Philip Gengembre Hubert, Sr., AIA, (August 20, 1830 – November 15, 1911)Brookhaven South Haven Hamlets website. Accessed May 25, 2014 was a French-American architect and founder of the New York City architectural firm Hubert & Pirsson (later Hubert, Pirsson, and Company, active from c. 1870 to 1888, and Hubert, Pirsson, and Haddick, active from 1888 to 1898) with James W. Pirsson (1833–1888). The firm produced many of the city's "Gilded Age" finest buildings, including hotels, churches and residences.
Life Hubert was born in Paris to Colomb Gengembre, an architect and engineer who taught him architecture.C. Matlack Price, “A Pioneer in Apartment House Architecture: Memoir on Philip G. Hubert’s Work.” Architectural Record. V.36 (1914), pp. 74-76. His sister was artist Sophie Gengembre Anderson.Colomb Gengembre . Union Dale Cemetery. Retrieved March 6, 2014. Hubert emigrated with his parents in 1849 to the United States, first settling in Cincinnati, Ohio.“Philip Gengembre Hubert Obituary,” American Art Annual, 10 (1913), p.78; quoted in (New York City) Landmarks Preservation Commission, "Designation List 124," March 16, 1979 In Cincinnati, he taught French by writing his textbooks, "which were published and widely used in schools of that time." In 1853, he took up a position at Girard College in Philadelphia as the first professor of French and history; he moved to Boston and was offered a professorship at Harvard, which he did not accept. He moved to New York in 1865 and studied architecture. "As a young man, he contributed a large number of short and serial stories to magazines—of a versatile turn of mind he took a vivid interest in many things and conversed with keen intelligence and originality upon politics, social science, invention and literature…."
He moved to New York in 1865 at the end of the American Civil War. He became associated with Pirsson to design six single-family residences on the southwest corner of Lexington Avenue and East 43rd Street.New York City, Manhattan Buildings Department , Dockett Books, N.B. p.685-67; Quoted in (New York City) Landmarks Preservation Commission, "Designation List 124," March 16, 1979 Upon Pirsson's death, the firm operated under the name Hubert, Pirsson & Haddick until 1893 when Hubert retired to California. In retirement, he "took several patents upon devices for making housekeeping easy, among which he improved oil and gas furnaces, a fireless cooker, and, during the last six months of his life, he was busy with a device for supplying hot water more quickly and more cheaply…."
Noted works His most notable works while at Hubert & Pirsson included: The $5 million 12-story Central Park or Navarro Buildings (1882) on Seventh Avenue at 58th and 59th Streets The Hawthorne, ten-story co-op
The Rembrandt, ten-story co-op The Milano, a seven-story co-op The Chelsea (1883), twelve-story residential hotel The Mount Morris, a nine-story co-op No. 80 Madison Avenue, nine-story co-op No. 125 Madison Avenue, twelve-story co-op The Sevilla (Hotel), 58th Street The Old Lyceum Theatre at Fourth Avenue and 23rd Street The old Shoreham Hotel, Washington, DC
See also Philip H. Frohman, grandson and architect Hubert, Pirsson & Co. James W. Pirsson
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References
Further reading Tippins, Sherill, Charles Fourier : Key to the Mystery of the Chelsea Hotel ? The website of the Association of Fourier Studies and the Records of Charles Fourier (charlesfourier.fr). December 2009. (English version)