Thomas Alexander Tefft

Who was Thomas Alexander Tefft?

Thomas Alexander Tefft was an American architect. Born in Richmond, Rhode Island, he was a schoolteacher when he was encouraged by Henry Barnard to become an architect. While still a student at Brown University, Tefft designed the original Union Station in Providence and the Cannelton Cotton Mill in Cannelton, Indiana. Graduating from Brown in 1851, Tefft went to Europe in 1856 to study art and to promote his ideas for a uniform international currency. He became ill in Florence and died there in 1859 at the home of his friend, the sculptor Hiram Powers. His remains were interred temporarily in the English Cemetery, Florence, then returned to Rhode Island.