{{Short description|American architect}} {{Infobox architect |name = Charles Brigham |image = Image:Charles Brigham USA.png |image_size = |caption = Brigham in 1907 |birth_date = {{birth-date|June 21, 1841}} |birth_place = Watertown, Massachusetts |death_date = {{death-date and age|July 1925|June 21, 1841}} |death_place = |practice = |significant_buildings= |significant_design = |awards = }} [[File:Christian Science Center, April 2004.jpg|right|thumb|260px|The First Church of Christ, Scientist, Boston, 1906]] [[File:Fairhaven MA Town Hall.jpg|right|thumb|260px|Fairhaven Town Hall, Fairhaven, Massachusetts, 1892]]
'''Charles Brigham''' (June 21, 1841 – July 1925) was an American architect based in Boston, Massachusetts.
== Life == Brigham was born, raised, and educated in Watertown, Massachusetts schools and graduated at age 15 in 1856 in the first class of Watertown High School. He had no formal education in architecture.<ref name="RUSSOBIO"/>
He apprenticed to Calvin Ryder and later to Boston architect Gridley J.F. Bryant. Brigham served as a sergeant in the Union Army during the American Civil War, then returned to working with Bryant. In 1866, Brigham and John Hubbard Sturgis formed a partnership which lasted 20 year. In that times the firm was recognized for its innovative and groundbreaking designs, including the original building for the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, located in Copley Square.
Brigham subsequently designed the 1898 annex to the Massachusetts State House in Boston, the 1906 The First Church of Christ, Scientist in Boston, and many residential buildings especially in the Boston Back Bay and Newport, Rhode Island.
Brigham's work reflects the eclecticism and historicism prevalent in the last quarter of the 19th century, initiating fusion of the complex eclectic references of the English Queen Anne revival with American colonial design. The resulting coastal New England houses of the 1880s by Brigham and other Boston architects defined the shingle style in one of the most original and distinguished epochs of American architectural history, from which other notable architects, such as Henry Hobson Richardson, emerged. He also designed the Watertown town seal.
== Work ==
=== With John Hubbard Sturgis ===
* Codman Building, Boston, 1873 * Church of the Advent, Boston, 1875–1888 * Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1876 * 86 Marlborough Street, Boston 1872<ref>[http://www.bosarchitecture.com/backbay/marlborough/86.html 86 Marlborough Street] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20130118081431/http://www.bosarchitecture.com/backbay/marlborough/86.html# |date=2013-01-18 }}, ''BOSarchitecture.com''</ref>
=== In solo practice ===
* Trinity Episcopal Church (Melrose, Massachusetts), 1886 *Hollis Hunnewell Cottage, Wellesley, Massachusetts, 1869 * Stoughton (MBTA station), Stoughton, Massachusetts, 1888 * Unitarian Building, First Parish of Watertown, Massachusetts, 1889 * Fairhaven Town Hall, Fairhaven, Massachusetts, 1892 * Millicent Library, Fairhaven, Massachusetts, 1893 * Annex to the Massachusetts State House in Boston, 1895<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mass.gov/portal/articles/massachusetts-state-house-guide.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160328215533/http://www.mass.gov/portal/articles/massachusetts-state-house-guide.html|archive-date=2016-03-28|url-status=dead|title=A Guide to the Massachusetts State House|publisher=Mass.Gov|accessdate=8 June 2015}}</ref> * New Bedford Institution for Savings, New Bedford, Massachusetts, 1897 * Scollay Square and Adams Square station entrances, 1898<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DUsAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA7|title=Fourth Annual Report of the Boston Transit Commission, For the Year Ending August 15, 1898|location=Boston|publisher=Rockwell and Churchill|year=1898|page=7}}</ref> * Albert C. Burrage House, Back Bay, Boston, 1899; designated as a Boston Landmark by the Boston Landmarks Commission in 2003 * Albert C. Burrage House, 1205 West Crescent Avenue, Redlands, California, 1899/1900<ref>[http://www.rahs.org/heritage-awards/heritage-2010/1205-w-crescent-avenue/ "Albert C. Burrage Home 1205 W. Crescent Avenue 1901"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120322233152/http://www.rahs.org/heritage-awards/heritage-2010/1205-w-crescent-avenue/ |date=March 22, 2012 }}, The Redlands Area Historical Society, Inc. Heritage Award – 2010</ref> * Madison Public Library, now the Museum of Early Trades and Crafts, Madison, New Jersey, 1900 * Unitarian Memorial Church, Fairhaven, Massachusetts, 1901 * Fairhaven High School, Fairhaven, Massachusetts, 1905 * Messiah Home for Children, The Bronx, New York City, 1905–19hool * Old Watertown High School, Watertown, Massachusetts, 1913 *St. Mark the Evangelist Church, Dorchester, Massachusetts<ref name="RUSSOBIO">[http://www.davidjrusso.com/architecture/brigham/Bio.php "Bio: Charles Brigham"], David J. Russo website</ref> *St. Francis of Assisi Church, Braintree, Massachusetts<ref>[http://www.davidjrusso.com/architecture/brigham/buildings/AddressSummary.php?id=11956995690566 "St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church 856 Washington St. Braintree, Mass."], David J. Russo website</ref>
==References== {{commons category|Charles Brigham}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20081224015931/http://www.millicentlibrary.org/brigham.htm ''Watertown Tribune-Enterprise'', Watertown, Mass., Friday, July 24, 1925] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20110611090151/https://www.cityofboston.gov/Images_Documents/Burrage%20House%20Study%20Report_tcm3-17373.pdf Burrage House Study Report] {{Reflist}}
== Further reading == * Adams, Oscar Fay, [https://web.archive.org/web/20081224015931/http://www.millicentlibrary.org/brigham.htm "A NEW ENGLAND ARCHITECT AND HIS WORK"], ''The New England Magazine'', June 1907
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Brigham, Charles}} Category:19th-century American architects Category:1841 births Category:1925 deaths Category:Architects from Boston Category:American Christian Scientists Category:Architects of Roman Catholic churches Category:20th-century American architects Category:People from Watertown, Massachusetts Category:People of Massachusetts in the American Civil War Category:Union army soldiers Category:Watertown High School (Massachusetts) alumni