William Albert Swasey (11 October 1863 – 21 March 1940) was an American architect who designed domestic and commercial buildings in
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...
. His work includes theaters for the
Shubert family
The Shubert family was responsible for the establishment of the Broadway district, in New York City, as the hub of the theater industry in the United States. They dominated the legitimate theater and vaudeville in the first half of the 20th cen ...
in New York City.
Early life
Although the family was normally resident in Boston, Swasey was born in
Melbourne, Australia
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metropol ...
where his parents were temporarily living. His parents were Hattie Hobson Jewett and John Babson Swasey, a successful businessman. His father's firm, J. B. Swasey Commission Company, had offices in Boston, London, and
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
, Australia.
He was educated at
Boston Latin School
The Boston Latin School is a public exam school in Boston, Massachusetts. It was established on April 23, 1635, making it both the oldest public school in the British America and the oldest existing school in the United States. Its curriculum f ...
, followed by a brief stint at a military boarding school in Paris. He then enrolled at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
where he studied architecture, graduating in 1882.
Career
He began working for C. C. Height in New York before moving to Chicago where he worked for the firms of
Burnham and Root
Burnham and Root was one of Chicago's most famous architectural companies of the nineteenth century. It was established by Daniel Hudson Burnham and John Wellborn Root.
During their eighteen years of partnership, Burnham and Root designed and ...
and
Henry Ives Cobb
Henry Ives Cobb (August 19, 1859 – March 27, 1931) was an architect from the United States. Based in Chicago in the last decades of the 19th century, he was known for his designs in the Richardsonian Romanesque and Victorian Gothic styles. ...
.
Swasey moved to St. Louis, Missouri in 1885 and entered into an architectural partnership with Charles K. Ramsey.
Two years later, Swasey opened his own firm. From 1890 he was one of the chief architects of the residential development of Westminster Place and
Portland and Westmoreland Places
Portland and Westmoreland Places is a historic district in the Central West End neighborhood of St. Louis, Missouri. It is adjacent to the northeast corner of Forest Park. The district consists of 94 houses built circa 1890 to 1960. A wide variet ...
and is credited with introducing the city to
Colonial Revival
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 ...
architecture. However, several of the houses he designed for Westmoreland Place, such as the mansion for the banker Jacob Craig Van Blarcom, were in the
Italian Renaissance Revival
Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th century Revivalism (architecture), architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival architecture, Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival ...
style. Between 1890 and 1904, Swasey's other work included apartment and office buildings in St. Louis and New Orleans, a church in
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...
, and privately commissioned houses in Pennsylvania and Missouri.
In 1904 Swasey received a contract from the developers of
Parkview in St. Louis for the design of 20 new houses. However, before the development began, Swasey abruptly cancelled the contract and moved his practice to New York City. Two young associates in his St. Louis practice took it over and implemented some of his designs, all of which were in the Colonial Revival style. Once established in New York, Swasey began designing new theatres or remodelling existing ones for the
Shubert family
The Shubert family was responsible for the establishment of the Broadway district, in New York City, as the hub of the theater industry in the United States. They dominated the legitimate theater and vaudeville in the first half of the 20th cen ...
. He also designed the rebuilding of George C. Tillou's
Steeplechase Amusement Park at
Coney Island
Coney Island is a peninsular neighborhood and entertainment area in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn, Manhattan Beach to its east, L ...
in 1907 and the Lido Club Hotel at
Lido Beach during the same period.
Personal life
In 1890, Swasey had married Irene McNeal of Memphis Tennessee. She was the daughter of Albert McNeal, a prominent jurist, and the great-granddaughter of
President James K. Polk. The couple had one son, McNeal Swasey (1891–1946) who also became an architect with a career largely based in California. The couple later divorced. Swasey remarried in 1914 to Eleanor Hinton.
With the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
, new commissions dried up and Swasey found himself in financial difficulty. An article in the ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' of 6 December 1932 recounted how Swasey had fallen seriously in arrears with the alimony payments to his ex-wife, Irene McNeal Swasey. He claimed that he and his family were living on less than $1 a day. Nevertheless, the court ordered his property to be sequestered to pay the back alimony. His collection of architectural books was sold at an auction in 1932, and many of his designs and records from his time in New York were lost in his frequent changes of residence during the Depression.
Swasey spent part of his later years in Florida where he designed a few houses in the
Spanish Colonial style. He died of cancer at the
Calvary Hospital in New York City in 1940, survived by his second wife, Eleanor, and his sons, McNeal Swasey from his first marriage, and Albert Swasey from his second. He was buried in
Ferncliff Cemetery
Ferncliff Cemetery and Mausoleum is located at 280 Secor Road in the hamlet of Hartsdale, town of Greenburgh, Westchester County, New York, United States, about north of Midtown Manhattan. It was founded in 1902, and is non-sectarian. Ferncliff ...
