Peter Bonnett Wight

Background

Peter Bonnett Wight was born on August 1, 1838 in New York City, the son of Amherst and Joanna G. (Sanderson) Wight, and a descendant of Thomas Wight who came to Dedham, Massachussets, in 1635.

Education

Peter was educated in the New York public schools and at the Free Academy, now the College of the City of New York, where he was graduated in 1855 with the degree of B. A. He studied in the Astor Library, built a bank in Middletown, and a hospital for the insane in Binghamton. At the outbreak of the Civil War he devoted himself for six months to the study of military engineering and drill.

Career

During his college course he read works on architecture and the writings of John Ruskin; he also specialized in drawing, in which he was always unusually proficient even for an architect. A postgraduate year spent in drawing and a year as a student draftsman in an architect's office completed his architectural training. In 1858, persuaded by a family friend, Josiah L. James, he went to Chicago and occupied space as an independent architect in the office of Carter & Bauer. He remodeled the Commercial College building, but work became scarce and in 1859 he returned to New York. In 1862 he was architect for the United States Sanitary Commission and he built the first field hospital for the government, in Washington; but his application for a commission in the army, indorsed by General Burnside, was denied. In 1862 he won his first and most important competition, and as a result, though an unknown youth, had the satisfaction of planning and constructing a building for the National Academy of Design. Its facades, beautifully proportioned and detailed, were in the Italian phase of the Gothic style, so passionately praised by Ruskin. The building stood at Fourth Avenue and Twenty-third Street, New York City. Subsequently, his plans were chosen for the Brooklyn Mercantile Library building and he was commissioned to design the Yale School of Fine Arts. From 1863 to 1868 he was associated in architectural practice with Russell Sturgis. The news of the great fire and an invitation from Asher Carter, his old office companion, led Wight to go to Chicago in December 1871. The firm of Carter, Drake & Wight was formed, which became Drake & Wight on the death, two years later, of Carter. A great deal of work was done in this office, commercial and domestic rather than monumental, and it became a training ground for many young architects, among them Daniel H. Burnham and John W. Root. Wight centered his activities on fire-proof construction, and from 1881 to 1891 gave up the practice of architecture to devote himself to the development of terra-cotta structural tile. He resumed practice and did some not very important work in connection with the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893, but after 1895 devoted himself to the passage of a law in the state of Illinois requiring the examination, licensing, and registration of architects. This law, enacted in 1897, was the first of its kind in America. Wight was elected secretary and treasurer of the board of examiners created by this act, and held this position until he retired from professional activity in 1914. On his eightieth birthday he moved to Pasadena, Cal. , where he died.

Achievements

• He claimed to have been the inventor and first user of the "grill foundation, " i. e. , slabs composed of crossed iron rails imbedded in concrete, although John W. Root is generally regarded as the inventor. He contributed numerous articles to the Architectural Record and the Inland Architect, and was active in the work of the American Institute of Architects, serving as secretary in 1869-71, and as president and secretary on several occasions of the Chicago chapter of the Institute.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Development of New Phases of the Fine Arts in America

    (This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curat...)

Connections

He was married twice: first, October 13, 1864, in New York, to Mary Frances Hoagland; second, November 23, 1882, at Norwich, England, to Marion, daughter of William Olney. By his first wife he had two daughters.

Father:

Amherst Wight

Mother:

Joanna G. (Sanderson) Wight

Spouse:

William Olney

Spouse:

Mary Frances Hoagland