Eugene C. Gardner

Eugene Clarence Gardner
Eugene C. Gardner
Born	(1836-03-28)March 28, 1836 Ashfield, Massachusetts
Died	February 7, 1915(1915-02-07) (aged 78) Springfield, Massachusetts
Nationality	American
Occupation	Architect

Eugene Clarence Gardner (1836–1915) was an American architect and author of Springfield, Massachusetts. Gardner was noted both for the architectural influence of his extensive practice as well as his writings on the American home. Gardner was the most notable architect of Springfield.

Eugene Clarence Gardner was born March 28, 1836, in Ashfield, Massachusetts to Bela Gardner and Lucy (Barber) Gardner. He was raised on the family farm, and attended district schools as well as the Ashfield and Conway Academies. He learned the trade of mason and worked for some time in New Ipswich, New Hampshire, before moving to Florence, where his family had moved in his absence.^[1] In 1858 Gardner married and moved west, and was appointed principal of Tallmadge Academy in Tallmadge, Ohio. In 1859, while principal, he oversaw the construction of a new building for the academy. In 1862, he returned to Florence, and the following year opened an architect's office in Northampton. Perhaps facing competition from established architect William Fenno Pratt, in 1868 he moved downriver to Springfield, where he formed a partnership with contractor-turned-architect Jason Perkins, also a former resident of Northampton. The firm of Perkins & Gardner was dissolved in 1873, and both returned to private practice.^[1]

Gardner worked independently until 1888, when he formed a partnership with his son, George C. Gardner, and draftsman George R. Pyne, practicing as Gardner, Pyne & Gardner.^[1] In the winter of 1888–89 Gardner moved to Washington, D.C. in hopes to improve his ailing health. ^[2] From Washington he went to Europe, returning to the United States to spend the winter of 1889–90 in Atlanta. ^[3] Both times, Gardner acted as representative of his firm and they were commissioned to design major projects in these cities. The partnership of Gardner, Pyne & Gardner lasted until 1901, when Pyne left to open an independent office. Father and son formed a new partnership, practicing as E. C. & G. C. Gardner.^[1] This partnership continued until Gardner's death in 1915. The firm was then continued by his son, George C. Gardner, as well as their associate, F. W. S. King. The office remained open until King's death in 1940.

In 1865 Gardner was appointed superintendent of construction of a new mill dam being built on the Mill River above Williamsburg. Gardner was often absent from the site due to illness and construction was usually supervised by the owners, one of whom had designed the dam. The dam was completed in 1866, but had been poorly designed and built. In 1874 it failed catastrophically, and the resulting flood killed 139 people. Following an investigation, the conception and construction of the dam was found to be fraught with incompetence and negligence, but no one person could be assigned the blame.^[4]

Gardner always made a point to stay abreast of contemporary architectural fashion. For the First Congregational Church of West Springfield, completed in 1872, Gardner used as a model H. H. Richardson's Church of the Unity in Springfield. Henry-Russell Hitchcock noted that although crude, it represents one of the earliest pieces of evidence of Richardson's influence.^[5] Vincent Scully noted Gardner as an important figure in the development of the Stick Style, in such a way that revived the ideas of Andrew Jackson Downing.^[6] After the 1880s, likely due to the influence of the academically trained George C. Gardner, the firm's designs were chiefly derived from Colonial and Renaissance precedents.

Beyond his own buildings, Gardner is known as the author of a number of influential books on the design and construction of homes. Beginning with Homes (1874) and ending with The House that Jill Built (1882, reissued 1896), Gardner promoted a highly personal and considered design process for homes.^[7] In Space, Time and Architecture, Sigfried Giedion noted that Gardner's writings represented a move away from the fussiness that then typified American architecture to a more considered whole.^[8]

Gardner was also a frequent contributor to The Republican and the architectural press.^[1] Additionally, from its establishment in 1883 Gardner was editor of a short-lived monthly architectural journal, The Builder, published by Clark W. Bryan & Company.^[9]

In 1901 Gardner was elected a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from the 3rd Hampden district as a Republican, but declined to run for a second term.^[1] He was a major proponent of the development and beautification of Springfield, and in 1905 proposed a plan for the development of the city along City Beautiful principles.^[10] Some of his proposals, like the development of Court Square and construction of the Memorial Bridge, were eventually brought to fruition, but others, including the development of a park and boulevard system, were not.

