Edward Townsend Mix was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 architect

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...

 of the Gilded Age

Gilded Age

In United States history, the Gilded Age refers to the era of rapid economic and population growth in the United States during the post–Civil War and post-Reconstruction eras of the late 19th century. The term "Gilded Age" was coined by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner in their book The Gilded...

 who designed several buildings in the Midwestern United States

Midwestern United States

The Midwestern United States is one of the four U.S. geographic regions defined by the United States Census Bureau, providing an official definition of the American Midwest....

. His career was centered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Milwaukee is the largest city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, the 28th most populous city in the United States and 39th most populous region in the United States. It is the county seat of Milwaukee County and is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. According to 2010 census data, the...

, and many of his designs made use of the region's distinctive Cream City brick

Cream City brick

Cream City brick is a cream or light yellow-colored brick made from a clay found around Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in the Menomonee River Valley and on the western banks of Lake Michigan...

.

Biography

Mix was born in New Haven, Connecticut

New Haven, Connecticut

New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and...

, on May 13, 1831, the first child of Edward A. and Emily M. Mix. The family moved west to Andover, Illinois

Andover, Illinois

Andover is a village in Henry County, Illinois, United States. The population was 578 at the 2010 census, down from 594 at the 2000 census. -Geography:Andover is located at ....

, in 1836. They relocated again to New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 in 1845, where E. Townsend Mix began studying architecture. He would eventually be apprenticed to Connecticut architect Sidney Mason Stone. Mix also studied under Richard Upjohn

Richard Upjohn

Richard Upjohn was an English-born architect who emigrated to the United States and became most famous for his Gothic Revival churches. He was partially responsible for launching the movement to such popularity in the United States. Upjohn also did extensive work in and helped to popularize the...

, who brought Mix towards the Gothic Revival

Gothic Revival architecture

The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...

 architecture that would become one of his most enduring styles.

In 1855, E. Townsend Mix moved to Chicago, Illinois, and began a brief partnership with architect William W. Boyington

William W. Boyington

William W. Boyington was an architect who designed several notable structures in and around Chicago, Illinois. Originally from Massachusetts, W.W. Boyington studied engineering and architecture in the State of New York...

. The firm's work took Mix to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he decided to begin an independent practice in 1856. Mix dissolved his partnership with Boyington and began designing homes and businesses for Milwaukee's leading residents.

Mix was appointed Wisconsin's State Architect from 1864 to 1867. The end of the Civil War brought an important contract when he was chosen to design the Milwaukee branch of the National Soldiers' Home

Old soldiers' home

An old soldiers' home is a military veteran's retirement home, nursing home, or hospital, or sometimes even an institution for the care of the widows and orphans of a nation's soldiers, sailors, and marines, etc.-United States:...

 for disabled war veterans. The resulting structure, finished in 1869, is a colorful Gothic Revival building that still towers over the surrounding park and cemetery. Mix also designed the Gothic Revival Cathedral Church of All Saints

Cathedral Church of All Saints, Milwaukee

The Cathedral Church of All Saints is the bishop's church of the Episcopal Diocese of Milwaukee, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. The current parish is a descendant of a small mission by the Right Reverend Jackson Kemper. It is located in Milwaukee's downtown Yankee Hill neighborhood.The Gothic...

 and the Monroe Methodist Church

First Methodist Church (Monroe, Wisconsin)

The First Methodist Church in Monroe, Green County, Wisconsin, is a Gothic revival edifice designed by the former Wisconsin State Architect E. Townsend Mix of Milwaukee and constructed of Cream City brick. It was commissioned in 1869 by the First Methodist Episcopal congregation of Monroe to...

 at about this time.

Mix's career further accelerated when the new state of Kansas

Kansas

Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...

 selected his French Renaissance

French Renaissance architecture

French Renaissance architecture is the style of architecture which was imported to France from Italy during the early 16th century and developed in the light of local architectural traditions....

 design for the Kansas State Capitol

Kansas State Capitol

The Kansas State Capitol, known also as the Kansas Statehouse, is the building housing the executive and legislative branches of government for the U.S. state of Kansas. It is located in the city of Topeka which has served as the capital of Kansas since it became a state in 1861...

 in Topeka. Construction began in 1866, and several other architects including John G. Haskell

John G. Haskell

John Gideon Haskell is an architect who designed portions of the Kansas State Capitol and other public buildings in the state....

 modified Mix's design before the building was completed 37 years later.

During the early 1870s

1870s

The 1870s continued the trends of the previous decade, as new empires, imperialism and militarism rose in Europe and Asia. America was recovering from the Civil War. Germany declared independence in 1871 and began its Second Reich. Labor unions and strikes occurred worldwide in the later part of...

