Charles Follen McKim (August 24, 1847 – September 14, 1909) was an American Beaux-Arts

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 ...

of the late 19th century. Along with

William Rutherford Mead William Rutherford Mead (August 20, 1846 – June 19, 1928) was an American architect who was the "Center of the Office" of McKim, Mead, and White, a noted Gilded Age architectural firm.Baker, Paul R. ''Stanny'' The firm's other founding pa ...

and

Stanford White Stanford White (November 9, 1853 – June 25, 1906) was an American architect. He was also a partner in the architectural firm McKim, Mead & White, one of the most significant Beaux-Arts firms. He designed many houses for the rich, in addition ...

, he provided the architectural expertise as a member of the partnership McKim, Mead & White.

Life and career

McKim was born in

Chester County, Pennsylvania Chester County (Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Tscheschter Kaundi''), colloquially known as Chesco, is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is located in the Delaware Valley region of the state. As of the 2020 census, the population was 53 ...

. His parents were

James Miller McKim James Miller McKim (November 10, 1810 – June 13, 1874) was a Presbyterian minister and abolitionist. He was also the father of the architect Charles Follen McKim. Biography McKim was born in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and educated at Dickinson ...

, a Presbyterian minister, and Sarah Speakman McKim. They were active

abolitionists Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The Britis ...

and he was named after

Charles Follen Charles (Karl) Theodor Christian Friedrich Follen (September 6, 1796 – January 13, 1840) was a German poet and patriot, who later moved to the United States and became the first professor of German at Harvard University, a Unitarian minister, a ...

, another abolitionist and a Unitarian minister. After attending Harvard University, he studied architecture at the

École des Beaux-Arts École des Beaux-Arts (; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth centur ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

before joining the office of

Henry Hobson Richardson Henry Hobson Richardson, FAIA (September 29, 1838 – April 27, 1886) was an American architect, best known for his work in a style that became known as Richardsonian Romanesque. Along with Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright, Richardson is one ...

in 1870. McKim formed his own firm in partnership with

, joined in 1877 by fellow Richardson protégé

For ten years, the firm became primarily known for their open-plan informal summer houses. McKim became best known as an exponent of Beaux-Arts architecture in styles of the

American Renaissance The American Renaissance was a period of American architecture and the arts from 1876 to 1917, characterized by renewed national self-confidence and a feeling that the United States was the heir to Greek democracy, Roman law, and Renaissance ...

, exemplified by the

Boston Public Library The Boston Public Library is a municipal public library system in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, founded in 1848. The Boston Public Library is also the Library for the Commonwealth (formerly ''library of last recourse'') of the Commonwea ...

(1888–95), and several works in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, including the Morningside Heights campus of

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

(1893), the

University Club of New York The University Club of New York (also known as University Club) is a private social club at 1 West 54th Street and Fifth Avenue in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Founded to celebrate the union of social duty and intellec ...

clubhouse (1899), the Pierpont Morgan Library (1903),

New York Penn Station Pennsylvania Station, also known as New York Penn Station or simply Penn Station, is the main intercity railroad station in New York City and the busiest transportation facility in the Western Hemisphere, serving more than 600,000 passengers ...

(1904–10), and The Butler Institute of American Art in

Youngstown, Ohio Youngstown is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio, and the largest city and county seat of Mahoning County. At the 2020 census, Youngstown had a city population of 60,068. It is a principal city of the Youngstown–Warren metropolitan area, whi ...

(1919). He designed the Howard Mansion (1896) at

Hyde Park, New York Hyde Park is a town in Dutchess County, New York, United States, bordering the Hudson River north of Poughkeepsie. Within the town are the hamlets of Hyde Park, East Park, Staatsburg, and Haviland. Hyde Park is known as the hometown of Fran ...

. McKim, with the aid of Richard Morris Hunt, was instrumental in the formation of the American School of Architecture in Rome in 1894, which has become the

American Academy in Rome The American Academy in Rome is a research and arts institution located on the Gianicolo (Janiculum Hill) in Rome. The academy is a member of the Council of American Overseas Research Centers. History In 1893, a group of American architects, ...

, and designed the main campus buildings with his firm McKim, Mead, and White. McKim first married Annie Bigelow in 1874 and after divorcing Bigelow married Julia Amory Appleton in 1885. McKim died at age 62 in St. James, New York on September 14, 1909.

Memberships

McKim was a member of the Congressional commission for the improvement of the

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, park system, the New York Art Commission, the Accademia di San Luca (

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, 1899), the

and the Architectural League. He was an honorary member and former president of the

American Institute of Architects The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to su ...

, and honorary member of the Society of Mural Painters. He became a

National Academician The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the f ...

in 1907. He belonged to the University, Lambs, and Racquet and Tennis Clubs of New York, and to the St. Botolph and

Somerset Club The Somerset Club is a private social club in Boston, Massachusetts, founded perhaps as early as 1826. It is a center of Boston Brahmin families - New England's upper class - and is known as one of the big four clubs in the country, the other th ...

s of Boston.

Awards and honors

McKim received numerous awards during his lifetime, including the Medaille d'Or at the

1900 Paris Exposition The Exposition Universelle of 1900, better known in English as the 1900 Paris Exposition, was a world's fair held in Paris, France, from 14 April to 12 November 1900, to celebrate the achievements of the past century and to accelerate developmen ...

and a gold medal from Edward VII of the United Kingdom. The royal gold medal from Edward VII was awarded for the restoration of the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...

. In 1902 Congress appropriated $475,445 for this purpose to be spent at the discretion of President

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

. He received honorary doctorates from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

and

, and the honorary degree of A.M. from Harvard in 1890, and from Bowdoin in 1894. He was elected a Fellow of the

in 1877, and received the

AIA Gold Medal The AIA Gold Medal is awarded by the American Institute of Architects conferred "by the national AIA Board of Directors in recognition of a significant body of work of lasting influence on the theory and practice of architecture." It is the Ins ...

, posthumously, in 1909.

References

External links

* *
The McKim Mead & White Architectural Records Collection at the New York Historical Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:McKim, Charles Follen * American neoclassical architects Beaux Arts architects 1847 births 1909 deaths Architects from New York City American alumni of the École des Beaux-Arts People from Chester County, Pennsylvania Recipients of the Royal Gold Medal Fellows of the American Institute of Architects Presidents of the American Institute of Architects Harvard University alumni 19th-century American architects Architects of the Boston Public Library Recipients of the AIA Gold Medal