Background
Smith was born in Dalkeith Parish, Midlothian, Scotland, into a family that included many masons.
Smith was born in Dalkeith Parish, Midlothian, Scotland, into a family that included many masons.
As a young man he apprenticed in the building trades, and emigrated to America, either directly from Scotland or via London it is unknown, in late 1748.
Smith"s work includes buildings such as Carpenters" Hall, Saint Peter"s Church, and the steeple on Christ Church. These structures constituted the greater part of the city"s early skyline. Other works include Nassau Hall at Princeton University and the Public Hospital in Williamsburg, Virginia.
He worked exclusively in the Georgian style.
In fact, Robert Smith, has been called "America"s most important 18th Century architect." He also served as the Master Carpenter on Carpenters" Hall, overseeing its design and construction from 1770-1774. Working from published architectural sketchbooks or models of the past, a master-builder would adapt his designs to the building needs and materials of the colonial city.
A famous client of Smith"s was Benjamin Franklin. Other notable projects on which Smith worked in and around include the steeple of Christ Church, Nassau Hall at Princeton University and Saint Peter"s Church.
lieutenant is likely that Smith had a hand in shaping the Carpenter"s Company"s 1783 handbook for standards of workmanship and pricing.
Entitled The Rules of Work of the Carpenter"s Company of the City and County of, this pattern and specifications booklet was one of the first trade manuals printed in America. In addition to membership in the Carpenters" Company, Smith was also in the American Philosophical Society and the First Continental Congress. During the American Revolutionary War, Smith constructed cheveux-de-frise.
These were boxes containing sharp metal-tipped wooden spikes which were weighted down with stones and sunk in the Delaware River to rip holes in the hulls of British warships.
Smith died during the War while working on the American Army barracks at Billingsport, New Jersey, part of the defenses on the Delaware River.
Smith was active in cultural and political affairs He was appointed by the city of as a Regulator of Party Walls and Partition Fences, a plum political position roughly akin to Building Inspector.
Smith quickly became a member of the Carpenters" Company of, and is considered by many to be the foremost master-builder, or carpenter-architect, of the Colonial Period. lieutenant was "loaned" to every member of the Company and kept a closely guarded trade secret.