John B. Snook

Looking out the north end of the Murray Hill Tunnel toward the station in 1880. Note the labels for the New York and Harlem and New York and New Haven Railroads; the New York Central and Hudson River was off to the left. The two larger portals on the right allowed some horse-drawn trains to continue further downtown.

Life and career Born in England, Snook emigrated to the United States with his family as a child. He was trained as a carpenter in his father's carpentry business, and worked as a bookkeeper and draftsman there as well. He was largely self-taught as an architect. His first work in the field was in partnership with William Beer from 1837 to 1840, then in 1842 he joined the firm of Joseph Trench. Within five years he was the junior partner in the firm, which became Trench and Snook, in which capacity he was the designer of the A. T. Stewart department store (1846) at 280 Broadway between Duane and Rector Streets, the first department store in America. The store was the first Anglo-Italianate style building in New York, set a style for New York commercial hotels that lasted until mid-century.

In Snook's partnership with Trench he was also the architect of the brownstone-sheathed Metropolitan Hotel (1851–52) – erected in the same "palazzo" style – on Broadway at Prince Street; the Boreel Building (1849–50), a full block building bounded by Broadway, Cedar, Thames, and Temple Streets, the site of the former City Hotel, which Trench and Snook's palace hotels had rendered out-of-date; and the marble-clad St. Nicholas Hotel (1854) on Broadway between Broome and Spring Streets; although the design of the last has also been attributed to Griffith Thomas.

Solo practitioner After Trench moved west to San Francisco in 1857, Snook continued to work in New York City on his own, and his practice became one of the largest in the city. Snook also designed churches, hotels, institutions – the Odd Fellows Hall (1847–48), Grand Street, survives (with some additions) and is a New York City Landmark – and hospitals. His other designs include residences such as the villa in Sleepy Hollow, New York, commissioned by Anson G. Phelps (1851), and those of the Vanderbilt and Lorillard families.

Personal life and death In 1836 Snook married Maria A. Weekes, with whom he had nine surviving children. Three sons, James Henry, Samuel Booth, and Thomas Edward, joined his practice in 1887, and the firm's name was changed to John B. Snook & Sons on its 50th anniversary. One of his sons-in-law, John W. Boylston, also worked in the firm. Snook died at his home in Brooklyn in 1901. His papers, including an archive of architectural drawings, are conserved in the New-York Historical Society. After his death, the firm's name was changed to John B. Snook Sons. Snook is interred at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York.