Encyclopedia Trinitiana

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====== Francis H. Kimball ======

American architect Francis Hatch Kimball (September 24, 1845–December 20, 1919) earned his fame as the father of the modern skyscraper for co-designing several skyscrapers in lower Manhattan, including the Empire Building and the Casino Theatre. Kimball, along with [[burges_william|William Burges]], helped design Trinity College's "[[summit_campus|new campus]]" in 1875 that included planning the [[long_walk|Long Walk]] and its buildings in the form of quadrangles. Kimball also designed [[northam_towers|Northam Towers]]--the “gateway” between [[seabury_hall|Seabury]] and [[jarvis_hall|Jarvis]] Halls--which was completed in 1883.

[{{::francis_kimball1.jpg?300 |Francis H. Kimball. Photo credit: Empire State Notables, 1914}}]

In 1872, Trinity [[trustees|trustees]] agreed to sell the [[old_campus|original campus]] to the [[hartford|City of Hartford]] for its new Capitol building, mainly for its desirable location. The trustees had yet to find a new location to situate the College, but President [[jackson_abner|Abner Jackson]] wanted to be prepared with a plan. That summer, Jackson traveled to England seeking an architect to design buildings for Trinity's new campus that would be distinctively collegiate and in keeping with his vision for Trinity. Jackson was introduced to little-known architect William Burges, who seemed to be a good fit for the envisioned campus. With Jackson's inspiration and general ideas, Burges designed an elaborate, four-quadrangle plan with High Victorian flourishes for the new campus in September 1872. A few short months after Jackson returned home, the trustees purchased the Summit campus for $225,000. 

After [[commencement|commencement]] 1873, Jackson returned to England to meet with Burges and finalize the plans. He brought back to Hartford in September 1873 “the most elaborate plan which had ever been designed for an American College campus.” The architectural style was described in several ways: Victorian Gothic, Early English, French Gothic, and English Secular Gothic. The original plans included four quadrangles, a chapel, library, museum, art building, dining hall, theatre, towers and spires, an astronomical observatory, professors' apartments, student quarters, and was to be “the most imposing edifice in the United States” besides the Capitol building in Washington, D.C, according to one newspaper writer.

The trustees were enthusiastic about Burges' plan and construction was set to begin in April 1874. They enlisted Hartford architect Francis H. Kimball, who had garnered their attention with his work on the Charter Oak Life Insurance and Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company buildings, to superintend the construction. Kimball left for London in December 1873 to meet with Burges. On Sunday, April 19, 1874, however, President Jackson suddenly died, just as plans for the groundbreaking were underway. Jackson had planned to meet Kimball and Burges in England. [[pynchon_thomas_ruggles|Thomas Ruggles Pynchon]], Class of 1841, was elected Trinity's new [[presidents|president]], and plans for construction moved forward.

Kimball returned from London in October 1874 with the completed drawings and began working with President Pynchon to adapt Burges’ plans to the site of the new campus. In order to cut costs, Kimball recommended that the ambitious four-quadrangle plan should be reduced to three quadrangles, and with advice from the landscape designer [[olmsted_frederick_law|Frederick Law Olmsted]], Kimball and Pynchon decided to situate the Long Walk on the ridge line of the new site. The trustees were enthusiastic about this plan, but agreed that the entire campus should not begin construction all at once. The Long Walk was part of the “first stage” of construction which included the library, dining hall, a block of lecture rooms, and dormitories.

On July 1, 1875, following commencement on the old campus, students, faculty, and staff proceeded to the new campus for a groundbreaking ceremony. Immediately afterward, excavation and construction officially began on the Long Walk buildings.

Kimball worked independently in New York City before co-establishing his own architectural firm there in 1892 with G. Kramer Thompson. Kimball is also known for his pioneering work with terracotta building ornamentation, examples of which may be found on the Corbin Building in New York City and on the Mauntauk Club in Brooklyn. Francis H. Kimball died in 1919 and is buried in Linwood Cemetery in Haverhill, Massachusetts.


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===== Sources =====

[[https://www.publicartct.org/artists/francis-h-kimball/|Public Art CT: Francis H. Kimball]]

[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_H._Kimball|Wikipedia: Francis H. Kimball]]

[[https://books.google.com/books?id=hu6dDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT54#v=onepage&q&f=false|Skysraper Gothic: Medieval Style and Modernist Buildings]] (June 8, 2017) by Kevin Murphy et al.

[[https://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/w_books/2/|Trinity College in the Twentieth Century]] (2000) by Peter and Anne Knapp, pp. 31-33, 506-507.

[[https://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/w_books/4/|The History of Trinity College]] (1967) by Glenn Weaver, pp. 181-185. 

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