Gardner married in 1858, to Harriet Bellows Hubbard of Ashfield, Massachusetts. In addition to their son, they had a daughter who died young.^[1] The Gardner family lived in a house on Atwater Road near Atwater Park, built in 1874 and now demolished.^[11] In the 1870s they were host to several students of the Chinese Educational Mission, including Tang Shaoyi and Liang Ju-hao, who would become officials of the Republic of China.^[12]

In 1898, the Gardners and Pyne were among the founding members of the Architectural Club of Springfield,^[13] though this organization was not long-lived. Gardner became a member of the American Institute of Architects in 1913.^[14]

George Clarence Gardner was born August 3, 1865, in Florence.^[15] He attended the Springfield public schools before enrolling at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, taking courses in 1885–86 and 1888.^[16] In addition to his formal architectural education, he worked as a student draftsman in his father's office before becoming partner after his final return to Springfield in 1888. Gardner was considered an expert on Colonial architecture and remodeled several Colonial churches.^[17] He was chairman of the Springfield Planning Board from its establishment in 1921 until his death in 1930.^[18]

Gardner became a member of the American Institute of Architects in 1902.^[19]

The younger Gardner died August 27, 1930, at the age of 64.^[20]

George Rovillo Pyne was born February 12, 1853, in Waterbury, Connecticut. He was educated in the schools of South Hadley and Agawam, and in 1873 went to Boston as a student draftsman, working for Putnam & Tilden and George F. Meacham. In 1876 he came back to Springfield, where he entered Gardner's employ. From 1881 to 1886 he practiced architecture in Evansville, Indiana, returning to Springfield at the end of that period. When the partnership of Gardner, Pyne & Gardner was formed, Pyne moved to Washington as the elder Gardner's assistant, returning to Springfield by 1890. After the dissolution of the partnership in 1901, Pyne practiced on his own in Springfield for ten years. He died February 18, 1911, in Springfield.^[21][22]

After the death of George C. Gardner, the firm was taken over by Frank Wesley Stetson King. Usually known as F. W. S. or Frank, King was born March 5, 1870, in Springfield and entered the Gardner office in the 1890s after completing his education in the public schools. For a few years after the breakup of Gardner, Pyne & Gardner, King operated his own practice, but soon returned to the Gardners. By 1913, he was the firm's main construction superintendent.^[23] King continued to practice as E. C. & G. C. Gardner, changing the name to Gardner & King in 1937. He continued to practice until his death, which occurred on July 19, 1940, in Springfield.^[24]

King was a founding member and first vice president of the Architectural Society of Western Massachusetts, established in 1934 and later merged into the American Institute of Architects.^[24]

The last major work of the firm was the Springfield Trade High School, completed in 1939 and demolished in 2012.

In addition to his architecture, Gardner left another legacy in Springfield. Many architects who would go on to practice in Springfield and elsewhere were trained in his office, including Guy Kirkham, Frederick S. Newman, Francis R. Richmond and B. Hammett Seabury. Walter T. Owen, who designed the George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum in Springfield and would later succeed to the practice of James Renwick Jr. in New York, also worked with Gardner.^[25]

Many of Gardner's works, designed alone or with partners, have been listed on the United States National Register of Historic Places, and others contribute to listed historic districts.

• E. C. Gardner, Homes, and How to Make Them (Boston: James R. Osgood and Company, 1874)
• E. C. Gardner, Illustrated Homes: A Series of Papers Describing Real Houses and Real People (Boston: James R. Osgood and Company, 1875)
• E. C. Gardner, Home Interiors (Boston: James R. Osgood and Company, 1878)
• E. C. Gardner, Common Sense in Church Building (New York: Bicknell & Comstock, 1880)
• E. C. Gardner, Farm Architecture (Holyoke: C. W. Bryan, 1882)
• E. C. Gardner, The House that Jill Built, after Jack's had Proved a Failure (New York: Fords, Howard & Hulbert, 1882)^[w]
• E. C. Gardner, Homes, and All About Them (Boston, James R. Osgood and Company, 1885)^[x]
• E. C. Gardner, Town and Country School Buildings (New York and Chicago: E. L. Kellogg & Company, 1888)

• E. C. Gardner, "The Architecture of Modern Hospitals," Engineering Magazine 9, no. 6 (September 1895): 1086–1110.
• E. C. Gardner, "An Arraignment of American City Architecture," Engineering Magazine 12, no. 1 (October 1896): 30–48.
• E. C. Gardner, "The Visible Charm: As it Was, is and May Be" in Springfield, Present and Prospective, ed. James E. Tower (Springfield: Pond & Campbell, 1905)
• E. C. Gardner, "Planning the Commercial Portions of Cities," American City 6, no. 5 (May 1912): 724–727.