Martin Euclid Thompson (1786–1877) was an American architect and artist prolific in nineteenth-century

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, and a co-founder of the

National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Frederick Styles Agate, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, an ...

. Landmarks Preservation Commission (New York City)br>LP-0312
October 12, 1967 Originally trained as a carpenter, he had been a partner of

Ithiel Town Ithiel Town (October 3, 1784 – June 13, 1844) was an American architect and civil engineer. One of the first generation of professional architects in the United States, Town made significant contributions to American architecture in the f ...

and went on to become one of the founders of the

. He designed the New York State Militia's

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

, which in the 1850s became part of

Central Park Central Park is an urban park between the Upper West Side and Upper East Side neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City, and the first landscaped park in the United States. It is the List of parks in New York City, sixth-largest park in the ...

. Thompson's symmetrical structure of brick in

English bond Brickwork is masonry produced by a bricklayer, using bricks and mortar. Typically, rows of bricks called '' courses'' are laid on top of one another to build up a structure such as a brick wall. Bricks may be differentiated from blocks by s ...

, with headers every fifth course, presents a central block in the manner of a fortified gatehouse flanked by half-octagonal towers. The carpentry doorframe speaks of its purpose with an American eagle displayed between stacks of cannonballs over the door, and crossed sabers and stacked pikes represented in flanking panels.

Works

*Second Branch Bank of the United States (1824), now preserved as a facade in the American Wing of the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

* Merchants Exchange Building (New York City), destroyed in the

Great Fire of New York The 1835 Great Fire of New York was one of three fires that rendered extensive damage to New York City in the 18th and 19th centuries. The fire occurred in the middle of an economic boom, covering 17 city blocks, killing two people, and destroyi ...

, December 1835. *Naval Hospital, Brooklyn Navy Yard, Brooklyn (1830–38) *His

Greek Revival Greek Revival architecture is a architectural style, style that began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe, the United States, and Canada, ...

Colles Mansion (1838),

Morristown, New Jersey Morristown () is a Town (New Jersey), town in and the county seat of Morris County, New Jersey, Morris County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.

, is no
The Kellogg Club
ref name=LPC/> *The Admiral's House (Governor's Island) (1843), Governors Island, New York City, landmarked July 24, 1972.3. The Admiral's House
* The Arsenal (1847–1851), 830 Fifth Avenue, New York City *

Sailors Snug Harbor Sailors' Snug Harbor, also known as Sailors Snug Harbor and informally as Snug Harbor, is a collection of architecturally significant 19th-century buildings on Staten Island, New York City. The buildings are set in an park along the Kill Van ...

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is the southernmost of the boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County and situated at the southernmost point of New York (state), New York. The borough is separated from the ad ...

, is now attributed to

Minard Lafever Minard Lafever (1798–1854) was an American architect of churches and houses in the United States in the early nineteenth century. Life and career Lafever began life as a carpenter around 1820. At this period in the United States there were no ...

(Not Correct - Builder was Samuel Thomson of Inwood, NY)

Notes

References

External links

Art and the empire city: New York, 1825-1861
an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Thompson (see index)
Martin E. Thompson architectural drawings and papers, 1822-1861. Held by the Department of Drawings & Archives, Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University
1786 births 1877 deaths 19th-century American architects American civil engineers Greek Revival architects Federalist architects Architects from New York City Defunct architecture firms based in New York City Engineers from New York City {{US-architect-18C-stub