Rogers was born in
Marshfield, Massachusetts to Isaac Rogers, a farmer and shipwright, and his wife Hannah Ford. In 1823 he married Emily Wesley Tobey of
Portland, Maine. The couple had eight children, four of whom survived infancy. Two of his sons followed him into the profession of architecture. Rogers was a student of
Solomon Willard. He became one of the country's foremost hotel architects and was renowned for Boston's
Tremont House (the first hotel with indoor plumbing), the
Astor House in New York City, and the
Exchange Hotel in
Richmond, Virginia. He designed the Burnett House in Cincinnati, then the largest and most elegant hotel in the Midwest. He also designed New York's
Astor Opera House (1847). With William Keeley, Rogers designed
The Cathedral of the Assumption,
Louisville, Kentucky in the
Neo-Gothic style. Upon its completion in 1852, the 287-foot spire was North America's tallest. His design for the fourth
Hamilton County, Ohio Hamilton County Courthouse was for a massive three-story building, measuring 190 feet square. The building closely resembles Rogers'
Merchants Exchange building, Wall Street in New York City. He also designed the Boston
Merchants Exchange. Rogers was the supervising architect, the last of five, who worked on the
Ohio Statehouse. He completed the building in 1861. In 1853, Rogers founded an architecture firm in
Louisville, Kentucky with another architect named
Henry Whitestone. That firm was originally named Rogers, Whitestone & Co., Architects. It is still practicing today under the name of
Luckett & Farley Architects, Engineers, & Interior Designers. From 1863 to 1865, due to his friendship with fellow Cincinnatian
Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury, Rogers was appointed as
Supervising Architect of the United States. In this role, he designed and patented four burglar-proof
vaults built in the northwest corner of the
U.S. Treasury Building in 1864. Their lining consisted of two layers of
cast iron balls interposed between the traditional alternating plates of
wrought iron and hardened steel. The balls, held loosely in specially formed cavities, were designed to rotate freely upon contact with a drill, or any other tool, thereby preventing a burglar from penetrating. The design was first used for two vaults built in the New York Sub-Treasury in 1862 (this building is now use as
Federal Hall National Memorial). Similar vaults were built in custom houses in Detroit,
Cincinnati, and Chicago. == Selected architectural works ==