Upjohn, Richard M. (Richard Michell), 1828-1903

The Assembly Chamber of the new New York State Capitol, designed by Leopold Eidlitz, was finished in 1879. Structural problems with the ceiling were discovered shortly thereafter. The problem became critical by 1887 and in early 1888 R.M. Upjohn was made a member of a special commission of engineers and architects to study and resolve the situation. At their suggestion, the ceiling and its superstructure were rebuilt from 1888 to 1889. These drawings are, apparently, Upjohn's suggested designs and closely resemble the new ceiling that was built.

From the description of Albany Capitol, Assembly Hall [graphic] : [alterations] / R.M.U., Consultation. [1888-1889?] (Columbia University In the City of New York). WorldCat record id: 81009969

The architect, Richard Upjohn, was born in 1803 at Shaftesbury, England, and died in 1878 at Garrison, New York. His son, Richard Michell Upjohn, also was born at Shaftesbury, became a full partner with his father in 1853, and died in Brooklyn in 1903.

Richard Upjohn Sr. was apprenticed as a cabinetmaker and later became a draftsman and master-craftsman. After settling in New Bedford, Massachusetts, he opened an evening drawing class. The sight of some architectural drawings convinced him that he could make a living as an architect. In 1834 he moved to Boston where he worked for Alexander Parris. His own early work included numerous villas in the neo-classical style. In 1837 he finished St. John's Church in Bangor, Maine, the first of many commissions in that state.

In August, 1839, Upjohn moved to New York City to work as a draftsman for repairs and alterations to the old Trinity Church. When it was decided to erect a new church Upjohn was retained as architect. The Church was consecrated in 1846. This was his first notable success and led to may commissions for neo-Romanesque and neo-gothic churches, and Italian renaissance office buildings, such as the Trinity Building on lower Broadway in Manhattan.

Although notably influenced by his father and the aesthetic ideas of John Ruskin, some of Richard Michell Upjohn's designs, such as the state capitol at Hartford, Connecticut, were brilliant solutions to the problems of reconciling new materials with the Victorian love for the bizarre effect.

From the guide to the Richard Upjohn and Richard Michell Upjohn papers, 1851-1914, (The New York Public Library. Manuscripts and Archives Division.)