Robert Smith: Architect, Builder, Patriot, 1722-1777

By Charles E. Peterson FAIA with Constance M. Grieff & Maria M. Thompson. (Athenæum, 2000). 164 pages, Illustrated hardcover, with a forward by Robert Venturi. Robert Smith was the most important and influential architect-builder in the American colonies. His major buildings were ornaments of Philadelphia, where he lived. But his reputation also brought him commissions from as far away as Carlisle, Pennsylvania, Shrewsbury, New Jersey, and Williamsburg, Virginia. Among his accomplishments were the steeple of Christ Church (1753-54), St. Peter's Church (1758-61), The Walnut Street Jail (1773-74), and Benjamin Franklin's House (1763-65).