Frank Heyling Furness was yet another architect that designed buildings for the United States in the later 1800s. Many of his buildings were later destroyed near the end of his life, mainly because the style that he had used was no longer in style. However, some of his more popular buildings that are still intact today include the Fisher Fine Arts Library and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts which are both located in Pennsylvania. Born in Philadelphia on November 12, 1839, he never had the option to travel outside of the United States to Europe, and never did attend a university. During the 1850s, Furness went on to pursue his career as a future architect by training in the office of John Fraser, Philadelphia. Furness began his career working alone, but quickly became part of a team which included his former teacher Fraser, George Hewitt, and himself; the partnership lasted less than five years. Later on Hewitt and Furness created their own partnership and won the design competition for the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. After the two architects broke up, they became competitors, and both ended up owning successful firms. Furness died on June 27, 1912 and had inspired many later architects with his Victorian-Gothic style.
Citations:
"Frank Furness." Wikipedia. N.p., 22 Oct. 2009. Web. 7 Dec. 2009.
