Charles Bulfinch Photos

Charles Bulfinch (1763-1844) of Boston is considered America's first native-born architect. Largely self-trained, he was most influenced by the work of Robert Adam & William Chambers of England. Bulfinch is considered the inventor of what is called the American Federal style which evolved from Georgian building rules. Bulfinch first projects consisted of planning Boston neighborhoods such as Tontine Crescent (1793-4) & then the renewal of Beacon Hill into an organized grid (1795). He then designed the Massachusetts Statehouse (1798), Boston's St. Stephen's Church (1804), the old Connecticut Statehouse (1814), University Hall of Harvard University (1815), the First Church of Christ, Lancaster, MA (1816), Maine's State Capitol (1829), & finally the U.S. Capitol (1818-1830) in Washington, DC (of which only his gatehouses & gateposts remain).