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Historical Continuities
Biographical Notes: William Gray Purcell (1880-1965)
Biographical essay in Guide to the
William Gray Purcell Papers.
Copyright by Mark Hammons, 1985.
PURCELL AND ELMSLIE, 1913-1921
Portrait of the Purcell
family in Lake Place, the Edna S. Purcell residence
circa 1914
By 1913 the work of the Purcell firm had
reached a peak in creative and commercial success. The continuity of
architectural development by the office was summarized that year in a profusely
illustrated issue of the Western Architect, specially designed by the architects
themselves, and twice again in numbers of the magazine that followed in 1915.
Their building reputation was secure in a considerable number of elegantly
distinct expressions of the organic philosophy and prospects pointed toward
increasing business. About halfway through the course of the Purcell
partnerships, however, events foreshadowed a change.
George Feick, who did not completely share the intense dedication of Purcell and
Elmslie to the new architecture, had been ill at ease with the innovative
techniques used by his partners. Increasingly work that would normally have been
his responsibility was subcontracted to outside engineers. Since his practical
training put him at a disadvantage in meeting the needs of the office and his
personality was essentially more conservative than that of the other principals,
Feick left in 1913 to rejoin his father's business in Sandusky, Ohio.
Under the new name of Purcell & Elmslie, the partnership entered a period marked
by a diversity of challenging projects. Residential work continued to be an
important element in the business of the firm, but the office also produced a
variety of designs for commercial and public buildings, churches, factories, and
landscaping. Although the skill to deal with the special factors inherent in
many of these schemes was rooted in their previous experience, the architects
were often able to even further explore their inventiveness. Still faced with an
uncomprehending public, however, many especially experimental forms were fated
to remain unbuilt. One of the most forward looking of these projects was a
bandstand pavilion designed for the small, largely Scandinavian Minnesota town
of Litchfield. George Elmslie envisioned a structure cast in concrete whose
covering roof was mounted on a single supporting stem, a concept that was too
radical for a town still questioning the need to hire an architect at all.
Other imaginative solutions failed to because of external influences upon
clients. When the Minneapolis Women's Club decided to add a theater to their
building, the fundamental problem was the cramped size of the available lot.
Purcell & Elmslie discarded the aged idea of a proscenium in favor of a thrust
platform around which 225 seats were efficiently tiered in sharply rising arcs.
The adroit and unconventional arrangement was abruptly dismissed because of an
unfortunate but otherwise unrecorded remark made to Ella G. Winter, the club
president, by someone associated with the Purcell & Elmslie office. In another
instance, which was typical of several residential projects, plans for a
dwelling for C. A. Wheelock of Fargo, North Dakota, had to be set aside because
the client encountered financial difficulties.
Two other elegantly conceived projects were disappointments in ironically
opposite ways. Intrigued by the opportunity to examine the functional needs of a
factory, Purcell proceeded with studies for the project until he discovered that
the fast talking client for whom his office had prepared plans for the
speculative Gusto Cigarette Company in 1914 was a con artist. A commission for
whose loss Purcell blamed his own aesthetic enthusiasm was the Palmer Cantini
residence project [6] also of 1914. For once, the Purcell & Elmslie office was
carried away by the delight of a novel design that was far beyond the means of
the client to construct. On other occasions, though, such complexity was desired
by the client, as with the second Josephine Crane Bradley residence in Madison,
Wisconsin, Unconventional heating and cooling systems, the latest labor saving
domestic machinery, and special built in cabinets were included to automate
housekeeping chores as fully as possible. The details of the cabinetry alone
were sufficiently complex to keep "Team" drafter Lawrence A. Fournier at work
on the required drawings for more than a month, personally directed by Josephine
Bradley.
At the times when George Elmslie was fully committed to other projects, Purcell
was on his own. He often used such opportunities to try architectural forms that
did not often appear in work by the firm. A large and complex residence for
Louis Heitman in Helena, Montana, for example, was built in 1916 using a steep
pitched roof one of Purcell's favorite elements. The house was finished with
redwood panels and other rich decorative materials obtained from the John S.
Bradsteet Company, and the interior decoration developed to a fine degree of
detail, including dining room furniture and a fireplace mural executed by
designer Harry Rubins. The Heitman house was one of several that evolved over a
period of years through several revised schemes, before being finalized and
built.
