Johannes Kirchmayer (March 31, 1860 - November 29, 1930) was one of the leading woodcarvers in the United States

United States

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

, active primarily in the Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

 area.

Kirchmayer was born in Oberammergau

Oberammergau

Oberammergau is a municipality in the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, in Bavaria, Germany. The town is famous for its production of a Passion Play, its woodcarvers, and the NATO School.-Passion Play:...

, Bavaria

Bavaria

Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...

. After learning sculpture in Germany, he emigrated in 1880 to Boston and took up work mainly in church sculpture. He was a founding member of the Boston Society of Arts and Crafts with his work featured in an 1887 exhibition. After 1898, in the employ of Boston furnituremaking and architectural woodworking firm Irving & Casson, he worked on the buildings of the noted American Gothic-revivalist Ralph Adams Cram

Ralph Adams Cram

Ralph Adams Cram FAIA, , was a prolific and influential American architect of collegiate and ecclesiastical buildings, often in the Gothic style. Cram & Ferguson and Cram, Goodhue & Ferguson are partnerships in which he worked.-Early life:Cram was born on December 16, 1863 at Hampton Falls, New...

.

Kirchmayer's notable work around Boston includes carvings in The Church of the Advent, Brimmer Street, Boston; All Saints' Church, Ashmont, Dorchester; the Second Church, Newton; and Unity Church in North Easton. He also designed the mantling of the Anderson Memorial Bridge

Anderson Memorial Bridge

Anderson Memorial Bridge connects Allston, a neighborhood of Boston, and Cambridge. The bridge stands on the site of the Great Bridge built in 1662, the first structure to span the Charles River...

 over the Charles River. His work outside the Boston area includes carvings in the Church of Saint Mary the Virgin

Church of Saint Mary the Virgin (Times Square, New York)

The Church of Saint Mary the Virgin is an Episcopal Anglo-Catholic church within the Episcopal Diocese of New York and the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. The church complex is located in the heart of Times Square on West 46th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues in the borough of...

, West 46th Street, New York City; St. Mary's Anglican Church, Windsor, Ontario; the Church of the Saviour

Church of the Saviour (Syracuse)

The Church of the Saviour is a chapel in the Episcopal Diocese of Central New York. It is an Anglo-Catholic Episcopal parish noteworthy for its historically significant architecture, which took shape in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries after several disasters.The Church of the...

, Syracuse, New York; and the James J. Hill House

James J. Hill House

The James J. Hill House, in Saint Paul, Minnesota, was built by railroad magnate James J. Hill. The house, completed in 1891, is near the eastern end of Summit Avenue near the Cathedral of Saint Paul. The house, for its time, was very large and was the "showcase of St. Paul" until James J. Hill's...

, St. Paul, Minnesota. At $1.00 an hour, he was the highest paid workman on the Hill House construction project.