[Rarebooks] FS: 1865 Memoir of Bunker Hill Monument Builder

[Joslin Hall Rare Books, ABAA]

Wheildon, William W.  "MEMOIR OF SOLOMON WILLARD, Architect and
Superintendent of the Bunker Hill Monument"

Prepared and Published by the direction of the Monument Association: 1865.

Solomon Willard [1783-1861] was a wood and stone carver, architect and
engineer, and a dynamic figure in the creation of Boston architecture.
Trained in carpentry and wood carving, early in his career he carved the
columns for the Park Street Church and the great eagle atop the Custom
House. He carved ship's figureheads, including that of the naval frigate
'Washington', and made models of the capitol in Washington for Charles
Bulfinch, and the Parthenon for Edward Everett. He also carved in stone,
creating the pillars for St Paul's Church, the first Greek Revival
building in Boston.

In 1825 he was engaged to design and build the Bunker Hill Monument, the
first monumental obelisk erected in the United States. He at first refused
pay, and even donated a thousand dollars to the building fund; later he
agreed to be reimbursed for his expenses, which included walking to Maine
to examine granite quarries there. He finally found satisfactory granite
in nearby Quincy, and invented the machinery to cut and handle the slabs
of stone. He then built the first railway in the United States to get the
stones to the nearby river.

Obviously blessed with a fertile imagination, Willard went on to design
some of the first hot-air central heating in an American building; his
pupils included the famous sculptor Horatio Greenough, and architect
Isaiah Rogers, who designed the Tremont Hotel in Boston, the first
American hotel to have indoor plumbing. This remains a standard biography
of Willard's life and work.

Hardcover. 6"x9", 272 pages, 7 b/w plates; ex-institutional, with a
perforation on the title page and several other marks; new cloth spine &
label; covers with some light chipping; endpaper creased.  [8139]  $175.00

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