View source for Richard Morris Hunt

{{short description|American architect (1827–1895)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox architect
| name = Richard Morris Hunt
| image = Richard Morris Hunt.jpg
| image_size = <!-- if image is smaller than 250px -->
| alt = 
| caption = 
| birth_name = <!-- only use if different than name -->
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1827|10|31}}
| birth_place = [[Brattleboro, Vermont]], U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1895|7|31|1827|10|31}}
| death_place = [[Newport, Rhode Island]], U.S.
| alma_mater = {{lang|fr|[[École des Beaux-Arts]]|italic=no}}
| spouse = Catharine Clinton Howland
| partner = 
| children = 
| parents = 
| awards = 
| practice = 
| significant_buildings = [[John N. A. Griswold House]]<br/>[[Chateau-sur-Mer]]<br />[[New York Tribune Building]]<br />[[William K. Vanderbilt House]]<br />[[Marble House]]<br/>[[Biltmore Estate]]
| significant_projects = 
| significant_design = 
| website = <!-- {{URL|example.com}} -->
| signature = Signature of Richard Morris Hunt (1827–1895).png
}}
[[File:WKVanderbiltHouse Cropped version.jpeg|thumb|The [[William K. Vanderbilt House]] or the ''Petit Chateau'' in 1886, 660 Fifth Avenue, New York City]]

'''Richard Morris Hunt''' (October 31, 1827 – July 31, 1895) was an American architect of the nineteenth century and an eminent figure in the history of [[architecture of the United States]]. He helped shape [[New York City]] with his designs for the 1902 entrance façade and Great Hall of the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]]'s [[The Met Fifth Avenue|Fifth Avenue building]], the pedestal of the [[Statue of Liberty]] (''Liberty Enlightening the World''), and many [[Fifth Avenue]] mansions since destroyed.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BIEfAAAAYAAJ&q=%22jonathan+hunt%22+paris&pg=PA93|title=The Harvard Graduates' Magazine|date=30 March 1893|publisher=Harvard Graduates' Magazine Association|via=Google Books}}</ref>

Hunt is also renowned for his [[Biltmore Estate]], America's largest private house, near [[Asheville, North Carolina]], and for his elaborate summer cottages in [[Newport, Rhode Island]], which set a new standard of ostentation for the social elite and the newly minted millionaires of the [[Gilded Age]].

==Early life==
[[File:Sargent - Richard Morris Hunt.jpg|thumb|Portrait of Richard Morris Hunt by [[John Singer Sargent]] (1895).]]

Hunt was born at [[Brattleboro, Vermont]] into the prominent [[Hunt family of Vermont|Hunt family]]. His father, [[Jonathan Hunt (Vermont Representative)|Jonathan Hunt]], was a lawyer and U.S. congressman, whose own father, [[Jonathan Hunt (Vermont lieutenant governor)|Jonathan Hunt, senior]], was lieutenant governor of Vermont.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WLfMU4yd1FYC&q=dwight+leavitt&pg=PA421|title=The History of the Descendants of John Dwight, of Dedham, Mass|first=Benjamin Woodbridge|last=Dwight|date=30 March 1874|publisher=J. F. Trow & son, printers and bookbinders|isbn=9781981482658|via=Google Books}}</ref> Hunt's mother, Jane Maria Leavitt, was the daughter of Thaddeus Leavitt, Jr., a merchant, and a member of the influential [[Thaddeus Leavitt|Leavitt family]] of [[Suffield, Connecticut]].

Richard Morris Hunt was named for Lieut. Richard Morris, an officer in the U.S. Navy, a son of Hunt's aunt,<ref>Catharine Howland Hunt, Unpublished Biography of Richard Morris Hunt (1896–1906), page 1.</ref><ref>Lewis Richard Morris was married to Ellen Hunt, a sister of Richard Morris Hunt's father. See [http://www.crjc.org/heritage/V07-14.htm General Lewis R. Morris House, Springfield, Vt., National Register, Connecticut River Joint Commissions, crjc.org]</ref> whose husband [[Lewis Richard Morris]] was a U.S. Congressman from Vermont and the nephew of [[Gouverneur Morris]], author of large parts of the U.S. Constitution.<ref>[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9F01E5D91039E033A25752C0A96E9C94649ED7CF Obituary of Richard Morris Hunt, ''The New York Times'', August 1, 1895]</ref> Hunt was the brother of the Boston painter [[William Morris Hunt]], and the photographer and lawyer [[Leavitt Hunt]].

