This is not a Wikipedia article: It is an individual user's work-in-progress page, and may be incomplete and/or unreliable.For guidance on developing this draft, see Wikipedia:So you made a userspace draft.
Finished writing a draft article? Are you ready to request an experienced editor review it for possible inclusion in Wikipedia? Submit your draft for review!
Warren Lyman Floyd was born February 1, 1836 in Warner, New Hampshire to Daniel Floyd and Susan M. (Bushee) Floyd.[1] He was educated in the public schools of Methuen and Billerica, Massachusetts. He trained as a carpenter in New Hampshire and Boston and briefly operated a grocery in Billerica. In 1872 he moved to Lowell and began working for builder George W. Pearson. In 1875, after self-education in architecture, he established himself as an architect in Lowell. He formally retired in 1909, though he continued to work on small projects from his home.[2]
In 1859 Floyd married Nancy Louise Holden of Billerica. At the time, Floyd was a resident of Medford. They had three children, one son and two daughters.[1] Floyd and his wife were Baptists and were closely involved with the First Baptist Church in Lowell. The Floyds lived at 124 Stevens Street in Lowell.[3] Floyd died August 2, 1918 in Lowell.[2]
A least one building designed by Floyd has been listed on the United States National Register of Historic Places, and others contribute to listed historic districts.
Perley Fred Gilbert was born December 14, 1868 in St. Johnsbury, Vermont to Charles Henry Gilbert and Sarah Louise (Hale) Gilbert. In 1875 the family relocated to Andover, Massachusetts. He attended the public schools and Phillips Academy in Andover. In 1891 he entered the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, graduating in 1895 with a degree in architecture. He worked for Boston architects for several years, returning to Andover in 1898 to establish his own practice.[1] In April of 1899 he formed a partnership with Otis A. Merrill, a Lowell architect, as Merrill & Gilbert. Merrill retired in November of 1900, and Gilbert suceeded to the practice.[2] For many years Gilbert was chiefly known as a residential architect, and designed worker housing for the American Woolen Company as well as homes for regionally prominent industrialists.[1] In the 1920s he began to design many commercial and schools buildings in the Lowell area. In 1928, he designed Lowell's Masonic Temple.
In 1949, Gilbert reorganized his firm as Perley F. Gilbert Associates, with Herbert H. Glassman (1919-2003), Edmund E. McMahon (1915-1990) and Albert I. Richmond (1910-1958) as fellow principals. Later principals included Arthur P. Cryan, Joseph G. Dion, Robert F. Hudson and Arthur P. Savas.[3][4] Gilbert's sucessors were best known for schools and other public buildings, and were the designers of the Kenneth R. Fox Student Union of the University of Massachusetts Lowell, the tallest building in Lowell. Gilbert was president of the firm until his death. He was succeeded by Richmond, who died suddenly in an aviation accident in 1958.[5] Glassman was then elected president and held the office until his retirement in 1984.[6] The firm was likely inactive thereafter, and was involuntarily dissolved in 1990.[7]
It is not known if Gilbert ever married or had children. After 1875, he lived his entire life in Andover. He first lived with his parents at 115 Main Street. After his parents' deaths he sold the house in 1916,[8] and from then on boarded down the street at 107 Main Street.[9]
Harrison Prescott Graves, known as Harry, was born June 6, 1870 in Lowell, Massachusetts to Orville D. Graves and Annie M. (Clark) Graves. He was educated in the Lowell public schools, graduating in 1888. He then joined the office of Merrill & Cutler as a drafter before establishing himself as an architect in 1895.[1] In 1897 he formed a partnership with Salem engineer John H. Bickford, and the two practiced together as Bickford & Graves until 1899, when Bickford moved to Boston and Graves resumed independent practice.[2] During his career he developed a specialty of public schools and theatre buildings.[1] Graves worked continuously as an architect until his death in 1940. His last major project was an additional building for the Lowell High School. In addition to the projects he was primary architect for, he was consulting architect to Blackall, Clapp & Whittemore of Boston on their design for the Lowell Memorial Auditorium.[3]
Graves was married in 1898 to Helen Mabel Osgood of Lowell. They had one daughter.[1] Graves died March 9, 1940 in Lowell.[3] His wife predeceased him in 1933.[4] His architectural library was donated to the Pollard Memorial Library.[5]
In addition to his architectural works, Graves also developed a proposal to develop central Lowell along City Beautiful lines. This proposal, published in 1912, showed a proposed network of boulevards, parks and squares connecting Lowell's major centers. Graves also proposed a group of cultural and educational buildings located north of Lowell City Hall along the Merrimack Canal.[6] Graves's proposals were not executed, though some of his proposed elements, including an extension to the high school and the Lowell Memorial Auditorium, were executed at other locations.
