Joseph-François Mangin
Joseph-François Mangin was born on June 10, 1758, in Dompaire,[1] in the Vosges region of France. He was a French-American architect who is noted for designing New York City Hall and St. Patrick's Old Cathedral in New York City.
Joseph-François Mangin
June 10, 1758
French-American
Architect
1803 Plan for New York (with Casimir Goerck), rejected
New York City Hall (1801-1802, with John McComb Jr.)
He died in 1818 in Madrid, St Lawrence County, New York.
Legacy[edit]
Mangin Street, as laid out in the Commissioner's Plans, ran from Grand Street north to Houston Street to the East River at Rivington Street, which was extended as landfill areas were incorporated into Manhattan, and now extends just west of the FDR Drive. During urban renewal projects, most of the street disappeared, except for two short stretches under the Williamsburg Bridge and from Baruch Place to East Houston Street.
Mangin Avenue in St. Albans, Queens may also have been named after Mangin.
Controversy[edit]
For many years, incorrect information circulated about Mangin's life. He was mistaken for another Joseph-François Mangin born in France around the same period, or was a slave, followed by becoming a student of one of the most prominent French architects, Ange-Jacques Gabriel.
Mangin being an extremely common last name in the East of France, the "other" Joseph-François Mangin was mistakenly found by late Pr. Robert L. Alexander from university of Iowa during his research in France. The one he found was born in 1764 in Châlons.[21] His parents were Joseph Mangin and Jeanne Marie Anne Morin, and got married in Paris on 27 August 1806 to Marie Eleonore Antoinette Diodet.[22]
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