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Biographical Information

Samuel Sloan (March 7, 1815-July 19, 1884), a nationally prominent architect born in Beaver Dam, Pennsylvania. He started his career as a carpenter and builder in 1830. In 1833 he moved to the state capital of Philadelphia and began his progress through the ranks of the building trade. He is first recorded describing his services as an architect in 1850. During this period Sloan made the acquaintance of Dr. Thomas S. Kirkbride, a prominent doctor concerned with the treatment of the mentally ill. Together Sloan's architectural skill and Kikbride's theories on mental illness came together to devised the Kirkbride system. This was an important architectural model that became the standard design for mental asylums during the 19th century. Sloan was an ambitious and active architect and was recognized as the leading practitioner in Philadelphia. His projects included numerous residences, churches, commercial buildings, schools, and hospitals.

In addition to his actual work on designing buildings Sloan had great influence on architectural writing at the time as well. He wrote the The Model Architect (1852-1853), City and Suburban, and Architecture (1857-1858) all important contributions to the literature on architecture. He was also the editor and publisher of The Architectural Review and American Builder's Journal (1868-1870), described as the first American periodical devoted exclusively to architecture.

Unfortunately despite Sloan's ability his career floundered for reasons beyond his control. The virtual end to new construction during the Civil War badly damaged his company as it did to many other architects and businesses of the period. Political scandals and changing design tastes in his home city decreased Sloan activity in Philadelphia during the last years of his career.

As a result of these difficulties most of Sloan's post-war work was located outside of Pennsylvania. This work included a number of major new church construction projects in Wilmington NC.

http://ncarchitects.lib.ncsu.edu/people/P000004

 

Related Oral Interviews

The Buildings

Bank for E. B. Borden (1880's)

Bank of New Hanover (1873)

Centennial Graded School (1883-1885)

Craven County Courthouse (1883)

Craven County Jail (1880-1881)

Executive Mansion (1883-1891)

First Baptist Church (1859-1870)

First Presbyterian Church (1859-1861)

Memorial Hall (1883-1885)

Mistletoe Villa (1883-1885)

New Bern Graded School (1884)

St. Mary's School (1883-1887)

State Exposition Building (1884)

Temple of Israel (1875-1876)

Western North Carolina Hospital for the Insane (1875-1883; 1886 [addition]; 1890s [addition])

Inventory of Architecture

Selected Correspondence

Typological Motifs in Sloan's Work

Bibliography

Catherine W. Bishir, Charlotte V. Brown, Carl R. Lounsbury, and Ernest H. Wood III, Architects and Builders in North Carolina: A History of the Practice of Building (1990).

Charlotte Vestal Brown Papers, Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, North Carolina.

William Bushong, North Carolina's Executive Mansion: The First Hundred Years (1991).

William B. Bushong, "A. G. Bauer, North Carolina's New South Architect," North Carolina Historical Review, Vol. 60, No. 3 (July, 1983).

Harold N. Cooledge, Jr., Samuel Sloan, Architect of Philadelphia, 1814-1884 (1986).

William Reaves Files, New Hanover County Public Library, Wilmington, North Carolina.

Tony P. Wrenn, Wilmington, North Carolina: An Architectural and Historical Portrait (1984).

 

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