Elbridge Boyden

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Elbridge Boyden
Elbridge Boyden, 1810-1898
BornJuly 4, 1810
Somerset, Vermont, U.S.
DiedMarch 25, 1898
Worcester, Massachusetts, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
OccupationArchitect
PracticeElbridge Boyden, Boyden & Joy, Boyden & Ball, E. Boyden & Son
BuildingsTaunton State Hospital, Antioch College, Worcester Medical College, Mechanics Hall, Worcester County Courthouse (Fitchburg), Brooks House, Hospital Cottages for Children

Elbridge Boyden

FAIA (1810–1898) was a prominent 19th-century American architect from Worcester, Massachusetts, who designed numerous civil and public buildings throughout New England and other parts of the United States. Perhaps his best known works are the Taunton State Hospital (1851) and Mechanics Hall
(1855) in Worcester.

Biography

Taunton State Hospital, 1851-2009.

Early life

Boyden was born in Somerset, Vermont, on July 4, 1810, to Amos Boyden, a Revolutionary War Veteran,[1] and Abigail (Wood) Boyden. The family moved to Orange, Massachusetts, where young Elbridge attended public schools. As a young boy, he left school to work in a sawmill. At age sixteen he went to Athol where he was apprenticed to a carpenter, Joel Stratton. Stratton owned two books by Asher Benjamin, which is where Boyden began his architectural training.[2] In 1830 he began to work for Jonathan Cutting, a builder from Templeton, who had built the First Church in that town. Before long he bought out Cutting's business, and worked as a builder and designer in Athol until 1844.[3]

Professional career

That year, facing bankruptcy due to business reversals, he moved to Worcester, where he first worked on an addition to the old Worcester State Lunatic Asylum. In 1847 he and Phineas Ball, a civil engineer, decided to take an office together in the old Central Exchange Building on Main Street.[3] At this time he established himself as solely an architect. In 1848 he partnered with Lewis E. Joy, as Boyden & Joy.[4] They split the following year and he formally associated himself with Ball. The pair operated as Boyden & Ball from 1849 to 1860, and dominated the region's architectural practice.[5]

In about 1863 his son, George E. Boyden, joined his firm, then known as E. Boyden & Son.

Worcester on March 25, 1898.[7]
He married Louisa Davis of Royalston, Massachusetts.[8]

Architectural works

Elbridge Boyden, 1847-1848

Boyden's earliest works were indicative of his training as a builder in the first half of the nineteenth century. His earliest identified works, three houses from 1847, were all designed in the Greek Revival style, then solidly in the mainstream. All on Harvard Street, only one survives. The largest of the three was the Emory Bannister House. Demolished in 1981, it featured a large, single-story Doric portico. The one that still stands is at 1 Dix Street, moved there from Harvard in 1887 for the Otis Putnam House. The house has lost most of its original detail, but retains a Doric porch. It was built for Charles Oliver.[9]

Other works:

  • 1847 - Elbridge Boyden House, 14 Harvard St, Worcester, Massachusetts[10]
    • The architect's own residence. Demolished

Boyden & Joy, 1848-1849

Boyden's partner from 1848 to 1849, Lewis E. Joy, is an obscure figure at best. All that is known is that after leaving Boyden, he worked with William Brown, Worcester's first professional architect, then working in

Gardner, which also incorporated gothic elements.[12][13]
It has been demolished.

Boyden & Ball, 1849-1860

Yellow Springs, OH
. 1852.
Mechanics Hall, Worcester, MA. 1855-57.

Elbridge Boyden and Phineas Ball had shared an office since 1847, but did not become formally associated until 1849. It was during this period that Boyden rose to regional prominence, designing buildings all across the state of Massachusetts, in addition to works elsewhere in the northeast.

This was begun in 1851 with the Taunton State Hospital, a sprawling institutional complex. This was Boyden's first design to feature monumental classicism, in the Italianate style. The original campus was completed in 1854, and closed in 1975. The dome collapsed in 1999, and the remainder of the original complex was demolished in 2005.

Washington. Antioch's three original buildings still stand, but Worcester Medical was demolished in 1965. Prior to its demolition, it had served as the main building of Worcester Academy from 1869.[15]

Boyden also worked on at least three churches during this time. The first of these (1856), the Congregational Church at

Athol, designing a new facade and tower for the church. The tower was destroyed in 1938.[18] Also in 1859 they remodeled the First Congregational Church in Keene, New Hampshire. Like much of Boyden's work at the time, it featured a monumental Italianate facade.[19]
This would be only the first of Boyden's many works in Keene.

