Frederic Charles Hirons was the American architect, based in New York

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...

, who designed the Classical George Rogers Clark National Memorial

George Rogers Clark National Historical Park

George Rogers Clark National Historical Park, located in Vincennes on the banks of the Wabash River at what is believed to be the site of Fort Sackville, is a United States National Historical Park. A classical memorial here was authorized under President Calvin Coolidge and dedicated by President...

, in Vincennes, Indiana

Vincennes, Indiana

Vincennes is a city in and the county seat of Knox County, Indiana, United States. It is located on the Wabash River in the southwestern part of the state. The population was 18,701 at the 2000 census...

, among the last major Beaux-Arts style public works in the United States

United States

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

, completed in 1933.

Hirons was of French extraction; he immigrated to Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

 as a child. Hirons worked as a draftsman in the Boston architectural office of Herbert Hale from 1898 until 1901, before entering the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...

; on graduating in 1904 he received a Rotch Travelling Scholarship to study at the École des Beaux-Arts

École des Beaux-Arts

École des Beaux-Arts refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The most famous is the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, now located on the left bank in Paris, across the Seine from the Louvre, in the 6th arrondissement. The school has a history spanning more than 350 years,...

 in Paris. MIT's Paris prize enabled him to continue his European studies until 1909. On his return he established an architectural practice in New York with Ethan Allen Dennison (1881–1954). Hirons and Dennison produced many commercial structures in the Beaux-Arts and Art Deco

Art Deco

Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...

 styles: Delaware Title & Insurance Company, Wilmington, Delaware; Federal Trust Company Building

First National State Bank Building

The First National State Bank Building is located at 810 Broad Street in Newark, New Jersey. The building was designed by Hirons and Dennison and was built in 1926 as the Federal Trust Company Building. The building is twelve stories tall with a steel frame and with a facade of applied masonry. It...

, Newark

Newark, New Jersey

Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...

; City National Bank, Bridgeport, Connecticut; Home Savings Bank, Albany, New York; State Bank & Trust Company, West 43rd Street and 8th Avenue, New York; Beaux-Arts Institute of Design, 304 East 44th Street; Suffolk Title and Guarantee Company Building, 90-04 161st Street, Queens, New York. Their Childs Restaurant, Coney Island, New York (1923), employs colorfully glazed terracotta tiles in a fanciful resort style combining elements of the Spanish Colonial revival with numerous maritime allusions that refer to its seaside location".

In 1929 Hirons formed a two-year partnership with F.W. Mellor of Philadelphia, and then practiced again under his own name until 1940, when he retired.

He designed many public buildings, including the World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 memorial at Worcester, Massachusetts

Worcester, Massachusetts

Worcester is a city and the county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, as of the 2010 Census the city's population is 181,045, making it the second largest city in New England after Boston....

 and the Clark Memorial at Vincennes, Indiana.

He was president of the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design

Beaux-Arts Institute of Design

The Beaux-Arts Institute of Design was an art and architectural school at 304 East 44th Street in Turtle Bay, Manhattan, in New York City...

 (1937–39), of which he had been a founder. He taught architecture at Yale University

Yale University

Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

 and Columbia University

Columbia University

Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

. His portrait by Henry R. Rittenberg is in the collection of the National Academy of Design

National Academy of Design

The National Academy Museum and School of Fine Arts, founded in New York City as the National Academy of Design – known simply as the "National Academy" – is an honorary association of American artists founded in 1825 by Samuel F. B. Morse, Asher B. Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E...

.