Alfred Hopkins
Encyclopedia
S. Alfred Hopkins was an American architect, an "estate architect" who specialized in country houses and especially in model farms in an invented "vernacular" style suited to the American elite. His practice, established in 1912 as Alfred Hopkins & Associates, was mostly based in New York, where he was the "dean of farm group architecture," in Westchester County, northern New Jersey and Long Island
; he also built two gentlemen's farms in Illinois. He built fifteen of his practical and esthetic farm group complexes on Long Island, including one for Louis Comfort Tiffany
at Laurelton Hall
. An article on farm groupings published in Architectural Record in 1915 notes that Hopkins was often called upon to design the farm groups on estates where the residences were the work of other architects, such as Bertram Goodhue
, John Russell Pope
and Charles A. Platt
.
Hopkins was among the contributors to Stables and Farm Buildings : A Special Number of the Architectural Review produced by the staff of Architectural Review in 1902. His Modern Farm Buildings served to publicize his practical and picturesque esthetic, and in common with all architects' publications since the sixteenth century
, to attract clients. Hopkins book went into a third edition.
Hopkins laid out his farm building around paved courts or grassed paddocks, keeping rooflines and eaves low to blend with the landscape and carefully separating the necessary farming functions. He preferred to remove hay storage from its traditional loft over the stables to eliminate dust infiltration and ammonia pollution. Open-sided sheds housed farm vehicles. The spatial routing of cows and horses were kept separate. Farmhands' quarters were integrated with the buildings. An outstanding late survival of Hopkins' Cotswolds
-inspired vernacular manner is the stable court at Hartwood, near Pittsburgh
(1929). The same year he published a brochure distributed among architects, Two Cotswolds Villages, describing the vernacular architecture and stone-tiled roofs of two picturesque villages, Bibury, Gloucestershire
and Castle Combe, Wiltshire
,
Hopkins is less known for his Prisons and Prison Building (New York: Architectural Book Publishing 1930), where rational planning met other ends, in a progressive and humane program based on the classification of prisoners and their segregation by groups in small units; proposals that argued against walled prisons and the uplifting effect of good architecture for regenerating the prisoner. His practical experience was founded on his work at Westchester County Penitentiary, Berks County Prison, and his proposed designs for a federal prison to be built at Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary
, completed in 1934.
Hopkins was also among the architects who published plans for inexpensive carpenter-built housing in Carpentry and Building. and his small book Planning for sunshine and fresh air: Being sundry discourses & excursions in the pleasant art of building homes, set forth in a manner and upon a theory ... how best to effect their proper economies appeared in 1931.
He also published The Fundamentals of Good Bank Building (1929).
After an interim following his death, an architectural firm was founded in 1954 by six associates from his office, as Lester S. La Pierre (a principle since 1918) and Clarence Litchfield (a partner since 1930) and Associates.
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
; he also built two gentlemen's farms in Illinois. He built fifteen of his practical and esthetic farm group complexes on Long Island, including one for Louis Comfort Tiffany
Louis Comfort Tiffany
Louis Comfort Tiffany was an American artist and designer who worked in the decorative arts and is best known for his work in stained glass. He is the American artist most associated with the Art Nouveau and Aesthetic movements...
at Laurelton Hall
Laurelton Hall
Laurelton Hall was the home of noted artist Louis Comfort Tiffany, located in Laurel Hollow, Long Island, New York. The 65-room mansion on 600 acres of land, designed in the Art Nouveau mode, combined Islamic motifs with connection to nature, was completed in 1905, and housed many of Tiffany's...
. An article on farm groupings published in Architectural Record in 1915 notes that Hopkins was often called upon to design the farm groups on estates where the residences were the work of other architects, such as Bertram Goodhue
Bertram Goodhue
Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue was a American architect celebrated for his work in neo-gothic design. He also designed notable typefaces, including Cheltenham and Merrymount for the Merrymount Press.-Early career:...
, John Russell Pope
John Russell Pope
John Russell Pope was an architect most known for his designs of the National Archives and Records Administration building , the Jefferson Memorial and the West Building of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.-Biography:Pope was born in New York in 1874, the son of a successful...
and Charles A. Platt
Charles A. Platt
Charles Adams Platt was a prominent artist, landscape gardener, landscape designer, and architect of the "American Renaissance" movement. His garden designs complemented his domestic architecture.-Early career:...
.
Hopkins was among the contributors to Stables and Farm Buildings : A Special Number of the Architectural Review produced by the staff of Architectural Review in 1902. His Modern Farm Buildings served to publicize his practical and picturesque esthetic, and in common with all architects' publications since the sixteenth century
Architectural History
Architectural History is the main journal of the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain .The journal is published each autumn. The architecture of the British Isles is a major theme of the journal, although it includes more general papers on the history of architecture. Member of...
, to attract clients. Hopkins book went into a third edition.
Hopkins laid out his farm building around paved courts or grassed paddocks, keeping rooflines and eaves low to blend with the landscape and carefully separating the necessary farming functions. He preferred to remove hay storage from its traditional loft over the stables to eliminate dust infiltration and ammonia pollution. Open-sided sheds housed farm vehicles. The spatial routing of cows and horses were kept separate. Farmhands' quarters were integrated with the buildings. An outstanding late survival of Hopkins' Cotswolds
Cotswolds
The Cotswolds are a range of hills in west-central England, sometimes called the Heart of England, an area across and long. The area has been designated as the Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty...