Also during this time, Boyden & Ball designed many commercial buildings in Worcester. Of these, the first significant one was Horticultural Hall at 18 Front Street. It was an unusual use of the Romanesque in a commercial setting.[20] The building's fate is not precisely known, and may have been incorporated into the current building on the site. Next came the Clark Block in 1854, at 401-409 Main Street. An impressive structure in its day, half of its Italianate facade has been replaced, and the other half is highly deteriorated.[21] In 1855 came Mechanics Hall, perhaps Boyden's best-known work. Here, Boyden's classical work dwarfed its neighbors, both then and now.[22] It was a popular place for meetings and performances, and remains so today. In 1857 Boyden & Ball designed the Front Street Theatre, adjacent to Horticultural Hall. It was the first venue in Worcester designed specifically for theatre productions.[23] It was destroyed by fire in 1898.[24]

Boyden & Ball also did a few more works further afield, including Denny Hall,

Sherborn, both in 1858.[27]

Other works include:

  • 1850 - Ash Street School, 4 Ash St, Worcester, Massachusetts[28][29]
  • 1850 - Harrington Corner, 427 Main St, Worcester, Massachusetts[30]
    • Remodeled in 1972
  • 1854 - Lincoln House Block, 370 Main St, Worcester, Massachusetts[4][12]
  • 1855 - George Hobbs House, 12 State St, Worcester, Massachusetts[31]
    • Demolished
  • 1858 - 1858 Town House, 3 Sanger Street, P.O. Box 2, Sherborn, Massachusetts [17]
  • 1859 - Tatnuck School, 1067 Pleasant St, Worcester, Massachusetts[32]
    • Demolished

Elbridge Boyden, 1860-1863

For a brief period in the early 1860s Boyden was the sole principal in his office. During this period he retained the Italianate style that he had been working with since the early 1850s. The largest project of this time was the 1862-built

Concord.[33] It is an uncommon example of an industrial structure receiving a full architectural treatment. He also designed, in 1863, the First Congregational Church at Spencer, which was similar in its elaborate design to the First Congregational Church in Keene, built four years earlier.[34] The Spencer church was destroyed by fire, believed to have been started by a lightning strike, in June of 2023.[35]
Other works include:

E. Boyden & Son, 1863-1898

St. Paul's Church
, Worcester, 1868.

Circa 1863 Boyden's son, George E. Boyden, became a partner in the office, which became E. Boyden & Son. Though the younger Boyden died in 1885, the firm remained E. Boyden & Son until Elbridge Boyden's death, making it the longest-lasting period in the firm's history.

Boyden and his son designed many churches, mainly in the

Rutland, Vermont, which attempts to unite the High Victorian Gothic and Queen Anne styles.[41]

The firm's next most common type of commission was for academic buildings. In 1867 they competed for the design of Boynton Hall on the campus of the

Dudley. These were Academy Hall, an academic building, and Conant Hall, a dormitory, in 1880 and 1885.[45][46]
Both were solidly in the Queen Anne mainstream. Both have been altered, Academy Hall beyond recognition.

They also designed a number of public buildings, including several town halls. First was

Baldwinville.[52] Like his much earlier Taunton State Hospital
, it was a sprawling medical campus, though now Queen Anne, not Italianate. The complex has been demolished.

Brattleboro
, 1871.

During this period Boyden designed many hotels, all in the Second Empire style. First, in 1868, came two in upstate New York. He built the massive Congress Hall in downtown

Saratoga Springs,[12][53] and rebuilt the much older Fort William Henry Hotel in Lake George.[12][54] Both built of wood, they were destroyed by fire at different times. In addition to these tourist hotels, he also built a series of commercial hotels across New England. In 1870 he designed the Towns Hotel in Bellows Falls, Vermont, which burned.[12][55] His last two hotels, however, still stand. In 1871 he designed the Brooks House in Brattleboro, one of the largest in northern New England. The other was the Crocker House at New London, Connecticut in 1872.[12][56]

Boyden's first commercial work with this partnership was a duo of office buildings in Keene, New Hampshire. These were the Bank Block and

Clinton, a polychromatic Queen Anne office building.[57] In 1888 he designed the Lamb Block at 41 Pleasant Street in Worcester, one of Boyden's only works in the Neo-Grec style.[58]

As before, Boyden did few residential buildings. During this period, though, he did at least two of note in Worcester. First, in 1867, was the Jerome Marble House on Harvard Street.[10] This is considered to be one of the finest Second Empire buildings still standing in the city. Much later, in 1894, Boyden built an apartment block at Eden and George Streets for Pellett Brothers.[59] This was, in addition to being one of his last overall works, was his only design within the late-19th century Romanesque Revival mainstream. Boyden may have also designed the Henry Colony residence (now the public library) in Keene, New Hampshire, who built Colony's Block the following year. The Colony residence is similar to much of Boyden's other Second Empire work.

