Wallis Eastburn Howe

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Wallis E. Howe
Fellow, American Institute of Architects
(1923)
PracticeClarke & Howe;
Howe & Church;
Howe & Prout;
Howe, Prout & Ekman
The 1953–54 addition to the Providence Public Library, by Howe, Prout & Ekman.

Wallis Eastburn Howe

FAIA (September 12, 1868 – September 15, 1960) was a notable American architect from Rhode Island. A member of the wealthy DeWolf family of Bristol, Howe became a partner in the Providence architectural firm of Clarke & Howe
in 1901 and was senior partner of that firm's successors from 1928 until his death in 1960.

Biography

Howe was born in

Reading
the following year.

He first attended Reading's Selwyn Hall, the diocesan school. After graduation, he attended

Providence architects Martin & Hall, though he continued to accept commissions in Bristol. He quickly gained a high level of responsibility in the office, and was given design duties on several projects. He remained with Martin & Hall until 1901, when he joined the office of Clarke & Spaulding. The firm became Clarke, Spaulding & Howe very briefly, but became Clarke & Howe a few months later upon Spaulding's retirement.[1]

Clarke & Howe became one of Rhode Island's leading firms, beginning in 1903, when they won the commission for the

Cranston
in 1973, where he lived for the remainder of his life.

Howe was the father of George L. Howe, the architect, author and Office of Strategic Services officer.[8]

Architectural work

Private practice, c.1894–1896

Wallis Howe's first known design is the old Bristol Armory of 1894, on Thames Street.

Romanesque Revival style that gave a medieval flavor to the armories built at that era. In 1895 he designed a house (60 Church) for Frank M. Dimond, and in 1896 one (40 Woodlawn) for Andrew Lynch. Both were comfortably in the Queen Anne mainstream.[10]

With Martin & Hall, 1896–1901

St. John's, East Boston, 1897.

Circa 1896, Howe joined the Providence office of Martin & Hall as a designer where he quickly gained a high level of responsibility. He could act on behalf of the firm, apply for building permits, and execute designs under his own name. He began stewardship for several Martin & Hall buildings in the Bristol area. There, he designed the Y. M. C. A. Building on Hope Street in 1898.[11] The following year he also designed a harborside residence called Wyndstowe, for Isoline and Hattie Barns. Howe later inherited the house, at 221 Hope Street, from the sisters.[10]

Clarke & Howe, 1901–1928

Saint Martin's Church, Providence Rhode Island

Howe was associated with Prescott O. Clarke, another MIT graduate, for 27 years. During this period, Clarke & Howe emerged as one of the city's chief architectural firms, with Jackson, Robertson & Adams as their biggest competitor.

Designs include:

  • 1916–1917 – Saint Martin's Church, 50 Orchard Avenue, Providence, Rhode Island, "an unknown masterpiece of early twentieth-century Gothic".[14]
  • 1925 – Parish House at St. Martin's Church, 50 Orchard Avenue, Providence, Rhode Island.[15]

Summary

Howe & Church, 1928–1938

Insurance Building, Providence, 1929. It conforms to the neighboring Morris Plan Building, by Jackson, Robertson & Adams. Both are owned by RISD.
Rochambeau Branch Library, Providence, 1930. The addition on the right was added in 2003 by Ann Beha Architects.[16]

In 1928 Prescott Clarke retired and was replaced by long-time employee Samuel W. Church. The newly established firm had few opportunities to design commercial buildings, due to the Great Depression. With the exception of three buildings in 1929, no such commissions came into the office until World War II. The first of these was the Insurance Building, on Canal Street. It was built to house two insurance companies, the Rhode Island Insurance Company and the Merchants Fire Insurance Company.[17] For this, the last tall building built until the 1950s, Howe chose to reuse one of his favorite motifs, the ogee gable. With the exception of this distinctive element, the building is otherwise a plain, conservative example of the Colonial Revival in limestone. The next building was the Empire Street headquarters of the Old Stone Safe Deposit and Trust Company, a newly established subsidiary of the Providence Institution for Savings. It uses a much more ornate Classicism than many of the firm's contemporary works. Most of the neighboring buildings are plain, and this building may be considered the "visual highlight" of the block.[12] The third commercial building, now lost, was the Providence National Bank at 90 Westminster Street.[12] It was a standard neo-Georgian work, though it was noted for its expansive use of glass. In 1937, it was called out as one of the best modern commercial buildings in the state.[18] In 2005 it was demolished for the 110 Westminster project, which was never built.

Civic and academic buildings composed much of the firm's output for many years. This was kicked off in 1929 with Howe & Church being commissioned to design the new

Byzantine revival style, at Cranston and Ford Streets.[20] In 1935 Howe planned a second major hospital, the main building at the Rhode Island State Sanitorium at Wallum Lake.[21] Known as Wallum Lake House, it replaced Thornton & Thornton's deteriorating building, built in 1903.[22] Howe's design was modeled on his Bradley Hospital, on a much larger scale. While that was under construction, Howe designed the new Cranston City Hall, which replaced a 19th-century building that was considered a firetrap.[23]
The new building, built in 1936, was large but otherwise unremarkable.

Howe & Church also built a number of private residences, mostly by 1931. The largest of these was a house in 1929 for William S. Tully at 132 Nayatt Road in

Barrington.[24] In 1930 in Providence, the architects designed a house for Elizabeth G. Wood, Samuel Church's widowed daughter. At 72 Manning Street, it is a good example of neo-Federal work inspired by the work of John Holden Greene.[12] In 1938, they designed a large mansion for Charles B. Rockwell Jr. at Bristol, on Poppasquash Road. Known as Point Pleasant, it is a simple but large example of rural English revival.[10]

Other designs include:

Howe & Prout, 1938–1946

Samuel Church retired from the firm in 1938, and head draftsman Earle F. Prout became a partner.

