Gridley J. F. Bryant

Bryant's career started at a time when few architects gained prominence in his hometown of Boston, Massachusetts, and he struggled to find commercial success in the profession. Accordingly, formal training and education in architecture was not available to him so his passion of building soon moved to him learn building design, and construction analysis at an early age all self-taught. Although the American Institute of Architects was beginning to establish itself it prompted aspiring architects to practice regulated construction and proper licensing, practices rejected by the young Bryant. Although never traveling abroad, Bryant read extensively on the architectural practices of Europe, specifically in London and Paris. The Second Empire architectural design, as seen in the Élysée Palace, played a key role in his later designs. He began informal training with fellow Boston architect Alexander Parris, who introduced him to neoclassical design and the use of Second Empire architectural templates. His training under Parris, grounded in neoclassicism, played an important role in his first building drafts. Working primarily as a student in his early days, he quickly a member of Parris' newly opened architectural firm at the corner of Court and Washington Streets. His first achievement was the design for the Broadway Savings Bank, South Boston, in the early 1830s.

Bryant flourished in an era of what Roger B. Reed calls "unregulated building," when "traditions of craftsmanship were being replaced by products of the machine age."[2] He created a new template for the construction of buildings in New England. Early in his career, he faced competition from larger firms that sought to monopolize the design and construction of buildings in the greater Boston area. As a draftsman, he drew up minor additions and renovations to already established buildings in that city, and he struggled initially to find footing in the competitive field. At age twenty-one, amid an economic depression, he established his own architectural firm called Bryant and Associates.

Alexander Rice Esty, frequent advisor to Bryant, helped him draft design proposals for Colby, Harvard, Bates, and Yale Colleges.

A common fault ascribed to Bryant is that he valued the art form of architecture over the commercial validity of his designs which proved to be counterproductive for his budding practice. With an understanding that a client's wishes should always come first when constructing and designing for them he, "frequently persuaded a client to spend more than he might have planned, in the interests of erecting a structure with greater aesthetic value to the community." Although his firm was relatively new and had start-up funds he worked and often collaborated with hundreds of draftsmen around the city. A notable trait of Bryant was due to the low level of economic validity to hire countless draftsmen to draw up buildings and their specification he wrote length and thoroughly detailed written specifications to describe how a building should be built. His firm utilized thousands of un-retained draftsmen throughout its life and contributed to the unprecedented amount of building being constructed throughout the United States. However, his designs specifically were reserved for high-value projects, meaning those with high personal value, societal value, or sufficiently large remuneration. Due to his firm being largely un-retained, he was able to provide guidance to his firm's operations while in other areas of the country, which contributed to increased financial success. He used the lithography he learned in secondary school to promote his firms and their projects to attract clients and donors. He was one of the first people in the city of Boston to use colored advertisements to promote his work, which contributed to even more financial success.

Bryant's firm attracted as partners noted architects such as Alexander Rice Esty, Edward H. Kendall, Albert Currier, Wilfred E. Mansur, Arthur Gilman and Louis P. Rogers. He worked with Albert Currier to construct the Adroscoggin County Courthouse and Jail, the largest courthouse-jail building in Maine at the time. He worked with Mansur to construct Aroostook County Courthouse and Jail, the largest courthouse complex in Maine, in 1859. In 1862, he worked with Gilman to design and eventually build Boston's Old City Hall, one of the first to be built in the French Second Empire style in the United States. In 1869 he collaborated with Rogers to construct Gloucester City Hall. He also did a few luxury private residences with John Hubbard Sturgis.

Bryant's only known commission in the American South is Thornbury, a plantation house built in the 1840s for Henry King Burgwyn in Northampton County, North Carolina.[3]

Together with Arthur Gilman, Bryant's firm devised the gridiron street pattern of Boston's Back Bay, laid out starting in the late 1850s.

Bryant designed so many buildings that his practice in Boston was called the "Bryant Commission." His largest commissions were from municipal and state governments, in which he worked frequently with John Hubbard Sturgis, most notably on upscale projects in the 1860s. At this time Bryant was the most commissioned architect in New England. He is also the most commissioned architect in the history of Boston.[1] He received many commercial commissions in Boston including the Massachusetts State House, and other projects in the city's commercial district. Although his projects demanded large commissions and incurred high construction costs, he traveled often to rural areas for promotional work, and designed many lower-priced buildings providing "high societal value." Most notable was Hathorn Hall at Bates College, Maine, which he designed and which he constructed in part by himself, resulting in a net loss to him. On the other hand, larger, wealthier educational institutions like Harvard College paid him top dollar for their administration buildings—for which he was often asked to give input in their construction as well.

During the Great Boston Fire of 1872, 152 of the 776 buildings destroyed had been designed by Bryant. As a measure of his reputation, he was commissioned to rebuild 110 of them.