Henry Murphy (architect)

Henry Killam Murphy (1877–1954) was an American architect who was hired by Chiang Kai-shek for a variety of projects.

Early life

Henry Killam Murphy was born in 1877 [ [http://www.library.yale.edu/mssa/art_sources/agpart3.htm Primary Sources for the Study of Art, Architecture, and Drama In Manuscripts and Archives] from the Yale Library. Retrieved April 11, 2006.] in Connecticut to parents Alice Button Killam and John Murphy. [ [http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~worths/king/pg08bking3.html Descendants of Benjamin King] from Rootsweb in August 2000.] Murphy graduated from Hopkins School in 1895 and went onto Yale University. Murphy then graduated from Yale, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, in 1906. He began working as an architect in New York, taking on jobs such as designing the early Loomis Chaffee campus in 1912."From Hopkins' Baldwin Hall to China's Memorial Hall" for "Views on the Hill" Spring/Summer '06 by Thom Peters.] Murphy was married for the first time in 1920 to Ethel Andrews, from whom he was divorced in 1926. She then remarried John Marshall Harlan II in 1928.

Architecture

Henry Murphy built a wide range of buildings throughout his career, including several [ [http://www.necarnegies.com/ctderbyneck.htm Derby Neck Library] for New England Carnegies by Corinne H. Smith. Retrieved April 11, 2006.] [ [http://www.facilities.yale.edu/Campus/Building1.asp?lstBldg=2730 Crown Street, 305] for Yale Buildings and Ground. Retrieved April 11, 2006.] [ [http://www.facilities.yale.edu/Campus/Building1.asp?lstBldg=1155 Whitney Avenue, 175] for Yale Buildings and Ground. Retrieved April 11, 2006.] buildings in his home state of Connecticut. Murphy even worked for his alma mater Hopkins School, designing the early campus in 1922 and center building Baldwin Hall in 1925.

Murphy attracted the attention of Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek and was hired in 1928 to design a modern capital for China in the ancient city of Nanjing. One of his more notable proposals was to save the wall around the city as a concourse. Murphy designed other Chinese buildings such as the Memorial Hall for Revolutionary Martyrs, Sun Yat-sen's mausoleum, and a massive pagoda on Purple Mountain over Nanjing. Chiang Kai-shek was not Murphy's only connection to China. Murphy also designed a small "Chinese village" of eight homes in Coral Gables, Florida, as well as the Chinese Nationality Room in the Cathedral of Learning [ [http://www.pedestrianguides.com/CoralGables/Sightseeing.html Sightseeing Opportunities in Coral Gables] for Pedestrian Guides. Retrieved April 11, 2006.]

Murphy returned to the United States in 1935 and retired to a house he designed in Branford, Connecticut. He was married for the second time in 1949 and died in that house in 1954.

References

Further reading

*"Building in China: Henry K. Murphy's "Adaptive Architecture", 1914-1935". By Jeffrey W. Cody. Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press; Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2001.