Stephen Decatur Button (June 15, 1813, in Preston, Connecticut – January 7, 1897, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) was an American architect and a pioneer in the use of metal-frame construction for masonry buildings. He designed commercial buildings, schools and churches in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, and

Camden, New Jersey Camden is a city in and the county seat of Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Camden is part of the Delaware Valley metropolitan area and is located directly across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At the 2020 ...

; and more than 30 buildings in

Cape May, New Jersey Cape May is a city located at the southern tip of Cape May Peninsula in Cape May County, New Jersey, United States, where the Delaware Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean. It is one of the country's oldest vacation resort destinations, and part of th ...

Career

He apprenticed to his uncle, Connecticut carpenter Stephen Button, and became an assistant to New York City architect George Purvis. After running his own office in

Hoboken, New Jersey Hoboken ( ; Unami: ') is a city in Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 60,417. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 58,690 i ...

, for a decade, he worked in Georgia and Florida in 1845 and 1846. In 1846, he won the competition to design the first

Alabama State Capitol The Alabama State Capitol, listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the First Confederate Capitol, is the state capitol building for Alabama. Located on Capitol Hill, originally Goat Hill, in Montgomery, it was declared a National H ...

in Montgomery; his completed building burned on December 14, 1849. In 1848, he moved to Philadelphia and formed a partnership with his brother-in-law,

Joseph C. Hoxie Joseph C. Hoxie (14 August 1814 – 9 January 1870) was an Americans, American architect. Early life He was born in Rhode Island. Career Hoxie was trained to the buildings trade in Connecticut and was working in Hoboken, New Jersey, by 1840. He ...

. The firm of Hoxie & Button lasted until 1852. In his brick-and-iron Lewis Building at 239-41 Chestnut Street in Philadelphia (1852), "''Button ... stripped the wall of excessive ornament and designed thin piers and wide voids to open the wall to light. To indicate a skeletal framework, the

spandrel A spandrel is a roughly triangular space, usually found in pairs, between the top of an arch and a rectangular frame; between the tops of two adjacent arches or one of the four spaces between a circle within a square. They are frequently fill ...

s were recessed to emphasize the continuous upward flow of the plain piers.''" In 1961, architectural historian Winston Weisman labeled this style "Philadelphia Functionalism," and conjectured that it may have influenced the skyscrapers of architect

Louis Sullivan Louis Henry Sullivan (September 3, 1856 – April 14, 1924) was an American architect, and has been called a "father of skyscrapers" and "father of modernism". He was an influential architect of the Chicago School, a mentor to Frank Lloy ...

. Sullivan worked next-door at 243 Chestnut Street in 1874, while a draftsman in the offices of architects Frank Furness & George W. Hewitt. In addition to this modernist work, Button designed in the Romanesque and Italianate styles. About 1854, he moved across the

Delaware River The Delaware River is a major river in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. From the meeting of its branches in Hancock (village), New York, Hancock, New York, the river flows for along the borders of N ...

to Camden, New Jersey, where he would live for the rest of his life. His house at 330 Mickle Street was next door to that of the poet

Walt Whitman Walter Whitman (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among t ...

. Button received major commissions in Camden, including churches, schools, railroad stations, commercial buildings, and the second City Hall. After much of Cape May, New Jersey, was destroyed in an 1878 fire, Button rebuilt several of its resort hotels in brick and designed dozens of residences there.

Selected works

Philadelphia

* Odd Fellows Cemetery Gatehouse, 24th & Diamond Streets, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (circa 1849, demolished circa 1951). *

Spring Garden Institute Spring Garden College—founded in 1851 as the Spring Garden Institute—was a private technical college in the Spring Garden section of Philadelphia. Its building at 523-25 North Broad Street (demolished) was designed by architect Steph ...

, 523-25 North Broad Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1851–52), torn down 1972. *Lewis Building, 239-41 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1852). *Second Dutch Reformed Church, 817 North 7th Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1852–54). In 1917, this became St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church. * Gaul-Forrest House, 1326-36 North Broad Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1853–54), attributed to Button. *First Baptist Church, Broad & Arch Streets, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1853–56, demolished 1898). *First Dutch Reformed Church, 7th & Spring Garden Streets, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1853–55). *

Arch Street Presbyterian Church Arch Street Presbyterian Church is a historic Presbyterian Church at 1724 Arch Street, located between the two Comcast skyscrapers in the Logan Square neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The building was designed by the architectural ...

