Philip Hubert Frohman (November 16, 1887 – October 30, 1972) was an architect who is most widely known for his work on the
Washington National Cathedral, named, the "Cathedral Church of St. Peter and St. Paul" in Washington, D.C. He worked on the
English Gothic style cathedral from 1921 until his death in 1972.
Birth and heritage
Frohman was born in
Hotel Chelsea, designed by his grandfather
Philip Gengembre Hubert
Philip Gengembre Hubert, Sr., AIA, (August 20, 1830 – November 15, 1911) was a French-American architect and founder of the New York City architectural firm Hubert & Pirsson (later Hubert, Pirsson, and Company, active from c. 1870 to 18 ...
, in New York in 1887
to
Gustave Frohman
Gustave Frohman (c. 1854 – August 16, 1930) was a theatre producer and advance man. He was one of three Frohman brothers who entered show business and he worked for most of his career alongside his brother, Charles Frohman. These two financed ...
, a theatrical producer, and the former Marie Hubert, an actress.
["Philip Hubert Frohman Dies; Designed National Cathedral" (1972), ''New York Times.'' October 31, p.48.] His mother was a
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
Catholic and his father
Jewish.
Frohman had a notable lineage in the related worlds of architecture and engineering. In 1849, his grandfather
Philip Gengembre Hubert
Philip Gengembre Hubert, Sr., AIA, (August 20, 1830 – November 15, 1911) was a French-American architect and founder of the New York City architectural firm Hubert & Pirsson (later Hubert, Pirsson, and Company, active from c. 1870 to 18 ...
and his great-grandfather Charles Antoine Colomb Gengembre moved to America. While practicing architecture in New York, Hubert designed the
Hotel Chelsea, later to become a well-known residence for actors, writers, musicians and other artists. Built in 1883, it had the distinction of being the tallest building in New York until 1899. Initially constructed as an apartment building, it still remains in operation today, as a hotel. His great-grandfather, Charles Antoine Colomb Gengembre, both an architect and
civil engineer
A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...
, supervised the building of the first railway from Liverpool to Manchester. His great-great-grandfather was
Philippe Joachim Joseph Gengembre, who served as Director of Works for King
Louis Philippe of France in the early 19th century. Gengembre designed France's first steam warship and the first home in Paris to feature gas lighting.
[ Feller 1979, p.22.]
Education and early career
Frohman's interest in architecture was evident even in his early years. At the age of eleven, he enrolled in the Throop Polytechnic Institute in Pasadena, California,
[ Harrington 1979, p.11.] where he attended
grammar school and
secondary school
A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...
. (Throop later spun off its grammar and secondary schools into
Polytechnic School, while Throop itself became the
California Institute of Technology.) He designed his first house when he was fourteen. In 1907, he graduated and became the youngest person ever to pass the state architectural examination. The following year, at the age of twenty-one, he opened his own office in Pasadena. In his early practice he focused on the design of both churches and houses. Early Frohman-designed churches include Trinity Episcopal Church in Orange, California in 1909, and other parish churches in Santa Barbara and Inglewood, California between 1909 and 1917.
During World War I Frohman served in the ordnance construction section of the
Army and was stationed in the Washington, D.C. area. Placed in charge of the architectural division at
Aberdeen Proving Ground, he designed buildings there and at
Rock Island Arsenal. It was at this time that he made the acquaintance of
dean of the National Cathedral and, later, the
Episcopal
Episcopal may refer to:
*Of or relating to a bishop, an overseer in the Christian church
*Episcopate, the see of a bishop – a diocese
*Episcopal Church (disambiguation), any church with "Episcopal" in its name
** Episcopal Church (United State ...
bishop of Washington.
[Jean R. Hailey, "Architect Philip Frohman, 84, Dies” (1972), ''Washington Post.'' October 31, p.C4; "Philip Hubert Frohman Dies; Designed National Cathedral" (1972), ''New York Times.'' October 31, p.48.]
Career
Over the course of his long career Frohman would be credited with the design of some fifty churches in the United States.
