author
A. D. F. (Alfred Dwight Foster) Hamlin
1855–1926
Born in Constantinople and educated in both the United States and Paris, this architect and teacher helped shape how generations of students learned to look at buildings. He is best remembered for bringing architectural history to life at Columbia and for writing a widely used textbook on the subject.
2 Audiobooks
The Brochure Series of Architectural Illustration, vol. 06, No. 01, January 1900 The Ten Most Beautiful Buildings in the United States.
by A. D. F. (Alfred Dwight Foster) Hamlin
A Text-Book of the History of Architecture Seventh Edition, revised
by A. D. F. (Alfred Dwight Foster) Hamlin
About the author
Born on September 5, 1855, in Constantinople, Alfred Dwight Foster Hamlin was the son of the missionary and educator Cyrus Hamlin. He graduated from Amherst College in 1875, studied architecture in Boston and Paris, and went on to build a long career in architectural education.
Hamlin taught architecture at Columbia for decades and served as director of its school of architecture from 1903 to 1912. He was connected with the firm of McKim, Mead & White early in his career, but he became especially known as a teacher, writer, and speaker on architecture, city planning, and public design.
He is best known today for A Text-Book of the History of Architecture, a book that helped introduce many readers and students to the story of world architecture. His papers and drawings, preserved at Columbia, reflect a life spent studying buildings closely and explaining them clearly.