Henry H. Dupont


Henry H. Dupont was an American architect. He practiced from Indianapolis, Indiana, and then Pinellas County, Florida after relocating there in 1915.

Career

DuPont trained for several years under many of the best architects in the Midwest before he traveled to Paris, France and graduated from the Ecole de Beaux Arts.
DuPont designed Bona Thompson Memorial Library in Irvington, Indiana, the eclectic Masonic Temple and Hall School.
Dupont, along with Carl Prinzler, the Manager of the Builders Hardware Department at the Vonnegut Hardware Company developed the first "panic bar" device for doors which can be pushed to open the door from the inside despite being locked on the outside. This invention was born out of necessity after a fire broke out in the Iroquois Theatre in Chicago in 1903 and claimed 600 lives. Many of the deaths were attributed to exit doors being latched and panicked crowds being unable to open inward-swinging doors due to audience members surging forward in an attempt to escape. After patenting this hardware, the device became known under the trade name Von Duprin, a blend of the three principals surnames, VONnegut, DUpont, PRINzler. In 1910, Vonnegut Hardware Company began to sell the Von Duprin Safe Exit Device; not long after many public buildings in Indianapolis implemented the panic bar, setting standards that the rest of the nation too would soon follow.
Dupont announced his move to Florida in 1915, with an office in St. Petersburg's Central National Bank Building. In Pinellas County, Florida, he designed the Don CeSar Hotel and Casa De Muchas Flores.

Works