Background
John McArthur, Jr. was born on May 13, 1823 in Bladenock, Wigtownshire, Scotland. He is said to have come to America in his childhood, perhaps in the care of his uncle, John McArthur.
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John McArthur, Jr. was born on May 13, 1823 in Bladenock, Wigtownshire, Scotland. He is said to have come to America in his childhood, perhaps in the care of his uncle, John McArthur.
McArthur was apprenticed to this uncle John McArthur, who was a carpenter in Philadelphia. Being of a studious habit and earnestly desiring a knowledge of architecture, he devoted his evenings to acquiring instruction in drawing and design at the period when the Franklin Institute afforded opportunity through a course of lectures by Thomas U. Walter. It is said that McArthur declined his uncle's offer of means to obtain a liberal school education because he preferred to pursue his technical studies in the special field to which he aspired. As apprentice and later as foreman and superintendent of works he gained practical experience and promotion when such progressive advancement was highly regarded as the path to master craftsmanship. The influences under which he acquired the principles of design developed a classical taste which, joined with strict regard for utility and fitness, thereafter marked his architectural accomplishments.
McArthur served as architect for the successive enlargement of the institution during his lifetime. Thus established in his profession, he planned numerous important public and private buildings, including the once famous Continental, Girard, and LaPierre hotels, Dr. David Jayne's granite business block and his marble residence, the Public Ledger Building, and George W. Childs's mansion, besides buildings for Lafayette College at Easton, the State Asylum for Insane at Danville, Pa. , and others. During the Civil War he was employed by the United States government in the erection of hospitals and was architect of the naval hospitals at Philadelphia, Annapolis, and Mare Island. He twice declined the office of supervising architect of the United States Treasury Department, but superintended the erection of the post office at Philadelphia.
Judged by the standard of popular taste and architectural practice during the period of his career, his work exhibited sound construction and in design compared favorably with that of his contemporaries. It is claimed that his crowning achievement was the Philadelphia City Hall or Public Buildings, for which competitive designs were submitted in 1869. Although the structure has not escaped criticism, this criticism has been due primarily to the controversy its location involved and to the prolonged period of construction which brought it into conflict with changing fashions in design, and with the higher buildings which now surround it. It was at the time one of the two largest public buildings in the United States and was considered unique for its originality and the merit of its sculptural work and adornment. He died on January
8, 1890 at Philadelphia.
McArthur is best remembered as the architect of the landmark Philadelphia City Hall, McArthur also designed some of the city's most ambitious buildings of the Civil War era. Few of his buildings survive. In his twenty-sixth year (1848) while serving as superintendent of works with his uncle, he won, in competition with established architects, the first premium for a design of a new building for the House of Refuge at Philadelphia.
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In his personal and professional career McArthur has been described as a worthy successor of Latrobe, Mills, Strickland, Haviland, and Walter, self-trained architects who were famed in their day.
McArthur was married to Matilda (Prevost) McArthur. They had four children.
15 December 1792 - 25 November 1873
28 August 1799 - 28 August 1874
5 February 1825 - 7 October 1877
1 January 1833 - 4 February 1911
7 June 1829 - 2 December 1919
18 September 1831 - 29 October 1922
14 July 1837 - 2 September 1912
30 June 1827 - 8 July 1868
30 June 1828 - 20 July 1901
9 July 1852 - 1 January 1854
23 August 1860 - 26 December 1937
22 August 1868 - 17 July 1869
4 August 1856 - 29 January 1894
