Gilman, Arthur Delavan

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Gilman, Arthur Delavan (1821–82). American architect. Much influenced by contemporary trends in England and France, he first rose to prominence with a series of articles in the North American Review in the 1840s. A friend of Charles Barry, he may have influenced E. C. Cabot in the designs for Boston's Athenaeum (1846–9), and indeed was an Associate in Cabot's firm in 1857. His best known work is Arlington Street Church, Boston, MA (1859–61—derived from Gibbs's Church of St Martin-in-the-Fields, London), a late example of Gibbs's potent and long-lived influence, especially in the USA. He was prominent in early moves to conserve Boston's architectural heritage. His Equitable Life Assurance Company Building, NYC (1867—70—destroyed), was one of the world's first skyscrapers. He collaborated with Gridley James Fox Bryant (1816–99) on the design of Boston City Hall (1861–5), where the architectural style of the French Second Empire was employed with much élan.

Bibliography

Dictionary of American Biography (1943);
Hitchcock & and Seale (1976);
Landau & and Condit (1996);
Whitehill (1968)

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Gilman, Arthur Delavan

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