William Strickland is one of the foremost architects of the Greek Revival Era. His designs include the Philadelphia Exchange Building as well as the Second Bank of the United States,  which is also located in Philadelphia. The Second Bank building is perhaps the most representative piece of the Greek Revival style that remains today.
    Strickland was American born, the son of a New Jersey carpenter. His father worked on the construction of the Bank of Pennsylvania, which introduced young William to H. Benjamin Latrobe, the bank's architect. William Strickland apprenticed under Latrobe for two years. As he grew older, he became a prominent member of society, joining the American Philosophical Society, the Musical Fund Society, and the Franklin Institute. In 1815, he successfully submitted the designs for the Second Bank of the United States, which immediately accelerated his career in architecture.
      Strickland's designs leave a distinguished mark. They include also St Johns Church, St. Stephen's Church, the Tennessee State Capitol, the Musical Fund Society Hall. Toward the end of his career, though, Strickland fell upon hard times. He lost competitions for Girard College to his former student, Thomas Walter, the Laurel Hill Cemetery, as well as the Franklin Institute. The Panic of 1837 ended all architectural commissions. He moved south, and died during the construction of his last design, the Tennessee State Capitol, and is buried beneath it.
      The work of Strickland made a profound effect on one of America's best known earliest architects, Thomas Jefferson.  Jefferson is most well known for his own private residence, Monticello, and well as The University of Virginia and the Capitol Building of Virginia located in Richmond.  All of these buildings share similar characteristics with Strickland's buildings.  They are large, but simple, creating a general effect of elegance.  They also combine aesthetic architectual qualities with engineering accomplishments of the time.  Jefferson would come to look at Strickland's designs as a starting point for his own.