-inspired vernacular manner is the stable court at Hartwood, near Pittsburgh
Hartwood Acres Park
Hartwood Acres Park is a county park in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania in the United States. Hartwood is considered the crown jewel of the county's network of nine distinct parks....
(1929). The same year he published a brochure distributed among architects, Two Cotswolds Villages, describing the vernacular architecture and stone-tiled roofs of two picturesque villages, Bibury, Gloucestershire
Bibury
Bibury is a village and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. It is situated on the River Coln, about northeast of Cirencester.The Church of England parish church of Saint Mary is Saxon with altar additions...
and Castle Combe, Wiltshire
Castle Combe
Castle Combe is a small village in Wiltshire, England, with a population of about 350. It is renowned for its attractiveness and tranquillity, and for fine buildings including the medieval church. The 14th century market cross, erected when the privilege to hold a weekly market in Castle Combe was...
,
Hopkins is less known for his Prisons and Prison Building (New York: Architectural Book Publishing 1930), where rational planning met other ends, in a progressive and humane program based on the classification of prisoners and their segregation by groups in small units; proposals that argued against walled prisons and the uplifting effect of good architecture for regenerating the prisoner. His practical experience was founded on his work at Westchester County Penitentiary, Berks County Prison, and his proposed designs for a federal prison to be built at Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary
Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary
The United States Penitentiary in Lewisburg is a male inmate high security federal penitentiary and satellite minimum security prison camp housing some 1,000 and 500 respectively, just outside Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. The Lewisburg Penitentiary was opened in 1932...
, completed in 1934.
Hopkins was also among the architects who published plans for inexpensive carpenter-built housing in Carpentry and Building. and his small book Planning for sunshine and fresh air: Being sundry discourses & excursions in the pleasant art of building homes, set forth in a manner and upon a theory ... how best to effect their proper economies appeared in 1931.
He also published The Fundamentals of Good Bank Building (1929).
After an interim following his death, an architectural firm was founded in 1954 by six associates from his office, as Lester S. La Pierre (a principle since 1918) and Clarence Litchfield (a partner since 1930) and Associates.
Some characteristic projects
- Elawa Farm, Lake Forest, Illinois, Neo-Georgian farm complex for A. Watson Armour, 1917, built as a weekend house Armour, an heir of the Armour and CompanyArmour and CompanyArmour & Company was an American slaughterhouse and meatpacking company founded in Chicago, Illinois, in 1867 by the Armour brothers, led by Philip Danforth Armour. By 1880, the company was Chicago's most important business and helped make the city and its Union Stock Yards the center of the...
meatpacking fortune, lived on Lake Shore DriveLake Shore DriveLake Shore Drive is a mostly freeway-standard expressway running parallel with and alongside the shoreline of Lake Michigan through Chicago, Illinois, USA. Except for the portion north of Foster Avenue , Lake Shore Drive is designated as part of U.S...
in Chicago. The projected main house, designed by David AdlerDavid AdlerDavid Adler was a prolific architect, designing over 200 buildings...
in neo-Georgian style, to which the farm group was expressly suited, was never built; instead paired gatehouses were linked to the farm group by extensive gardens. Low eaved pitched roofs and linking covered passageways characterize Hopkins' symmetrically-massed brick farm group at Elawa Farms. - Hartwood, for Mr. and Mrs. John Lawrence, 1929. Lawrence's wife Mary was the daughter of Pennsylvania State Senator William FlinnWilliam FlinnWilliam Flinn was a powerful political boss and construction magnate in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Along with Christopher Magee , his political partner, the two ran the Republican Party machine that controlled the city for the final twenty years of the 19th century.-Early life:He...
, a construction magnate. The thirty-one room slate-roofed stone house constructed around a Great Hall and a picturesquely massed stable compound are in a CotswoldsCotswoldsThe Cotswolds are a range of hills in west-central England, sometimes called the Heart of England, an area across and long. The area has been designated as the Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty...
vernacular Tudor style. Sold to the Allegheny Parks Commission in 1964 with 400 acres (1.6 km²) of parkland and riding trails, the grounds are now enlarged to 629 acres (2.5 km²); house and grounds are open to the public within Hartwood Acres ParkHartwood Acres ParkHartwood Acres Park is a county park in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania in the United States. Hartwood is considered the crown jewel of the county's network of nine distinct parks....
. - Farm group for Sen. Joseph Medill McCormick and Ruth Hanna McCormickRuth Hanna McCormickRuth Hanna, Ruth Hanna McCormick or Ruth Hanna McCormick Simms was a United States Representative from Illinois.-Life:Ruth Hanna McCormick Simms was the daughter of Mark Hanna and the wife of Sen...
, in Byron, Illinois, a dairy and cattle breeding farm. - Sprawling lakeside estate and farm complex just north of Cooperstown, New YorkCooperstown, New YorkCooperstown is a village in Otsego County, New York, USA. It is located in the Town of Otsego. The population was estimated to be 1,852 at the 2010 census.The Village of Cooperstown is the county seat of Otsego County, New York...
for William Telow Hyde known as Glimmerglen in 1916. The manor house, stables, dependency cottages, and sheep farm complex have since been razed. The estate was featured in Country Life magazine in late 1922. The stone gate house featured in the Architectural Record is extant today as is the boathouse and distinctive cottage known as the Winter House.