Washington National Cathedral
The great majority of Frohman's life and work, however, would be dedicated to the construction of the Washington National Cathedral, on which he labored for more than fifty years.
[ Harrington 1979, p.10.]
During a visit to Washington in 1914, Frohman visited the Bethlehem Chapel, which had been completed in 1912. He described it as, “a more beautiful
crypt
A crypt (from Latin ''crypta'' "vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, sarcophagi, or religious relics.
Originally, crypts were typically found below the main apse of a chur ...
than any I had ever seen abroad; the most satisfying example of church architecture in America.” So taken was he by the cathedral that in signing the visitor register he included a small prayer in code. The prayer was that he might someday become the cathedral architect. Following military service in World War I Frohman moved from Pasadena to Boston to continue his architectural practice.
[ Feller 1979, p.21.]
In 1919 Frohman began making preliminary sketches for revisions of Bodley's designs at the invitation of the Bishop of Washington, The
Right Reverend
The Right Reverend (abbreviated The Rt Revd, The Rt Rev'd, The Rt Rev.) is a style applied to certain religious figures.
Overview
*In the Anglican Communion and the Catholic Church in Great Britain, it applies to bishops, except that ''The M ...
Alfred Harding. During the next two years he formed a partnership with E. Donald Robb and
Harry B. Little and in November 1921, the firm of Frohman, Robb and Little was officially designated Cathedral Architects. Robb died in 1942 and Little followed in 1944, after which Frohman served as the sole architect of the cathedral.
Although adhering to Bodley and Vaughan's original plan in its essence, Frohman made substantial refinements to the initial blueprint. His impact on the overall structure has been described by one author on the cathedral: “Bodley and Vaughan’s preliminary plans envisioned a predominantly English Gothic structure; under Frohman’s guidance the style became more eclectic, a happy blending of Medieval Gothic from both England and the Continent . . . . Frohman’s cathedral combines architectural elements from both sides of the North Sea.”
In particular, Frohman revised and augmented the original design for the crypt, adding ambulatories and an additional chapel.
Over the years he was intimately involved in virtually every aspect of the cathedral's furnishing and embellishment. The most notable and visible of his revisions is his redesign of the west facade, the principal entrance to the cathedral.
[ Feller 1989, p.12.], It “is said to be the culmination of Frohman’s genius—his most plastic work and his most original design.”
Frohman's successor described him as: "
narchitectural giant—a man who never compromised on less than perfection."
It was said that he did not hesitate to change drawings to modify structural details by as little as a sixteenth of an inch. When the cathedral's construction progressed to the
crossing and a crucial debate arose over whether to complete the nave or build the central
tower next, Frohman's recommendation to proceed with the tower proved decisive.
Other churches
His focus on construction of the Washington National Cathedral notwithstanding, Frohman still found time to design a number of other churches, including two cathedrals. The
Cathedral of the Incarnation in Baltimore and the
Cathedral Church of St. Luke in Orlando, Florida are both Frohman designed,
[ Feller 1979, p.24.] although the latter would not be completed until 1987. In addition, the Church of Our Saviour, Baltimore;
Trinity College Chapel, Hartford; Christ Lutheran Church, Baltimore;
Saint Paul's Cathedral, San Diego; Trinity Church, Washington, D.C.; St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Washington, D.C.; Trinity Church Morgantown, West Virginia and the Church of the Heavenly Rest, Abilene, Texas, have all been attributed to Frohman.
Frohman also designed the Roman Catholic Church of the Annunciation in Washington, located near the cathedral, of which he was a member.
Frohman was the architect of Grace Church and rectory and its later enlargement (both have been razed), and a rancher's home in the prestigious "Snob Hollow" area (1917) (also razed in the late 1970s), all in Tucson, AZ.
Awards and affiliations
Frohman received the distinction of Fellow of the
American Institute of Architects (
FAIA) from that organization. He was awarded the Medal ''
Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice'' (For Church and Pope) by
Pope John XXIII.
Frohman was a member of the Washington Archdiocesan Commission on Sacred Art, the
National Cathedral Association
The Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in the City and Diocese of Washington, commonly known as Washington National Cathedral, is an American cathedral of the Episcopal Church (United States), Episcopal Church. The cathedral is loc ...
