(This large-size volume documents 20 of William Turnbull's...)
This large-size volume documents 20 of William Turnbull's most well-known structures, ranging in scope from the Sea Ranch Condominium I (1965), designed by Turnbull in collaboration with Charles Moore, Donlyn Lyndon, and Richard Whitaker (WLTW), to his own house in Napa Valley, CA (1991). Turnbull buildings' create a dialog with the landscape that resonates in the structural character of his works and reflects the integral nature of his design approach. In contrast to the hegemony of materials and style of Modernism's international style, Turnbull flourished with an altogether different emphasis of site specificity. Donlyn Lyndon writes that Turnbull's "buildings are conceived in their site. As they grew in his mind and emerged from his hand they were stroked and disciplined by the acts of construction, tutored in the accommodation of human action, and set against insistent measures of excellence." Featured essays by Mitchell Schwarzer, Associate Professor of Architecture, UC Berkeley; Mary Griffin, principal of Turnbull Griffin Haesloop; and William Stout. Dimension: 10 x 13 inches, Over 300 Duotone Images and Illustrations.
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William Turnbull was born on October 9, 1800 in Philadelphia, Pa. He was the son of William Turnbull by his second wife, Mary, daughter of Charles Nisbet. The elder Turnbull emigrated to Philadelphia from Scotland about 1770. He was a shipping merchant and later an ironmaster with a blast furnace near Pittsburgh. In 1798 he returned to Philadelphia.
Young William entered the United States Military Academy September 30, 1814, and graduated July 1, 1819.
He was assigned as second lieutenant in the Corps of Artillery and served in this arm, principally engaged on topographic duty, until August 20, 1831, being promoted to first lieutenant January 15, 1823.
Transferred with the rank of captain to the topographical engineers, he was engaged in 1831-32 on the survey of a railroad route in the state of Mississippi and then assigned to the construction of the Potomac Aqueduct across the Potomac River at Georgetown. This was his most important work and engaged his time for eleven years, during which he was promoted to the grade of major. The masonry piers of this aqueduct were founded on bedrock which lay thirty to forty feet below the water surface and was covered with about twenty feet of mud. The river itself was subject to floods and, in winter, to floating ice.
The method of construction was by coffer dams, which Turnbull designed. This aqueduct was one of the first important works of American engineering and gave Turnbull a wide reputation.
Two reports by him were published. After his death, both of these being out of print, the demand for them by engineers called forth the publication of Reports on the Construction of the Piers of the Aqueduct of the Alexandria Canal across the Potomac River at Georgetown, District of Columbia (1873).
After the aqueduct was completed Turnbull was engaged in the improvement of harbors on some of the Great Lakes and on Lake Champlain until the Mexican War. In this conflict he served as chief topographical engineer on the staff of Gen. Winfield Scott and took an active part in all operations from the siege of Vera Cruz to the capture of the city of Mexico.
After the war, he was superintending engineer of the construction of the custom house at New Orleans (1848 - 49); he surveyed Whale's Back Rock, Portsmouth, N. H. , for a lighthouse site and examined into the practicability of bridging the Susquehanna River at Havre de Grace (1850 - 52); he served on a board to examine into the feasibility of an additional canal around the Falls of the Ohio (1852 - 53); and as engineer in charge of harbor improvements on Lake Erie and Lake Ontario (1853 - 56) and of lighthouse construction at Oswego, N. Y. (1853 - 55).
He died on December 9, 1857, at Wilmington, North Carolina, aged 57.
The construction of the Potomac Aqueduct across the Potomac River at Georgetown was his most important work. For his services he was awarded the brevet of lieutenant-colonel for gallant and meritorious services in the battles of Contreras and Churubusco, and that of colonel for similar services in the battle of Chapultepec.
(This large-size volume documents 20 of William Turnbull's...)
Early in 1826 he married Jane Graham Ramsay, sister of George Douglas Ramsay, and established a home in Washington. Of six sons and four daughters, five sons and three daughters survived him. One son, Charles N. Turnbull (1832 - 1874), was also a graduate of the Military Academy and an officer of the topographical engineers, serving with distinction in the Civil War.
