Peter Harrison (145)

Peter Harrison (16 June 1716–30 April 1775) was an architect, merchant, and imperial official, and a member of the American Philosophical Society via his 1768 election to the American Society. Born in Yorkshire, England, he followed his brother, fellow APS member Joseph Harrison, to Newport, Rhode Island, around 1740. There, he became a merchant and ship captain and developed a gentlemanly passion for architecture. In virtually every port he visited, Harrison offered to design buildings. As a result, his neo-Palladian designs can be seen throughout the Atlantic world: from Gibraltar, Barbados, Georgia, and the Carolinas to Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. In 1744, he was captured by a French privateer and taken to Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island. But because he had designed buildings there, he was treated as a guest rather than a prisoner. He seized the opportunity to copy blueprints of the fortress, smuggling them to Massachusetts governor William Shirley who used them to attack the stronghold the following year; the fort then became a bargaining chip in subsequent treaty negotiations with France. When Shirley encouraged Britons to show their gratitude, Harrison was inundated with commissions. Buildings attributed to him include King’s Chapel (Boston); Christ Church (Cambridge); the Redwood Library, Touro Synagogue, and St. John’s Masonic Hall (Newport); St. Paul’s Chapel (New York City); and the steeple of Christ Church (Philadelphia). Unconfirmed attributions can also be found in England, Ireland, India, China, and America and include governors’ mansions, marketplaces, houses of worship, and private homes. In 1766, Harrison relocated to New Haven, Connecticut, to take up the post of collector of customs. But his Loyalism increasingly conflicted with the local move toward independence. He died of apoplexy in 1775 when a mob threatened to lynch him following the outbreak of open hostilities with the Battle of Concord. (PI, ANB, DNB)