Ammi B. Young

Ammi B. Young
Born	(1798-06-19)June 19, 1798 Lebanon, New Hampshire,U.S.
Died	March 14, 1874(1874-03-14)(aged 75) Washington, D.C.,U.S.
Resting place	Oak Hill Cemetery Washington, D.C., U.S.
Occupation	Architect
Buildings	Vermont State House Shattuck Observatory
Projects	Oversaw design and construction of all federal buildings as the firstSupervising Architect

Ammi Burnham Young(June 19, 1798 – March 14, 1874)was a 19th-century Americanarchitectwhose commissions transitioned from theGreek Revivalto theNeo-Renaissancestyles. His design of the secondVermont State Housebrought him fame and success, which eventually led him to become the firstSupervising Architectof theU.S. Treasury Department.As federal architect, he was responsible for creating across the United States numerouscustom houses,post offices,courthousesandhospitals,many of which are today on theNational Register.His traditionalarchitecturalforms lent a sense of grandeur and permanence to the new country's institutions and communities. Young pioneered the use ofironin construction.

Early life and works

Born inLebanon,New Hampshire,Ammi B. Young was the son of Rebecca Burnham and Samuel Young, a builder-designer of churches, courthouses and academy buildings in the Lebanon area. He showed a talent formathematicsanddrawing,and at the age of 14, began work in his father's trade. In 1823, Young married his first wife, Mary Hough of Lebanon. Like many aspiring builder-designers of the day, he learned theclassical ordersfrom pattern books byNew EnglandarchitectAsher Benjamin.Indeed, his design for theFederal styleFirst Congregational Church, built in Lebanon in 1828, borrows significantly fromPlate KofThe American Builder's Companion.Early commissions included dormitories at nearbyDartmouth College,where his brother, Ira Young, was Professor of Natural Philosophy. But the novice architect also learned from working in theBostonoffice ofAlexander Parris,whose characteristic work ingraniteinfluenced Young's subsequent governmental commissions.

In 1830, Young opened his own office inBurlington, Vermont,a trade center growing fast since the 1823 opening of theChamplain Canalwhich connectedLake Champlainwith theHudson RiverandNew York City.Here he designed the 1832 St. Paul's Church in theGothic Revivalstyle. His first monumental work was the Second Vermont State House, acruciformGreek Revival structure built between 1833 and 1838, which combined a Doricporticomodeled on the Temple ofTheseusinAthens,with a low saucerdomeinspired by thePantheoninRome.The building's granite blocks were hauled toMontpelieron the frozenWinooski RiverfromquarriesatBarre.But a fire in 1857 destroyed much of the building, except for the portico and some of the walls. With considerable respect for Young's original design, the Vermont State House was rebuilt, although now with wings extended by abay,and acupolacrowning the roof – the plan ofThomas Silloway,trained in Young's office from 1847 until 1851. The result was considered by architectStanford Whitethe finest example of the Greek Revival style in the country.

Entering the 1837 competition to design theBoston Custom House,Young submitted another cruciform scheme combining a Greek Doric portico with a Roman dome. Planned on a large scale at what was then the waterfront, the building reflected the strength and confidence of the young, growing nation. It won, defeating several other entries, including one by Asher Benjamin. Young was appointed supervisor of construction, which took from 1837 until 1847. In 1838, he established a Boston drafting room. The building's 32 columns were each carved from a single piece fromQuincygranite. They measured 5 foot 4 inches in diameter, stood 32 feet high, and weighed 42 tons.Puristsdecried the Roman dome on a Greek form. Far less sympathetic to the building's Greek form, however, would be the soaringCustom House Towerwhich replaced the dome from 1913 to 1915. Boston's firstskyscraper,it was designed byPeabody & Stearnsto add both office space and presence to a building obscured by later others.

Supervising Architect of the Treasury

Young entered the 1850 competition to design enlargements to theU.S. CapitolinWashington.Although considered a leading competitor, he lost toThomas U. Walter.As a sort of compensation, he was appointed in 1852 as the first Supervising Architect of the U.S. Treasury Department, a position created byThomas Corwin,Secretary of the Treasuryduring theFillmoreadministration. From a studio in the Treasury, Young produced designs and specifications for federal buildings ordered by the government to facilitate its various functions throughout the nation. Mandated to be fire-proof, the custom houses, post offices, courthouses and hospitals he built featured masonry foundations, walls and vaulting, withcast ironinterior structural and decorative elements, including columns, stairways and railings. Heavy iron shutters were mounted on the inside of windows. Floors and treads weremarble,and roofs weregalvanizedmetal. Column capitols,fasciaandpedimentson the exterior, when not stone, were cast iron painted to look like stone—which drew criticism ofparsimonyby the federal architect. Cast iron components were manufactured to Young's specifications inNew Yorkstate, then shipped to building sites.

At the same time, ongoing modifications to the Treasury Building concerned Young, expected to create working drawings based on plans by Walter. For the South Wing, he invented a column capital which symbolized the department, substitutingacanthusleaves of theCorinthian orderwitheaglesand a fist holding a key. Young held the role until he retired on July 24, 1862, dismissed bySalmon P. Chaseof theLincolnadministration. Chase's friend fromCincinnati,Isaiah Rogers,succeeded him as Supervising Architect, although theCivil Warcurtailed the department's activities. Several of Young's buildings would play a part in the rebellion, particularly his custom house inRichmond, Virginia,which served as theConfederateTreasury. When Richmond in April 1865 was evacuated by theArmy of Northern Virginia,with orders to burn warehouses and factories, the Richmond Custom House survived theconflagration—a testament to its fire-proofing. Indeed, from its courtroomJefferson Daviswas indicted fortreasonin May 1866.

