Sidney Fiske Kimball (1888 – 1955) was an American architect,

architectural historian An architectural historian is a person who studies and writes about the history of architecture, and is regarded as an authority on it. Professional requirements As many architectural historians are employed at universities and other facilities ...

and museum director. A pioneer in the field of

architectural preservation Conservation and restoration of immovable cultural property describes the process through which the material, historical, and design integrity of any immovable cultural property are prolonged through carefully planned interventions. The indivi ...

in the United States, he played a leading part in the restoration of

Monticello Monticello ( ) was the primary residence and plantation of Thomas Jefferson, a Founding Father, author of the Declaration of Independence, and the third president of the United States. Jefferson began designing Monticello after inheriting l ...

and

Stratford Hall Plantation Stratford Hall is a historic house museum in Westmoreland County, Virginia. It was the plantation house of four generations of the Lee family of Virginia (with descendants later to expand to Maryland and other states). Stratford Hall is the bo ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

. Over his nearly-30-year tenure as director of the

Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) is an List of art museums#North America, art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at ...

, he moved the museum into its current building and greatly expanded its collections.

Biography

Monticello original front elevation drawing 1771

Kimball was born in

Newton, Massachusetts Newton is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is located roughly west of Downtown Boston, and comprises a patchwork of thirteen villages. The city borders Boston to the northeast and southeast (via the neighborhoods of ...

on December 8, 1888. He was educated at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, where he took both his bachelor's and master's degrees in architecture. Kimball was awarded a Sheldon Fellowship for travel to Europe in 1911 and passed his assistantship in the library to his sister Theodora Kimball Hubbard during his absence. This opportunity propelled his sister's career as the first Landscape Architecture Librarian at Harvard University. He then taught at the University of Illinois and the University of Michigan, receiving a Ph.D. from the latter institution in 1915. In 1919, Kimball was appointed to head the newly formed department of art and architecture at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

. While at the University of Virginia, he served as the supervising architect for Memorial Gymnasium (built in 1924), and the McIntire Amphitheatre on grounds at the university. He also designed the campus of

Woodberry Forest School Woodberry Forest School is a private, all-male boarding school located in Woodberry Forest, Madison County, Virginia, in the United States. Woodberry's current enrollment is 391. Students come from 34 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., and 36 coun ...

.Illinois Historic Preservation Agency
/ref> In 1923, Kimball left the University of Virginia to establish the

Institute of Fine Arts An institute is an organizational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes ca ...

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

. In 1925, he was appointed director of the

, where he served until his retirement in January 1955. During his first year in Philadelphia, he lived in and restored the Mount Pleasant mansion. Kimball was a consultant on numerous other restoration projects, including

Gunston Hall Gunston Hall is an 18th-century Georgian architecture, Georgian Plantation house in the Southern United States, mansion near the Potomac River in Mason Neck, Virginia, Mason Neck, Virginia, United States. Built between 1755 and 1759 by George ...

, Stratford Hall, and

Colonial Williamsburg Colonial Williamsburg is a living-history museum and private foundation presenting a part of the historic district in Williamsburg, Virginia. Its historic area includes several hundred restored or recreated buildings from the 18th century, wh ...

. He was elected to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

in 1943. Kimball continued to work on projects in Virginia. Kimball designed his own home, '' Shack Mountain'', in

Albemarle County, Virginia Albemarle County is a United States county (United States), county located in the Piedmont region of Virginia, Piedmont region of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia. Its county seat is Charlottesville, Virginia, Charlottes ...

, not from far Monticello. Kimball used Jefferson's architectural principles as the basis of his design of ''Shack Mountain'', short for Shackelford Mountain, the surname of a branch of Jefferson's descendants. Built in 1935–1936, ''Shack Mountain'' is a Jefferson-style pavilion, like Monticello, that is considered Kimball's masterpiece. ''Shack Mountain'' was designated a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...

in 1992. Fiske Kimball died in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, Germany, on August 14, 1955. He and his wife are buried at Monticello Memorial Gardens on Monticello Mountain, about a mile from Monticello. He is commemorated by the Fiske Kimball Fine Arts Library at the University of Virginia.

Marriage

Kimball married, in June 1913, Marie Christina Goebel (1889–1955), the half Dutch, half German daughter of Julius Goebel, a professor of Germanic languages at the University of Illinois. She eventually was the recipient of two

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

s and served as Monticello's first curator (1944–55). She also wrote a three-volume biography of Jefferson.

Works

*''Thomas Jefferson, architect, Original Designs in the Collection of Thomas Jefferson Coolidge, Junior'', 1916 *''A History of Architecture'', 1918 (with George Harold Edgell) *''Domestic Architecture of the American Colonies and of the early Republic'', 1922 *''American Architecture'', 1928 *''Mr. Samuel McIntire, Carver : The architect of Salem'', 1940 *''The Creation of the Rococo'', 1943 *''Great Paintings in America: One Hundred and One Masterpieces in Color'', 1948 (with

Lionello Venturi Lionello Venturi (25 April 1885 – 14 August 1961) was an Italian historian and critic of art. He edited the first catalogue raisonné of Paul Cézanne. His son was the historian Franco Venturi. Life Lionello Venturi was born in Modena in 1885 ...

)

References

External links

'Fiske Kimball'

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...

, monticello.org
Fiske Kimball Papers

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

'Fiske Kimball: Culmination and Legacy'

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kimball, Fiske 1888 births 1955 deaths Artists from Newton, Massachusetts Architects from Philadelphia Preservationist architects University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty University of Michigan faculty University of Virginia faculty New York University faculty American curators American architectural historians American male non-fiction writers 20th-century American architects 20th-century American historians University of Michigan alumni Harvard Graduate School of Design alumni Directors of the Philadelphia Museum of Art People from Albemarle County, Virginia Historians from Pennsylvania Historians from Massachusetts 20th-century American male writers Historians from Virginia Members of the American Philosophical Society

Biography

Marriage

Works

See also

References

Further reading

External links