User:Weedpatch/Sandbox/Alfred Hoyt Granger

Alfred Hoyt Granger was a noted and prolific architect who practiced primarily in the Chicago area but also lived and worked in Cleveland, Ohio and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

FAMILY HISTORY
He was born May 31, 1867 in Zanesville, Ohio to Moses Moorhead Granger (22 Oct 1831-29 Apr 1913) and Mary Hoyt Reese (23 Aug 1839-21 Sept 1923). They were married about 1858 in Lancaster, Ohio.

His parents had four other children: Henry James (1859-1860); Sherman Moorhead (1870-1951), who was married c 1900 to Wanda Dawson Follett ; Helen Louise (1872-1872); and Ethel Louise (1876-1937). Ethel married William Darlington Schultz and stayed in Zanesville.

Granger’s maternal grandmother, Mary Elisabeth Sherman Reese (1812-1900) was one of eleven children. She was the sister of General William Tecumseh Sherman (1820-189) and of John Sherman (1823-1900) who was a U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator, and Secretary of the Treasury under President Rutherford B. Hayes and Secretary of State under President William McKinley. The Sherman Anti-Trust Act was named for him. Another brother, Charles Taylor Sherman, was a U.S. judge in Ohio. Therefore, Alfred Granger was the great-grandnephew of these famous men.

EARLY CAREER
Alfred Granger earned a B.A. from Kenyon College in 1887 and a degree in architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1889. He travelled in Europe and attended L’Ecole des Beaux Arts and the Ecole-related Atelier Pascal and Academie Julian in Paris, France from 1889 to 1891, on the explicit advice of Charles Follen McKim who Granger had met in Boston while McKim was designing the Boston Public Library and young Granger was working for Henry Hobson Richardson. Richardson and McKim both attended L'Ecole. McKim, according to Granger's later biography of him, advised architects to associate themselves with the Ecole but not to take time to take a degree there.

He began his career in Boston with the firm, Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge, which had succeeded H.H. Richardson. “While he was working on Shepley, Rutan, and Coolidge...commissions for the Chicago Public Library and the Art Institute of Chicago, Granger was sent to Chicago to supervise construction". In 1891, he moved to Chicago with former Richardson associate Charles Coolidge who was designing the Art Institute building for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. He briefly joined the firm of (William LeBaron) Jenney and Mundie, where he worked with Frank B. Meade, a fellow MIT graduate. [Architect Howard Van Doren Shaw worked there at the same time.] He and Meade moved to Cleveland in 1893 to form a partnership.

Architectural projects in Cleveland included:

Mrs. M.J. Kline Residence, 1752 E. 63rd St, Cleveland (1894, later demolished)

Henry Dalton Residence, 1887 E. 82nd St, Cleveland (1894, later demolished)

David J Norton Residence, 1940 E. 71st St, Cleveland (1894, later demolished)

Alton Dustin Residence, 1833 E. 65th St, Cleveland (1895, later demolished)

F.E. Abbott Residence, 1870 E. 97th St, Cleveland (1895)

Alfred Granger Residence, 2141 Overlook Dr., Cleveland Heights (1895)

Samuel Mather Coachman Cottage, (1895, later demolished)

H.G. Dalton Barn, (1895, later demolished)

John Hartness Brown and William L. Rice Commercial Building, 922 Superior/1681 E. 9th St, Cleveland (1895, later demolished)

John Hartness Brown Residence, Euclid Heights

Luther Allen Residence (1896, later demolished)

“In 1893, Alfred Hoyt Granger became the first person to make his home in Euclid Heights. An architect who worked on his own, as well as with the prominent Cleveland firm of Meade & Granger (1896-1897), he constructed his residence, "Uplands," at the western edge of the subdivision on Overlook Road, often referred to as "The Overlook." Granger's firm designed many of the residences on Cleveland's Euclid Avenue, and he would take part in the design of many early Euclid Heights homes, including Patrick Calhoun's own residence. Granger moved to Euclid Heights from nearby Adelbert Road, in what is today Cleveland's University Circle, but would only reside in the Heights through 1897. Granger left Cleveland that year to become the architect for Northwestern Railroad in Chicago. His home was purchased by Homer H. Johnson, a Cleveland lawyer who represented automobile manufacturers when the industry was in its infancy.”

MARRIED LIFE
On October 5, 1893, Granger married Belle Barrett Hughitt. She was born 9 February 1867 in Chicago. She died 1 Mar 1963 in Lake Forest, Illinois, age 96.

Belle and Alfred Granger had three daughters:

Elisabeth Sherman (11/28/1895 in Cleveland, OH - 3/15/1970 in Lake Forest, IL). She married Charles E. Brown, Jr. (born c 1895) in 1920. The 1930 Census lists Brown as a sales manager at a cable and wire manufacturer. The same Census has the Brown's living next door to the Grangers in Lake Forest with two sons, Charles III, age 8, and a younger brother, Peter W. Brown. Charles Brown, Jr. died on 11/08/1949 in Lake Forest, IL.

