John Rudolph Niernsee

John Rudolph Niernsee (1814–1885) was an American architect, the head architect for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. He was born as Johann Rudolph Niernsee in Vienna, Austria and immigrated to the United States in 1837, at age 22. He apprenticed to Benjamin Latrobe.

In 1847, with James Crawford Nielson, he formed the Niernsee & Nielsen architectural firm that largely served the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.

His Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Martinsburg Shops that he worked on together with Albert Fink were declared a National Historic Landmark in 2003.citation|title=PDFlink| [http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NHLS/Text/03001045.pdf National Historic Landmark Nomination: Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Martinsburg Shops] |1.30 MB|date=October, 2003 |author=Michael Caplinger and John Bond |publisher=National Park Service and PDFlink| [http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NHLS/Photos/03001045.pdf Accompanying 18 photos, exterior and interior, from 2001 and undated.] |5.00 MB]

The Greek Revival South Carolina State Capitol is another National Historic Landmark building which he designed, c. 1851, although full implementation was delayed. From 1888 to 1891, a time when much of the interior work was completed, it was in fact Niernsee’s son, Frank McHenry Niernsee, who served as architect.

The Green Mount Cemetery hilltop chapel, in Baltimore, Maryland, which he designed with Nielsen, is a Gothic Revival work.

He designed Baltimore's Johns Hopkins Hospital and the Johns Hopkins Colored Children Orphan Asylum.

He is credited with having mentored Ephraim Francis Baldwin.

References

External links

* [http://www.marylandartsource.org/artists/detail_000000126.html John Rudolph Niernsee, at Maryland ArtSource]