On this day in 1838, Henry Hobson Richardson, one of the true geniuses of American architecture, was born. A native of Louisiana, he received his architectural training in Paris. But the ties he formed during his years at Harvard College, including marriage to a Bostonian, led him to make Boston his home. He designed nearly 80 buildings, including churches, libraries, railroad stations, and private homes, many of them in Massachusetts. His buildings were visually striking and beautifully proportioned. He used forms inspired by early medieval churches, including rounded arches, massive towers, and rugged stone walls, with blocks often laid in bands of contrasting color. Widely copied across the nation, "Richardsonian Romanesque" became the first and only architectural style ever named after an American.