George Bigelow Rogers (1870–1945) was an American
architect, best known for the wide variety of buildings that he designed in
Mobile, Alabama
Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population within the city limits was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, down from 195,111 at the 2010 United States census, 2010 cens ...
, including mansions in historic European styles and other private residences, churches and public buildings, and the first 11-story skyscraper in Mobile and the Southeast United States. Many of his structures have been listed on the
National Register of Historic Places.
Biography
Rogers was born in
Illinois in 1870. After attending local schools there, he studied painting in
France. He apprenticed as an architect from 1894 to 1898 at a firm in
Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...
. While en route to a vacation in
Mexico in 1901, he stopped in Mobile.
Rogers was quite taken with the city and decided to settle there. He went on to design many of what today are among its best known buildings.
He was made a
Fellow of the
American Institute of Architects in 1941, an honor bestowed on fewer than two percent of all registered architects in the United States.
Rogers died in Mobile in 1945.
His architectural library is housed in the archives of the Historic Mobile Preservation Society.
Projects in Mobile, Alabama
*
George Fearn House (1904), listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
*
Van Antwerp Building
The Van Antwerp Building is a high-rise in the U.S. city of Mobile, Alabama. Completed in 1907, the building rises 11 stories and was the first skyscraper in the city. It is regarded as the first reinforced concrete skyscraper in Alabama and the ...
(1907), on the National Register of Historic Places
*
Burgess-Maschmeyer Mansion (1907) at 1209
Government Street
*Tacon-Bellingrath House (1908) at 60 South Ann Street (Destroyed)
*
Dave Patton House
The Dave Patton House is a historic house in Mobile, Alabama
Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population within the city limits was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 cens ...
(1915), on the National Register of Historic Places
*Albert Bush House (1915) at 1203 Government Street
*Government Street Methodist Church (1904–1917) at 901 Government Street
*
Scottish Rite Temple (1921), on the National Register of Historic Places
*Shannon T. Hunter House (1923)
*
Murphy High School Complex (1926), on the National Register of Historic Places
*
Bellingrath Gardens and Home
Bellingrath Gardens and Home is the public garden and historic home of Walter and Bessie Bellingrath, located on the Fowl River near Mobile, Alabama. Walter Bellingrath was one of the first Coca-Cola bottlers in the Southeast, and with his wea ...
(1927), on the National Register of Historic Places
*
Mobile Public Library (1928), on the National Register of Historic Places
*Thomas Byrne Memorial Library (1930), Spring Hill College
*
Davis Avenue Branch of the Mobile Public Library in Mobile, Alabama (1931); now operating as the National African American Archives and Museum, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
*Leo Brown House at 1668 Government Street (1937)
Other projects
*
Masonic Temple (Foley, Alabama)
The Foley Downtown Historic District, in Foley, Alabama, is a historic district that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.
Its boundaries originally encompassed parts of Alston St., North and South McKenzie St., U.S. ...
(c.1925), Mission Revival in style, included in
Foley Downtown Historic District
The Foley Downtown Historic District, in Foley, Alabama, is a historic district that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.
Its boundaries originally encompassed parts of Alston St., North and South McKenzie St., U.S. ...
See also
*
National Register of Historic Places listings in Alabama
*
National Register of Historic Places listings in Mobile, Alabama
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rogers, George Bigelow
1869 births
1945 deaths
Architects from Alabama
Spanish Colonial Revival architects
Mediterranean Revival architects
Fellows of the American Institute of Architects
People from Mobile, Alabama
George Bigelow Rogers buildings