Following the death of his father in Washington, D.C., in 1832 at the age of 44, Hunt's mother moved her family to New Haven, then in 1837 to New York, and then in the spring of 1838 to Boston.<ref>Catharine Howland Hunt, Unpublished Biography of Richard Morris Hunt (1896–1906), page 16.</ref> There, Hunt enrolled in the [[Boston Latin School]], while his brother William enrolled in [[Harvard College]]. However, in the summer of 1842, William left Harvard, transferring to a school in [[Stockbridge, Massachusetts]], while Richard was sent to school in Sandwich, Massachusetts.<ref>Catharine Howland Hunt, Unpublished Biography of Richard Morris Hunt (1896–1906), pages 19,20.</ref>

==European education==

In October 1843, out of concern for William's health, Mrs. Hunt and her five children sailed from New York to Europe, eventually settling in [[Rome]].<ref>Catharine Howland Hunt, Unpublished Biography of Richard Morris Hunt (1896–1906), pages 19,20.</ref> There, Hunt studied art, but was encouraged by his mother and brother William to pursue architecture.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=LG29MRCw5d8C&dq=%22william+morris+hunt%22+boston+grandson+painter&pg=PA323 ''Puritan Boston & Quaker Philadelphia'', Edward Digby Baltzell, Published by Transaction Publishers, 1996] {{ISBN|1-56000-830-X}}</ref> In May 1844, Hunt enrolled in Mr. Briquet's boarding school in [[Geneva]], and the following year, while continuing to board with Mr. Briquet, arranged to study with the Geneva architect Samuel Darier.<ref>Catharine Howland Hunt, Unpublished Biography of Richard Morris Hunt (1896–1906), pages 23,24.</ref>

In October 1846, Hunt entered the Paris [[studio|atelier]] of the architect [[Hector Lefuel]], while studying for the entrance examinations of the {{lang|fr|[[École des Beaux-Arts]]|italic=no}}.<ref>Catharine Howland Hunt, Unpublished Biography of Richard Morris Hunt (1896–1906), pages 25.</ref> According to the historian [[David McCullough]], "Hunt was the first American to be admitted to the school of architecture at the {{lang|fr|École des Beaux-Arts|italic=no}} &ndash; the finest school of architecture in the world &ndash; and the subsequent importance of his influence on the architecture of his own country can hardly be overstated."<ref>{{cite book|title=The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lQaPIYIfcM8C&q=%22richard+morris+hunt%22+david+mccullough&pg=PT73 |last=McCullough |first=David |publisher=Simon & Schuster |place=New York |year=2011 |isbn = 9781416576891}}</ref>

In 1853, Hunt's mentor Lefuel was placed in charge of the ambitious project of [[Nouveau Louvre|completing the Louvre]], following the death of the project's architect, [[Louis-Tullius-Joachim Visconti]]. Lefuel engaged Hunt to help supervise the work, and to help design the ''Pavillon de la Bibliothèque'' ("Library Pavilion"), prominently situated opposite the [[Palais-Royal]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QUcEIVKk_3sC&q=%22jonathan+hunt%22+paris&pg=PA408|title=The History of the Descendants of John Dwight, of Dedham, Mass|first=Benjamin Woodbridge|last=Dwight|date=30 March 1874|publisher=J. F. Trow & son, printers and bookbinders|isbn=9781981482658|via=Google Books}}</ref> Hunt would later regale the sixteen-year-old future architect [[Louis Sullivan]] with stories of his work on the ''[[Nouveau Louvre]]'' in Lefuel's ''atelier libre''.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6M9RixFpkKwC&q=%22hector+lefuel%22+%22richard+morris+hunt%22&pg=PA13|title=Louis Sullivan, Prophet of Modern Architecture|first=Hugh|last=Morrison|date=30 March 2018|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|via=Google Books|isbn=9780393730234}}</ref>

==Career in America==

===New York early years===

Hunt spent Christmas 1855 in Paris, after which he returned to the United States. In March 1856, he accepted a position with the architect [[Thomas Ustick Walter]] helping Walter with the renovation and expansion of the [[United States Capitol|U.S. Capitol]], and the following year moved to New York to establish his own practice. Hunt's first substantial project was the [[Tenth Street Studio Building]], where he rented space, and where in 1858 he founded the first American architectural school, beginning with a small group of students, including [[George B. Post]], [[William Robert Ware]], [[Henry Van Brunt]], and [[Frank Furness]].<ref>Catharine Howland Hunt, Unpublished Biography of Richard Morris Hunt (1896–1906), pages 99-110.</ref> Ware, who was deeply influenced by Hunt, went on to found America's first two university programs in architecture: at [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]] in 1866, and at [[Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation|Columbia]] in 1881.

