Elijah E. Myers

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Texas State Capitol
Texas State Capitol
The Michigan State Capitol
The Michigan State Capitol
Michigan State Capitol interior
Michigan State Capitol interior
Colorado State Capitol
Colorado State Capitol

Elijah E. Myers (b. December 22, 1832, Philadelphia - d. March 5, 1909, Detroit) was a leading architect of government buildings in the latter half of the 19th century, and the only architect to design the capitol buildings of 3 U.S. states, the Michigan State Capitol, the Texas State Capitol, and the Colorado State Capitol. He also designed buildings in Mexico and Brazil. Myers' designs favored Victorian Gothic and Neo-Classical styles, but he worked in other styles as well.

Myers may have studied architecture under Samuel Sloan before the Civil War. Myers lived in Springfield, Illinois after the Civil War, but moved to Detroit, Michigan while working on the Michigan State capitol, where he remained. Myers had conflicts with fellow architects, whom he claimed stole his designs and sued, and sometimes his clients. He was fired from the Texas Capitol project in 1886 over complaints that he was not giving enough attention to the project, and his design was subsequently changed. He was also fired from the Colorado State Capitol project and the Howell Library project, apparently in disputes about money.

In 1879, Myers sued Edwin May, the architect of a new Indiana State House, claiming that elements of design were stolen. Myers lost the lawsuit.

In 1891, Myers applied for the position of Supervising Architect of the U.S. Treasury but another was chosen.

Myers was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery, Detroit. His grave is currently unmarked but an Elijah Myers Memorial Commission is raising funds for an appropriate stone. The only known portrait of Myers hangs in the Elijah Myers room of the Michigan State Capitol.

On January 5, 1914, the Supreme Court decided Radford v. Myers in Myers' favor. The cases was a business dispute between Myers and his attorney, George W. Radford, involving litigation about the unbuilt Luzerne County Courthouse.

[edit] Works

[edit] References

  • Asylum: Pontiac’s Grand Monument from the Gilded Age, Bruce J. Annett, Jr., ISBN 0-9719141-0-9
  • A Michigan Architect in Indiana: Elijah E. Myers and the Business of Architecture in the Gilded Age, Ronald D. Rarick, The Michigan Historical Review Vol. 26, No. 2, Fall 2000
  • Elijah E. Myers: Politics, patronage, and professionalism, Paul Goeldner
  • The Designing Architect: Elijah E. Myers, Paul Goeldner, Southwestern Historical Quarterly 92 (October 1988)
  • Radford v. Myers 231 U.S. 725 (1914)

[edit] External links

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