Fall River exchange.[31] At 326 North Main Street, it is vaguely neo-Georgian, but contains modernist influences. Next, in 1941, was a replacement for the company's South Providence/Edgewood exchange.[32]
At 1096 Broad Street, it is a plain but unexpectedly monumental building in the neo-Georgian style. Parts of the building have been altered, and it has been vacated by the telephone company.

Howe & Prout are known to have designed two churches, in 1941 and 1945. The first of these is St. Martin's, at Newport & Hughes in

East Providence.[33]

Howe & Prout also designed two military housing complexes. The first of these, at

Newport in 1944, had a similar fate.[35]
Called Tonomoy Hill, it was built on a much larger scale. Here, the houses were arranged along crescent-shaped streets. After the navy left Rhode Island, the neighborhood became poverty- and crime-ridden. It was demolished and redeveloped in its entirety in 2006.

Howe, Prout & Ekman, 1946–1959

Dighton-Rehoboth Regional High School, Dighton, 1959.

In 1946, Edward O. Ekman rejoined the firm. He was a member of Howe & Church from 1928 to 1931, when he established his own office. Ekman began to trickle modernism into his work, and brought this to the Howe office. The firm gradually adopted modernism gradually, but did not design any more neo-traditional buildings after Howe's retirement from active practice circa 1955.[2] At this time, Ekman and Prout's younger son, Donald J. Prout, took control of design.

During this period the firm continued to work for New England Telephone. In 1946 they built one on Pleasant Street in

Barrington that year.[6]

As early as 1944 the architects had planned a new church complex for the Phillips Baptist Church in Cranston, and construction finally began in 1947.

Dighton.[42]

Other works include:

Howe & Prout, 1960

In 1959 Ekman left to reestablish his own practice. The firm name reverted to Howe & Prout the following year. However, Earle Prout died that same year, and his son, Donald Prout, age 29, became the sole active partner.

The two known Howe & Prout projects are both International Style hospital buildings. The first of these was a new building for the Josiah B. Thomas Hospital in Peabody, Massachusetts.[44] The hospital had outgrown its old, Colonial Revival building, since demolished. The 1960 building is at present known as Kindred Hospital. The second project was an addition to the Roger Williams Hospital in Providence. Published in 1961, it made exceptional use of glass curtain walls.[45]

When Howe died, the office was reestablished as Donald J. Prout & Associates.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b Jordy, William H. and Christopher P. Monkhouse. Buildings on Paper: Rhode Island Architectural Drawings, 1825–1945. 1982.
  2. ^ a b c Technology Review 1960: 63–64.
  3. ^ Technology Review Oct. 1907: 506.
  4. ^ American Contractor August 9, 1913: 103.
  5. ^ Architecture 1928.
  6. ^ a b c d e f American Architects Directory. 1956.
  7. ^ a b American Architects Directory. 1962.
  8. Newspapers.com
    .
  9. ^ Annual Report of the State Auditor, January 1895. 1895.
  10. ^ a b c d e Historic and Architectural Resources of Bristol, Rhode Island. 1990.
  11. ^ American Architect and Building News August 14, 1897: xiii.
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Woodward, Wm. McKenzie. Providence: A Citywide Survey of Historic Resources. 1986.
  13. ^ American Architect and Building News September 25, 1897: iii.
  14. ^ Woodward, William McKenzie. PPS/AIAri Guide to Providence Architecture with Foreword by William Morgan. 2003.
  15. ^ Woodward, William McKenzie. PPS/AIAri Guide to Providence Architecture with Foreword by William Morgan. 2003. pp. 281–2.
  16. ^ Library Building Consultants and Architects
  17. ^ Engineering News-Record 1929: 5.
  18. ^ Rhode Island: A Guide To The Smallest State. 1937.
  19. ^ Power 1929: 78.
  20. ^ Engineering News-Record 1932: 635.
  21. ^ Bridgemen's Magazine 1936: 792.
  22. ^ Engineering News December 18, 1902: 218.
  23. ^ Bridgemen's Magazine 1936: 87.
  24. ^ a b Historic and Architectural Resources of Barrington, Rhode Island. 1993.
  25. ^ Freeman Plat Historic District NRHP Nomination. 1995.
  26. ^ Engineering News-Record 1931: page 62.
  27. ^ Bridgemen's Magazine 1933: page 227.
  28. ^ Bridgemen's Magazine 1935: page 682.
  29. ^ Jordy, William H. Buildings of Rhode Island. 2004.
  30. ^ a b East Providence, Rhode Island: Statewide Preservation Report P-EP-1. 1976.
  31. ^ Engineering News-Record 1945: 20.
  32. ^ Engineering News-Record 1941: 25.
  33. ^ a b Norton, Paul F. Rhode Island Stained Glass: An Historical Guide. 2001.
  34. ^ Engineering News-Record 1945: 212.
  35. ^ Engineering News-Record 1944: 36.
  36. ^ Engineering News-Record 1946: 27.
  37. ^ Engineering News-Record 1947: 114.
  38. ^ Cady, John Hutchins. The Civic and Architectural Development of Providence, 1636–1950. 1957.
  39. ^ Engineering News-Record 1944: 206.
  40. ^ American Contractor August 23, 1919: 45.
  41. ^ Report of the President and Other Officers. 1954.
  42. ^ Engineering News-Record 1959: 80.
  43. ^ Engineering News-Record 1958: 159.
  44. ^ Engineering News-Record 1960: 121.
  45. ^ Architectural Forum 1961: 37.
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