Joseph-François Mangin was born on June 10, 1758 in
Dompaire
Dompaire () is a commune in the Vosges department in Grand Est in northeastern France. In September 1944 during World War II a detachment of General Philippe Leclerc's French 2nd Armoured Division engaged and defeated a German Panzer brigade ca ...
, in the
Vosges
The Vosges ( , ; german: Vogesen ; Franconian and gsw, Vogese) are a range of low mountains in Eastern France, near its border with Germany. Together with the Palatine Forest to the north on the German side of the border, they form a single ...
region of
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
. He was a French-American architect who is noted for designing
New York City Hall
New York City Hall is the Government of New York City, seat of New York City government, located at the center of City Hall Park in the Civic Center, Manhattan, Civic Center area of Lower Manhattan, between Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway, Park R ...
Vosges
The Vosges ( , ; german: Vogesen ; Franconian and gsw, Vogese) are a range of low mountains in Eastern France, near its border with Germany. Together with the Palatine Forest to the north on the German side of the border, they form a single ...
region of
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, the son of Jean-Baptiste François Mangin (1724-1772), the king's surgeon, and Marie Anne Milot (1731-1804), both from
Dompaire
Dompaire () is a commune in the Vosges department in Grand Est in northeastern France. In September 1944 during World War II a detachment of General Philippe Leclerc's French 2nd Armoured Division engaged and defeated a German Panzer brigade ca ...
. He left Dompaire around 1773 to study at a high school in Nancy, where he graduated in 1777. He then studied law at the
University of Nancy
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...
, where he graduated in 1781. After spending a few years near Nancy as a lawyer, he decided to move to St Domingue (today Haiti) to make a fortune. He left France from Nantes on Oct, 25th 1784 and arrived in St Domingue on Dec, 7th 1784. Joseph François Mangin and his brother Charles had to flee Saint Domingue in 1793 as a consequence of the slave revolt which started in 1792. They arrived in New York City in December 1793. He became a surveyor for NYC. He and John McComb, Jr. together won the design competition to build the new New York City Hall (1803), and Mangin later designed the first St Patrick's Cathedral (1809-15). He became a naturalized American citizen in 1796.
Career
In New York, Mangin became a protégé of
Alexander Hamilton
Alexander Hamilton (January 11, 1755 or 1757July 12, 1804) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first United States secretary of the treasury from 1789 to 1795.
Born out of wedlock in Charlest ...
, and, as a result of Hamilton's influence, Mangin was hired by the federal government to design fortifications for
New York harbor
New York Harbor is at the mouth of the Hudson River where it empties into New York Bay near the East River tidal estuary, and then into the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast of the United States. It is one of the largest natural harbors in t ...
. He also designed the city's first theatre in 1795, and the first prison for New York state, in the village of Greenwich on the
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 ...
, which would, when subsumed by the growth of the city, become
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...
.Koeppel (2015), pp.29-30
Mangin was appointed to be one of the handful of official recognized "city surveyors", he was a Military Engineer during the war of 1812 the United States. Mangin was at pains to point out to Hamilton his love for and allegiance to his adopted country: "I am an American, and the last drop of my blood will be shed in the service of my country."
Prior to the
New York City Commissioner’ Plan of 1811
The Commissioners' Plan of 1811 was the original design for the streets of Manhattan above Houston Street and below 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street, which put in place the rectangular grid plan of streets and lots that has defined Manhat ...
, the city's Common Council in 1797 commissioned city surveyors
Casimir Goerck
Casimir Theodor Goerck (born c.1755Koeppel (2015), pp.20-21 – died November 19 or December 11, 1798) was one of a handful of officially recognized "city surveyors" for New York City from 1788 until his death from yellow fever in 1798. Goerc ...
and Mangin to survey the streets of the city; Goerck and Mangin had each submitted individual proposals to the council, but then decided to team up. Goerck died of
yellow fever
Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. In ...
during the course of the surveying, but Mangin completed it and delivered the draft of the Mangin–Goerck Plan to the Council in 1799 for correction of street names; the final engraved version would be presented to the Council in 1803. Unfortunately, Mangin had gone beyond the terms of the commission, and the map not only showed the existing streets of the city, but also, in Mangin's words, "the City ... such as it is to be..." In other words, the plan was a guide to where Mangin believed future streets should be laid out.
The Council accepted the Mangin–Goerck Plan as "the new Map of the City" for four years, and even published it by subscription, until political machinations perhaps organized by
Aaron Burr
Aaron Burr Jr. (February 6, 1756 – September 14, 1836) was an American politician and lawyer who served as the third vice president of the United States from 1801 to 1805. Burr's legacy is defined by his famous personal conflict with Alexand ...
