born Oct. 31, 1827, Brattleboro, Vt., U.S.
died July 31, 1895, Rewport, R.I.
U.S. architect.
He studied in Europe from 1843 to 1854, becoming the first U.S. architecture student at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He returned to the U.S. to establish the Beaux-Arts style there. His work was eclectic, ranging from ornate early French Renaissance to monumental Classicism to a picturesque villa style. He worked on the extension of the U.S. Metropolitan Museum of Art (1900–02), also in New York. Among the mansions he designed for the new commercial aristocracy is the Breakers in Newport, R.I. (1892–95), which was created in an opulent Renaissance style for the Vanderbilts. Hunt was a founder of the American Institute of Architects.