Charles Frederick Whittlesey (1867–1941) was an American architect best known for his work in the American southwest, and for pioneering work in

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete (RC), also called reinforced cement concrete (RCC) and ferroconcrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having hig ...

in California.

Life

Born in Alton, Illinois, Whittlesey was a draftsman for Louis Sullivan before opening his own Chicago practice. Many of Whittlesey's major commissions show Sullivan's influence. In 1900, at the age of 33, Whittlesey was appointed Chief Architect for the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway. Among many other stations and hotels for the railroad, he designed the El Tovar Hotel, the former Harvey House situated just 20 ft from the south rim of the

Grand Canyon The Grand Canyon (, yuf-x-yav, Wi:kaʼi:la, , Southern Paiute language: Paxa’uipi, ) is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a m ...

in Arizona, United States. It stands at the northern terminus of the Grand Canyon Railway, formerly a branch of the Santa Fe. The hotel is one of only a handful of Harvey House facilities still in operation, and is an example of

National Park Service Rustic National Park Service rustic – sometimes colloquially called Parkitecture – is a style of architecture that developed in the early and middle 20th century in the United States National Park Service (NPS) through its efforts to create buildings ...

architecture. The razed

Alvarado Hotel The Alvarado Hotel was a historic railroad hotel which was one of the most famous landmarks of Albuquerque, New Mexico. It was built in 1901–02 by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway and was operated by the Fred Harvey Company until 1970. ...

Albuquerque, New Mexico Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding in ...

was also his design, with interior work done by Mary Colter. Whittlesey moved to San Francisco in 1907 and worked mainly there and in Los Angeles, becoming known for his early work in reinforced concrete. Whittlesey's son Austin C. Whittlesey (1893–1950) was also an architect, apprenticed in the office of Bertram Goodhue for seven years, and was active in Southern California in the 1930s. While working as staff designer for

Allison & Allison Allison & Allison was the architectural firm of James Edward Allison (1870-1955) and his brother David Clark Allison (1881-1962). Originally based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1910 the Allisons moved to Los Angeles in Southern California. ...

he designed the 1930 Southern California Edison Building, across the street from Goodhue's L.A. Public Library.

Work

* Central School, 1897, Riverside, Illinois * the

, 1902, with the interior by Mary Colter (razed) * Whittlesey House, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1903 (now known as the Albuquerque Press Club) * Santa Fe Railroad Depot, Berkeley, California, 1903 * the Riordan family homes, now the Riordan Mansion State Historic Park, in

Flagstaff, Arizona Flagstaff ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Coconino County, Arizona, Coconino County in northern Arizona, in the southwestern United States. In 2019, the city's estimated population was 75,038. Flagstaff's combined metropolitan area has ...

, 1904 * the George Babbitt home, 1904

(burned down circa 1960) * First Methodist Episcopal Church,

, 1904 * Santa Fe railroad depot Shawnee, Oklahoma. Built in 1904, the building is made of limestone blocks two to three feet thick, and assembled in the Romanesque revival style. The depot's floor plan is based on the style of early European churches. A tower resembling a Scottish lighthouse rises up from the east side of a multi-arched portico. The beautiful ceilings of the depot are made of stained boxcar siding. The structure was put on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. In 1977, it was traded to the City of Shawnee and is now open to the public as the Historical Society of Pottawatomie County. * Hotel Hayward, Los Angeles, 1905 * El Tovar Hotel,

, Arizona, 1905. "The most expensively constructed pointed log house in America." *

Clune's Auditorium Hazard's Pavilion was a large auditorium in Los Angeles, California, at the intersection of Fifth and Olive Streets. Showman George "Roundhouse" Lehman had planned to construct a large theatre center on the land he purchased at this location, bu ...

, Los Angeles, 1905–06, billed as the largest

structure in California, later redubbed the Philharmonic Auditorium. The auditorium "exhibited some of the most enthusiastic Sullivanesque ornament to be found in Southern California." This Moorish Revival building, described as "''one of the most beautiful buildings in Los Angeles''" was demolished in 1985. The site is now (2012) a parking lot. * Hotel Wentworth,

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. I ...

, 1907, later purchased by

Henry E. Huntington Henry Edwards Huntington (February 27, 1850 – May 23, 1927) was an American railroad magnate and collector of art and rare books. Huntington settled in Los Angeles, where he owned the Pacific Electric Railway as well as substantial real estate ...

, reworked by Myron Hunt, and reopened as the Huntington Hotel in 1914. In 1954 the hotel complex was sold to the Sheraton Hotel chain. * Pacific Building, San Francisco, 1907, "remarkable for its

Sullivanesque Louis Henry Sullivan (September 3, 1856 – April 14, 1924) was an American architect, and has been called a "father of skyscrapers" and "father of modernism". He was an influential architect of the Chicago School, a mentor to Frank Lloy ...

terra cotta ornament", now the Palomar Hotel * Lycurgus Lindsay House, Los Angeles, 1908 * Hueter Building, 816 Mission Street, San Francisco, 1908 * Apartment building, 1230-38 Taylor Street, San Francisco, 1909, * seven historic houses in the Russian Hill District, San Francisco, 1910-1913 * Old Student Union,

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

, Stanford, California, 1915 Gebhard and Winter, ‘’A Guide to Architecture in San Francisco and Northern California’’, Peregrine Smith Books, Salt Lake City, UT, 1985 p, 162 * The Leiman House on Euclid Avenue, Berkeley, California, 1921. Originally built as a side-by-side duplex home, it was converted to a single family in the 1980s by E. Lofting, then converted back to a duplex in 2011 * El Rey Hotel, Los Angeles, 1923 * the Moorish-influenced Mayflower Hotel, Los Angeles, 1927

Gallery

File:Alvarado Hotel, Shops, Train Station and Fred Harvey Hotel Albuquerque 1905 - 1969.pdf, Alvarado Hotel, Albuquerque, New Mexico File:Santa Fe Depot, Shawnee, Oklahoma.jpg, Santa Fe Depot, Shawnee, Oklahoma File:El Tovar Hotel s-aspect.JPG, El Tovar Hotel, Grand Canyon, Arizona File:Hotel Hayward (Los Angeles).jpg, Hotel Hayward, Los Angeles, California File:Lycurgus Lindsay Mansion.jpg, Lycurgus Lindsay House, Los Angeles, California

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Whittlesey, Charles 20th-century American architects Concrete pioneers American railway architects American Craftsman architects Gothic Revival architects Rustic style architects 1867 births 1941 deaths Architects from Chicago Architects from Los Angeles Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway people People from Alton, Illinois