Charles Kirk Kirby (
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
, 1826 – April 5, 1910), was an American architect who practiced in
Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
,
Maine
Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and nor ...
, and
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
.
In the 1840s he began studying architecture in the office of early
Worcester
Worcester may refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England
** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament
* Worcester Park, London, Engla ...
architect William Brown. Brown departed for
Lowell in 1847, and Kirby was his successor. He and another of Brown's students, Phineas Ball (later of
Boyden & Ball), formed a partnership, Kirby & Ball. They parted ways after only eight months, and Kirby left for
Portland, Maine.
Kirby is last documented in Portland in 1850, and in 1852 he came to Boston. His first major commission in Boston, the
Boston Public Library
The Boston Public Library is a municipal public library system in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, founded in 1848. The Boston Public Library is also the Library for the Commonwealth (formerly ''library of last recourse'') of the Commonwea ...
, was won in competition in 1855. This building, an elaborate
Italianate structure, was completed in 1858 and demolished in 1899. Kirby was also the architect of the
Worcester Free Public Library, built in 1860 and also since demolished.
He practiced general architecture until about the outbreak of the Civil War. He then turned to land development, designing, building, and selling homes in the
Back Bay area. This appears to have been the bulk of his work for about a decade, when he returned to general practice. He continued to primarily design houses, with an exception in the
Lawrence Model Lodging Houses, built in 1874. These apartments were built with a bequest from
Abbott Lawrence
Abbott Lawrence (December 16, 1792, Groton, Massachusetts – August 18, 1855) was a prominent American businessman, politician, and philanthropist. He was among the group of industrialists that founded a settlement on the Merrimack River that ...
, as housing for the poor.
In 1878, Kirby left Massachusetts for
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
, settling in
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...
. Immediately prior to leaving Boston, he had formed a partnership with G. Wilton Lewis, as Kirby & Lewis. Though Kirby was not directly involved in the firm's affairs, but the two remained associated until 1882. At this time, Lewis opened his own office and Kirby established C. K. Kirby & Son in San Francisco, with son C. K. Kirby, Jr. The elder Kirby retired from architecture in 1889, and his son established a practice in
Fresno.
After his retirement, Kirby was the proprietor of the Sierra Park vineyard and winery near
Fowler, with a distillery business in
Selma. He died on April 5, 1910.
[Fresno Republican Weekly, Thursday April 7, 1910.]
Works
C. K. Kirby, 1847-1878:
Kirby & Lewis, 1878-1882:
C. K. Kirby & Son, 1882-1889:
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kirby, Charles Kirk
19th-century American architects
1826 births
1910 deaths
19th century in Boston
Architects from Boston
Architects from California
Architects of the Boston Public Library