Flagler Museum Show Spotlights Great Architect Richard Morris Hunt

Richard Morris Hunt was the most influential American architect of the 19th century.

But that didn't help him land the job to design the southern entrance to Central Park in New York.

The board running the 1863 competition chose Hunt but withdrew its support when the park's designers, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, objected to what they considered to be Hunt's ostentatious, Europeanized plan.

"He was ahead of his time," said Tracy Kamerer, chief curator at the Flagler Museum, where Parks, Palaces, and Public Buildings: Richard Morris Hunt and American Architecture is on display.

Today, Hunt is best known for the opulent mansions he built for clients such as the Vanderbilts and the Astors on New York's Fifth Avenue and in Newport.

But the exhibition goes beyond those buildings to trace the influence of Hunt's training at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris on his commissions.

more: palmbeachdailynews.com/news/content/arts/2008/10/1 (44)

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