Barbara Hughitt (5/23/1899 in Lake Forest, IL - 2/10/1995 in Phoenix, AZ. In October, 1921 in Denver, CO, she married 1) Thomas Hooker Cowles (born 6/6/1895 in Chicago; he died in 1927 in Denver, CO) who was one of four sons of Alfred and Elizabeth Cheney Cowles, Jr. [Alfred Cowles, Jr. (5 January 1865, Chicago - 15 January 1939, Chicago) was the son of Alfred Sr. who was an incorporator, along with John S. Scripps, of the Chicago Tribune. Alfred Jr was graduated from Yale University in 1886, where he was a member of Skull and Bones. The following year he engaged in post-graduate work, studied at Yale Law School, from 1887 to 1888 and Northwestern University, from 1888 to 1889. The following year he was married to Elizabeth Cheney of the Manchester, Connecticut Cheney family. He was admitted to the bar, and for most of his life practiced law in Chicago. From 1898 to 1901 he was engaged in the management of the Chicago Tribune, of which he was a director. He was also a director of the American Radiator Company. Source: wikipedia]. Thomas Hooker Cowles brothers were: Alfred Cowles III (1891-1984), a noted economist; Knight Cheney Cowles (b 1892); John Cheney Cowles (b 1894).

In 1929, Barbara Hughitt Cowles married Chester D. Shepard (1893-1980 in Neenah, Winnebago County, WI). She lived in Menasha, WI and Carefree, AZ. Martha McCullough was born 11/22/1900 in Chicago. On New Year's Eve, 1921, she married 1) William Mitchell Blair (divorced 1932). On June 14, 1939 in Roxbury, CT, she married Arthur Krock (1886-1974 in Washington, DC). Krock (1886-1974) was the Washington correspondent for the New York Times and had a political column for 33 years entitled, “In the Nation”. Krock won the Pulitzer Prize four times. Arthur Krock married Marguerite Polleys on April 22, 1911 and they had one son, Thomas Polleys Krock. Marguerite Krock died in 1938. Krock married Martha McCullough Granger Blair on June 14, 1939. She had two sons, William Granger Blair and Robert H. Blair, from a previous marriage to William Mitchell Blair. Mrs. Krock, a society columnist, died at age 87 in 1988 in Washington, DC.. “She was survived by a son, William, a reporter for the New York Times; 3 grandchildren.”

Granger's grandson, William Granger Blair, was engaged in 1951 to Sue Cunningham of Kansas City. The announcement says that he attended St. Albans School in Washington, DC, and the Kent (CT) School, and was graduated cum laude from Princeton University. During WWII, he served with the Marines and was discharged as a Colonel. He was a reporter on the Kansas City Star and became a reporter for the NY Times.

BUSINESS PARTNERSHIP: FROST & GRANGER
Alfred and Belle Granger lived in Cleveland until 1897, when they returned to Chicago. He became partners with Charles Sumner Frost, forming the firm, Frost & Granger. Both families lived in Lake Forest, Illinois. Granger served as an Alderman of the City of Lake Forest.

Granger was related to his business partner, Charles Sumner Frost (1856-1931), by marriage. Frost married Belle Granger's sister, Mary, in 1885. In 1897, Charles Frost built his own house, “Eastover”, at 880 Elm Tree Road in Lake Forest.

Granger designed his family's home, “Woodleigh”, located at 907 N. Sheridan Rd. in Lake Forest, Illinois. Completed in 1897, it is an English half-timbered brick house. According to the Lake Forest Preservation Foundation, he may have designed the house for his in-laws, Marvin and Belle Hough Hughitt. Marvin Hughitt was the long-time (1872-1928) President of the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad and gave many commissions for rail depot designs, including the central Northwestern RR Depot in downtown Chicago, to his sons-in-law, Frost & Granger.

Granger built another home, "Westover", for his sister-in-law, the third Hughitt sister, Martha. She was married to Hiram Randolph McCullough, son of U.S. Representative Hiram McCullough of Maryland. Hiram McCullough (Yale, 1899) was Freight Manager/Vice President at his father-in-law's Northwestern Railroad. Martha and Hiram's daughter, Frances, married Walter Byron Smith, son of Byron L. Smith, the founder of the Northern Trust Company.

