Harrison Albright

Harrison Albright (May 17, 1866 – January 3, 1932) was an American architect best known for his innovative design of the West Baden Springs Hotel in Orange County, Indiana, which boasted the largest free-spanning dome in the world at the time of its construction.

Interior of the West Baden Springs Hotel's steel and glass dome designed by Albright
Albright's Hotel Richmond, Richmond, Virginia
Upshur County Court House, Buckhannon, West Virginia built 1899-1901.

Biography

Born in the Ogontz neighborhood of North Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Albright was educated in the local public schools and at the Peirce College of Business and Spring Garden Institute in Philadelphia. In 1886, he began his architecture business designing residential and public projects in Philadelphia.

He moved to Charleston, West Virginia in 1891 and was architect for the State of West Virginia in addition to designing residential projects. As State architect he designed an annex to the State Capitol, a state asylum at Huntington, West Virginia, the Miners' Hospital in Fairmont, West Virginia and buildings at Shepherd University and the Preparatory Branch of West Virginia University at Keyser.

In 1901, he was hired by Indiana hotelier Lee Wiley Sinclair to design the landmark West Baden Springs Hotel which included the 200-foot-diameter (61 m) steel and glass dome which would be the largest free-spanning dome in the world until 1913 and the largest in America until the construction of the Bojangles' Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina in 1955.

In 1905, he moved his architectural practice to California, working in Los Angeles and San Diego, as early proponent of reinforced concrete construction. Albright's 1905 Annex to the Homer Laughlin Building on Broadway in downtown Los Angeles was the city's first reinforced concrete building.

John L. Wright, son of Frank Lloyd Wright, was employed in the Albright firm.

Harrison Albright retired from architecture for health reasons in 1925 and died in 1932.

Works

Albright's designs include:

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