, Mix designed a number of Italianate

Italianate architecture

The Italianate style of architecture was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. In the Italianate style, the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian Renaissance architecture, which had served as inspiration for both Palladianism and...

 homes for prominent Midwestern families, including Villa Louis

Villa Louis

The Villa Louis, also known as Dousman Mansion, is a National Historic Landmark located on St. Feriole island in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. Today the site is restored to its appearance during the late 19th Century, when it was the estate of the prominent H. Louis Dousman family. At the center of...

 in Prairie du Chien

Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin

Prairie du Chien is a city in and the county seat of Crawford County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 5,911 at the 2010 census. Its Zip Code is 53821....

 for H. Louis Dousman

H. Louis Dousman

Hercules Louis Dousman II , better known as Louis Dousman, was the son of Wisconsin millionaire Hercules Louis Dousman I. After inheriting his father's wealth, Dousman became a prominent Midwestern socialite and art collector.Louis Dousman was born in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, the son of...

 in 1870, and in 1874 both the Robert Patrick Fitzgerald House in Milwaukee and Montauk in Clermont, Iowa

Clermont, Iowa

Clermont is a city in Fayette County, Iowa, United States. The population was 716 at the 2000 census. Clermont is home to Montauk, the mansion of former Iowa governor William Larrabee, along with much historic architecture...

, home of Iowa governor William Larrabee

William Larrabee (Iowa)

William Larrabee was a Republican politician from Iowa. He served as the 13th Governor of Iowa from 1886 until 1890.-Early life:Larrabee was born in Ledyard, Connecticut, into a family of French Huguenot extraction...

.
By the second half of the 1870s, Mix shifted much of his focus to the Second Empire style. In 1873 he remodeled the home of leading Milwaukee businessman Alexander Mitchell

Alexander Mitchell

Alexander Mitchell or Alex Mitchell may refer to:* Alexander Mitchell , blind Irish engineer* Alexander Mitchell , MP for Berwick-upon-Tweed 1865–1868...

 in this style, giving it a four-story tower and mansard roof

Mansard roof

A mansard or mansard roof is a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterized by two slopes on each of its sides with the lower slope at a steeper angle than the upper that is punctured by dormer windows. The roof creates an additional floor of habitable space, such as a garret...

s. Later Mitchell would hire Mix to use the same style in designing two commercial buildings in downtown Milwaukee: the Mitchell Building in 1876 and the Milwaukee Chamber of Commerce Building in 1879.

In the 1880s, Mix adopted a number of additional styles for his buildings. He used Romanesque Revival for St. Paul's Episcopal Church, built in Milwaukee in 1874, and he employed elements of Queen Anne

Queen Anne Style architecture

The Queen Anne Style in Britain means either the English Baroque architectural style roughly of the reign of Queen Anne , or a revived form that was popular in the last quarter of the 19th century and the early decades of the 20th century...

 and Eastlake

Eastlake Movement

The Eastlake Movement was a nineteenth century architectural and household design reform movement started by architect and writer Charles Eastlake . The movement is generally considered part of the late Victorian period in terms of broad antique furniture designations...

 styles for the Allyn Mansion in Delavan, Wisconsin

Delavan, Wisconsin

Delavan is a city in Walworth County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 8,463 at the 2010 census. The city is located partially within the Town of Delavan.-Economy:Delavan is home to the Wisconsin School for the Deaf, and Andes Candies.-History:...

, in 1885. Mix sometimes mixed these styles with Gothic Revival, as in the Everett Street Depot built in 1886 for the Milwaukee Road. By this time, however, the styles favored by Mix were falling out of fashion in Milwaukee as its increasingly German

German American

German Americans are citizens of the United States of German ancestry and comprise about 51 million people, or 17% of the U.S. population, the country's largest self-reported ancestral group...

 population demanded buildings more reminiscent of their homeland.

In 1888, Mix moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota

Minneapolis, Minnesota

Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...

, where he embarked on his largest project, the Northwestern Guaranty Loan Building

Metropolitan Building

The Metropolitan Building, originally known as the Northwestern Guaranty Loan Building, is considered to be one of the most architecturally significant structures in the history of Minneapolis, Minnesota...

, a twelve-story skyscraper in Richardsonian Romanesque

Richardsonian Romanesque

Richardsonian Romanesque is a style of Romanesque Revival architecture named after architect Henry Hobson Richardson, whose masterpiece is Trinity Church, Boston , designated a National Historic Landmark...

 style built with red Lake Superior sandstone. It was finished in 1890, the year of E. Townsend Mix's death in Minneapolis.

Legacy

E. Townsend Mix was a versatile architect who practiced an eclectic variety of styles, and although he sometimes mixed styles in novel ways, he did little to push the boundaries of any particular style. However, in his effort to remain abreast of changing architectural fashions, Mix introduced to the Upper Midwest many popular styles from eastern cities, and his buildings helped shape the landscape of urban Milwaukee and Minneapolis. Although urban renewal

Urban renewal

Urban renewal is a program of land redevelopment in areas of moderate to high density urban land use. Renewal has had both successes and failures. Its modern incarnation began in the late 19th century in developed nations and experienced an intense phase in the late 1940s – under the rubric of...

 projects led to the demolition of some notable Mix buildings, including the Northwestern Guaranty Loan Building and the Everett Street Depot, many of his designs still stand, and several are listed on the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

.