, the Guild of Religious Architecture, the Liturgical Art Society, the American Guild of Church Architects and the American Ordnance Association.
Retirement and death
Although continuing to climb the scaffolding several times a week to inspect the ongoing work,
in March, 1971, at the age of 83 Frohman retired. In an unusual move for an architect, he was awarded a retirement stipend by the cathedral.
Although one bishop in the early 1920s informed Frohman that he intended to build the Washington National Cathedral in five years, Frohman himself observed: “Not often does an architect knowingly prepare designs for a building which he is sure he will not see completed in his own lifetime.”
Frohman's prediction proved more accurate than the bishop's. Frohman died on October 30, 1972, following an accident on August 7 in which he was struck by an automobile near the cathedral's grounds. The cathedral
nave would not see completion until 1976. Only in September 1990 would the west end he redesigned be dedicated, completing construction of all principal features of the church's interior and exterior structure, although minor embellishment is expected to continue for years.
A Roman Catholic, Frohman's body was interred in the Chapel of St. Joseph of Arimathea on the crypt level of the National Cathedral by special dispensation of the
Archdiocese of Washington
The Archdiocese of Washington is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in the United States. Its territorial remit encompasses the District of Columbia and the counties of Calvert, Charles, Montgomery, P ...
.
He is also memorialized by a
bay
A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...
on the north aisle of the cathedral nave dedicated to him. The inscription on the bay wall reads, in part: “''From the deep well of faith sprang devotion to perfection; A graceful witness in this Cathedral Church; To his steadfast spirit and; The prayer his genius sought to record in all his work.''”
[ Montgomery 1974, p.39.]
Notes
References
Sources
*
Feller, Richard T., and Marshall W. Fishwick (1979), ''For Thy Great Glory''. 2nd ed. Culpeper, Virginia: The Community Press of Culpeper, Virginia.
*
Feller, Richard T. (1989), ''Completing Washington Cathedral For Thy Great Glory''. Washington, D.C.: The Washington Cathedral.
*
Harrington, Ty (1979), ''The Last Cathedral''. London: Prentice Hall International, Inc.
*
Fallen, Anne-Catherine (editor) (1995), ''Washington National Cathedral''. Washington, D.C.: Washington National Cathedral.
*
Montgomery, Nancy S. (editor) (1974), ''Guide to Washington Cathedral''. rev. ed. Washington, D.C.: National Cathedral Association.
*Row, Christopher D.H. "World Without End: Philip Hubert Frohman and the Washington National Cathedral." Ph.D. diss., Harvard University, 1999.
External links
''A World Without End'' article at Frommers website
American Institute of Architects official websiteCathedral Church of St. Luke, Orlando, Florida official websiteCathedral of the Incarnation, Baltimore, Maryland, official websiteChrist Lutheran Church, Baltimore, Maryland, official websiteChurch of the Annunciation, Washington, D.C., official websiteChurch of our Savior, Baltimore, Maryland, official websiteChurch of the Heavenly Rest, Abilene, Texas, official websiteHotel Chelsea official websiteProtestant Episcopal Cathedral Foundation of the District of Columbia official websiteSt. Paul's Episcopal Church, Washington, D.C., official websiteEpiscopal Church of the Heavenly Rest, Abilene, TX official websiteTrinity College official websiteTrinity Episcopal Church, Morgantown, West Virginia, official websiteTrinity Episcopal Church, Orange, California, official websiteTrinity Episcopal Church, Takoma Park, Maryland, official websiteWashington National Cathedral official websitePhilip H. Frohman; findagrave.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frohman, Philip H.
1887 births
1972 deaths
Architects from New York City
Architects from Pasadena, California
Architects from Boston
Architects from Washington, D.C.
20th-century American architects
Gothic Revival architects
American ecclesiastical architects
Architects of cathedrals
Catholics from California
Catholics from New York (state)
Burials at Washington National Cathedral
Road incident deaths in Washington, D.C.
Pedestrian road incident deaths
American people of French descent
American people of Jewish descent
Frohman family