Hunt's first New York project, a pair of houses on 37th Street for [[Thomas Pritchard Rossiter|Thomas P. Rossiter]] and his father-in-law [[Eleazer Parmly|Dr. Eleazer Parmly]], required Hunt to sue Parmly for non-payment of the supervisory portion of his services. The jury awarded Hunt a 2-1/2% commission, at the time the minimum fee typically charged by architects.<ref>Catharine Howland Hunt, Unpublished Biography of Richard Morris Hunt (1896–1906), page 103.</ref> According to the editors of ''[[Engineering Magazine]]'', writing in 1896, the case, "helped to establish a uniform system of charges by percentage."<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=Kq5MAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22richard+morris+hunt%22+leavitt&pg=PA101 ''Engineering Magazine''], Vol. 10, The Engineering Magazine Co., New York, 1896</ref>

It was in these early years that Hunt suffered his greatest professional setback, the rejection of his formal, classical proposal for the "Scholars' Gate", the entrance to New York's [[Central Park]] at 60th Street and Fifth Avenue.<ref>SOUZA, J. DA C. G. DE.; FRANCO, J. L. DE A. «Frederick Law Olmsted: Landscape Architecture and North American National Parks». Topoi, (Rio J.), Rio de Janeiro. v.21 (n.45): p. 754-774, sept./dec. 2020.</ref> According to Central Park historian Sarah Cedar Miller, the influential Central Park commissioner [[Andrew Haswell Green]] supported Hunt's design, but when the park commissioners adopted it, the park's designers, [[Frederick Law Olmsted]] and [[Calvert Vaux]] (advocates of a more informal design), protested and resigned their positions with the Central Park project. Hunt's plan was ultimately rejected, and Olmsted and Vaux rejoined the project.<ref name="miller">Miller, Sara Cedar: ''Central Park, An American Masterpiece'' p. 57. Harry N. Abrams, Inc, 2003 {{ISBN|0-8109-3946-0}}.</ref> Nevertheless, one work of Hunt's can be found in the park, albeit a minor one: the [[Rustication (architecture)|rusticated]] [[Quincy Quarries Reservation|Quincy granite]] pedestal on which [[John Quincy Adams Ward]]'s bronze statue ''The Pilgrim'' stands, on [[Conservatory Water#Pilgrim Hill|Pilgrim Hill]] overlooking the park's [[East Drive]] at [[East 72nd Street]].<ref name="Central Park Monuments 1939">{{cite web|title=Pilgrim : NYC Parks|website=Central Park Monuments|date=June 26, 1939|url=https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/central-park/monuments/1184 | access-date=August 16, 2020}}</ref><ref name="centralpark.com Pilgrim Hill">{{Cite web|date=April 3, 2019|title=Pilgrim Hill|url=https://www.centralpark.com/api/content/802b5c3f-7977-5166-ad0a-fdb674e75ed2/|access-date=August 16, 2020|website=www.centralpark.com|language=en-us}}</ref><ref name="Central Park Conservancy 2020">{{cite web|date=July 28, 2020|title=Pilgrim Hill|url=https://www.centralparknyc.org/attractions/pilgrim-hill|access-date=August 16, 2020|website=Central Park Conservancy}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Carroll|first1=R.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xKjS342df7YC&pg=PA57|title=The Complete Illustrated Map and Guidebook to Central Park|last2=Berenson|first2=R.J.|publisher=Sterling Publishing Company, Incorporated|year=2008|isbn=978-1-4027-5833-1|page=57|access-date=August 16, 2020}}</ref>

Hunt's extroverted personality, a factor in his successful career, is well-documented. After meeting Hunt in 1869 the philosopher [[Ralph Waldo Emerson]] wrote in his journal of "one remarkable person new to me, Richard Hunt the architect. His conversation was spirited beyond any I remember, loaded with matter, and expressed with the vigour and fury of a member of the Harvard boat or ball club relating the adventures of one of their matches; inspired, meantime, throughout, with fine theories of the possibilities of art."<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qa9aAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA280|title=Journals of Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1864–1876|author=Ralph Waldo Emerson|editor=[[Edward Waldo Emerson]] and Waldo Emerson Forbes|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company|location=Boston|year=1914|page=280}}</ref> Hunt was said to be popular with his workmen, and legend has it that during a final walk-through of the [[William Kissam Vanderbilt|William K. Vanderbilt]] house on Fifth Avenue, Hunt discovered a mysterious tent-like object in one of the ballrooms.  Investigating, he found it covering a life-sized statue of himself, dressed in stonecutters' clothes, carved in secret as a tribute by the project's stonecutters. Vanderbilt permitted the statue to be placed on the roof over the entrance to the house. Hunt was said to be pragmatic; his son Richard quoted him as having said, "the first thing you've got to remember is that it's your client's money you're spending. Your goal is to achieve the best results by following their wishes. If they want you to build a house upside down standing on its chimney, it's up to you to do it."<ref>van Pelt, ''A Monograph of the William K. Vanderbilt House'', 10, cited in Vanderbilt, Arthur T. ''Fortune's Children''. William Morrow and Co., 1989, 89.</ref>

