Background
Joseph-François Mangin was of French origin. His letters indicate that he was a cultivated aristocrat, and he may have come to New York as a refugee from the Revolution.
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Joseph François Mangin
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Mangin first appears as an assistant to Vincent, another Frenchman, who was engineer-in-chief of the New York fortifications. In 1795 he succeeded Vincent as chief engineer, with another Mangin as his assistant. He was admitted and sworn as a freeman of the city on May 9, 1795, and a week later was appointed one of the city surveyors.
As such, in partnership with Casimir T. Goerck, he began in 1797 the preparation of an official city map which was published in 1803. This well-known map, which was a magnificent piece of draftsmanship determined the present shore line and street layout of the entire Corlear's Hook section, of which one street perpetuates his name. Meanwhile, in 1797 he had designed the monumental prison for the state of New York, on the block now bounded by Washington Street, Christopher Street, and the North River.
According to contemporary newspapers, Mangin Brothers were the architects of the Park Theater, built between 1795 and 1798, the design of which is often credited to Marc Isambard Brunel, who was at this time perhaps a draftsman in their office.
During the French war scare of 1798, while Mangin was a technical adviser to Ebenezer Stevens, agent of the War Department in connection with the fortifications of the city, Aaron Burr wrote from Albany to Stevens asking that Mangin prepare plans and estimates for an "impregnable castle" two or three stories high, to be erected in about six feet of water and connected with the land by a drawbridge.
This is possibly the first appearance of the idea of the fort built later and eventually known as Castle Garden, of which John McComb was the architect. Mangin's reports to Colonel Stevens are precise, scholarly, and imaginative. Mangin is best known for his connection with the New York City Hall. A competition for designs was advertised February 20, 1802, and on October 4, the plan of "Mr. Joseph F. Mangin and John McComb, Jr. " was adopted and the premium of $350 awarded to them.
The plan was curtailed somewhat by request of the committee, and in March 1803 the curtailed plan was approved and McComb appointed an architect. When the cornerstone was laid May 26, 1803, McComb, as an architect, assisted the mayor, and no mention of Mangin in connection with the building was made in the ceremonies or on the inscribed foundation stone.
On June 2, the New York Evening Post published a letter signed "Justice, " deploring the absence of Mangin from the ceremonies and the denial of credit to him, together with an assertion that a brass plate giving the true state of affairs and naming Mangin as chief designer had been built secretly into the walls. This question of the design of the City Hall is still a matter of controversy.
It is significant that certain of the competition drawings now signed "John McComb, Jr. , Architect" show unmistakable signs of the erasure of some other name and that, while McComb's work is in every other case distinctly English in feeling, the spirit of the City Hall design is entirely Louis XVI.
Mangin appears last in the New York Directory for 1818, at Bowery Hill, as a city surveyor.
Achievements
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Mangin is noted for designing New York City Hall and St. Patrick's Old Cathedral in New York City. Mangin's only other known important work was the design for the first St. Patrick's Cathedral, on Mott Street, 1809-15. This building was famous for its Gothic style and is, without doubt, one of the first signs of the beginning of the Gothic revival in America. It was dedicated on Ascension Day 1815, and contemporary views show that the twin towers once intended for the façade were never completed and only carried slightly above the main roof ridge. The original walls and the lower part of the front are still standing (1933). Mangin Street, named in his honor, as laid out in the Commissioner's Plans, ran from Grand Street north to Houston Street to the East River at Rivington Street, which was extended as landfill areas were incorporated into Manhattan, and now extends just west of the FDR Drive. Mangin Avenue in St. Albans, Queens may also have been named after Mangin.
Personality
Mangin became a naturalized American citizen in 1796. There is no information regarding his date or place of death. For many years, incorrect information circulated about Mangin's life. He was mistaken for another Joseph-François Mangin born in France around the same period, or was a slave, followed by becoming a student of one of the most prominent French architects, Ange-Jacques Gabriel.
Connections
There is no exact information about Mangin's private life, but he was probably married.
