- William Bell Dinsmoor
William Bell Dinsmoor, Sr. (born Windham,
New Hampshire 1886; diedAthens ,Greece July 1973) was an architectural historian of classical Greece and aColumbia University professor of art and archaeology.Dinsmoor graduated from
Harvard University with a bachelor of science degree (1906). After working in an architectural firm, he joined theAmerican School of Classical Studies inAthens ,Greece in 1908 and became the School's architect in 1912. Dinsmoor joined the faculty ofColumbia University in 1919. In the early 1920s, he was the architectural consultant for the construction of a scale concrete replica of theParthenon in Nashville,Tennessee . He then returned to the American School as a professor of architecture (1924-28). He was married toZillah Frances Pierce (1886-1960). During the years in Athens, he wrote his "magnum opus", a rewritten edition of the "Architecture of Ancient Greece" byWilliam Anderson (1844-1900) andR. Phené Spiers (1838-1916); it first appeared in 1927 and would go to three editions and be a mainstay for the teaching of Greek architecture through the twentieth century. In 1934, following the resignation ofS. Butler Murray , the Department of Fine Arts at Columbia was reorganized and Dinsmoor became chairman. He held this position until 1955. During the mid-1930s, Dinsmoor took on a celebrated debate on the configuration of the three phases of theParthenon with the eminentAcropolis scholarWilhelm Dörpfeld . In 1935 he was named professor of archaeology atColumbia University . Between 1936 and 1946 he was president of theArchaeological Institute of America . DuringWorld War II , PresidentFranklin Delano Roosevelt appointed Dinsmoor chair of theCommittee for the Protection of Cultural Treasures in War Areas . For much of his career he taught at theAmerican School of Classical Studies in Athens. He retired from Columbia University in 1963. In 1969 he was awarded the gold medal for his archaeological achievements by theArchaeological Institute of America . He died of a stroke while in Greece.Dinsmoor is best known for two major works. The first of these is his complete rewriting of "The Architecture of Ancient Greece" (1927). Although Dinsmoor always allowed much credit for the work to Anderson and Spiers, the revision of the book was essentially a unique accomplishment. In 1931 Dinsmoor published his discovery about the
archon s from thePropylaia of theacropolis in Athens. These lists of magistrates aided greatly the study of other objects from the Athenian Agora. Dinsmoor determined the original design to the Propylaia.His son,
William Bell Dinsmoor, Jr. was also a distinguished classical architectural historian.Bibliography
* [complete bibliography:] “Bibliography of William Bell Dinsmoor.” "Hesperia" 35 (1966): 87–92.
* (1st Dinsmoor edition:) Anderson, William J., and Spiers, Richard Phené. "The Architecture of Ancient Greece: an Account of its Historic Development, being the First Part of the Architecture of Greece and Rome". 2nd ed. New York: C. Scribner's,1927.
* "The Architecture of Ancient Greece: an Account of its Historic Development". 3rd ed. New York: Batsford, 1950.
* "Observations on the Hephaisteion". Baltimore: American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 1941.
* "The Archons of Athens in the Hellenistic Age". Cambridge, MA: American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Harvard University Press, 1931. * "Anchoring two floating temples [of the Agora, Athens] ." "Hesperia" 51 (October/December 1982): 410-52.
* "The Burning of the Opisthodomos at Athens. I: The Date." "American Journal of Archaeology" 36 (1932): 143-172.
* "The Burning of the Opisthodomos at Athens. II: The Site." "American Journal of Archaeology" 36 (1932): 307-326. [reply,Wilhelm Dörpfeld . "Der Brand des alten Athena-Tempels und seines Opisthodoms. "American Journal of Archaeology" 38 (April 1934): 249-57; reply, continued,Wilhelm Dörpfeld . "Parthenon I, II und III." "American Journal of Archaeology" 39 (October 1935): 497-507; [rejoinder by Dinsmoor] "The Older Parthenon, Additional Notes." "American Journal of Archaeology" 39 (October 1935): 508-9References
* Medwid, Linda M. "The Makers of Classical Archaeology: A Reference Work". New York: Humanity Books, 2000 pp. 86-88.
* [obituaries:] “W. B. Dinsmoor, 87, an Archaeologist; Expert on Greece Is Dead--Long on Columbia Faculty.” "New York Times" July 3, 1973, p. 26; "Archaeology" 26 (October 1973): 308.
* "A History of the Faculty of Philosophy, Columbia University". New York: Columbia University Press, 1957, p. 54, 263-64.
* Nicgorski, Ann M. "Dinsmoor, William Bell." "Encyclopedia of the History of Classical Archaeology". Nancy Thomson de Grummond, ed. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1996, vol. 1, pp. 363-64.
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