Hunt's professional trajectory gained impetus from his extensive social connections at [[Newport, Rhode Island]], the resort where in 1859 Hunt's brother William bought a house. There in 1860 Hunt met the woman he would marry, Catharine Clinton Howland, the daughter of [[Samuel Shaw Howland]], a New York shipping merchant, and his wife, Joanna Hone.<ref>Catharine Howland Hunt, Unpublished Biography of Richard Morris Hunt (1896–1906), page 127.</ref>
On April 2, 1861, they married at the Church of the Ascension, on Fifth Avenue at Tenth street,<ref>Catharine Howland Hunt, Unpublished Biography of Richard Morris Hunt (1896–1906), page 131.</ref> and according to a newspaper reporter, the bride brought a dowry to the marriage of $400,000.<ref>''Hartford Courant'', April 10, 1861, page 2.</ref> Many of Hunt's early wood-frame houses, and many of his later more substantial masonry houses, were built at Newport, some of the latter for the Vanderbilts, the family of railroad tycoons with whom Hunt had a long and rewarding relationship.

===New York later years===

Beginning in the 1870s, Hunt acquired more substantial commissions, including [[New York City|New York]]'s [[New York Tribune#Former Tribune buildings today|Tribune Building]] (built 1873–75, one of the earliest buildings with an elevator), and the pedestal of the [[Statue of Liberty]] (built 1881–86). Hunt devoted much of his practice to institutional work, including the Theological Library and Marquand Chapel at [[Princeton, New Jersey|Princeton]]; the [[Fogg Museum of Art]] at [[Harvard University|Harvard]]; and the [[Scroll and Key]] clubhouse at [[Yale University|Yale]], all of which except the last have been demolished.

Before Hunt's [[Lenox Library (New York City)|Lenox Library]] was completed in 1877 on Fifth Avenue, none of his American works were designed in the Beaux-Arts style with which he is usually associated, of which his entrance façade for the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]]'s [[The Met Fifth Avenue|Fifth Avenue building]] (completed posthumously in 1902) is perhaps the chief example. Late in life he joined the consortium of architects selected to plan [[Chicago]]'s 1893 [[World's Columbian Exposition]], considered to be an exemplar of [[Beaux-Arts architecture|Beaux-Arts]] design.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Moseley |first1=D.S. |title=Picturesque Chicago and Guide to the World's Fair |date=1893 |page=192 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UxwVAAAAYAAJ |access-date=13 November 2020}}</ref> Hunt's design for the fair's Administration Building won a gold medal from the [[Royal Institute of British Architects]].

The last surviving New York City buildings entirely by Hunt are the Jackson Square Library and a charity hospital he designed for the [[Association Residence Nursing Home|Association for the Relief of Respectable Aged Indigent Females]], completed in 1883 at Amsterdam Avenue between 103rd and 104th Streets. The red-brick building was renovated in the late 20th century and is now a [[American Youth Hostels|youth hostel]].

The Jackson Square Library, built in 1887 with funds from George Vanderbilt III (Grandson of Cornelius Vanderbilt) still exists as well. This particular library — one of the first purpose-built free and open public library buildings in New York (only the Ottendorfer Library on Second Avenue in the East Village is extant and older) — was also one of the first libraries to introduce the innovation of open stacks. This allowed the public to actually pick books off the shelves themselves, rather than having to find a card number in a catalog and ask a librarian to retrieve the book for them, which was to this point standard practice, based in part upon fear of theft.  The building continued to operate as a library until it was decommissioned in the early 1960s.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-07-06 |title=Jackson Square Library: An Exquisite Building, and once a church of 'Exquisite Panic' |url=https://www.villagepreservation.org/2020/07/06/jackson-square-library-an-exquisite-building-and-once-a-church-of-exquisite-panic/ |access-date=2022-10-18 |website=Village Preservation |language=en-US}}</ref>

===Professional advocacy===

Referring to Hunt's efforts to elevate his chosen profession, the architecture critic [[Paul Goldberger]] wrote in ''[[The New York Times]]'' that Hunt was "American architecture's first, and in many ways its greatest, statesman."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A0DE1DD1F3FF931A15756C0A960948260|title=ARCHITECTURE: TWO RICHARD MORRIS HUNT SHOWS|first=Paul|last=Goldberger|work=The New York Times |date=May 22, 1986 }}</ref> In 1857, Hunt co-founded the New York Society of Architects, which soon became the [[American Institute of Architects]], and from 1888 to 1891 served as the institute's third president. Hunt advocated tirelessly for the improved status of architects, arguing that they should be treated, and paid, as legitimate and respected professionals equivalent to doctors and lawyers. In 1893, Hunt co-founded New York's [[Municipal Art Society]], an outgrowth of the [[City Beautiful Movement]], and served as the society's first president.<ref>"To Make the City Beautiful," ''The New York Times'', April 20, 1893, page 6.</ref>

Many of Hunt's proteges had successful careers. Among the employees who worked in his firm was the Franco-American architect and {{lang|fr|École des Beaux-Arts|italic=no}} graduate [[Emmanuel Louis Masqueray]] who went on to become Chief of Design at the [[Louisiana Purchase Exposition]] in [[St. Louis]]. Hunt encouraged artists and craftsmen, frequently employing them to embellish his buildings, most notably the sculptor [[Karl Bitter]] who worked on many of Hunt's projects.

