Harvard Library and Monacelli invite you to celebrate the publication of Henry Hobson Richardson.

The first in-depth publication of drawings that reveal the creative genius of H. H. Richardson, the greatest American architect of the nineteenth century 

Best known as the designer of Trinity Church in Boston and the Glessner House in Chicago, Henry Hobson Richardson was an essential force in the development of American modernism and a major influence on the work of celebrated architects Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright. The trove of 4,000 drawings, preserved since Richardson’s death in 1886, have been largely unpublished, until now. Produced in partnership with the Houghton Library at Harvard University, Henry Hobson Richardson makes a major contribution to Richardson scholarship through the presentation of unpublished sketches, renderings, and plans of more than 50 projects.

Unprecedented in scope, Henry Hobson Richardson presents a curated selection of 450 architectural drawings, meticulously reproduced to reveal the design process and hand of the architect. This expansive set showcases work spanning Richardson’s career, beginning with the architect’s early houses, churches, and commercial buildings and proceeding to his government and university buildings, libraries, railroad stations, urban and country houses, as well as commissions for the Ames family in Boston and North Easton, Massachusetts. Drawings range from impetuous sketches of initial thoughts by Richardson himself to fully rendered presentation drawings and detailed construction documents prepared by his talented studio assistants. Many drawings are complete with elegant linework and delicate washes, while others are working documents, rough and sometimes tattered, and often bearing Richardson’s own corrections and further ideas. All the featured drawings reward close viewing, revealing the mind of the architect moving through the design process. 

The drawings in Henry Hobson Richardson are supported by an introductory essay surveying the architect’s life and career by James F. O’Gorman, the leading scholar of Richardson’s work. Additional companion texts by contributors Jay Wickersham and Chris Milford contextualize the work, delving into Richardson’s studio practice and client relationships, and an essay by former Houghton Library curator Hope Mayo examines the history and contents of the multifaceted archive at Harvard.

Luxuriously produced, Henry Hobson Richardson features newly digitized images printed on special stock to preserve the linework and washes of the originals, allowing the architect’s hand to materialize on the page. This new book is a revelatory and comprehensive exploration of Richardson’s work, work that set American architecture on a new course and exerted a global influence on the birth of modernism.

About the Authors

Jay Wickersham is a lawyer, architect, and architectural historian and a former professor in practice at Harvard Graduate School of Design. 

Chris Milford is a partner in the architectural firm of Milford & Ford Associates, specializing in historic preservation and restoration. 

Hope Mayo is the former Philip Hofer Curator of Printing and Graphic Arts at Houghton Library. 

James F. O’Gorman is the author of Living Architecture: A Biography of H. H. Richardson, among many publications on the architect’s work. 

Thomas Hyry is the Florence Fearrington Librarian of Houghton Library at Harvard University.

Image courtesy of Monacelli.