Joseph Evans Sperry (1854–1930) 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 ...

, noted for designing buildings in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was ...

. He was born in Georgetown, South Carolina and later relocated to

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean t ...

, where he partnered with

James Bosley Noel Wyatt James Bosley Noel Wyatt (1847–1926) was an American architect and co-founder of the Wyatt & Nolting architectural partnership. Education Wyatt attended Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the Ecole des Beaux Arts ...

to form the architectural firm Wyatt and Sperry. Their affiliation lasted from 1878 to 1887.AIA Baltimore A Chapter History from 1870-2005, Charles Belfoure, pg. 91 The two probably became acquainted while working in the office of Architect, E. Francis Baldwin, where he worked from 1872 until 1876. With Wyatt, he designed a number of buildings around Baltimore before breaking off on his own. Sperry became one of Baltimore's leading architects, designing many public buildings, including churches, hospitals, and banks. In 1914 he was named a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects. Sperry also designed several buildings at

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consi ...

and one building at

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Beckley, Potomac State Coll ...

. Sperry's most famous building is probably the Emerson "Bromo-Seltzer" Tower in Baltimore. Sperry's buildings were designed in a variety of styles, but overall were eclectic. Sperry practiced architecture independently from 1888 until he died in 1930.

Selected works

*1891: Equitable Building, Baltimore, Maryland *1892: The

Eutaw Place Temple Eutaw Place Temple is a large, eclectically-styled former synagogue on Eutaw Place in the Bolton Hill neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland. The temple was constructed to serve the German Jewish immigrant community. Originally built as a synagogue ...

of congregation Oheb Shalom *1896: Brewers Exchange, Baltimore, Maryland *1897: St. Mark's Lutheran Church, Baltimore, Maryland *1911: Emerson "Bromo-Seltzer" Tower, Baltimore, Maryland *1914: Maryland Hall at

's Whiting School of Engineering *1917:

Whitehall Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London. The road forms the first part of the A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea. It is the main thoroughfare running south from Trafalgar Square towards Parliament Sq ...

Narragansett, Rhode Island Narragansett is a town in Washington County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 14,532 at the 2020 census. However, during the summer months the town's population more than doubles to near 34,000. The town of Narragansett occupie ...

*1930: Young Men's and Young Women's Hebrew Association Building, Baltimore, Maryland

References

*Withey, Henry F., A.I.A. and Elsie Raburn Withey, 1956. ''Biographical Dictionary of American Architects (Deceased)'', (New Age Publishing Company, Los Angeles), 565.

External links

Biography of Joseph Evans Sperry, Baltimore Architecture Foundation

Baltimore Dead Architects Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sperry, Joseph Evans 19th-century American architects Architects from Baltimore Fellows of the American Institute of Architects 1854 births 1930 deaths 20th-century American architects