==Death and legacy==
[[File:Rmhuntcpjeh.JPG|thumb|[[Richard Morris Hunt Memorial]], Fifth Avenue, New York City]]
Hunt died at [[Newport, Rhode Island]] in 1895, and was buried at Newport's [[Common Burying Ground and Island Cemetery]]. In 1898, the Municipal Art Society commissioned the [[Richard Morris Hunt Memorial]], designed by the architect [[Bruce Price]], with a bust of Hunt and two caryatids (one representing art, the other architecture) sculpted by [[Daniel Chester French]].<ref name="mas">{{cite web |url=http://www.mas.org/viewarticle.php?id=1352&category=29 |title=The Municipal Art Society of New York |access-date=2007-02-11 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927015307/http://www.mas.org/viewarticle.php?id=1352&category=29 |archive-date=2007-09-27 }} History of the Municipal Art Society (official site)</ref> The memorial was installed in the wall of Central Park along [[Fifth Avenue]] near 70th Street, across the avenue from Hunt's Lenox Library, which has since been replaced by the [[Frick Collection]].

Following Hunt's death, his son [[Richard Howland Hunt]] continued the practice his father had established,<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wUDrgpf4hwMC&q=%22richard+morris+hunt%22+leavitt&pg=PA301|title=Prominent Families of New York|last=Anonymous|date=1 October 2009|publisher=BiblioBazaar|via=Google Books|isbn=9781115372305}}</ref> and in 1901 his brother Joseph Howland Hunt joined him to form the successor firm Hunt & Hunt. They completed many of their father's projects, including the 1902 wing of [[The Met Fifth Avenue]]. The new wing (for which the father, a museum trustee, had made the initial sketches in 1894) included the Fifth Avenue entrance facade, the entrance hall and grand staircase.<ref>"New Art Museum Wing," ''The New York Times'', December 22, 1902, page 6.</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jIXc9ES8qcAC&q=%22catharine+howland+hunt%22&pg=PT229|title=Long Island Country Houses and Their Architects, 1860-1940|first1=Robert B.|last1=MacKay|first2=Anthony K.|last2=Baker|first3=Carol A.|last3=Traynor|date=30 March 1997|publisher=Society for the Preservation of Long Island Antiquities in association with, W.W. Norton & Company|via=Google Books|isbn=9780393038569}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://libmma.org/digital_files/archives/Henry_Gurdon_Marquand_Papers_b17500448.pdf|title=Finding aid for the Henry Gurdon Marquand Papers, 1852-1903|website=libmma.org}}</ref>{{clear left}}

