Charles bulfinch biography
Charles Bulfinch (August 8, – April 15, ) was an early American architect, and has been regarded by many as the first American-born professional....
Charles Bulfinch, first American professional architect, who gained fame chiefly as the designer of government buildings.
Charles Bulfinch (1763-1844)
Architectural Education
Charles Bulfinch was born in Boston into a family with an interest in building going back to the early 18th century. His father was Thomas Bulfinch, a prominent physician, and his mother was Susan Apthorp.
Educated at Boston Latin School, his architectural education began in the library of his Apthorp grandfather - a gifted amateur designer who was a friend and patron of the architect Peter Harrison - continued at Harvard University with studies in mathematics and perspective, and culminated in a European Grand Tour, planned and supervised in part by Thomas Jefferson.
Interestingly, what most impressed Bulfinch were Europe's recent rather than historic buildings. The neoclassical building designs of Sir Christopher Wren (1632-1723), Robert Adam (1728-92) and William Chambers (1726-96) in England; the Pantheon by Jacques-Germain Soufflot (1713-80) in Paris, as well as French urban planning for function and convenience - all
