Altogether American

by R. W. Liscombe

Altogether American relates the fascinating life and career of Robert Mills (1781-1855), the first native-born and American-trained architect. Although he designed the Washington National Monument, an enduring symbol of the United States, few know his name or contribution to American and architectural history. His career also provides an account of the beginnings of an independent American architecture and of the sociopolitical and cultural development of the republic before the Civil War. Although a Southerner by birth, Mills espoused abolitionist and enlightened views, in part learned from his chief mentors Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Latrobe. He actively promoted the establishment of national artistic institutions and published on a variety of subjects besides architecture, compiling proposals for canals, steam locomotion, railroads - including an elevated railway for New York City - and urban water supply. He executed commissions from Newburyport, Massachusetts, to Mobile, Alabam