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Henry Hobson Richardson Leaves Wife, Six Children Destitute April 27 2014

Despite being one of the most highly regarded--and highly paid--architects of his era, Henry Hobson Richardson was deeply in debt when he died in 1886 of Bright's Disease at the age of 47.  His wife and six children were thus left penniless and Mrs. Richardson routinely had to beg the three assistants who took over the business, Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge, for money to pay the coal bills and for shoes for the little Richardson children.  Richardson is known for the style named after him, Richardsonian Romanesque, which he employed in building libraries, city halls and courthouses.