Maurice E. Kressly (1892–1963) was an American

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

practicing in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

and central

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

in the middle years of the twentieth century. Kressly was well known as a school architect in both states, as well as for designing romantic

Mediterranean Revival Mediterranean Revival is an architectural style introduced in the United States, Canada, and certain other countries in the 19th century. It incorporated references from Spanish Renaissance, Spanish Colonial, Italian Renaissance, French Colonial ...

and

Tudor Revival Tudor Revival architecture (also known as mock Tudor in the UK) first manifested itself in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture ...

residences in the

Orlando Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures rele ...

area. While his name appears spelled both "Kressly" and "Kressley" in contemporary texts, the proper spelling is without the second "e".

Early life and education

Maurice Elias Kressly was born in

Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania Wilkes-Barre ( or ) is a city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, Luzerne County. Located at the center of the Wyoming Valley in Northeastern Pennsylvania, it had a population of 44,328 in th ...

, on October 11, 1892, the son of James and Lucinda A. (Martz) Kressly.US Social Security records He was one of a family of six children, five boys and one girl. They grew up in the family home at 100 Hanover Street, Wilkes-Barre. Maurice's father James was a carpenter and contractor. He graduated from high school in his home town in 1910. Kressly studied architecture at

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvan ...

and graduated in the class of 1915. He was a charter member of the Omega Chapter

Theta Chi Theta Chi () is an international college fraternity. It was founded on April 10, 1856 at Norwich University then-located in Norwich, Vermont, and has initiated more than 200,000 members and currently has over 8,700 collegiate members across Nort ...

fraternity, at

State College, Pennsylvania State College is a home rule municipality in Centre County in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is a college town, dominated economically, culturally and demographically by the presence of the University Park campus of the Pennsylvania Sta ...

. Kressly entered the Second Training Company, Coast Artillery Corps, at

Fort Monroe Fort Monroe, managed by partnership between the Fort Monroe Authority for the Commonwealth of Virginia, the National Park Service as the Fort Monroe National Monument, and the City of Hampton, is a former military installation in Hampton, Virgi ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

, and was commissioned first lieutenant. He attained the rank of captain and was assigned to the office of the chief of artillery. Following service during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Kressly took fourth place in an architectural competition to design a community center building to be built of

white pine ''Pinus'', the pines, is a genus of approximately 111 extant tree and shrub species. The genus is currently split into two subgenera: subgenus ''Pinus'' (hard pines), and subgenus ''Strobus'' (soft pines). Each of the subgenera have been further ...

. In 1918, Kressly was married to Louise V. Madden, of Wilkes-Barre."Harrisburg and Dauphin County: a Sketch of the History..."; by George Patterson Donehoo, 1925, page 135

In Pennsylvania

Kressly first established his practice in Wilkes-Barre, at 314 South Fourteenth Street. In 1923, Kressly relocated to

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Harrisburg is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Dauphin County. With a population of 50,135 as of the 2021 census, Harrisburg is the 9th largest city and 15th largest municipality in Pe ...

, where he organized the firm of Maurice E. Kressly & Co. His office was located at 212-214 North Third, Harrisburg. For the next several years he specialized in the design of school buildings, including schools that were built at Greensburg, Ridgway and Rockport, Pennsylvania. Kressly also served as an assistant of the School Board Bureau of Pennsylvania.

In Florida

In 1925, Kressly relocated to

Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...

, establishing a practice at 239-240 Church and Main Building; he practiced architecture in Orlando for the next two decades. Kressly was among no more than a dozen architecture firms active in Orlando in the 1920s, including Ryan and Roberts (

Ida Annah Ryan Ida Annah Ryan (1873–1950) was a pioneering United States architect known for her work in Massachusetts and Florida. She was the first woman to receive a Master of Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the first woman to re ...

and

Isabel Roberts Isabel Roberts (March 1871 – December 27, 1955) was a Prairie School figure, member of the architectural design team in the Oak Park Studio of Frank Lloyd Wright and partner with Ida Annah Ryan in the Orlando, Florida architecture firm, "R ...

Frank L. Bodine Frank Lee Bodine (April 10, 1874 – after 1930) was an American architect who practiced in Asbury Park, New Jersey and in Orlando, Florida in the first four decades of the twentieth century. Bodine was born April 10, 1874 in Bridgeton, New Jers ...

, Fred E. Field,

David Hyer David Burns Hyer (May 21, 1875 – December 11, 1942) was an American architect who practiced in Charleston, South Carolina and Orlando, Florida during the first half of the twentieth century, designing civic buildings in the Neoclassical Reviv ...

, Murry S. King, George E. Krug,

Howard M. Reynolds Howard Montalbert Reynolds, Sr. (June 17, 1885 - October 21, 1943) was an American architect practicing in Orlando, Florida in the 1920s. He designed gracefully proportioned, notable public buildings in the prevailing fashionable styles of the 1 ...

Frederick H. Trimble Frederick H. Trimble was an American architect in Central Florida from the early 1900s through the 1920s. He worked in the Colonial Revival, Spanish Colonial Revival and Prairie Style. Buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places ...

and Percy P. Turner. Each of these architects is notable, and together these firms were supportive colleagues in promoting excellence in the built environment in Florida, as one can learn by reading the links to each. Two of central Florida's most notable, exuberant, and easily seen

-style homes were designed by Kressly. Winter Park's "Casa de la Esquina" (1922), on the corner of Palmer Avenue and Alabama Drive, and College Park's "Casa Alameda" at 754 Seville Place, Orlando. Both homes exhibit the careful attention to massing and detail for which Kressly was known, as well as a theatricality that sets them apart from neighboring homes in the same style. "Casa Alameda" may be ranked high among Kressly's work, which can compare favorably with the designs of his Orlando contemporary, architect

James Gamble Rogers II James Gamble Rogers II (January 24, 1901 – October 30, 1990) was a celebrated American architect practicing primarily in Winter Park, Florida in the middle years of the twentieth century. He is noted for suavely elegant residential and commercia ...

(see for instance Rogers' "Casa Feliz" in Winter Park). Typical of Kressly's residential work is the home at 1338 Ivanhoe Boulevard; it was built in about 1936 in the

style. An example of Kressly's educational buildings is the St James Cathedral School, 505 Ridgewood Street, Orlando, dating to 1928. The main entrance and details show a Northern

Italian Renaissance The Italian Renaissance ( it, Rinascimento ) was a period in Italian history covering the 15th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Europe and marked the trans ...

style."A Guide to Historic Orlando", by Steve Rajtar Kressly also designed the Kaley School, 1600 East Kaley Avenue, another Tudor Revival style building, constructed in 1936. His own home in Orlando stood at 752 Palm Dr. W. In 1942, Kressly left Orlando and joined the Stone & Webster Engineering Corp., 49 Federal St.,

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 ...

, Massachusetts.

Family

Kressly married three times. His first wife was Louise V. Madden. They were married on April 27, 1918 and became the parents of two sons, Maurice E. Jr., born in 1922 and Lee L. born in 1923. His second wife was named Ethel Raab. Later in life, in 1951, he married Ruth Elizabeth Mertz.rootsweb.com Kressly died in March 1963 in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, Pennsylvania.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kressly, Maurice 20th-century American architects 1963 deaths 1892 births Architecture firms based in Florida People from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania