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John Notman (July 22, 1803 March 3, 1865) was a Scottish-born American architect and landscape architect based in Philadelphia. He designed buildings, cemeteries, churches and country estates in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States and helped popularize Italianate architecture in the United States.
He was selected to design and build the Roman Doric gatehouse, landscaping, cottage and chapel at Laurel Hill Cemetery. Notman's design for Laurel Hill was selected over more experienced architects including William Strickland and Thomas Ustick Walter.
In the late 1830s, he was hired for landscape design at several country estates. His work at Nathan Dunn's estate, known as "The Cottage", in Mount Holly, New Jersey, drew acclaim from Andrew Jackson Downing. Other notable landscape design projects were completed for the estates of Richard Stockton Field, Joshua Francis Fisher, George Washington Doane and Jay Cooke.
He opened and operated a successful firm and was a founding member of the American Institute of Architects.
Notman is credited with introducing the Italianate style to America. His design for "Riverside," the house built in Burlington, New Jersey in 1839, for Bishop Doane, was the first Italianate villa built in the United States overlooking the Delaware River. The 1845 Athenaeum of Philadelphia was the first Italianate building in the city.Francis Morrone, An Architectural Guidebook to Philadelphia (Layton, UT: Gibbs Smith, 1999), p. 153.
Many of his designs for churches were dictated by the ideas of the Cambridge Camden Society who suggested that Anglican churches of the Low church variety should be built in the Romanesque style, while those of the High church variety be built in the Gothic style. He was also briefly employed by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Philadelphia during construction of the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul until an argument over the terms of his contract resulted in his dismissal.
In 1845, Notman designed a three-stepped office wing addition to the north side of the New Jersey State House. Notman was also the architect of the highly influential New Jersey State Lunatic Asylum in Trenton, New Jersey of 1847. This building was the first example of the Kirkbride Plan in asylum design.
In 1848, Notman was selected to design the Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia. The success of this project led to additional projects in Virginia including improvements to Richmond's Capitol Square.
In 1851, Notman designed the Prospect House and the Walter Lowrie House on the campus of Princeton University. and He also designed and built Ivy Hall for Princeton University in 1847. In 1857, one of his last projects was the Italianate gatehouse at Mount Vernon Cemetery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Notman died on October 3, 1865 and was interred at Laurel Hill Cemetery. His early death was reportedly accelerated by alcoholism. After his death, his architectural firm continued for several years under his protege George Hewitt. A plaque was added near his gravestone in 1998 when Laurel Hill was designated a National Historic Landmark. It reads:
Cemeteries
Churches
Houses
==Gallery==
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Personal life
He became a member of Saint Andrew's Society of Philadelphia in 1837. He was married to Martha (Pullen) Anners in 1841.
Notable works
Buildings
(1835)]], Philadelphia (1849)]]
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Categories: 1810 Births, 1865 Deaths, 19th-century American Architects, 19th-century American Businesspeople, 19th-century Scottish People, Alumni Of Heriot-watt University, American Ecclesiastical Architects, American Carpenters, American Company Founders, American Landscape Architects, American Residential Architects, Architects From Edinburgh, Architects From Philadelphia, Architects Of Anglican Churches, Architects Of Cathedrals, Architects Of Presbyterian Churches, Architects Of Roman Catholic Churches, Burials At Laurel Hill Cemetery, Founder Of American Institute Of Architects, Scottish Carpenters, 19th-century Woodworkers, 19th-century American Artisans, 19th-century British Artisans, Scottish Emigrants To The United States
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