, the political enemy of Mangin's mentor Alexander Hamilton, brought the plan into disrepute, and the Council ordered that copies which had already been sold be bought back, and that a label warning of "inaccuracies" be placed on any additional copies sold.Koeppel (2015), pp.37-41;51-56 Nevertheless, as the city grew, the Mangin–Goerck Plan became the ''de facto'' reference for where new streets would be built, and when the Commissioners' Plan was revealed in 1811, the area of the plan which the public had been warned was inaccurate and speculative, had been accepted wholesale by the commission, their plan being almost identical to Mangin's in that area.Koeppel (2015), p.60
In 1802, Mangin and
John McComb Jr.
John McComb Jr. (1763 – 1853) was an American architect who designed many landmarks in the 18th and 19th centuries. Between 1790 and 1825, McComb was New York city's leading architect.
John McComb Jr. was born on October 17, 1763 in New Yo ...
won a design contest to build New York's City Hall. The design won out over a field of twenty-five other entries, including one from
Benjamin Henry Latrobe
Benjamin Henry Boneval Latrobe (May 1, 1764 – September 3, 1820) was an Anglo-American neoclassical architect who emigrated to the United States. He was one of the first formally trained, professional architects in the new United States, draw ...
– a protegé of Alexander Hamilton's political enemy, Aaron Burr – who would go on to be known as the "Father of American Architecture," but would never design a building in New York City.Koeppel (2015), pp.41-42 Historian
Gerard Koeppel
Gerard Koeppel is an American author and historian, with a focus on New York infrastructure. He has written three books—''Water for Gotham: A History'' (Princeton University Press, 2000), ''Bond of Union: Building the Erie Canal and the Amer ...
speculates that it this snubbing of an architect from his circle for one from Hamilton's circle which was the cause of the downfall of the Mangin–Goerck Plan.Koeppel (2015), pp.51-52
In 1803, the Common Council ordered some changes in the design. McComb supervised the construction of the building and the alternations made to the original design. The original cornerstone only listed McComb's name. Then in the 1890s, a descendant of McComb erased Mangin's name from the drawing they had submitted for the competition, so as to increase their value. In 2003, Mangin's name was added to the cornerstone of City Hall.Koeppel (2015), p.62
In Spring 1807, Mangin sold his property in New York City and purchased a tract of land -square in upstate New York, in
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
in St. Lawrence County. He went to live there, intending it to be his lifelong residence, but returned to the city before the winter was out, getting back his old position as a city surveyor. He sought out military contracts, but did not get any.
After his return to New York City, Mangin designed the First Presbyterian Church on
Wall Street
Wall Street is an eight-block-long street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs between Broadway in the west to South Street and the East River in the east. The term "Wall Street" has become a metonym for t ...
(1810), which was rebuilt twice before being taken apart and moved to
Jersey City
Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.Greek Revival-styleSt. Patrick's Cathedral (1809-1815) at the corner of Mott and Prince Streets, which was altered after a fire in 1866 into a Gothic parish church, and was elevated to basilica status in 2010.
Mangin's work as a surveyor encompassed locations not only in New York City, but in
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
and in upstate
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
* '' ...
.
Legacy
Mangin Street, as laid out in the Commissioner's Plans, ran from Grand Street north to Houston Street to the East River at
Rivington Street
Rivington Street is a street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which runs across the Lower East Side neighborhood, between the Bowery and Pitt Street, with a break between Chrystie and Forsyth for Sara D. Roosevelt Park. Vehicular traffi ...
, which was extended as landfill areas were incorporated into Manhattan, and now extends just west of the FDR Drive. During urban renewal projects, most of the street disappeared, except for two short stretches under the
Williamsburg Bridge
The Williamsburg Bridge is a suspension bridge in New York City across the East River connecting the Lower East Side of Manhattan at Delancey Street with the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn at Broadway near the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway ...
For many years, incorrect information circulated about Mangin's life. He was mistaken for another Joseph-François Mangin born in France around the same period, or was a slave, followed by becoming a student of one of the most prominent French architects,
Ange-Jacques Gabriel
Ange-Jacques Gabriel (23 October 1698 – 4 January 1782) was the principal architect of King Louis XV of France. His major works included the Place de la Concorde, the École Militaire, and the Petit Trianon and opera theater at the Palace of Ve ...
.
Mangin being an extremely common last name in the East of France, the "other" Joseph-François Mangin was mistakenly found by late Pr. Robert L. Alexander from university of Iowa during his research in France. The one he found was born in 1764 in Châlons. His parents were Joseph Mangin and Jeanne Marie Anne Morin, and got married in Paris on 27 August 1806 to Marie Eleonore Antoinette Diodet.Archives de Paris, série V6E