Robert Smith (architect)

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The work of Robert Smith (1722-1777) has been part of the Philadelphia skyline for over 200 years. In fact, Smith's work—buildings such as Carpenters' Hall, St. Peter's Church, and the steeple on Christ Church—constituted the greater part of the city's early skyline. To this day the Christ Church steeple is an eye-catching landmark in Philadelphia's Old City neighborhood.

Smith was born in Dalkeith Parish, Midlothian, Scotland, into a family that included many masons. As a young man he apprenticed in the building trades, and emigrated to America in the 1740s. He quickly became a member of the Carpenters' Company of Philadelphia, and is considered by many to be the foremost master-builder, or carpenter-architect, of the Colonial Period. In fact, Robert Smith, has been called "America's most important 18th Century architect."

Working from published architectural sketchbooks or models of the past, a master-builder would adapt his designs to the building needs and materials of the colonial city. A famous client of Smith's was Benjamin Franklin. While living abroad, Franklin wrote a letter to his wife Deborah in which he complained that Smith was taking too long to complete their house.

It is likely that Smith had a hand in shaping the Carpenter's Company's 1783 handbook for standards of workmanship and pricing. Entitled The Rules of Work of the Carpenter's Company of the City and County of Philadelphia, this pattern and specifications booklet was one of the first trade manuals printed in America. It was "loaned" to every member of the Company and kept a closely-guarded trade secret. Smith was active in cultural and political affairs. In addition to membership in the Carpenters' Company, Smith was also in the American Philosophical Society and the First Continental Congress. He was appointed by the city of Philadelphia as a Regulator of Party Walls and Partition Fences, a plum political position roughly akin to Building Inspector.

During the Revolutionary War, Smith constructed cheveux-de-frise. These were boxes containing sharp metal-tipped wooden spikes which were weighted down with stones and sunk in the Delaware River to rip holes in the hulls of British warships. Smith died during the War while working on the American Army barracks at Billingsport, New Jersey, part of the defenses on the Delaware River.