==Selected works==

===Houses===
*[[Thomas Pritchard Rossiter|Thomas P. Rossiter]]/[[Eleazer Parmly]] Houses, New York City (1855–1857).
*[[J.N.A. Griswold House]], [[Newport, Rhode Island]] (1863–1864).
*Everett-Dunn House, [[Tenafly, New Jersey]] (1867).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=7484|title=Everett – Dunn House Historical Marker|website=hmdb.org|access-date=October 20, 2010|archive-date=August 28, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160828181442/http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=7484|url-status=dead}}</ref>
*William F. Coles House, ''The Lodge'', [[Newport, Rhode Island]] (1869–1870), demolished.
*Martin Brimmer Houses, [[Boston Massachusetts]] (1870).
*[[Richard Baker (merchant)|Richard Baker Jr.]] House, ''Westcliff'', [[Newport, Rhode Island]] (alterations about 1870)
*Richard Morris Hunt House, ''Hypotenuse'', [[Newport, Rhode Island]] (alterations about 1870).
*Thomas Gold Appleton House, [[Newport, Rhode Island]] (1870–1871), destroyed by fire about 1920.
*Henry Marquand House, ''Linden Gate'', [[Newport, Rhode Island]] (1872–1873), destroyed by fire in 1973.
*[[H.B. Hollins]] Estate, ''Meadow Farm'', [[East Islip, New York]].
*Jacob Haskell House, Orient Street, [[Swampscott, Massachusetts]] (1871–1873).<ref>{{cite book|last=Thompson|first=Waldo|title=Swampscott: Historical Sketches of the Town|url=https://archive.org/details/swampscotthistor00thompson|year=1885|page=[https://archive.org/details/swampscotthistor00thompson/page/205 205]}}</ref>
*[[Howland Cultural Center|Howland Circulating Library]], [[Beacon, New York]] (1871–72). 
*Marshall Field House, Prairie Avenue, [[Chicago, Illinois]] (1873–1876), demolished 1955.
*G.P. Wetmore House, ''[[Chateau-sur-Mer]]'', [[Newport, Rhode Island]] (alterations 1870–1873 and 1876–1880).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newportmansions.org/learn/architecture/aspects-of-architecture-design/chateau-sur-mer|title=Chateau-sur-Mer - Architecture & Design|first=CC inspire|last=llc|website=www.newportmansions.org}}</ref>
*[[William K. Vanderbilt House]], ''Petit Chateau'', Fifth Avenue, New York City (1878–1882), demolished 1926.<ref name="gilded">{{cite book |title=Gilded Mansions: Grand Architecture and High Society |last=Craven |first=Wayne  |year=2009 |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |location=New York |isbn= 978-0-393067-54-5 |pages=111–126 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1BrBHQfpEcAC&q=660+fifth+avenue}}</ref>
*[[William Kissam Vanderbilt|William Kissam]] and [[Alva Belmont|Alva]] Vanderbilt House, ''[[Idle Hour]]'', [[Suffolk County, New York]] (1878–1882), destroyed by fire in 1899.<ref>{{Cite news|date=1899-04-12|title=VANDERBILT VILLA BURNED; Flames Cut Short W.K. Vanderbilt, Jr.'s, Honeymoon at Idle Hour. NARROW ESCAPE WITH BRIDE Flames Started While Household Slept -- Incendiary, Mr. Vanderbilt Says -- Bad Flue, Perhaps.|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1899/04/12/archives/vanderbilt-villa-burned-flames-cut-short-wk-vanderbilt-jrs.html|access-date=2021-09-14|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
*Charles W. Shields House, ''Netherecliffe'', [[Newport, Rhode Island]] (1881–1883).
*Henry Marquand House, Madison Avenue, New York City (1881–1884), demolished.<ref>[[Henry Gurdon Marquand]] joined [[Charles Follen McKim|Charles McKim]] as a pallbearer at Hunt's funeral.</ref>
*Château de Montméry (built for Theodore Haviland), Ambazac, Haute-Vienne, France (1885).
*James Pinchot House, ''[[Grey Towers National Historic Site|Grey Towers]]'', [[Milford, Pennsylvania]] (1884–1886).
*[[Ogden Mills House]], Fifth Avenue, New York City (1885–1887), demolished.
*William Borden House, [[Chicago, Illinois]] (1884–1889), demolished.
*[[Archibald Rogers Estate]], [[Hyde Park, New York]] (1886–1889).
*[[William Kissam Vanderbilt]] House, ''[[Marble House]]'', [[Newport, Rhode Island]] (1888–1892).
*J.R. Busk House, ''Indian Springs'', currently known as ''Wrentham House'', [[Newport, Rhode Island]] (1889–1892).
*Ogden Goelet House, ''[[Ochre Court]]'', [[Newport, Rhode Island]] (1888–1893).
*Dorsheimer-Busk House, [[Newport, Rhode Island]] (1890–1893).
*[[Oliver Belmont]] House, ''[[Belcourt of Newport|Belcourt]]'', [[Newport, Rhode Island]] (1891–1894).
*John Jacob Astor IV House, Fifth Avenue, New York City, (1891–1895), demolished 1926.
*George Washington [[Vanderbilt family|Vanderbilt]] House, ''[[Biltmore Estate]]'', [[Asheville, North Carolina]] (1890–1895), the largest private house in America.
*[[Cornelius Vanderbilt II]] house, ''[[The Breakers]]'', [[Newport, Rhode Island]] (1892–1895).
*[[Elbridge Gerry Mansion|Elbridge Gerry House]], Fifth Avenue, New York City (1895), demolished 1929.

