firm active: 1907-1921

minneapolis, minnesota :: chicago, illinois
philadelphia, pennsylvania :: portland, oregon


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Biographical Notes: William Gray Purcell

The life of William Gray Purcell can be viewed as having nine different periods.  Meanwhile here are essays excerpted from the Guide to the William Gray Purcell Papers which were completed in 1985, subsequently revised in 2001 for Internet display, and presented in final form in 2015. A thirty year journey.

Biographical Essays

Childhood, 1880-1899

Cornell, 1899-1903

Apprenticeship, 1903-1907

Purcell and Feick, 1907-1909

Purcell, Feick, and Elmslie, 1910-1912

Purcell and Elmslie, 1913-1920

Portland, 1920-1929

Banning, 1930-1935

Westwinds, 1936-1965

Images


Lumiere autochrome

Detail
Catherine Garns Gray and Edna Summy Purcell, 1915

Other Information

List of designs and projects done by Purcell while attending college or working as an apprentice in Berkeley, California, and Seattle, Washington, before leaving for his grand tour of Europe in 1906.

A service sponsored by members of the American Institute of Architects in association with the US Department of Commerce, the ASHSB published pre-designed plans for small houses that were distributed in various regions of the United States.  Purcell was a participating architect in the North Pacific Division, and several designs from his Portland, Oregon office were offered nationwide by the ASHSB.  His friend John Jager designed the ASHSB logo.

 

 

 

research courtesy mark hammons