Peter Harrison shipping agreement (RLC.Ms.553)

Biographical note

Peter Harrison (1716-1775) was born on June 14, 1716, in York, England, the youngest of Elizabeth Dennyson (1683-1753) and Thomas Harrison’s (1670-1737) four children. Harrison first traveled to Newport, Rhode Island, at the age of twenty-three as a cabin boy aboard his brother Joseph’s (1709-1789). By 1740, Harrison became commander of his own ship and was actively involved in trade between England and America. At some point between 1743 and 1745, Harrison returned to England and received formal training as an architect. He returned to Newport in 1746 and married Newport heiress, Elizabeth Pelham (1721-1784) before beginning his career as one of first professionally trained architects in America.

Harrison was known for designing the following buildings in Newport: Redwood Library (1747-1749), the Touro Synagogue (1759), and Brick Market Building (1762-1772). He also designed the King’s Chapel (1749) in Boston, Massachusetts, and Christ Church (1759-1760) in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Harrison was a champion of the Palladian architectural movement of classically inspired designs and motifs.

Peter Harrison died of a stroke in 1775 at his home in New Haven, Connecticut, and is buried in an unmarked grave at the New Haven Green. Shortly after his death, his library and drawings in his New Haven home were destroyed by a patriotic mob in response to Harrison’s lifelong devotion to England and Toryism.