===Public buildings===
*[[Tenth Street Studio Building]], New York City (1857), demolished in 1956.
*[[Stuyvesant Apartments]], 142 East 18th Street, New York City (1869), demolished about 1959.
*[[Scroll and Key]] Secret Society, [[Yale University]], [[New Haven, Connecticut]] (1869). 
*East Divinity Hall (Edwards Hall), [[Yale University]], [[New Haven, Connecticut]] (1869), demolished.
*Marquand Chapel, [[Yale University]], [[New Haven, Connecticut]] (1871), demolished.
*Presbyterian Hospital, New York City (1869–1872), demolished.
*Travers Block, Bellevue Avenue, [[Newport, Rhode Island]] (1870–1872).
*[[Howland Cultural Center]], [[Beacon, New York]] (1872), designed as the Howland Library for Hunt's brother-in-law [[Joseph Howland]].
*First Presbyterian Church, [[Beacon, New York]] (1872), partly burned.
*Virginia Hall (and other buildings), Hampton Institute (now Hampton University), [[Hampton, Virginia]] (1874).
*[[New York Tribune Building]], New York City (1875), demolished in 1966.
*[[Lenox Library (New York City)|Lenox Library]], Fifth Avenue, New York City (1871–1877), demolished in 1912.
*Lenox Theological Library, [[Princeton University]], [[Princeton, New Jersey]] (1879), demolished about 1956.
*St. Mark's Episcopal Church, [[Islip, New York]] (1879–1880).
*Marquand Chapel, [[Princeton University]], [[Princeton, New Jersey]] (1881–1882), destroyed by fire in 1920.
*[[Association Residence Nursing Home]], Amsterdam Avenue, New York City (1881–1883).
*[[Statue of Liberty]] (''Liberty Enlightening the World'') pedestal, [[Liberty Island]] (1881–1886). 
*Aaron Burr Hall, [[Princeton University]], [[Princeton, New Jersey]] (1891).
*Clark Hall, [[Case Western Reserve University]], [[Cleveland, Ohio]] (1891–1892).
*Administration Building, [[World's Columbian Exposition]], [[Chicago, Illinois]] (1892–1893), demolished.<ref>Gold medal from the [[Royal Institute of British Architects]].</ref>
*[[Fogg Art Museum]], [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]] (1892–1895), demolished and replaced in 1925.
*[[Southern Railway (U.S.)|Southern Railway]], Biltmore Station, One Biltmore Plaza, [[Asheville, North Carolina]] (1896).<ref>{{Cite book|title=Great American Railroad Stations|last=Potter|first=Janet Greenstein|publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Inc.|year=1996|isbn=978-0471143895|location=New York|pages=266}}</ref>
*[[Cathedral of All Souls]], [[Biltmore Village]], [[Asheville, North Carolina]] (1896).
*[[The Met Fifth Avenue]] Main Wing (entrance façade, entrance hall and grand stairway), Fifth Avenue, New York City (completed posthumously in 1902).

===Urban design===
*Master plan for [[Columbia University]]'s Morningside Heights campus, New York City (1892), a losing entry in a three-way competition won by [[McKim, Mead & White]].

===Statue pedestal===
* Pedestal to ''The Pilgrim'' (statue), [[Conservatory Water#Pilgrim Hill|Pilgrim Hill]], [[Central Park]], New York City (1884)

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:2021 Newport Art Museum, John N. A. Griswold House, Newport.jpg|[[John N. A. Griswold House]], [[Newport, Rhode Island]] (1861–1863)
File:East Divinity Hall Yale University Richard Morris Hunt.jpg|East Divinity Hall, [[Yale College]] (built 1869; demolished)
File:Yale-scroll-and-key.jpg|[[Scroll and Key|Scroll and Key Tomb]], [[Yale University]] (1869)
File:Hypotenuse.jpg|Hunt's own house, "Hypotenuse", [[Newport, Rhode Island]] (alteration {{Circa|1870}})
File:Travers Block, 162-174 Bellevue Avenue, Newport.jpg|Travers Block, [[Newport, Rhode Island]] (1870–71)
File:Marquand Chapel Yale College Richard Morris Hunt.jpg|Marquand Chapel, [[Yale College]] (built 1871; demolished)
File:WEST FRONT FROM THE SOUTHWEST - Linden Gate, Old Beach Road, Newport, Newport County, RI HABS RI,3-NEWP,64-2.tif|Henry G. Marquand House, [[Newport, Rhode Island]] (1872–73)
File:NewYorkTribuneBuilding.jpg|[[New York Tribune Building]], New York City (built 1875; doubled in size in 1905; demolished 1966)
File:Chateau-sur-Mer, Newport, Rhode Island.jpg|[[Chateau-sur-Mer]], [[Newport, Rhode Island]] (enlarged and altered in 1870–1873 and 1876–1880)
File:660 5th Avenue New York City.jpg|[[William K. Vanderbilt House]], Fifth Avenue, New York City (built 1878–1882; demolished in 1926)
File:NYC Hostel 104th.jpg|[[Association Residence Nursing Home]], Amsterdam Avenue, New York City (built 1883)
File:HenryGMarquandHome crop.jpeg|[[Henry Gurdon Marquand|Henry G. Marquand]] House, Madison Avenue, New York City (built 1884; demolished)
File:Telephoto view of south elevation of pedestal. February 1984. - Statue of Liberty, Liberty Island, Manhattan, New York, New York County, NY HAER NY,31-NEYO,89-18 (cropped).tif|[[Statue of Liberty]] (''Liberty Enlightening the World'') pedestal (built 1881–1886)
File:NYFCL Jackson Square Branch.jpg|Jackson Square Library, New York City (1887)
File:Marble House, Newport RI.jpg|[[Marble House]], [[Newport, Rhode Island]] (built 1888–1892)
File:Ochre Court, Newport.jpg|[[Ochre Court]], [[Newport, Rhode Island]] (built 1888–1893)
File:Biltmore Estate 2016.jpg|[[Biltmore Estate]], America's largest private house, designed for [[George Washington Vanderbilt II]] (built 1890–1895)
File:The Breakers, exterior.jpg|[[The Breakers]], [[Newport, Rhode Island]], designed for [[Cornelius Vanderbilt II]] (built 1892–1895)
File:Vanderbilt Mausoleum (edit).jpg|[[Vanderbilt Mausoleum]], Staten Island, New York (built 1885–1886)
File:Administration Building, from the South East, William Henry Jackson, 1893 (cropped).jpg|Administration Building, [[World's Columbian Exposition]], Chicago (completed 1893, demolished)
File:Elbridge Gerry House Fifth Ave NYC.jpg|The [[Elbridge Gerry Mansion|Elbridge Gerry House]], Fifth Avenue, New York City (completed in 1895; demolished)
File:Fogg Museum of Art, Harvard University.jpg|The Fogg Museum of Art, Harvard University (completed in 1895; demolished in 1925)
File:Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met) - Central Park, NYC.jpg|Entrance wing of the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]], New York City (completed posthumously in 1902)
</gallery>