Other works include:

E. Boyden & Son also competed for the designs of the New York (1867)[67] and Georgia (1883)[68] state capitols, and the Worcester City Hall (1895),[69] but did not win.

Legacy

In 1991, the Elbridge Boyden Society was established at Nichols College in Dudley, Massachusetts.[70]

Architects associated with Boyden

Gallery

  • Ash Street School, Worcester, 1850.
    Ash Street School, Worcester, 1850.
  • Worcester Medical College, Worcester, 1852. Demolished.
    Worcester Medical College, Worcester, 1852. Demolished.
  • Lincoln House Block, Worcester, 1854. Demolished.
    Lincoln House Block, Worcester, 1854. Demolished.
  • Congregational Church, Brookfield, 1856.
    Congregational Church,
    Brookfield
    , 1856.
  • Larchmont, Worcester, 1858.
    Larchmont, Worcester, 1858.
  • Sherborn 1858 Town House, Sherborn, 1858.
    Sherborn 1858 Town House,
    Sherborn
    , 1858.
  • First Congregational Church, Keene, 1859.
    Keene
    , 1859.
  • Damon Mill, Concord, 1862.
    Concord
    , 1862.
  • First Congregational Church, Spencer, 1863.
    Spencer
    , 1863.
  • Town House, North Brookfield, 1864.
    North Brookfield
    , 1864.
  • Baptist Church, Brattleboro, 1867.
    Baptist Church,
    Brattleboro
    , 1867.
  • Jerome Marble House, Worcester, 1867.
    Jerome Marble House, Worcester, 1867.
  • Congress Hall, Saratoga Springs, 1868. Burned.
    Congress Hall,
    Saratoga Springs
    , 1868. Burned.
  • Fort William Henry Hotel, Lake George, 1868. Burned.
    Fort William Henry Hotel, Lake George, 1868. Burned.
  • Washburn Shops, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 1868.
    Washburn Shops, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 1868.
  • Cambridge Street School, Worcester, 1869.
    Cambridge Street School, Worcester, 1869.
  • Henry Colony House, Keene, 1869.
    Henry Colony House, Keene, 1869.
  • Colony's Block, Keene, 1870.
    Colony's Block, Keene, 1870.
  • M. E. Church, Saratoga Springs, 1871.
    Saratoga Springs
    , 1871.
  • L'Eglise du Precieux Sang, Woonsocket, 1873.
    Woonsocket
    , 1873.
  • All Souls Unitarian Church, Brattleboro, 1874.
    All Souls Unitarian Church,
    Brattleboro
    , 1874.
  • Public Library, Hubbardston, 1874.
    Hubbardston
    , 1874.
  • Channing Memorial Church, Newport, 1880.
    Channing Memorial Church,
    Newport
    , 1880.
  • Town Hall, Upton, 1883.
    Upton
    , 1883.