Young was awarded honorary degrees (M.A.) from theUniversity of Vermont(1839) and Dartmouth College (1841).He died in Washington, D.C., and is buried inOak Hill Cemeteryin Washington, D.C.

Buildings

• 1828 – First Congregational Church,Lebanon, New Hampshire
  • Thornton Hall,Dartmouth College,Hanover, New Hampshire
  • Wentworth Hall, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire
• 1832 – St. Paul's Church,Burlington, Vermont(burned 1971)
• 1833–1838 –Second Vermont State House,Montpelier, Vermont
• 1836–1842 –Treasury Building, Washington, D.C.
• 1837 –Moor's Charity School Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire(Remodeled 1871 as Chandler Hall, razed 1936)
• 1837–1841 –The Great Stone Dwelling,Enfield Shaker Village,New Hampshire
• 1837–1847 –Boston Custom House, Massachusetts
• 1839–1840 – Reed Hall, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire
• 1841 –Timothy Follett House,Burlington, Vermont
• 1842 –John Wheeler House,Burlington, Vermont
• 1843 –Worcester County Courthouse,Worcester, Massachusetts
• 1845 – Campbell-Carter House,Lebanon, New Hampshire
• 1848 –Middlesex County Courthouse, Cambridge, Massachusetts
• 1849 – City Hall,Lawrence, Massachusetts
• 1850 – Courthouse,Lowell, Massachusetts
• 1852 –Loring Hall,Hingham, Massachusetts
• 1853–1889 –Territorial Capital Building, Santa Fe, New Mexico
• 1854 –Shattuck Observatory, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire

Buildings while Supervising Architect of the U.S. Treasury Department:

• 1855 –Custom House, Wilmington, Delaware
• 1856 – Appraisers' Store,San Francisco, California
  • Custom House & Post Office,Mobile, Alabama
  • Custom House & Post Office,Barnstable, Massachusetts
  • Federal Courthouse,Buffalo, New York
• 1857 –Cape Flattery Lighthouse, Tatoosh Island, Washington
  • Custom House & Post Office,Belfast, Maine
  • Custom House & Post Office,Bristol, Rhode Island
  • Custom House & Post Office,Burlington, Vermont
  • Custom House & Post Office, Providence, Rhode Island
  • Custom House & Post Office,Sandusky, Ohio
  • Custom House & Post Office,Waldoboro, Maine
  • Custom House & Post Office,Windsor, Vermont
  • New Dungeness Lighthouse, Sequim, Washington
• 1858 –Custom House, Charleston, South Carolina
  • Custom House & Post Office,Alexandria, Virginia
  • Custom House & Post Office, Bath, Maine
  • Custom House & Post Office,Ellsworth, Maine
  • Custom House & Post Office,Galena, Illinois
  • Custom House & Post Office,Georgetown, Washington, D.C.
  • Custom House & Post Office,Gloucester, Massachusetts
  • Custom House & Post Office,Norfolk, Virginia
  • Custom House & Post Office, Oswego, New York
  • Custom House & Post Office, Richmond, Virginia
  • Marine Hospital,Chelsea, Massachusetts
• 1859 – Courthouse & Post Office,Rutland, Vermont(Now Rutland Free Library)
  • Custom House & Post Office,Cleveland, Ohio
  • Custom House & Post Office,Petersburg, Virginia(NowPetersburg City Hall)
  • Custom House & Post Office, Wheeling, West Virginia
  • Marine Hospital, Portland, Maine
• 1860 – Courthouse & Post Office,Indianapolis, Indiana
  • Custom House,Detroit,Michigan
  • Custom House & Post Office, Chicago (Destroyed inGreat Fire of 1871)
  • Custom House & Post Office,New Haven, Connecticut
  • Custom House & Post Office,Portsmouth, New Hampshire
• 1861 –Custom House, Galveston, Texas

Gallery

• 
  Second Vermont State Houseas it appeared before the 1857 fire
• 
  Boston Custom Houseshowing transverse section plan
• 
  Corinthian-based carved capital by Young for the U.S. Treasury
• 
  Custom House,Boston, Massachusetts, c. 1905
• 
  Custom House and Post Office, Mobile, Alabama, in 1901
• 
  Custom House and Post Office, Waldoboro, Maine, c. 1908
• 
  Custom House, Charleston, South Carolina
• 
  Custom House and Post Office, Galena, Illinois, c. 1912
• 
  Custom House and Post Office, Norfolk, Virginia, in 1900
• 
  Post Office, Georgetown, Washington, D.C.
• 
  Old Customshouse, Wilmington, Delaware
• 
  U. S. Custom House, Barnstable, Massachusetts
• 
  U. S. Custom House, Bath, Maine 1991
• 
  U. S. Custom House, Bristol, Rhode Island 1901
• 
  U. S. Custom House, Ellsworth, Maine 1901
• 
  U. S. Custom House, Gloucester, Massachusetts
• 
  U, S. Custom House, New Haven, Connecticut, 1901
• 
  U. S. Custom House, Broad at Academy Streets, Newark, New Jersey
• 
  U. S. Customhouse and Post Office, Portsmouth, New Hampshire

References

• Daniel Bluestone, "Civic and Aesthetic Reserve: Ammi Burnham Young's 1850s Federal Customhouse Designs,"Winterthur Portfolio,Vol. 25, No. 2/3, Summer - Autumn 1990, pp. 131–156
• Lawrence Woodhouse, "Ammi Burnham Young,"Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians,Vol. XXV, No. 4, December 1966