Purcell and Elmslie, Architects

Purcell and Elmslie, Architects

Firm active :: 1907-1921

Minneapolis, Minnesota :: Chicago, Illinois
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania :: Portland, Oregon

Ye Older Grindstones

12/17/2002

That time of the season--for the flu! Ugh. And of course afterwards everything is in a past due tail spin. So as long as I still don't feel well enough to cope with the existing work queue, the sheer boredom of 72 back-aching hours in bed ends here with the comfort of old friends.

First National Bank
Rhinelander, Wisconsin
Margaret Little residence
Berkeley, California
Parsonage house, First Congregational Church
As built
After some uncertain date, the front has been extended on both floors

As mentioned last time, here are some fresher views of the First National Bank in Rhinelander, Wisconsin, taken
Credit: Photograph by Scot Zimmerman
. Also, a quick pit stop in Berkeley for some images of the Margaret Little house. The alterations to this dwelling were discussed in an earlier lamentation, but perhaps on a forthcoming trip to the Bay area I will be able to see what progress the current owner has made in his quest to bring it back as much as possible (which is an uphill battle, considering the extent of the 1920s remodeling.) Another house that also got extruded (when, exactly, I don't know) is the Parsonage for the First Congregational Church in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. The publication of the dwelling in an issue of The Western Architect shows the original front elevation. Much else about the house (except, of course, the original color scheme) has come down to us through the hands of loving owners. This house features a special "side" entrance to the pastor's office/study, a device intended to make more discrete the entrance of parishioners for counseling or other consultation. Neat trick on a corner lot, and the only true invisibility thus rendered was from those standing near the church itself.

12/4/2002

Ah, holidays. Or holy daze, as the case may be. And of course another bout of sweating the rent. An unexpected turkey occurred, complete with dressing and cranberry sauce, and an afternoon planned alone was spent together with some starving artist friends at loose ends who found camaraderie in my small corner of Los Angeles. On whole, this Thanksgiving surprised me by being a happy and pleasing occasion--chalk one up for serendipity. Then, a day later, my computer decided to crash--out for nearly two days. If my vote ever matters, let me say that if I could hit the backup button, remove Windows XP and go back to Windows 2000, I would in a heartbeat. I regret the upgrade--there have been 65 hot fixes in one year! But that's not why we are here...

Hattie McIndoe residence, project
First National Bank
Banking room

Today was a virtual visit to Rhinelander, Wisconsin, and the several jobs built and unbuilt by P&E in that northern neck of the woods. One residential project has a colorful history of rejection by stormy client Hattie McIndoe. The First National Bank design was rejected by one board member who promptly resigned and sold his shares, as Purcell explains in the Parabiographies entry for the job, but the bank president built anyway.

Welcome Inn, project
A. D. Daniels residence, project
E. A. Forbes residence

The superb conception of the Welcome Inn hotel was just too much for acceptance in such a locale (no, I didn't say backwater, no need to offend these good folks--they at least called P&E). The hotel project did leave the largest and most elaborate of all surviving P&E renderings, however. And Dr. A. D. Daniels didn't bite either, past preliminary sketches for a small house to be slung down a sloping lot. E. A. Forbes, however, did construct in 1920 the absolutely last new house project carried on the P&E books. Of course, the design was wholly by Elmslie and has a clear kinship with a house in Hinsdale designed the same year for Purcell's father-in-law, Clayton F. Summy--and also the residence Purcell built for himself in Portland, Oregon, called Georgian Place. Interesting to see where Elmslie went with the advent of the roaring twenties, when flat--or even low-hipped--roofs were so over and out. All told about 50 new images added tonight, and next working session some
Credit: Photograph by Scot Zimmerman
of the Rhinelander bank go up.

11/23/2002

Charles Parker residence

Josephine Crane Bradley residence #2

Updated the Organica home page and sent out a post to the architecture newsgroups about the site. Nothing like drumming up a little business with advertising. Added 45 images for the Charles Parker and Josephine Crane Bradley #2 (Madison, Wisconsin) residences.

11/21/2002

Back at basic data entry, starting with a trip to Eau Claire, Wisconsin and the houses built in 1909 for J. D. R. Steven. In an age where there were so such things as mortgages, per se, and as far as capital to build you were largely on your own (or your family connections), it must have been nice to be able to afford to erect first a small cottage to watch from on the lot next to where you were putting up the "real" house. Such was the case with these two residential designs. One of the most interesting features of the large house is the placement of the structure on the lot. Every time I look at this I have the sneaking suspicion that Mr. Steven was perhaps intending to sell off the corner, but never did. Just an impression I get, anyway, from the fact that the house is pressed back as far as it will go against the side and rear of the lot, leaving an enormous lawn for regular mowing. Possibly he became attached to the view, or maybe it was always going to be that way.

research courtesy mark hammons