Frost & Granger was in business from 1898-1910. Buildings by Frost and Granger: Lois Durand Hall at Lake Forest College (1898-99)

Lake Forest (IL) City Hall (1898), 220 E. Deerpath

Arthur Somerville Reid Memorial Library and Lily Reid Holt Memorial Chapel at 	Lake Forest College (1899)

Lake Forest (IL) Depot of Chicago and Northwestern Railroad (1900)

Church of the Holy Spirit (Episcopalian)

Residence ["Dorfred"] of Fredric Clay and Dora Bartlett, Prairie Avenue, Chicago, IL (1902)

Henry Calvin Durand Residence, “Linden Lodge”, 605 E. College Road, Lake Forest, IL. (1903)

226 W Jackson Blvd., Chicago, IL (1904)

50 S. LaSalle St./Northern Trust Company, Chicago, IL (1905)

Blackstone Hall and Harlan Hall (1907-08) at Lake Forest College

Carnegie Hall (1908) at Lake Forest College

Northwestern Railroad Terminal (1911; demolished, 1980's)

Union Station, Omaha, Nebraska

Milwaukee Road Station, Minneapolis, MN

Kenyon College, Ohio: Cromwell House

St. Luke’s Hospital, Chicago, IL

Memorial Hospital for Infectious Diseases, Chicago, IL

= MID-CAREER IN PHILADELPHIA =

Granger left Chicago in 1910 for Philadelphia and formed a partnership with William D. Hewitt (Hewitt & Granger) through 1917, when he went into private practice through 1924.

In July, 1911, Granger wrote to the New York Times regarding the selection process for who should preside over the “completion of the planning and designing” of St. John the Divine Cathedral. Apparently there was a controversy about the architects’ preferences between Gothic versus Romanesque architecture of the Cathedral. In the letter, he declared, “Personally, I think the Gothic the most beautiful type of architecture yet conceived by man...”.

Did Granger participate in the 1912 design for Canberra, the Federal Capital City of the Commonwealth of Australia?

At the age of 40, Granger served in the U.S. military from November 8, 1917 to November 1, 1919. He was Captain of Engineers. He later chaired a construction committee for the War Industry Board. Later, an article refers to him as “Colonel” Granger.

LATER CAREER: GRANGER AND BOLLENBACHER / RETURN TO CHICAGO
Returning to Chicago in 1924, he established the firm of Granger, Lowe and Bollenbacher that later (1930) became Granger and Bollenbacher (1930-1936). The firm designed the medical and dental building for the University of IL at Chicago, Pierce Hall at Kenyon College, and the administration and student union building at the University of Indiana. He and Bollenbacher also designed a residence at 1530 N. State St. in Chicago.

Granger chaired the award committee for the Tribune Tower competition which was announced on the Tribune’s 75th anniversary in June, 1922. For first prize of $50,000, a jury chaired by Colonel McCormick chose the New York firm of Howells and Hood; second prize of $20,000, the Finnish architect, Eliel Saarinen, and third prize of $10,000, the Chicago firm, Holabird and Roche. Granger, in his publication, “Chicago Welcomes You” notes that Col. McCormick preferred the Saarinen design.

He served as President of the Chicago chapter of the American Institute of Architects [AIA] from 1922-25. In June, 1926 he was awarded a Life Fellow in the American Institute of Architects. Granger, as President of the Chicago AIA, spearheaded the effort to save the World’s Columbian Exposition’s Palace of Fine Arts from the wrecking ball in the 1920’s. After the Exposition, it had been used as the Field Museum [of Natural History] but was abandoned by the museum when it moved to its new site on Roosevelt Road in Chicago. According to Granger (writing in “Chicago Welcomes You”) the building ‘even in its ruined state it was, next to the Parthenon, the most perfect expression of Greek architecture in the world’. The South Park Board recommended its demolition. Granger galvanized various civic groups, and the building became the [Julius] Rosenwald Museum of Industrial Art (later the Museum of Science and Industry).

Granger wrote the following books and periodicals:

1913: Charles Follen McKim: A Study of His Life and Work (Boston, New York, 	Houghton Mifflin Company).

1915: By Their Works Ye Shall Know Them (Chicago, Germanistic Society of 	America).

1916: England’s World Empire: Some Reflections upon Its Growth and Policy 	(Chicago, Open Court Publishing Company).

1923: A Modern Cathedral for An Industrial City

1927: An Architectural Oasis

1933: Chicago Welcomes You (Chicago, A. Kroch Company).

1935: The Spirit of Vienna (New York, R.M. McBride & Company). He was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon, and belonged to the Chicago Club, the University Club, the Caxton Club, the Tavern Club and the Chicago Architectural Club. In Washington, DC, he was a member of the Cosmos Club and in New York City, he belonged to the Century Club. He was President of the Chicago Architectural Club, 1923-, President of Northwestern Settlement 1921-25, and National Council of Reserve Officers Association.

He retired in 1936 and moved to his country home, “Few Acres”, in Roxbury, CT, which may have actually been the home of his daughter, Martha, and his son-in-law, Arthur Krock.

Alfred Granger died December 3, 1939 in Roxbury, CT. Granger is buried in Rosehill Cemetery, Chicago, IL. with his wife, and other members of his wife's [the Hughitt's] family, including Charles Sumner Frost.