Joseph Trench (1815-1879) 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 ...

who practiced 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 ...

and

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

in the 19th century.

Life and career

Trench was born in 1815, but little is known about his early history or training. By 1837 he was practicing in New York, and brought

Jasper Francis Cropsey Jasper Francis Cropsey (February 18, 1823 – June 22, 1900) was an important American landscape artist of the Hudson River School. Early years Cropsey was born on his father Jacob Rezeau Cropsey's farm in Rossville on Staten Island, New ...

, who would go on to be a notable

Hudson River School The Hudson River School was a mid-19th century American art movement embodied by a group of landscape painters whose aesthetic vision was influenced by Romanticism. The paintings typically depict the Hudson River Valley and the surrounding area, ...

painter, into his office as an apprentice and draftsman. Several years later, in 1842, Trench took

John B. Snook John Butler Snook (1815–1901) was an American architect who practiced in New York City and was responsible for the design of a number of notable cast-iron buildings, most of which are now in and around the SoHo neighborhood of Manhattan, as ...

into Trench & Company, and Snook soon became the junior partner in the firm, which was later renamed to Trench & Snook.Brazee, Christopher D. and Most, Jennifer L
"Architects Appendix"
to the "East 10th Street Historic District Designation Report",

New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the New York City agency charged with administering the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting New York City's architecturally, historically, and cu ...

(January 17, 2012), pp.50-51 Trench moved to San Francisco in 1850 or 1851, and practiced as an architect there, designing among other buildings the

Jenny Lind Johanna Maria "Jenny" Lind (6 October 18202 November 1887) was a Swedish opera singer, often called the "Swedish Nightingale". One of the most highly regarded singers of the 19th century, she performed in soprano roles in opera in Sweden and a ...

Theatre (1851), which later became San Francisco's City Hall, and the Metropolitan Theatre (1853). Trench also had other occupations, managing the Metropolitan Theatre and San Francisco Hall, and, later, became a prospector and miner. In 1856 he ran a mining operation in Mexico, and he formed the firm Sparrow, Trench & Company to run mines in the

Nevada Territory The Territory of Nevada (N.T.) was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until October 31, 1864, when it was admitted to the Union as the State of Nevada. Prior to the creation of the Nevada T ...

. Trench, who never married, retired in the early 1870s, and died in

East Oakland, California East Oakland is a geographical region of Oakland, California, United States, that stretches between Lake Merritt in the northwest and San Leandro in the southeast. As the southeastern portion of the city, East Oakland takes up the largest portio ...

on August 27, 1879.

Buildings in New York City

Buildings designed by Trench's firm in New York City include: * A. T. Stewart Department Store, also known as the Sun Building, at 280 Broadway (1845–46), one of the first buildings in New York City in the

Italianate style The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian R ...

, and very influential in introducing that style in the United States,Betts, Mary Beth (ed.
"SoHo - Cast-Iron Historic District Extension Designation Report"

(May 11, 2010), p.180 a NYC landmark *James F. Penniman residence, 14th Street at

Union Square Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

(c. 1846), ''no longer extant'' (Trench may have designed all the houses on this block) *Seventh Ward Bank, 234 Pearl Street (1846), ''no longer extant'' *Colonel Herman Thorne mansion, 22 West 16th Street (1846–48), ''no longer extant'' *

Odd Fellows Hall (New York City) The Odd Fellows Hall is a building at 165–171 Grand Street (Manhattan), Grand Street between Centre Street (Manhattan), Centre and Centre Market Place, Baxter Streets, in the Little Italy, Manhattan, Little Italy and SoHo, Manhattan, SoHo neighb ...

, (1847-1848), a NYC landmark *300-302 Canal Street (1847-1852) *Boreel Building, 113-119 Broadway (1849–50), ''no longer extant'' *Metropolitan Hotel and Niblo's Garden Theatre, Broadway at Prince (1849-1852), ''no longer extant'' Trench also designed row houses which are part of the

East 10th Street Historic District The East 10th Street Historic District is a small historic district located in the Alphabet City area of the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It includes all 26 buildings, numbered 293 to 345, on East 10th Street between ...

References

;Notes {{DEFAULTSORT:Trench, Joseph 1815 births 1879 deaths Architecture in the San Francisco Bay Area People from the San Francisco Bay Area

Life and career

Buildings in New York City

See also

References