Otis A. Merrill (1844–1935) was an American architect. In association with various partners he practiced architecture in Lowell, Massachusetts from 1873 until 1900.
Otis Addison Merrill was born August 22, 1844 in Hudson, New Hampshire to Benjamin Arnold Merrill and Mary Jane (Winn) Merrill. He was educated in the local schools, and when he turned 18, during the American Civil War, he enlisted in the Union Army with the 7th New Hampshire Infantry Regiment. He was awarded a Gillmore Medal for his conduct during the Second Battle of Charleston Harbor. He was discharged July 7, 1865 at Concord with the rank of sergeant.[1] After the war he went to Haverhill, Massachusetts, where he learned the carpentry trade. In 1869 he moved to Lowell. After four more years and with some self-training in architecture, he established himself as an architect in Lowell in 1873.[2] In 1878 he formed a partnership with Charles S. Eaton, a Lowell native who had just graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The partnership of Merrill & Eaton was dissolved in 1880.[3] Three years later in 1883 he formed a partnership with Arthur S. Cutler, an Andover native, who had joined Merrill's office as a draftsman in 1876.[2] Merrill & Cutler was dissolved in 1897, and Merrill formed a new partnership, Merrill & Clark, with draftsman Edwin R. Clark.[4] In April of 1899 Clark left to open his own office, and Merrill was joined by Perley F. Gilbert, a St. Johnsbury native who was a graduate of MIT. Merrill & Gilbert practiced together until Merrill's retirement in November of 1900.[5] The office continued under Gilbert and his successors until 1990.
Merrill's practice was centered on Massachusetts, and he and his partners were well known as architects of public buildings and schools in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. His most prominent building was the Lowell City Hall, begun in 1890 and completed 1893, with a design based on the Allegheny County CourthousebyH. H. Richardson. An unusual foreign project was for a YMCA in Madras, now Chennai, in India. Plans for this building, which was the gift of John Wanamaker, were drawn and accepted in the United States in 1896. Merrill & Cutler designed the building in an Italian Gothic style.[6][7] In 1897, after being sent to India, they were revised by local architect George S. T. Harris at the suggestion of Governor Arthur Havelock. Though the floor plans were unchanged, Harris redrew the elevations to be more in keeping with the local architecture, in what is now known as the Indo-Saracenic style. The building was finished in 1899.[8]
Merrill was married three times. He was married first in 1870 to Maria Jennie Moore of Pelham, New Hampshire, who died in 1882. He married second in 1883 to Anna Maud Smith of Worcester, who died in 1886. He married third in 1889 to Anna E. Boynton of Pepperell. He had a total of six children.[9][10] During their time in Lowell, Merrill and his family lived in a house now numbered 92 Wannalancit Street, a Second Empire cottage which he may have designed and built himself.[11] After his retirement, Merrill and his wife moved to her hometown of Pepperell. She died there March 6, 1929,[10] followed by her husband September 14, 1935.[9]
At least two buildings designed by Merrill and his partners have been listed on the United States National Register of Historic Places, and others contribute to listed historic districts.
