Background
Solomon Willard, born on June 26, 1783 in Petersham, Massachussets, was the tenth child of Deacon William and Katherine (Wilder) Willard, a brother of Samuel, 1775-1859, and a nephew of Joseph, 1738-1804.
(Excerpt from Plans and Sections, of the Obelisk on Bunker...)
Excerpt from Plans and Sections, of the Obelisk on Bunker's Hill: With the Details of Experiments Made in Quarrying the Granite IT is a fact well known to architects of Boston, who were in the profession twenty years ago, that there was much difficulty at that time in obtaining a suitable material for the decorative parts of buildings. Boston was surrounded by a primitive formation, and consequently wanting in all the softer kinds of stone commonly used for such purposes. Quincy granite was not then in use, except for rough work; and no successful attempt had then been made in executing moulded and ornamental work in any other kind of granite. The walls of buildings were carried up of granite, in ashlar courses, and generally crowned with a cornice of wood. Sandstones of different kinds were also used for such purposes, which were brought from distant parts of the country. These sandstones, however, were not only expensive, but defective in structure. They also varied in color from the granite, and, when combined with it, gave to the whole a parti-colored and unharmonious effect. These difficulties, however, have been removed, in a great measure, by experience gained since that time. The erection of the Obelisk on Bunker's Hill has led to various experiments in the quarrying and working of granite, which have shown that the common kind, which is obtained with great facility in our own neighborhood, is susceptible of being wrought into any of the moulded or ornamental forms required for the exterior of the best structures, and at a reasonable rate; and consequently has obviated all difficulties growing out of the want of a proper material, or want of skill in working it. This must be sufficiently obvious, in viewing the beautiful execution in the front of the new Exchange, in State street, and the work now going on at the Custom House. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
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Solomon Willard, born on June 26, 1783 in Petersham, Massachussets, was the tenth child of Deacon William and Katherine (Wilder) Willard, a brother of Samuel, 1775-1859, and a nephew of Joseph, 1738-1804.
He had studied architectural drawing, possibly at Asher Benjamin's school.
He was brought up at Petersham and helped his father, a carpenter and cabinet-maker, until October 1804, when he went to Boston to obtain work as a carpenter. In 1808 he built the famous spiral stair in the Exchange Coffee House of Boston. In 1809 he began woodcarving, doing all the capitals for the Park Street Church and the Federal Street Church; the same year saw his first sculpture - the colossal eagle on the old Boston Customs House. In 1810 he made the first of several trips south, visiting Virginia, Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York. He took up the carving of figureheads for ships about 1813, the most famous being that of the Washington, launched in 1816. He also began carving in stone, completing panels for the Sears house and other work for St. Paul's Church, both for his intimate friend Alexander Parris. In 1817-18 he made another long trip south to study the Houdon "Washington" in Richmond, as he wished to be the sculptor of the "Washington" lately authorized by the city of Boston. Unfortunately, his elaborate clay models were destroyed during their sea trip back to Boston. During the trip, however, he made the models for the interior plaster work for the Unitarian Church, Baltimore, designed by Maximilian Godefroy, and later a wooden model of the completed United States Capitol for Charles Bulfinch, to whom he was recommended by Ithiel Town. He refused Bulfinch's request that he take charge of the decorative modeling for the Capitol and, after three months in New York, returned to Boston. Meanwhile he had been studying architecture, physics, and chemistry. He now began practising as an architect, besides giving lessons in drawing, sculpture, and the sciences. He made scale models of the Pantheon and the Parthenon for the Boston Athen'um. He invented, though he did not patent, a hot-air heating device used in many churches, and in 1825 was consulted by Bulfinch as to the best way of heating the White House. He was the architect for the Doric United States Branch Bank in Boston (1824) and, with Peter Banner, for the new building of the Salem First Church (1826). Among his later architectural works were the Suffolk County Court House, Boston (1825), the Boston Court House (1832), the Norfolk County Court House at Dedham (1826), the Quincy School (1842), and the Quincy Town Hall (1844).
In 1843 he published Plans and Section of the Obelisk on Bunker's Hill, with the Details of Experiments Made in Quarrying the Granite. In connection with his work on the monument Willard had discovered the Quincy granite quarries, and with his customary energy he began their exploitation, developing many machines for handling the stone and cutting in the quarries columns and other work for many important buildings, especially the New York Merchants' Exchange. In the forties he retired from the quarry business and became a gentleman farmer in Quincy, characteristically attempting farming in a scientific way. He died in Quincy of apoplexy.
(Excerpt from Plans and Sections, of the Obelisk on Bunker...)
Despite his eager restlessness and the insatiable curiosity that made him a student all his life, he was slow of speech, meditative, and basically solitary. He never married, and in his later years became something of an eccentric.