References

  1. ^ "New York Times article" (PDF).
  2. ^ "Two Sons of the American Revolution". Worcester Magazine July 1903: 17.
  3. ^ a b Boyden, Elbridge. Reminiscences of Elbridge Boyden, Architect. 1890.
  4. ^ a b c Bancroft, James H. "History of the Central Exchange From 1804 to 1896". Proceedings of the Worcester Society of Antiquity Jan. 1900: 324.
  5. ^ "Phineas Ball" (PDF).
  6. ^ "Elbridge Boyden, FAIA". Proceedings of the Annual Convention of the American Institute of Architects 1898.
  7. ^ Revolution, Sons of the American; Cornish, Louis Henry; Clark, Alonzo Howard (1902). A National Register of the Society, Sons of the American Revolution. Press of A. H. Kellogg. p. 462 – via Internet Archive.
  8. ^ Nutt, Charles (29 June 2018). "History of Worcester and Its People". Lewis Historical Publishing Company – via Google Books.
  9. ^ "Oliver, Charles House". mhc-macris.net. Massachusetts Historical Commission, n.d. Web.
  10. ^ a b Roe, A. S. "Twenty Years of Harvard Street". Proceedings of the Worcester Society of Antiquity 1897: 263.
  11. ^ Reports of the First Exhibition of the Worcester County Mechanics Association in the Nashua Halls, in the City of Worcester, September, 1848. 1848.
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "Elbridge Boyden," Light 3, no. 5 (April 4, 1891): 102-103.
  13. ^ Glazier, Lewis. History of Gardner, Massachusetts. 1860.
  14. ^ "Taunton State Hospital - Main Bldg - Admin.". mhc-macris.net. Massachusetts Historical Commission, n.d. Web.
  15. ^ a b Morrill, Frank J., William O. Hultgren, and Eric J. Salomonsson. Postcard History Series: Worcester. 2005.
  16. ^ "Evangelical Congregational Church". mhc-macris.net. Massachusetts Historical Commission, n.d. Web.
  17. ^ a b Sherborn Community Center Foundation (2018-06-09). "Sherborn 1858 Town House".
  18. ^ History of Athol, Massachusetts. 1953.
  19. ^ a b Tolles, Bryant F., Jr. New Hampshire Architecture: An Illustrated Guide. 1979.
  20. ^ Transactions of the Worcester County Horticultural Society for A. D. 1886. 1887.
  21. ^ "Clark Block". mhc-macris.net. Massachusetts Historical Commission, n.d. Web.
  22. ^ "Mechanics Hall". mhc-macris.net. Massachusetts Historical Commission, n.d. Web.
  23. ^ a b Hurd, D. Hamilton. History of Worcester County, Massachusetts. 1889.
  24. ^ Engineering News 10 March 1898: 81.
  25. ^ "Denny Hall". mhc-macris.net. Massachusetts Historical Commission, n.d. Web.
  26. ^ "Larchmont". mhc-macris.net. Massachusetts Historical Commission, n.d. Web.
  27. ^ "1858 Sherborn Town House". mhc-macris.net. Massachusetts Historical Commission, n.d. Web.
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  30. ^ "Harrington Corner". mhc-macris.net. Massachusetts Historical Commission, n.d. Web.
  31. ^ "Hobbs, George House". mhc-macris.net. Massachusetts Historical Commission, n.d. Web.
  32. ^ City Document, No. 64. Address of Hon. James Logan, Mayor of the City of Worcester, 1910. With the Annual Reports of the Several Departments for the Financial Year Ending November 30, 1909. 1910.
  33. ^ "Damon Mill, The". mhc-macris.net. Massachusetts Historical Commission, n.d. Web.
  34. ^ "First Congregational Church". mhc-macris.net. Massachusetts Historical Commission, n.d. Web.
  35. ^ y Claire Law and Adam Sennott, "Lightning strike likely sparked fire that destroyed historic Spencer church, official says," Boston Globe, June 3, 2023. Accessed June 3, 2023.
  36. ^ "Universal Preservation Hall". http://sacredsaratoga.weebly.com/. 2012.
  37. ^ Norton, Paul F. Rhode Island Stained Glass: An Historical Guide. 2001.
  38. ^ a b Brattleboro Downtown Historic District NRHP Nomination. 1983.
  39. ^ "Gilbertville Congregational Church and Chapel". mhc-macris.net. Massachusetts Historical Commission, n.d. Web.
  40. ^ Yarnall, James L. Newport Through its Architecture, 2005.
  41. ^ Engineering and Building Record 20 Oct. 1888: ix.
  42. ^ "Washburn Machine Shops - Plunger Elevator Company". mhc-macris.net. Massachusetts Historical Commission, n.d. Web.
  43. ^ "Cambridge Street School". mhc-macris.net. Massachusetts Historical Commission, n.d. Web.
  44. ^ "Grafton Street Schoolhouse #1". mhc-macris.net. Massachusetts Historical Commission, n.d. Web.
  45. ^ Engineering News 24 July 1880: 254.
  46. ^ a b American Architect and Building News 24 Jan. 1885: 48.
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  49. ^ Engineering and Contracting 21 Feb. 1912: 57.
  50. ^ Sanitary Engineer 5 July 1883: 115.
  51. ^ "Court House for Fitchburg, Mass". Architectural Review and American Builders' Journal March 1870: 553.
  52. ^ Engineering and Building Record 14 Sept. 1889: 223.
  53. ^ Dearborn, R. F. Saratoga, and How to See It. 1873.
  54. ^ Halm, Gale J. and Mary H. Sharp. Images of America: Lake George. 2000.
  55. ^ Collins, Anne L., Virginia Lisai, and Louise Luring. Images of America: Around Bellows Falls. 2002.
  56. ^ "Pride of Place: Architecture Along State Street, New London, Connecticut". http://www.newlondonlandmarks.org/. n.d. Web.
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  70. ^ "Admission".
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  72. ^ Various. A.W.N. Pugin, Master of Gothic Revival. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995.


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