Stratton Owen Hammon (March 6, 1904 – October 22, 1997) was a

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

, architect known for his

Colonial Revival style The Colonial Revival architectural style seeks to revive elements of American colonial architecture. The beginnings of the Colonial Revival style are often attributed to the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, which reawakened Americans to the archi ...

homes.

Life

Hammon was a graduate of

DuPont Manual High School duPont Manual High School is a public magnet high school located in the Old Louisville neighborhood of Louisville, Kentucky, United States. It serves students in grades 9– 12. It is a part of the Jefferson County Public School District. DuP ...

in Louisville where he studied art and architectural drafting. He studied architecture briefly at the

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public research university in Louisville, Kentucky. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one of ...

. He learned the architecture trade working with a Louisville builder named Murphy and opened his own architecture practice during the height of the Great Depression. He is known for the more than 100 distinctive homes he designed in Kentucky and for the house plans that he published in magazines such as ''

Good Housekeeping ''Good Housekeeping'' is an American women's magazine featuring articles about women's interests, product testing by The Good Housekeeping Institute, recipes, diet, and health, as well as literary articles. It is well known for the "Good House ...

'', '' Better Homes and Gardens'' and ''

McCall's ''McCall's'' was a monthly American women's magazine, published by the McCall Corporation, that enjoyed great popularity through much of the 20th century, peaking at a readership of 8.4 million in the early 1960s. It was established as a small-for ...

'' throughout the United States. It is impossible to know how many homes were built based on these plans in various parts of the United States. He became the 30th Kentucky registered architect in 1930 and was later president of the Kentucky Chapter of the

American Institute of Architects The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to su ...

. During World War II, Hammon served as captain in the

United States Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...

, supervising construction projects such as Columbus Air Support Base, soon to be called

Bakalar Air Force Base Bakalar Air Force Base is a former United States Air Force, U.S. Air Force base located northeast of Columbus, Indiana. During World War II, the base was known as Atterbury Air Field and Atterbury Army Air Base (named in memory of Brigadier G ...

, in

Columbus, Indiana Columbus is a city in and the county seat of Bartholomew County, Indiana, United States. The population was 50,474 at the 2020 census. The relatively small city has provided a unique place for noted Modern architecture and public art, commissio ...

. He participated in the

Normandy Invasion Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 (D-Day) with the Norma ...

in June 1944 and also served as one of the

Monuments Men A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, hist ...

at the close of the war. He rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel by the end of the war. The French government awarded him both the

Croix de Guerre The ''Croix de Guerre'' (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awa ...

and the

Legion of Honor The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

for his efforts in France during World War II The

Speed Museum The Speed Art Museum, originally known as the J.B. Speed Memorial Museum, now colloquially referred to as the Speed by locals, is the oldest and largest art museum in Kentucky. It was established in 1927 in Louisville, Kentucky on Third Street ...

in Louisville mounted an exhibition of Hammon's work in 2007 and a book was published that same year containing photographs of many Hammon homes and a definitive record of his Kentucky commissions. Architectural historian

Richard Guy Wilson Richard Guy Wilson (born 1940) is a noted architectural historian and Commonwealth Professor in Architectural History at the University of Virginia. Wilson was born and raised in Los Angeles (residing in a house designed by Rudolph Schindler). H ...

has lectured on Hammon's work at the Filson Historical Society. He is buried at

Cave Hill Cemetery Cave Hill Cemetery is a Victorian era National Cemetery and arboretum located at Louisville, Kentucky. Its main entrance is on Baxter Avenue and there is a secondary one on Grinstead Drive. It is the largest cemetery by area and number of buria ...

in Louisville.

External links

Kentucky Educational Television story on Hammon

] *

References

1904 births 1997 deaths Architects from Louisville, Kentucky DuPont Manual High School alumni Burials at Cave Hill Cemetery Recipients of the Legion of Honour Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1939–1945 (France) Monuments men 20th-century American architects {{Louisville-stub