==Awards and honors==
* [[Honorary Doctorate]], [[Harvard University]], [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]] (first architect to receive the honor)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BIEfAAAAYAAJ&q=%22jonathan+hunt%22+paris&pg=PA93|title=The Harvard Graduates' Magazine|date=30 March 1893|publisher=Harvard Graduates' Magazine Association|via=Google Books}}</ref>
* [[Royal Gold Medal]], [[Royal Institute of British Architects]], 1893 (first American architect to be so honored)
* Honorary member, [[Académie française]]
* [[Chevalier of the Legion of Honor]], France<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l71xDwYtEJIC&q=%22richard+morris+hunt%22+%22honorary+doctorate%22&pg=PA110|title=The Look of Architecture|first=Witold|last=Rybczynski|date=30 March 2018|publisher=Oxford University Press|via=Google Books|isbn=9780195156331}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Thaddeus Leavitt]]
*[[Jarvis Hunt]]
*[[Jonathan Hunt (Vermont Representative)]]
*[[Jonathan Hunt (Vermont Lieutenant Governor)]]
*[[Leavitt Hunt]]
*[[William Morris Hunt]]
*[[Richard Sharp Smith]]

== References ==
'''Notes'''
{{reflist}}
'''Bibliography'''
*Baker, Paul, ''Richard Morris Hunt'', MIT Press, 1980
*Durante, Dianne, ''Outdoor Monuments of Manhattan: A Historical Guide'' (New York University Press, 2007): brief summary of Hunt's career and description of Daniel Chester French's Hunt memorial in Central Park, New York.
* [http://www.greatbuildings.com/architects/Richard_Morris_Hunt.html Great Buildings Online]
*Kvaran. Einar Einarsson, ''Architectural Sculpture of America''
*Stein, Susan Editor, ''The Architecture of Richard Morris Hunt'', University of Chicago Press, 1986

'''Further reading'''
* ''Exploration, Vision & Influence: The Art World of Brattleboro's Hunt Family'', Catalogue, Museum Exhibition, The Bennington Museum, Bennington, Vermont, June 23 – December 31, 2005, Paul R. Baker, Sally Webster, David Hanlon, and Stephen Perkins

==External links==
{{Commons category-inline}}
* {{find a Grave|6608217}}
*[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1895/08/01/106066243.pdf Death of Richard Morris Hunt, One of the Foremost Architects of the United States, ''The New York Times'', August 1, 1895]
*[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1895/08/01/106066219.pdf Additional obituary, Richard Morris Hunt, ''The New York Times'', August 1, 1895]
*[http://www.nyc-architecture.com/UWS/UWS042.htm nyc-architecture.com]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20090604220027/http://www.archfoundation.org/octagon/collections/index.htm Richard Morris Hunt collection, The Octagon Museum, The Museum of The American Architectural Foundation, Washington, D.C.]

{{Statue of Liberty|state=collapsed}}
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[[Category:Richard Morris Hunt buildings| ]]
[[Category:Beaux Arts architects]]
[[Category:1827 births]]
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[[Category:Knights of the Legion of Honour]]
[[Category:Prix de Rome for architecture]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Royal Gold Medal]]
[[Category:Hunt family (Vermont)|Richard Morris]]
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