Kimball, Fiske

Kimball, Fiske

(Sidney Fiske Kimball), 1888–1955, American architect and writer, b. Newton, Mass. He was professor of architecture and fine arts at the Univ. of Michigan (1912–19) and of art and architecture at the Univ. of Virginia (1919–23) and was in charge of the fine arts department, New York Univ. (1923–25). From 1925 until his retirement in 1955 he was director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and was responsible for the acquisition of many important collections. Much of his architectural work consisted of the restoration of old houses, e.g., of Monticello, the Jefferson home, near Charlottesville, and Stratford, the seat of the Lees, both in Virginia. With G. H. Edgell he wrote A History of Architecture (1918). He was also the author of Domestic Architecture of the American Colonies (1922), American Architecture (1928), and The Creation of the Rococo (1943).

Kimball, (Sidney) Fiske

(1888–1955) architectural historian; born in Newton, Mass. Director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art (1925–55), he brought a historical approach based on the use of primary documents to his published work on colonial American architecture. As a leading restoration architect he was involved with the restorations at Monticello and Colonial Williamsburg.