John Hubbard Sturgis
Encyclopedia
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
active in the Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
area.
Sturgis was born in Macau
Macau
Macau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China...
, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, the son of Russell Sturgis (1805-1887)
Russell Sturgis (1805-1887)
Russell Sturgis was a Boston merchant active in the China trade, and later head of Baring Brothers, London.Sturgis was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1805, a grandson of the noted merchant Russell Sturgis , went to Harvard College at twelve, and in 1828 first sailed abroad...
, a wealthy Boston merchant active in the China trade. After attending Boston Latin School
Boston Latin School
The Boston Latin School is a public exam school founded on April 23, 1635, in Boston, Massachusetts. It is both the first public school and oldest existing school in the United States....
, he travelled extensively in Europe when his father became a partner in Barings Bank
Barings Bank
Barings Bank was the oldest merchant bank in London until its collapse in 1995 after one of the bank's employees, Nick Leeson, lost £827 million due to speculative investing, primarily in futures contracts, at the bank's Singapore office.-History:-1762–1890:Barings Bank was founded in 1762 as the...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. In England, he studied drawing under artist James K. Colling. In 1858, Sturgis married Frances Anne Codman of Boston, later to be aunt of noted interior designer Ogden Codman, Jr.
Ogden Codman, Jr.
Ogden Codman, Jr. was a noted American architect and interior decorator in the Beaux-Arts styles, and co-author with Edith Wharton of The Decoration of Houses , which became a standard in American interior design....
Their first three years were spent in Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
, where Sturgis tried an architectural practice, but ended with the death of their first child, Julia, in January 1861.
Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts
Manchester-by-the-Sea is a town on Cape Ann, in Essex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the town population was 5,228.-History:...
, for his older brother Russell in 1862, he also designed a home in Cotuit, Massachusetts
Cotuit, Massachusetts
Cotuit is a village on Cape Cod in the City of Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States. Located on a peninsula on the south side of Barnstable about midway between Falmouth, Massachusetts and Hyannis, Massachusetts...
, for the Charles Russell Codmans, and a seaside house, Land’s End, on Ledge Road, Newport, Rhode Island
Newport, Rhode Island
Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about south of Providence. Known as a New England summer resort and for the famous Newport Mansions, it is the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport which houses the United States Naval War...
, for Sam Ward, his father's business associate. This house was later acquired by Edith Wharton
Edith Wharton
Edith Wharton , was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, short story writer, and designer.- Early life and marriage:...
, a cousin through the New York Newbolds, and completely reworked by her and Ogden Codman, Jr.
Ogden Codman, Jr.
Ogden Codman, Jr. was a noted American architect and interior decorator in the Beaux-Arts styles, and co-author with Edith Wharton of The Decoration of Houses , which became a standard in American interior design....
for their book, The Decoration of Houses. In 1862 he also thoroughly redesigned the Codman House
Codman House
Codman House is a historic house set on a estate at 36 Codman Road, Lincoln, Massachusetts. Thanks to a gift by Dorothy Codman, it has been owned by Historic New England since 1969 and is open to the public June 1–October 15 on the first and third Saturdays of the month...
in Lincoln, Massachusetts
Lincoln, Massachusetts
Lincoln is a town in the historic area of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 6,362 at the 2010 census, including residents of Hanscom Air Force Base that live within town limits...
for his wife's father.
In 1866, Sturgis formed a partnership with a fellow Bryant and Gilman employee, Charles Brigham
Charles Brigham
Charles Brigham , was a prominent American architect.- Life :Born, raised, and educated in Watertown, Massachusetts, he apprenticed to the Boston architect Gridley J.F. Bryant. Brigham served as a sergeant in the Union Army during the American Civil War, then began work for John Hubbard Sturgis...
, to found Sturgis and Brigham. This partnership would last twenty years, until shortly before Sturgis's death. In later years Sturgis redesigned the 1737 Boylston House in Brookline, which he rented between 1870 and 1888 from Colonel Henry Lee. He also designed notable houses for Isabella Stewart Gardner
Isabella Stewart Gardner
Isabella Stewart Gardner – founder of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston – was an American art collector, philanthropist, and one of the foremost female patrons of the arts....
on Beacon Street; Frederick Ames at 306 Dartmouth Street in Boston's Back Bay (now known as the Ames-Webster Mansion); Edward N. Perkins on the shore of Jamaica Pond, known as Pinebank Mansion
Pinebank Mansion
Pinebank Mansion was a Queen Anne-style house sited on a hill overlooking Jamaica Pond in Boston, Massachusetts. Built in 1868 by John Hubbard Sturgis, it was the only mansion retained by Frederick Law Olmsted in his plans the Emerald Necklace park system...
(1868) which served as the prototype for the terra cotta used in the Museum of Fine Arts; and "The Cottage" (1871) for H. H. Hunnewell on the Hunnewell estate in Wellesley, MA. This last commission is considered to be the first bona-fide example of the Queen Anne style of residential architecture in the United States.
Perhaps his most famous commissions were the first building for the Museum of Fine Arts
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts, is one of the largest museums in the United States, attracting over one million visitors a year. It contains over 450,000 works of art, making it one of the most comprehensive collections in the Americas...
(completed in 1876) in Copley Square
Copley Square
Copley Square is a public square located in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, named for the donor of the land on which it was developed. The square is named for John Singleton Copley, a famous portrait painter of the late 18th century and native of Boston. A bronze statue of...
, the ornamental detail for which was executed in imported English terra cotta, and the Church of the Advent on Beacon Hill
Beacon Hill, Boston, Massachusetts
Beacon Hill is a historic neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, that along with the neighboring Back Bay is home to about 26,000 people. It is a neighborhood of Federal-style rowhouses and is known for its narrow, gas-lit streets and brick sidewalks...
, executed in the Early English Gothic Style between 1875 and 1888.
After his death, his nephew Richard Clipston Sturgis
Richard Clipston Sturgis
Richard Clipston Sturgis , generally known as R. Clipston Sturgis, was an American architect based in Boston, Massachusetts.Sturgis was nephew of architect John Hubbard Sturgis and successor to his practice...
continued the architectural practice.