Stephen Decatur Button
Encyclopedia
Stephen Decatur Button was an American architect and a pioneer in the use of metal-frame construction for masonry buildings. He designed commercial buildings, schools and churches in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
and Camden, New Jersey
, and more than 30 buildings in Cape May, New Jersey
.
for a decade, he worked in Georgia and Florida, 1845-46. In 1846, he won the design competition for the first Alabama State Capitol
in Montgomery
, but his completed building burned on December 14, 1849. In 1848, he moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and formed a partnership with his brother-in-law, Joseph C. Hoxie. The firm of Hoxie & Button lasted until 1852.
In his Lewis Building at 239-41 Chestnut Street in Philadelphia (1852), "Button ... stripped the wall of excessive ornament and designed thin piers and wide voids to open the wall to light. To indicate a skeletal framework, the spandrel
s were recessed to emphasize the continuous upward flow of the plain piers." Architectural historian Winston Weisman labeled this style "Philadelphia Functionalism" (in 1961), and conjectured that it may have influenced the skyscrapers of architect Louis Sullivan
. In 1874, Sullivan worked as a draftsman in the offices of architects Frank Furness &
George W. Hewitt
, at 243 Chestnut Street.
In addition to this modernist work, Button designed in the Romanesque and Italianate styles.
About 1854, he moved across the Delaware River
to Camden, New Jersey, where he would live for the rest of his life. His house at 330 Mickle Street was next-door to the poet Walt Whitman
.
Button received major commissions in Camden, including churches, schools, railroad stations, commercial buildings, and the second City Hall. Much of Cape May, New Jersey was destroyed in an 1878 fire. Button rebuilt several of its resort hotels in brick, and designed dozens of residences there.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
and Camden, New Jersey
Camden, New Jersey
The city of Camden is the county seat of Camden County, New Jersey. It is located across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 77,344...
, and more than 30 buildings in Cape May, New Jersey
Cape May, New Jersey
Cape May is a city at the southern tip of Cape May Peninsula in Cape May County, New Jersey, where the Delaware Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean and is one of the country's oldest vacation resort destinations. It is part of the Ocean City Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 United States...
.
Career
He apprenticed to his uncle, Connecticut carpenter Stephen Button, and became an assistant to New York City architect George Purvis. After running his own office in Hoboken, New JerseyHoboken, New Jersey
Hoboken is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population was 50,005. The city is part of the New York metropolitan area and contains Hoboken Terminal, a major transportation hub for the region...
for a decade, he worked in Georgia and Florida, 1845-46. In 1846, he won the design competition for the first Alabama State Capitol
Alabama State Capitol
The Alabama State Capitol, also known as the First Confederate Capitol, is the state capitol building for Alabama. It is located on Capitol Hill, originally Goat Hill, in Montgomery. It was declared a National Historic Landmark on December 19, 1960....
in Montgomery
Montgomery, Alabama
Montgomery is the capital of the U.S. state of Alabama, and is the county seat of Montgomery County. It is located on the Alabama River southeast of the center of the state, in the Gulf Coastal Plain. As of the 2010 census, Montgomery had a population of 205,764 making it the second-largest city...
, but his completed building burned on December 14, 1849. In 1848, he moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and formed a partnership with his brother-in-law, Joseph C. Hoxie. The firm of Hoxie & Button lasted until 1852.
In his Lewis Building at 239-41 Chestnut Street in Philadelphia (1852), "Button ... stripped the wall of excessive ornament and designed thin piers and wide voids to open the wall to light. To indicate a skeletal framework, the spandrel
Spandrel
A spandrel, less often spandril or splaundrel, is the space between two arches or between an arch and a rectangular enclosure....
s were recessed to emphasize the continuous upward flow of the plain piers." Architectural historian Winston Weisman labeled this style "Philadelphia Functionalism" (in 1961), and conjectured that it may have influenced the skyscrapers of architect Louis Sullivan
Louis Sullivan
Louis Henri Sullivan was an American architect, and has been called the "father of skyscrapers" and "father of modernism" He is considered by many as the creator of the modern skyscraper, was an influential architect and critic of the Chicago School, was a mentor to Frank Lloyd Wright, and an...
. In 1874, Sullivan worked as a draftsman in the offices of architects Frank Furness &
Frank Furness
Frank Heyling Furness was an acclaimed American architect of the Victorian era. He designed more than 600 buildings, most in the Philadelphia area, and is remembered for his eclectic, muscular, often idiosyncratically scaled buildings, and for his influence on the Chicago architect Louis Sullivan...
George W. Hewitt
G. W. & W. D. Hewitt
G. W. & W. D. Hewitt was a prominent architectural firm in the eastern United States at the turn of the twentieth century. It was founded in Philadelphia in 1878, by brothers George Wattson Hewitt and William Dempster Hewitt , both members of the American Institute of Architects...
, at 243 Chestnut Street.
In addition to this modernist work, Button designed in the Romanesque and Italianate styles.
About 1854, he moved across the Delaware River
Delaware River
The Delaware River is a major river on the Atlantic coast of the United States.A Dutch expedition led by Henry Hudson in 1609 first mapped the river. The river was christened the South River in the New Netherland colony that followed, in contrast to the North River, as the Hudson River was then...
to Camden, New Jersey, where he would live for the rest of his life. His house at 330 Mickle Street was next-door to the poet Walt Whitman
Walt Whitman
Walter "Walt" Whitman was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse...
.
Button received major commissions in Camden, including churches, schools, railroad stations, commercial buildings, and the second City Hall. Much of Cape May, New Jersey was destroyed in an 1878 fire. Button rebuilt several of its resort hotels in brick, and designed dozens of residences there.
