Philadelphia Architects Honor Thomas Ustick Walter

Fellow architects: 

Join us in honoring Philadelphia architect Thomas Ustick Walter by helping us fund the restoration of one of the beautiful leaded-glass bookcase alcoves in The Athenaeum’s historic Reading Room.    

Why The Athenaeum? 

This gift is our thank you to The Athenaeum for their recognition of Philadelphia architects’ leadership in the profession and our influence on the course of American architecture.  The Athenaeum’s archives celebrate the rich and diverse history of our region’s architecture, planning, and historic preservation.  Starting with an 1829 gift of a treatise on bridge architecture, the collection now has more than 360,000 drawings representing the work of about 1,200 architects, along with an extensive collection of writings, trade catalogues, and other artifacts available for research, publication, and exhibition.   Additionally, in 1869, on the third floor of The Athenaeum’s 1847 National Historic Landmark building, the Philadelphia Chapter of the AIA was founded.  This historic connection is acknowledged each January when the new board and officers are inducted in The Athenaeum’s elegant Reading Room.  

Why Thomas Ustick Walter? 

Born in Philadelphia in 1804, Walter worked as a bricklayer before receiving his architectural training with William Strickland.  Beginning practice in 1830, he was a founding member of the AIA in 1857, serving as first vice-president and second president.  Walter worked on over 400 projects in his career, nationally and internationally, but first gained national recognition for his Greek revival design of Girard College (“the last word in American Greek Revivalism and unquestionably its grandest monument”).   

His most note-worthy project is the 1850 design of the central cast iron dome of the US Capitol (“perhaps the most famous man-made landmark in America”) and its flanking chambers for the Senate and House of Representatives.  He was considered to have been the dean of American architecture in the years after Benjamin Latrobe’s death.  His drawings and papers are preserved in The Athenaeum’s collection, including his “Lectures on Architecture,” which for many years he delivered at the Franklin Institute and in Washington, D.C.  The lectures were believed lost until tracked down by the late Robert Ennis, professor of architectural history at Drexel University, for his graduate thesis at the University of Pennsylvania.  The lectures became known to the profession when published by The Athenaeum in 2006. 

We Philadelphia architects have much to be proud of.   

Let’s honor one of Philadelphia’s earliest architectural masters and support The Athenaeum’s restoration of its Reading Room bookcases in gratitude for their careful preservation of our professional heritage. To reach the $11,000 restoration cost of an alcove, we welcome contributions of any size. You can contribute online. Click here, https://philaathenaeum.org/donate/?type=Spring%20Appeal, and be sure to write “TU Walter” in the Note field. You may also send a check to Spring Appeal c/o The Athenaeum of Philadelphia, 219 S. 6th St., Philadelphia, PA 19106. Please put “TU Walter” on the check’s memo line. 

Thank you. 

Joanne Aitken, FAIA , Richard Bartholomew, FAIA, and David Hollenberg, FAIA