Robert W. Gibson (1854-9/17/1927) New York City, New York (A.I.A.)
A leading architect in New York during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Mr. Gibson was born and educated in England and received a thorough training in architecture before migrating to the US in 1881. He first began practice in Albany where he was commissioned to design the All Saints Episcopal Cathedral. The church, English Gothic in type, considered a notable achievement of an architect not then thirty years old, was dedicated in 1884 before being completed, and remains still in an unfinished state with the last major construction carried out between 1902 and 1904.
In 1887 Mr. Gibson became a naturalized citizen, and began his career with an office in New York City. In carrying on a large and lucrative practice for many years, he planned and successfully completed numerous public and commercial structures in the city, some of which include: West End Collegiate Church, 1892; Ear and Eye Infirmary at Second Avenue and 13th Street; New York City Clearing House, at 77 Cedar Street, 1896; U.S. Trust Co. Building, 45-47 Wall Street (won in a competition); Fifth Avenue Savings Bank; Greenwich Savings Bank; Coffee Exchange, at 110 Pearl Street; Women's Hotel, 29th Street near Madison Avenue, begun 1901. Among other buildings he designed outside of New York were: St. Stephen's Church, at Olean, NY; Griswold Hotel, New London, CT Merchants and Mechanics Bank, Scranton, PA; and restoration of St. Paul's Church at Buffalo, originally designed by Richard Upjohn and built in 1860-1861. In addition, Mr. Gibson designed a large number of country homes and estates in New York and throughout New England.