.
Projects
Domestic architecture in St. Louis
Swasey designed fourteen houses for
Joseph Scott Fullerton's real estate development in Westminster Place, including his own Colonial Revival-style residence at 4384 Westminster Place. He also designed the ornamental gates to the development. For Fullerton's development of Portland and Westmoreland Places and their adjoining streets he designed a further six houses, including a mansion on Lindell Boulevard for the industrialist James Green, another mansion on Lindell for Judge Wilbur Boyle and another at 13 Portland Place for
William K. Bixby
William K. Bixby (January 2, 1857 – October 29, 1931) was a collector of art and rare books, and is known for his significant philanthropic contributions around the St. Louis area.
Life
William Keeney Bixby was born on January 2, 1857, in Adr ...
.
File:James Green Residence. Lindell Boulevard. W. Albert Swasey, Architect.jpg, James Green Residence
File:W. Albert Swasey Residence. 4384 Westminster Place. W. Albert Swasey, Architect.jpg, William A. Swasey Residence
File:William K. Bixby Residence. 13 Portland Place. Built ca. 1895. W. Albert Swasey, Architect.jpg, William K. Bixby
William K. Bixby (January 2, 1857 – October 29, 1931) was a collector of art and rare books, and is known for his significant philanthropic contributions around the St. Louis area.
Life
William Keeney Bixby was born on January 2, 1857, in Adr ...
Residence
Theatres
Swasey's first forays into theatre design were in St. Louis where he designed the Odeon Theatre and Masonic Temple in 1899 and the Garrick Theatre in 1904. The Odeon was for many years the home of the
St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. It was demolished in 1935 after a series of fires. The Garrick Theatre was built by the Shubert family to take advantage of the influx of people to the city for the
St. Louis World's Fair. It opened in December 1904 with
Ada Rehan
Ada Rehan (born Bidelia Crehan; June 12, 1857 – January 8, 1916) was an American actress and comedian who typified the "personality" style of acting in the nineteenth century.
Early life and career
She was born Bidelia Crehan in Limerick cit ...
and
Charles Richman in ''
The Taming of the Shrew
''The Taming of the Shrew'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1592. The play begins with a framing device, often referred to as the induction, in which a mischievous nobleman tricks a drunken ...
''. The Garrick functioned as a playhouse until after World War I when it was bought by
Loews Theatres Loews may refer to:
* Loews Cineplex Entertainment, formerly Loews Incorporated, a defunct North American cinema chain which formerly owned Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
**''United States v. Loew's Inc.'', a United States Supreme Court case involving Loews
...
and converted to a
burlesque
A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects. house. After World War II, it became a cinema showing
adult film
Pornographic films (pornos), erotic films, sex films, and 18+ films are films that present sexually explicit subject matter in order to arouse and satisfy the viewer. Pornographic films present sexual fantasies and usually include eroticall ...
s. It was finally closed and demolished in 1954.
Later theatres designed by Swasey include:
*
Sam S. Shubert Theater (Minneapolis, built 1910)
*
39th Street Theatre
The 39th Street Theatre was a playhouse in New York City located at the corner of 39th Street and Broadway. Originally called Nazimova's 39th Street Theatre after the actress Alla Nazimova, it was in operation from 1910 to 1925 when it was demoli ...
(New York City, built 1910, demolished 1925)
*
Winter Garden Theatre
The Winter Garden Theatre is a Broadway theatre at 1634 Broadway in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. It opened in 1911 under designs by architect William Albert Swasey. The Winter Garden's current design dates to 1922, when ...
(New York City, built 1911)
*
Shubert Theatre (New Haven, built 1914)
*
44th Street Theatre
The 44th Street Theatre was a Broadway theatre located at 216 West 44th Street in New York City from 1912 to 1945. It opened and operated for three years as the Weber and Fields' Music Hall. Its rooftop theatre, the Nora Bayes Theatre, presente ...
(New York City, built 1912, demolished 1945)
*
48th Street Theatre
The 48th Street Theatre was a Broadway theatre at 157 West 48th Street in Manhattan. It was built by longtime Broadway producer William A. Brady and designed by architect William Albert Swasey. The venue was also called the Equity 48th Stree ...
(New York City, built 1912, demolished 1955)
*New Broad Street Theatre (Philadelphia, built 1913, demolished 1971)
References
External links
*Swasey, William Albert (22 January 1913)
"Some Essentials in Theatre Construction" ''The American Architect'', Vol 103, p. 53–62 (contains photographs and architectural plans for many of Swasey's theatres)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Swasey, William Albert
1863 births
1940 deaths
19th-century American architects
20th-century American architects
MIT School of Architecture and Planning alumni
Boston Latin School alumni