A Chinese Renaissance: Henry Killam Murphy and His Interpretation of Traditional Chinese Architecture

Abstract

American architect Henry Killam Murphy (1877-1954) dedicated his career to a “Chinese Renaissance” that adapted traditional Chinese architecture to meet technological and programmatic needs. Although previous scholarship has surveyed Murphy’s work, it deserves a closer analysis in order to measure Murphy’s design outcomes against the goals he described. This paper examines archive drawings by Murphy’s office so as to show the architect’s design intent, identifying creative design solutions provided by Murphy and his team that balance traditional architectural principles with modern requirements.