James Dakin

James Harrison Dakin (August 24, 1806 – May 13, 1852), American architect . Best known for his Neo-Gothic style. Best known as Architect of the Old Louisiana State Capitol, Old Bank of Louisville, and other public buildings.

Daikin was the son of James (1783-1819) and Lucy Harrison Dakin (1784-1826) of Hudson, New York, and born in Northeast Township. He was seventh in line from the immigrant ancestor, Thomas Dakin, of Concord, Massachusetts, through Simon, of the third generation, who went to Putnam County, New York, from Massachusetts. After learning the carpentry trade from his uncle, James Dakin moved to New York City, where he was apprenticed to Alexander Jackson Davis when the firm of Town and Davis, Architects, was formed in 1829. That year he married Joanna Belcher (1796-1882) of Norwich, Connecticut, the widow of George Collard. They had seven children including two pairs of twins, with just two children surviving to adulthood.

Dakin seems from an early date to have developed a practice of his own, for he was the architect of the large J. W. Perry house, in Brooklyn, in about 1830-31, and of the Washington Square Dutch Reformed Church, an unusually advanced example of Gothic Revival work. He also was in touch with Minard Lafever during this period and, a beautiful draftsman, drew a number of the plates, which are signed by him, in Lafever's The Modern Builder's Guide. Apparently, too, he had some means. From May 1, 1832, to November 1, 1834, he was a partner of Town & Davis (now renamed Town, Davis and Dakin, Architects), and from existing accounts of the firm he seems to have contributed a generous amount of working capital. The partnership ended in some disagreement; a letter from Ithiel Town to Davis indicates that Dakin, owing to his investment in the firm, considered he had a greater right to dictate policies than the older partners could countenance. During this period Town & Davis were engaged on many important works, including the North Carolina State Capitol (1832), the main building of New York University (1833; an influential Gothic collegiate work for which Dakin and Town did most of the design), and the Marine Pavilion (a luxurious hotel) at Rockaway; Dakin's name appears as one of the architects of the last two.

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