New York State Armory (1880), Newburgh, New York *Mizzen Top Hotel (1880) New Summer Hotels
January 9, 1881 New York Times *687-691 Broadway / 250-254 Mercer Street, New York City (1885–88) * Oglethorpe Hotel (1888), Brunswick, Georgia *

(1891), Tampa, Florida *

(1892, demolished 1966) *

Highmount, New York Shandaken is a town on the northern border of Ulster County, New York, United States, northwest of Kingston, New York. As of the 2020 census, the town had a total population of 2,866.2020 US Census, Shandaken, Ulster County, New York https://ww ...

(1881)Grand Hotel
A Slide Talk by Annon Adams; A Program for the Town of Middletown Historical Society at Skene Memorial Library * Piney Woods Hotel,

Thomasville, Georgia Thomasville is the county seat of Thomas County, Georgia, United States. The population was 18,413 at the 2010 United States Census, making it the second largest city in southwest Georgia after Albany, Georgia, Albany. The city deems itself the "C ...

* Mahoney-McGarvey House at 1709 Reynolds Street in Brunswick, Georgia *

Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery The Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery is a rural cemetery located in Poughkeepsie, New York and includes the gravesites of several notable figures. It also has a crematory. The forty-four acres of land used for the cemetery were purchased by Matthew Vass ...

gates and gatehouseVirginia Buechel
Frost Mausoleum
Friends of the August 2006 Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery Newsletter * Vassar Brothers Institute, Poughkeepsie, New York *

Vassar Home for Aged Men The former Vassar Home for Aged Men is located at Main and Vassar streets in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. It is just across the street from the architecturally similar Vassar Institute, and both buildings are credited to architect J.A. ...

, Poughkeepsie, New York * Poughkeepsie Alms House, Poughkeepsie, New York * Calisthenium and Riding Academy, Poughkeepsie, New York *

Akin Free Library __NOTOC__ The Akin Free Library on Quaker Hill is a historic eclectic late Victorian stone building in the hamlet of Quaker Hill, town of Pawling, Dutchess County, New York, USA, listed in the National Register of Historic Places as a historic p ...

Pawling, New York Pawling may refer to: *Pawling (town), New York, in Dutchess County **Pawling (village), New York, in the town of Pawling ***Pawling (Metro-North station), train station for the village **Pawling Nature Reserve, in the northern section of the to ...

(1908) * Stuyvesant Hotel in Kingston, New York (1910)picture of Stuyvesant Hotel
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References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wood, J. A. 19th-century American architects 1837 births 1910 deaths People from Bethel, New York Architects from New York (state)