Carrère, John Merven 1858-1911

Architect.

From the description of John Merven Carrère papers, 1894-1911. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 79322247

Biographical Note

John Merven Carrère, American architect, was born in 1858 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Educated in Switzerland, he later graduated from the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, and moved to New York, where his American family had resettled from Brazil. He worked first as a draughtsman with the firm of McKim, Mead, and White in New York City, and joined in architectural partnership with Thomas Hastings after 1885. Among the important works of Carrère and Hastings are the Manhattan Bridge, New York Public Library, office buildings of the Senate and House of Representatives, and the Carnegie Institution in Washington, D.C. He was instrumental in controversial legislation persuading Congress and the Treasury Department to award architectural commissions for federal buildings through open design competitions. As a city planner, he wrote and lectured on the subject and produced plans for various cities, including Cleveland, Baltimore, Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Hartford, Connecticut. He died on March 2, 1911 in New York City.

From the guide to the John Merven Carrère Papers, 1894-1911, (Manuscript Division Library of Congress)