, 1726-32 Arch Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1855), Hoxie & Button. * Mount Moriah Cemetery Gatehouse, 6299 Kingsessing Avenue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1855). *Leland Building, 37-39 South 3rd Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1855). *Joseph H. Schenck Building, 535 Arch Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1869–72, partially demolished 1938, demolished 1959).

Camden, New Jersey

*Second Presbyterian Church, 416 South 4th Street, Camden, New Jersey (1865–66). *First Presbyterian Church, 5th & Penn Streets, Camden, New Jersey (1871–73). *(Second) Camden City Hall, Haddon Avenue & Benson Street, Camden, New Jersey (1874–75, demolished 1930). *Richard Fetters School, 3rd & Walnut Streets, Camden, New Jersey (1875). A boys grammar school diagonally opposite the Mulford School. *Isaac S. Mulford School, 3rd & Walnut Streets., Camden, New Jersey (1875, demolished post-1956). A girls grammar school diagonally opposite the Fetters School. *John W. Mickle School, 6th & Van Hook Streets, Camden, New Jersey (1875–76, demolished 1971).

Cape May, New Jersey

*Stockton Hotel, Cape May, New Jersey (1868–69). *John M. McCreary House, 34 Gurney Street, Cape May, New Jersey (1869–70). Now Christian Science Society (Cape May, New Jersey). *Jackson's Club House, 635 Columbia Avenue, Cape May, New Jersey (1872). *Stockton Place Houses (row of 10 balloon-frame houses), 12-30 Gurney Street, Cape May, New Jersey (1871–72, 2 houses demolished). *Expansion of Chalfonte Hotel, Howard & Sewell Streets, Cape May, New Jersey (1879). * Congress Hall Hotel, 251 Beach Avenue, Cape May, New Jersey (1879). The previous Congress Hall Hotel burned in 1878. *Windsor Hotel, Windsor Street & Beach Avenue, Cape May, New Jersey (1879, burned 1979). *J. R. Evans House, 207 Congress Place, Cape May, New Jersey (1882–83). *E. C. Knight House, 203 Congress Place, Cape May, New Jersey (1882–83). *Atlantic Terrace Houses (row of 7 balloon-frame houses), Jackson Street, Cape May, New Jersey (1891–92).

Elsewhere

*(First)

, Montgomery, Alabama (1846–47, burned and demolished 1849). *Knox Hall, 419 South Perry Street, Montgomery, Alabama (1848). *Central Bank of Alabama, 1 Dexter Avenue, Montgomery, Alabama (1854). Now Alabama State Council on the Arts. * Adams County Courthouse, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania (1858–59). *Abram Minis House, 204 East Jones Street, Savannah, Georgia (1859–60). *Alterations to Cargill House, 1316 3rd Avenue, Columbus, Georgia (circa 1860).Cargill House
from HABS. * Evergreen Cemetery gatehouse, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania (1855).

Gallery

File:Evercemadams gatehouse.jpg, Evergreen Cemetery Gatehouse File:Alabama Capitol original plan.jpg, (First)

, Montgomery, Alabama (1846–47, burned 1849). File:Knox Hall May09.jpg, Knox Hall, Montgomery, Alabama (1848). File:First Baptist Church, Broad and Arch Streets, from Robert N. Dennis collection of stereoscopic views.png, First Baptist Church, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1853–56, demolished 1898). File:1 Dexter Avenue.jpg, Central Bank of Alabama, Montgomery, Alabama (1854). File:Abram Minis House, 204 East Jones Street, Savannah, Chatham County, GA.jpg, Abram Minis House, Savannah, Georgia (1859-1860). File:Christ Sci CMHD.jpg, Christian Science Society (Cape May, New Jersey) (1869–70). File:Stockton Place Guerny CMHD.jpg, Stockton Place Houses, Cape May, New Jersey (1871–72). File:Chalfonte CMHD.JPG, Expansion of Chalfonte Hotel, Cape May, New Jersey (1879). File:HABS Windsor CMHD.jpg, Windsor Hotel, Cape May, New Jersey (1879, burned 1979).

External links

Stephen Decatur Button from Philadelphia Architects and Buildings
* *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Button, Stephen Decatur 1813 births 1897 deaths People from Camden, New Jersey 19th-century American architects