The firm also returned to embellish houses done earlier. In 1914, the simple
windows and fixtures of the Charles A. Purcell residence were replaced with
elaborate leaded glass and sawed wood designed by Elmslie. A new screened porch
was added to the the Edna S. Purcell house, together with additional interior
decoration and a new set of dining room furniture, and similar changes were made
in the Catherine Gray house. With the rising popularity of the automobile,
clients requested that the firm design garages for their properties, and in the
case of the E. S. Hoyt residence in Red Wing, Minnesota, the outbuilding was
joined to the main structure by a dramatically framed breezeway.
Because of his involvement with Christian Science, Purcell often pursued
prospects with these churches. He felt the special service requirements for
Christian Science assemblies were an ideal challenge for which he offered an
organic solution. Although no results beyond preliminary consultations came of
most such contacts, his firm prepared alternate schemes for the Third Christian
Science Church in Minneapolis. Accessibility and circulation for those attending
services were among the chief difficulties, as well as the problem of traffic
noise from the busy street that fronted the site. The semi circular auditorium
proposed by Purcell & Elmslie met these considerations with an intimate and
friendly plan made economically attractive by an efficient structural technique,
but divisions within the church membership prevented the project from being
realized.
The three buildings that Purcell & Elmslie did for firms selling Edison
phonograph machines were high points in their commercial design. Consisting of
large scale alterations for a new facade and completely new interior
architecture, the plans for the Edison shop owned by Henry B. Babson in Chicago
introduced a recessed front to draw passersby in from the sidewalk. Carefully
placed display windows were intended to entice the customer within the store,
where the integrated treatment of furniture, light fixtures, and other
decorations created a unified merchandising space. From time to time, Elmslie
designed instrument panels or whole cases to replace the awkwardly styled
factory made cabinets. Other comparable Edison Shops were built in Kansas City,
San Francisco, and Minneapolis.
Although the firm was never able to realize a commission for a library, school,
or hotel, the architects did preliminary work for several such projects. The
design of the Welcome Inn for George Hermann, the local contractor who built the
First National Bank in Rhinelander, Wisconsin, anticipated revolutionary changes
in merchandising attitudes later commonplace in hotels. The design was aimed at
forming a homelike atmosphere in which restaurant areas for formal and casual
dining were segregated and providing direct access to the coffee shop from the
street. Purcell & Elmslie were confident enough in the approach to provide for
later multiple story expansion, but the new ideas were too great a departure
from the expectations of the client.
A few smaller buildings that served community purposes were built in rural
areas. The Jump River Town Hall of 1915 was intended to be a multipurpose
meeting place for a Wisconsin lumber town. The the low, horizontal appearance of
the interlocking board and batten siding recalled the logging camps from which
the town had come into being. The Kasson, Minnesota, Municipal Building, uilt in
1916 included a library, post office, rooms for service clubs, police department
and jail in a small two story plus basement structure.
The only expression of the organically based architecture in a major public
building occurred in the Woodbury County Court House completed in Sioux City,
Iowa in 1916. William L. Steele, an architect who had developed a strong
friendship with George Elmslie while working in the Sullivan office, was
originally granted the commission for the new court house based on his
submission of a bland neo classical design. Once the contract was in hand,
however, he disregarded the approved plans and told his supporters on the county
board they could get better than they had bargained for. Steele asked George
Elmslie to develop a design that expressed the wealth of the agricultural region
and the populist character of the people who would be served by the building.
Despite opposition from several quarters, including a limestone vendors'
association, disgruntled politicians, and public incomprehension, the Elmslie
concept was accepted, in part because the structure used large quantities of
locally manufactured brick, most of the construction money would be spent in the
city, and praise for the radical design from highly respected visitors.
Designed through debilitating overwork by Elmslie, the the functional
organization of the court house was enriched with vast quantities of polychrome
terracotta leaded glass, mosaics, and metalwork. While Purcell did not
participate directly in the design process, he was responsible for coordinating
the work of contributing artists. Since the fee asked by Gutzon Borglum was more
than available for a sculptor, Purcell engaged Alphonso Ianelli, a former
student of Borglum who had just opened his own studio in Chicago. For a frugal
thirty five hundred dollars Ianelli executed massive frieze groups symbolizing
democratic forms of justice to surmount the principal entrances and whimsically
added cow and buffalo heads over the alleyway service dock. On wide, overhanging
balconies surrounding the artificially lit, glass domed lobby, artist John W.
