Charles Brigham

The First Church of Christ, Scientist, Boston, 1906

Fairhaven Town Hall, Fairhaven, Massachusetts, 1892

Charles Brigham (June 21, 1841 – July 1925), was a prominent American architect.

Life

Born, raised, and educated in Watertown, Massachusetts, he apprenticed to the Boston architect Gridley J.F. Bryant. Brigham served as a sergeant in the Union Army during the American Civil War, then began work for John Hubbard Sturgis. His 1866 partnership with Sturgis lasted 20 years, and resulted in the original building for the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Brigham subsequently designed the 1898 annex to the Massachusetts State House in Boston, the 1906 The First Church of Christ, Scientist in Boston, and many residential buildings especially in the Boston Back Bay and Newport Rhode Island.

Brigham's work reflects the eclecticism and historicism prevalent in the last quarter of the 19th century, initiating fusion of the complex eclectic references of the English Queen Anne revival with American colonial design. The resulting coastal New England houses of the 1880s by Brigham and other Boston architects defined the shingle style in one of the most original and distinguished epochs of American architectural history, from which other notable architects, such as Henry Hobson Richardson, emerged. He also designed the Watertown town seal.

Work

With John Hubbard Sturgis:

• Codman Building, Boston, 1873
• Church of the Advent, Boston, 1875-1888
• Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1876
• 86 Marlborough Street, Boston 1872

In solo practice:

• Trinity Episcopal Church (Melrose, Massachusetts), 1886
• Stoughton (MBTA station), Stoughton, Massachusetts, 1888
• Fairhaven Town Hall, Fairhaven, Massachusetts, 1892
• Millicent Library, Fairhaven, Massachusetts, 1893
• New Bedford Institution for Savings, New Bedford, Massachusetts, 1897
• annex to the Massachusetts State House in Boston, 1898
• Albert C. Burrage House, Back Bay, Boston, 1899
• Albert C. Burrage House, 1205 West Crescent Avenue, Redlands CA, 1899/1900 (http://www.rahs.org/heritage-awards/heritage-2010/1205-w-crescent-avenue/)
• Madison Public Library, now the Museum of Early Trades and Crafts, Madison, New Jersey, 1900
• Unitarian Memorial Church, Fairhaven, Massachusetts, 1901
• Fairhaven High School and Academy, Fairhaven, Massachusetts, 1905
• Messiah Home for Children, Bronx, New York City, 1905-1908
• Coddington School, Quincy, Massachusetts, 1909
• Old Watertown High School, Watertown, Massachusetts, 1913
• St. Mark the Evangelist Church, Dorchester, MA^[1]
• St. Francis of Assisi Church, Braintree, MA^[2]

References

• Watertown Tribune-Enterprise, Watertown, Mass., Friday, July 24, 1925

1. ^ http://www.davidjrusso.com/architecture/brigham/Bio.php Description of St. Mark, Dorchester
2. ^ http://www.davidjrusso.com/architecture/brigham/buildings/AddressSummary.php?id=11956995690566 St. Francis Church, Braintree, MA

Persondata
Name	Brigham, Charles
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	June 21, 1841
Place of birth
Date of death	1925
Place of death