Albert Randolph Ross

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Albert Randolph Ross, Architect

Albert Randolph Ross (October 26, 1868 – October 27, 1948) was an American architect. Born in Westfield, Massachusetts, he was a son of architect John W. Ross.

Albert Ross attended grammar school in Westfield and later in Davenport, Iowa, where he went on to high school, finishing in 1884.[1] After working as a draughtsman in his father's Davenport architecture office from 1884 to 1887, he spent a year working for an architect in Buffalo, New York, before joining the New York City firm of McKim, Mead and White in 1891.[1][2] In 1898, he formed the firm of Ackerman & Ross with William S. Ackerman, a partnership which dissolved in 1901.[2]

In 1927, when he was awarded a $10,000 prize in a competition to design a new courthouse for Milwaukee out of 33 who submitted proposals,[3] he told the Milwaukee Journal why he settled on a traditional design:[4]

When I went into the competition I considered whether to design a building in the modern and experimental trend for a great public courthouse. I made modern sketches, but in my opinion they fell flat for this purpose. They were not typical and expressive of public work, so I turned to that type established by our forefathers.... I have no quarrel with trends in modern architecture. I take a fling at it myself. But it simply won't do for public buildings. It violates the dictates of a definite style built up through one hundred and fifty years of our history. A departure into modernism would not be suitable for a courthouse. We must be trained slowly to things violently new. The public's money cannot rightly be used to force experiments down its throat.

In 1901, Ross married Susan Husted, from Brookline, Massachusetts.[1] From 1901 until 1948 his main residence was on Negro Island, near Boothbay Harbor, Maine.[2] He died October 27, 1948.[2]

Principal architectural works[]

Among the buildings that Ross designed were 12 libraries.[2] Some of his notable design projects included:

Gallery[]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f John William Leonard, Albert Nelson Marquis. Who's who in America, Volume 4: Albert Randolph Ross.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g "Columbus in Photographs: Albert Randolph Ross". Archived from the original on 2011-09-27. Retrieved 2011-05-05.
  3. ^ "Architect Here Wins $10,000 Prize" (PDF). New York Times. August 4, 1927. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
  4. ^ Wright, Frank Lloyd (1943). Frank Lloyd Wright: An Autobiography. Duell ,Sloan and Pearce. p. 358.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b "Library History". Port Jervis Free Public Library. Archived from the original on 2011-09-14. Retrieved 2011-10-04.
  6. ^ Evening Times-Republican, March 4, 1902, page 5.
  7. ^ Needham Free Public Library, accessed February 11, 2015
  8. ^ Old Town Public Library, accessed February 11, 2015
  9. ^ Jump up to: a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  10. ^ The Courier-News (Bridgewater, New Jersey), May 4, 1905, page 2: "The work of engraving two tablets...at the new courthouse is in progress. The tablet on the right will read 'Union County Courthouse Commenced February 1903; Completed April 1905...Architects, Ackerman & Ross..."
  11. ^ Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, New York), June 24, 1905, page 3.
  12. ^ Hartford Courant (Hartford, Connecticut), July 6, 1905, page 10.
  13. ^ Draper Hall, M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University at Albany
  14. ^ Former Carnegie Library, Denver
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