George Albert Clough

George A. Clough
George A. Clough
	George A. Clough, 1843-1910.
Born	George Albert Clough; May 27, 1843; Blue Hill, Maine
Died	December 30, 1910 (aged 67); Brookline, Massachusetts
Nationality	American
Occupation	Architect
Buildings	Suffolk County Courthouse; Calf Pasture Pumping Station Complex
1st City Architect of Boston
	In office; 1876–1883
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Charles J. Bateman

George Albert Clough (May 27, 1843 – December 30, 1910) was an architect working in Boston in the late 19th-century. He designed the Suffolk County Courthouse in Pemberton Square, and numerous other buildings in the city and around New England. Clough served as the first City Architect of Boston from 1876 to 1883.

Life and career

George Albert Clough was born May 27, 1843, in Blue Hill, Maine. He attended the Blue Hill Academy and worked as a draftsman for his father, the shipbuilder Asa Clough. He moved to Boston in 1863, entering the firm of Snell & Gregerson as a student. He remained with Snell until 1869, when he established his own practice.^[1] In 1876 he was elected City Architect of Boston, the first person to hold the office.^[a] He continued in that position until 1883, when he was replaced by Charles J. Bateman.^[5] He was awarded his largest commission, the Suffolk County Courthouse, in competition two years later in 1885. This building was completed in 1893, largely to Clough's design but with modifications he disapproved of.^[1] He was a private practitioner until 1901, when he formed a partnership with Herbert L. Wardner. Clough & Wardner operated until Clough's death in 1910.

Wardner continued to practice on his own in Boston until 1915, when he moved to Poughkeepsie, New York, moving again to Akron, Ohio, in 1919,^[6] where he died in 1939.

Personal life

In 1876 Clough married Amelia M. Hinckley of Thetford, Vermont, the sister of Lyman G. Hinckley. They had three children.^[1]

Clough died December 30, 1910, at home in Brookline, Massachusetts, at the age of 67.^[7]

Legacy

Historian Walter Muir Whitehill described him as "a competent but not very inspired practitioner."^[8]

A number of Clough's projects have been listed on the United States National Register of Historic Places.

Architectural works

Gaston Grammar School, City Point, South Boston, 1873^[9]
Fields Corner Municipal Building, Dorchester, Boston, 1874
Framingham Reservoir No. 1 Dam and Gatehouse, E end of Framingham Reservoir No. 1, off Winter St. N of Long Ave. Framingham, Massachusetts, 1876
Framingham Reservoir No. 3 Dam and Gatehouse, SE end of Framingham Reservoir No. 3, off MA 9/30 Framingham, Massachusetts, 1876
English High and Latin School, Montgomery St., Boston, 1877
Framingham Reservoir No. 2 Dam and Gatehouse, Between Framingham Reservoirs Nos. 1 and 2, W of jct. of Winter and Fountain Sts. Framingham, Massachusetts, 1877
Marcella Street Home, Boston, 1880^[10]
Prince School, corner Newbury St. and Exeter St., Boston, 1881
Old State House (Boston, Massachusetts), restored by Clough 1881-1882^[11]
Dillaway School, Boston, 1882
Calf Pasture Pumping Station Complex, Dorchester, Boston, 1883
Goddard Hall, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts, 1883
Lyman School for Boys, Westborough, Massachusetts, c.1885,^[12] NRHP-listed
Barncastle, 125 South St. (formerly 'Ideal Lodge') Blue Hill, Maine, 1884
B.M.C. Durfee High School building, Fall River, Massachusetts, 1886
Buck Memorial Library, Bucksport, Maine, 1887
Bridge Academy, ME 127 and ME 197 Dresden, Maine, 1890
St. Mark's Methodist Church, 90 Park St. Brookline, Massachusetts, 1892
Curtis Hall, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts, 1893
Suffolk County Courthouse, Pemberton Square, Boston, 1893
New England Historic Genealogical Society building extension, Somerset St., Boston, 1894^[13]
William Hayes Fogg Memorial Building, Berwick Academy, Maine, 1894
Church of the Gate of Heaven, South Boston, c.1896^[14]
Parker House, 185 South St. Blue Hill, Maine 1900 remodeling.
Rockland Public Library, Rockland, Maine, 1903^[15]
Vinalhaven Public Library, Carver St. Vinalhaven, Maine, 1906
Bridgewater state workhouse
Westboro insane asylum
Northampton insane asylum
Dana Hall, Wellesley, Mass
Sudbury Aqueduct Linear District, along Sudbury Aqueduct from Farm Pond at Waverly St. to Chestnut Hill Reservoir

Gallery

Suffolk County Courthouse, Pemberton Square, Boston
B.M.C. Durfee High School, Fall River, Massachusetts
Dillaway School, Boston
Lyman School for Boys, Westborough, Massachusetts
Fields Corner Municipal Building, Boston
Fogg Memorial Building, Berwick Academy, South Berwick, Maine (1894)
Calf Pasture Pumping Station Complex, Dorchester, Boston, in 2010
Framingham Reservoir No. 2 Dam and Gatehouse, Framingham, Massachusetts

Notes

^ The office of City Architect was established December 20, 1875.^[2] Clough was nominated January 31, 1876,^[3] and was unanimously elected to the office by a vote of the City Council on February 10, 1876.^[4]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "George A. Clough," in Massachusetts of To-day: A Memorial of the State, Historical and Biographical, Issued for the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago, ed. Daniel P. Toomey and Thomas C. Quinn (Boston: Columbia Publishing Company, 1892): 230.
^ "The City Council," Boston Daily Advertiser, December 21, 1875, 4.
^ "The City Council," Boston Daily Advertiser, February 1, 1876, 1.
^ "The City Council," Boston Daily Advertiser, February 11, 1876, 4.
^ "Municipal Affairs," Boston Daily Advertiser, February 27, 1883, 2.
^ "Wardner, Herbert Leavitt," in Report of the Thirtieth Anniversary of the Class of Eighteen Ninety-three (1923): 303.
^ "City's First Architect," Boston Daily Globe, January 1, 1911, 18.
^ Walter Muir Whitehill. The Making of an Architectural Masterpiece: The Boston Public Library. American Art Journal, Vol. 2, No. 2 (Autumn, 1970), p.14
^ Annual report of the School Committee of the City of Boston, 1873
^ Jane Holtz Kay. Lost Boston, expanded ed. 2006
^ Old Statehouse May be Moved Boston Antiquarians Have a Plan to Save the Historic Structure. Kansas City Star; Date: 06-28-1903
^ State Library of Massachusetts. Report of the librarian of the state library, 1886. Boston: 1887.
^ New England historical and genealogical register, Volume 65. 1911
^ American architect and building news, Jan. 9, 1897
^ Stimpson. Rockland, Rockport and Camden. New England Magazine, Sept. 1904