Robert Mills, one of the earliest American-born architects, was Architect of Public Buildings from 1836 to1851. He designed Washington Monument in the Egypt Craze style of the 1830s and generated the idea for the Medieval-style castle and gardenesque landscape that Renwick and Downing gave the original Smithsonian building. After the Treasury Building burned (1834) he created the fireproof structure in use today and, also in 1836, worked on the “Old Patent Office” (now the Smithsonian American Art Museum and Portrait Gallery.) His classical style set trend for Washington and park architecture until Lawrence Halprin broke its grip in 1975 with a modern open-air urban garden design for the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial (dedicated 1997.) Photographs: Washington Monument and Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, National Park Service; Treasury Building and Old Patent Office, Historic American Building Survey collection, Library of Congress.
Posted on: Wed, 18 Jun 2014 12:00:01 +0000
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