Norton painted murals to represent the Elysian richness of the countryside.
By the time the Woodbury County Court House was completed America was on the
verge of entering World War I. With architectural commissions at a near
standstill and wishing to make some contribution to the national defense effort,
Purcell made a decision that would temporarily lead him away from his primary
career and ultimately end in unpleasant litigations. In 1915 through contacts of
his wife's family, Purcell had met Charles O. Alexander, the president of the
Alexander Brothers Leather Belting Company of Philadelphia and a man who seemed
sympathetic to the progressive movement. Since the production of leather belts
that connected pullies on factory machinery was a priority industry and met
Purcell's desire to do something for the war effort, he was encouraged to work
for the company in the dual capacities of architect and advertising manager. The
various Alexander Brothers concerns were rapidly expanding to include several
other leather belting manufacturers under the umbrella name of the International
Leather Belting Corporation. In 1916 Purcell sold his properties in Minneapolis
and moved his family to Philadelphia.
As advertising manager for Alexander Brothers, Purcell supervised the yearly
production of a broad range of promotional materials, including posters,
calendars, brochures, labels, mailing cards, and stationery. From 1916 until his
resignation in 1919, he applied the principles of organic design in a
systematized and coordinated series of campaigns to sell Alexander products.
Using artwork and Graphical Designs commissioned from some of the finest artists
of the progressive movement, such as Charles S. Chapman, Charles Livingston
Bull, and John W. Norton, the Purcell presentations prophetically anticipated
artistic trends in postwar decades.
Architectural work seemed to be plentiful, both for the company and C. O.
Alexander personally. Shortly after Purcell assumed his duties, Alexander
decided to remodel the executive and general offices of his headquarters,
including clerical departments, a library, and the executive dining room.
Purcell & Elmslie considered the requirements of the business operations and
designed a functional system of office divisions and furnishings. Chairs were
wall mounted to swing away from the desk when not in use, numerous pieces of
furniture and lighting fixtures were commissioned to coordinate with the new
interior finish, and decoration of the executive area included murals by John W.
Norton.
The most important of the architectural designs for Alexander Brothers was a
standardized factory plan that was intended to be built in three locations. Only
two units, those in Chicago and New Haven, were constructed. The International
Leather and Belting Corporation factories were among the first industrial
buildings in America to express their utilitarian function with such
philosophical conviction. Using steel roof framing anchored in pier buttressed
brick end walls, the architects dismissed intervening side wall supports to leave
a continuous 130 foot breadth of window. The human needs of the worker were
further considered in carefully developed machinery layouts.
The firm designed two unbuilt projects for C. O. Alexander personally, but
completed some alterations at his summer residence in Squam Lake, New Hampshire.
The first scheme, a large residence for a site in Philadelphia, was begun by
Purcell shortly after his first meeting with the company president but had to be
abandoned at the onset of the war. Detailed plans were prepared for a large
institutional church building or Young Men's Christian Association (Y.M.C.A.),
which C. O. Alexander was to have contributed to a mission in Siang Tan, China,
but that project ultimately fell through when the Alexander companies went
bankrupt.
Sometime before the failure of Alexander Brothers was evident, however, Purcell
realized his first impressions had failed to recognize the true character of his
employer, whom he now understood to be autocratic, ruthless, dishonest, and
vain. His involvement with C. O. Alexander became extremely distasteful, and he
resigned after completing his duties for the 1919 advertizing campaign. Although
he attempted to leave on cordial terms, Purcell was eventually forced to sue to
recover architectural fees due Purcell & Elmslie as well as his own salary, thus
endowing his three year stay with a bitterness and personal disappointment that
would remain with him for years.
Purcell briefly considered returning to Minnesota to resume his private
practice, but the changing climate of public taste in architecture had
effectively ended the progressive period and undermined his happiness and
business as an architect. Equally as important, he felt a strong need for a new
beginning for his family. The once nurturing climate of the Midwest seemed to
have turned against his fortunes. Purcell began to think the time had come for a
new beginning in a different part of the country.
PORTLAND, 1920-1930
research courtesy mark hammons