James Hovey Rand was born October 25, 1813 in Boston to Gardner Hammond Rand and Sarah (Frothingham) Rand.[1]
Rand & Place.
In 1858, following the controversy over his jail design, Rand relocated his family and practice to Boston. He originally moved to Roxbury, but by 1860 had settled in Charlestown, his mother's birthplace. He was a vocal proponent of the annexation of Charleston to Boston, which was eventually carried out in 1874. Rand practiced architecture in Boston until his death in 1883, but no projects are known after the 1860s.[2]
^The original building was the westernmost portion. Also known as the Lee Street Church. Later a Catholic church, now St. Joseph the Worker Shrine.
^The architect of this house is not documented, but its nomination to the National Register of Historic Places offers Rand's name as the most likely candidate on stylistic grounds. The house was later owned by Rollin White and Charles Herbert Allen.
Henry Lawrence Rourke was born March 14, 1873 in Lowell to Lawrence Rourk and Jane (Sears) Rourk.[1] His education is unknown, but by 1894 he was a draftsman in the office of Lowell architects Stickney & Austin. Circa 1906 he left Stickney to open his own office, but returned in 1908 to form the partnership of Stickney, Austin & Rourke. This was dissolved in 1910 and Rourke returned to private practice, which he continued for over thirty years.[2] Rourke was best known as an architect of schools, designing many for public and Catholic clients in and around Lowell.[3] Rourke died February 17, 1963.[1]
Frederick Warren Stickney was born June 17, 1853 in Lowell, Massachusetts to Daniel Stickney and Betsey (Emery) Stickney.[1][2] He attended the Lowell public schools and in 1873 entered the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a special student in architecture, graduating from the two-year program in 1875. He worked for Otis A. Merrill in Lowell and for Hartwell & Swasey in Boston.[2][3] In 1881 he opened his own office at 131 Devonshire Street in Boston, moving it to the new Hildreth Building in Lowell in 1883.
In 1892 he formed a partnership with Boston architect William D. Austin, following the retirement of Austin's former partner, William E. Chamberlin. The new firm of Stickney & Austin was initially based in Lowell, but in 1893 Austin returned to Boston to open a second office.[4] Thereafter the architects remained in partnership and practiced under the name of Stickney & Austin, but rarely if ever collaborated. Stickney was not involved in the major works of the Boston office, which included the numerous buildings for the Metropolitan Park Commission and its sucessor, the Metropolitan District Commission, and the former Charlestown High School. The two architects finally dissolved their partnership around 1908,[a] though both continued to practice under the Stickney & Austin name. Stickney completed fewer major projects during the last years of his career. One of his last was the 1915 reconstruction, following a major fire, of the Pollard Memorial Library, which he had originally completed in 1893.
In 1908 Stickney formed a new partnership with architect Henry L. Rourke, who had been an employee of Stickney before opening his own office. The new partnership, known as Stickney, Austin & Rourke, lasted only until 1910. Circa 1914 Stickney moved from his suite in the Hildreth Building to a smaller office in the Lowell Institution for Savings Building, and in 1916 he dropped the Stickney & Austin name, practicing under his name alone until his death in early 1918.
Stickney was closely involved in the social life of Lowell. Stickney and his associates attempted to establish in Lowell a version of the club life common amongst the upper classes in larger cities. To this end he was among the founders of the Vesper Boat Club, later the Vesper Country Club, in 1875 and the Yorick Club in 1882. Many of his fellow members in these clubs were also later to be his clients.[5]
For his entire professional career, Stickney lived in his parents' home at 53 3rd Street in Lowell's Centralville neighborhood.[6] He never married. He died January 17, 1918 in Lowell.
^Some sources indicate 1900 as the end of the Stickney & Austin partnership, though advertisements in the Lowell directories until at least 1906 note both Lowell and Boston offices.