John R. Hamilton

Who is John R. Hamilton?

John R. Hamilton was an English architect who moved to Cincinnati, Ohio. In England Hamilton designed the Lincoln and Worcester Insane Asylums; the Birmingham, Plymouth, and Leicester Cemeteries; and churches in London and Oxford. He is believed to have come to the U.S. in approximately 1850 and to Cincinnati in approximately 1852. According to the Architectural Foundation of Cincinnati's Biographical Dictionary of Cincinnati Architects: "relatively little is known about Hamilton's American career, but he seems to have been a fine designer, willing to explore new technology, and with a significant influence through his pupils on later 19th-century Cincinnati-area architecture."

He is listed on his own in 1853-1855, with Rankin, 1856–1857, and with James W. McLaughlin in 1857-1858. Prominent Cincinnati architect Samuel Hannaford, born in England and brought to the Cincinnati area as a child, got his start in Hamilton's office in 1857.

Hamilton won a silver medal at the Ohio Mechanics’ Institute for his ‘Paintings, Lithographic, Architectural, and other Drawings.’