William Alfred Freret

Last updated

Will A Freret.jpg

William Alfred Freret Jr. (b. in New Orleans, Louisiana, January 19, 1833; d. 1911) was an American architect. [1] He served from 1887 to 1888 as head of the Office of the Supervising Architect, which oversaw construction of Federal buildings. [2]

Contents

He is associated with a number of buildings that are listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.

Biography

June 1865 William A. Freret stands in back row far right The Photographic History of The Civil War Volume 01 Page 114.jpg
June 1865 William A. Freret stands in back row far right
U.S. Post Office and Courthouse (Charleston, South Carolina) U. S. Post Office Building, Broad & Meeting Streets, Charleston (Charleston County, South Carolina).jpg
U.S. Post Office and Courthouse (Charleston, South Carolina)

William Alfred Freret was born in New Orleans. His father was William Freret, a mayor of the city, and his cousin James Freret was a fellow architect with whom he sometimes collaborated. [1] He was educated in his native city and in Baton Rouge.

William received an engineering degree in England and adopted architecture as his profession. At the outbreak of the American Civil War, he entered the Confederate Army as a private in the Washington Artillery from New Orleans. He was promoted from time to time, finally reaching the rank of lieutenant-colonel of engineers. He served on Kirby Smith's staff, and was also assistant chief and acting chief of the Trans-Mississippi Department until the surrender. From 1866 to 1868, Freret was a state engineer for Louisiana, and for several years after that he had charge of the construction of the public schools of the McDonogh fund, some sixteen in number. He served as supervising architect of the U.S. government from June 1887, until March 1890, when he resigned.

W. A. Freret designed the reconstructed statehouse at Baton Rouge after the Civil War. He was the architect for the buildings of the state university at Pineville, the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa, and many of the public buildings and private residences in New Orleans and elsewhere in Louisiana and several of the neighboring states.

Projects

Freret's glass dome in the Old Louisiana State Capitol Old State Capitol Dome.jpg
Freret's glass dome in the Old Louisiana State Capitol

Works include:

Women's Guild of the New Orleans Opera Association Women's-Guild-of-the-New-Orleans-Opera-Association-811.JPG
Women's Guild of the New Orleans Opera Association

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 Catherine W. Bishir (2009). "Freret, William A. (1833-1911)". North Carolina Architects and Builders: a biographical dictionary. North Carolina State University. Retrieved July 28, 2011.
  2. Annual Report of the Supervising Architect to the Secretary of the Treasury for The Year Ending September 30, 1887. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1887.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  4. "Louisiana Old State Capitol | History". Archived from the original on May 4, 2013. Retrieved October 27, 2012.
  5. "Federal Judicial History". www.fjc.gov. Retrieved January 25, 2024.

References

Preceded by Office of the Supervising Architect
18871888
Succeeded by