Alexander Parris

Alexander Parris (November 24, 1780 - June 16, 1852) was a prominent American architect-engineer. His work transitions between Federal style architecture and later Greek Revival.

Related Topics:
November 24 - 1780 - June 16 - 1852 - American - Architect - Engineer - Federal style architecture - Greek Revival

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Parris was born in Halifax, MA. When aged 16, he apprenticed to a housewright in Pembroke, MA. Talent led him towards architecture. Married to Silvina Bonney Stetson in 1800, he thereupon moved to burgeoning Portland, ME, where he designed a number of buildings. Parris traveled in 1810 to Richmond, VA, where the executive mansion would be one of his creations. In the War of 1812, he served in Plattsburg, New York as a Captain of the Artificers (engineers), gaining knowledge of military requirements for engineering.

Related Topics:
Halifax, MA - Pembroke, MA - 1800 - Portland, ME - 1810 - Richmond, VA - War of 1812 - Plattsburg, New York

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In 1815, he moved again to Boston, MA. Here, he found a position in the office of architect Charles Bulfinch. Like his famous employer, from whom he learned, Parris created refined residences and churches. In 1818, he helped complete the "Bulfinch Building" at Massachusetts General Hospital, when Bulfinch himself was called to Washington, DC to work on the U.S. Capitol Building. Between 1815 and 1827, Parris would become Boston's leading architect.

Related Topics:
1815 - Boston, MA - Charles Bulfinch - 1818 - Massachusetts General Hospital - Washington, DC - U.S. Capitol Building - 1827

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In 1824, however, he began a twenty year association working for the Boston Navy Yard. He would end his career as chief engineer at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. With the federal government as patron, Parris produced plans for numerous utilitarian structures, from storehouses to ropewalks, and was superintendent of construction at one of the nation's first drydocks, located at the Charlestown, MA base. Today, he is fondly remembered for his stalwart stone lighthouses, commissioned by the U.S. Treasury Department. They are often of a tapered style termed "windswept."

Related Topics:
1824 - Boston Navy Yard - Portsmouth Naval Shipyard - Drydock - Charlestown, MA - Lighthouses - U.S. Treasury Department

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Parris balanced the delicacy of his "superb draftsmanship," as it was called, with the coarseness of his building material of choice: granite. His most famous building, Quincy Market, is made of it.

Related Topics:
Granite - Quincy Market

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He died in Pembroke, MA.

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Buildings and Lighthouses:

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• 1804 - James Deering House, Portland, ME
• 1804 - Portland Bank, Portland, ME
• 1805 - Hunnewell-Shepley House, Portland, ME
• 1807 - Preble House, Portland, ME
• 1812 - Wickham House, Richmond, VA
• 1813 - Governor's Mansion, Richmond, VA
• 1816 - David Sears House, Boston, MA
• 1816 - Watertown Arsenal, Watertown, MA
• 1819 - St. Paul's Cathedral, Boston, MA
• 1822 - St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Windsor, VT
• 1824 - Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth, MA
• 1826 - Quincy Market, Boston, MA
• 1828 - United First Parish Church, Quincy, MA
• 1834 - St. Joseph's Church, Boston, MA
• 1834 - Ropewalk, Boston Navy Yard, Charlestown, MA
• 1839 - Saddleback Ledge Lighthouse, between Vinalhaven and Isle au Haut, ME
• 1847 - Mount Desert Rock Lighthouse, Mount Desert, ME
• 1848 - Matinicus Rock Lighthouse, Matinicus Rock, ME
• 1849 - Execution Rocks Lighthouse, Long Island Sound, NY
• 1850 - Monhegan Island Lighthouse, Monhegan Island, ME
 
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