Goodhue Livingston


Goodhue Livingston was an American architect who co-founded the firm of Trowbridge & Livingston and designed the Hayden Planetarium.

Early life

Livingston was born in New York City on February 23, 1867. He was the son of Robert Edward Livingston and Susan Maria Clarkson de Peyster. His siblings included Catharine Goodhue Livingston, Robert Robert Livingston, who married Mary Tailer, and Edward De Peyster Livingston.
His paternal grandparents were Edward Philip Livingston, the 11th Lieutenant Governor of New York, and Elizabeth Stevens Livingston, the eldest daughter of Chancellor Robert R. Livingston. Their children included:
Livingston received an A.B. in 1888, a Ph.B. in architecture 1892, and an M.A. in 1914, all from Columbia University.

Career

In 1894, Livingston co-founded Trowbridge, Livingston & Colt along with Samuel Breck Parkman Trowbridge, the son of William Petit Trowbridge. The firm became known for its commercial, public, and institutional buildings, many in a Beaux Arts or neoclassical style, including the B. Altman and Company Building, J. P. Morgan Building, and the Oregon State Capitol. Often commissioned by well-heeled clients, the firm's work especially prevalent in the Upper East Side and Wall Street precincts of New York. He worked on the Equitable Trust Building, Morgan Building, Chemical National Bank Building, the St. Regis Hotel, The Knickerbocker Hotel, the Ardsley Club, B. Altman & Co.'s Building, the New York Stock Exchange addition, the Bank of America Building, and Rikers Island, before his retirement in 1946.
In 1935, Livingston designed the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History, located at West 81st Street and Central Park West.
He was a trustee of the New York Dispensary and a fellow of the American Institute of Architects as well as a member of the Architectural League of New York, a governor of the Brook Club, and belonged to the National Institute of Social Sciences.

Personal life

Livingston was married Louisa Robb. She was the daughter of Cornelia Van Rensselaer Robb and James Hampden Robb, former New York City Parks Commissioner and State Senator. They lived at 38 East 65th Street and had a house in Southampton, New York. Together, they were the parents of:
Livingston died on June 3, 1951 at the Southampton Hospital in Southampton, New York. His widow died on January 16, 1960 at her home at 720 Park Avenue.

Descendants

Through his son Goodhue, he was the grandfather of Dr. Goodhue Livingston III, Louisa Anne Livingston, who married Moorhead Cowell Kennedy, Jr. in 1955, Lorna Livingston, Linda Livingston, who married Nicholas Homans Davis and Arthur Amory Houghton III, and Kip Livingston, a former director of the Federal Reserve Board in Washington.
Through his daughter Cornelia, he was the grandfather of Katherine Cromwell, Florence Cromwell, Seymour Cromwell III, and Cornelia Livingston Cromwell. Their eldest daughter, Katherine Cromwell, married David E. Moore in 1948, a grandson of newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer. They had four children: Richard Moore, Katherine Cromwell Moore, David Elmslie Moore Jr., and Timothy Moore. Cornelia Livingston Cromwell married Dr. Richard Pillard in 1958. The Pillards were the parents of three daughters, including Cornelia Pillard, a circuit judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and formerly a Georgetown University Law Center professor and assistant to Attorney General Janet Reno. The Pillards later divorced and Richard became the first openly gay psychiatrist in the United States.