Thornton M. Niven.

About Thornton M. Niven

Thornton MacNess Niven was a Scottish-American architect and master stonecutter who worked primarily in Newburgh, New York, but also in several locations along the Hudson River and Southern United States. Although Niven considered himself more of a stonecutter than an architect, he acquainted himself with several men working to establish Gothic Revival and Italianate styles within American architectural practice—Andrew Jackson Downing, Alexander Jackson Davis, James H. Dakin, Russell Warren, and Calvin Pollard. In his early career as a granite stonecutter, Niven gained national acclaim.