Philadelphia
- Odd Fellows Cemetery GatehouseOdd Fellows Cemetery (Philadelphia)Odd Fellows Cemetery was a historic cemetery at 24th and Diamond Streets in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, established in 1849. The gatehouse was designed by architect Stephen Decatur Button.It included the grave of author George Lippard....
, 24th & Diamond Streets, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (circa 1849, demolished circa 1951). - Spring Garden InstituteSpring Garden CollegeSpring Garden College, established as the Spring Garden Institute in 1851, was a private technical college founded in Spring Garden, Pennsylvania . Its building at 523-25 North Broad Street was designed by architect Stephen Decatur Button.The college closed in the 1990s...
, 523-25 North Broad Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1851–52). - Lewis Building, 239-41 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1852).
- Second Dutch Reformed Church, 817 North 7th Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1852–54). In 1917, this became St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church.
- Gaul-Forrest HouseEdwin Forrest HouseThe Edwin Forrest House is a house in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania built in 1853-54 for William Gaul, a wealthy brewer...
, 1326-36 North Broad Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1853–54), attributed to Button. - First Baptist Church, Broad & Arch Streets, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1853–56, demolished 1898).
- First Dutch Reformed Church, 7th & Spring Garden Streets, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1853–55).
- Arch Street Presbyterian ChurchArch Street Presbyterian ChurchArch Street Presbyterian Church is a historic church at 1726-1732 Arch Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.It was built in 1855 and added to the National Register in 1971....
, 1726-32 Arch Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1855), Hoxie & Button. - Mount Moriah Cemetery GatehouseMount Moriah Cemetery (Philadelphia)Mount Moriah Cemetery is a historic cemetery in southwest Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, along Cobbs Creek. It was incorporated on March 27, 1855 and established by an act of the Pennsylvania Legislature. The cemetery, which originally occupied , was among a number of cemeteries established along the...
, 6299 Kingsessing Avenue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1855). - Leland Building, 37-39 South 3rd Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1855).
- Joseph H. Schenck Building, 535 Arch Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1869–72, partially demolished 1938, demolished 1959).
Camden, New Jersey
- Second Presbyterian Church, 416 South 4th Street, Camden, New Jersey (1865–66).
- First Presbyterian Church, 5th & Penn Streets, Camden, New Jersey (1871–73).
- (Second) Camden City Hall, Haddon Avenue & Benson Street, Camden, New Jersey (1874–75, demolished 1930).
- Richard Fetters School, 3rd & Walnut Streets, Camden, New Jersey (1875). A boys grammar school diagonally opposite the Mulford School.
- Isaac S. Mulford School, 3rd & Walnut Streets., Camden, New Jersey (1875, demolished post-1956). A girls grammar school diagonally opposite the Fetters School.
- John W. Mickle School, 6th & Van Hook Streets, Camden, New Jersey (1875–76, demolished 1971).
Cape May, New Jersey
- Stockton Hotel, Cape May, New Jersey (1868–69).
- John M. McCreary House, 34 Gurney Street, Cape May, New Jersey (1869–70). Now Christian Science Society (Cape May, New Jersey)Christian Science Society (Cape May, New Jersey)The former Christian Science Society, also known as the John B. McCreary House, is an historic Victorian building located at 34 Gurney Street, corner of Columbia Street, in Cape May, New Jersey. Designed by Philadelphia architect Stephen Decatur Button, it was built for $20,000 between 1869-1870...
. - Jackson's Club House, 635 Columbia Avenue, Cape May, New Jersey (1872).
- Stockton Place Houses (row of 10 balloon-frame houses), 12-30 Gurney Street, Cape May, New Jersey (1871–72, 2 houses demolished).
- Expansion of Chalfonte Hotel, Howard & Sewell Streets, Cape May, New Jersey (1879).
- Congress Hall HotelCongress Hall (Cape May hotel)Congress Hall is a historic hotel in Cape May, New Jersey occupying a city block bordered on the south by Beach Avenue and on the east by Washington Street Mall....
, 251 Beach Avenue, Cape May, New Jersey (1879). The previous Congress Hall Hotel burned in 1878. - Windsor Hotel, Windsor Street & Beach Avenue, Cape May, New Jersey (1879, burned 1979).
- J. R. Evans House, 207 Congress Place, Cape May, New Jersey (1882–83).
- E. C. Knight House, 203 Congress Place, Cape May, New Jersey (1882–83).
- Atlantic Terrace Houses (row of 7 balloon-frame houses), Jackson Street, Cape May, New Jersey (1891–92).
Elsewhere
- (First) Alabama State CapitolAlabama State CapitolThe Alabama State Capitol, also known as the First Confederate Capitol, is the state capitol building for Alabama. It is located on Capitol Hill, originally Goat Hill, in Montgomery. It was declared a National Historic Landmark on December 19, 1960....
, Montgomery, Alabama (1846–47, burned and demolished 1849). - Knox Hall, 419 South Perry Street, Montgomery, Alabama (1848).
- Central Bank of Alabama, 1 Dexter Avenue, Montgomery, Alabama (1854). Now Alabama State Council on the Arts.
- Adams County CourthouseAdams County Courthouse (Pennsylvania)The Adams County Courthouse is located in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The building was built in 1858, first occupied in 1859, and added to the National Register of Historic Places on October 1, 1974....
, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania (1858–59). - Abram Minis House, 204 East Jones Street, Savannah, Georgia (1859–60).
- Alterations to Cargill House, 1316 3rd Avenue, Columbus, Georgia (circa 1860).
See also
- Cape May Historic DistrictCape May Historic DistrictThe Cape May Historic District is an area of with over 600 buildings in the resort town of Cape May, New Jersey. The city claims to be America's first seaside resort and has numerous buildings in the Late Victorian style, including the Eclectic, Stick, and Shingle styles, as well as the later...
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Camden County, New Jersey