William Strickland (American, 1788 to 1854)
William Strickland’s career as an architect, engineer and artist spanned 45 years. The son of a master carpenter, Strickland was apprenticed at the age of 15 to Benjamin Henry Latrobe, America’s first professionally trained architect. In 1818, Strickland won the competition for the Second Bank Building with a design based on the Pantheon. The bank is considered a seminal work in Neoclassicism and Greek Revival in the United States. Other Philadelphia designs by Strickland include The United States Naval Asylum (1826), The United States Mint (1829 to 1833), and the Merchants Exchange (1832 to 1834). His engineering projects included restoration of the steeple of Independence Hall, the Fairmount Dam, Engineer in charge of the Eastern Division of the Pennsylvania Mixed System, the Columbia and Philadelphia Railroad and the Wilmington and Susquehanna Railroad.
Information courtesy of Freeman’s, November 2006