Kenneth MacKenzie Murchison

Kenneth MacKenzie Murchison, Jr. (September 29, 1872 – December 15, 1938) was a prominent American Beaux-Arts and Gothic Revival architect.

Kenneth MacKenzie Murchison, Jr.
Born(1872-09-29)September 29, 1872
DiedDecember 15, 1938(1938-12-15) (aged 66)
New York City, New York, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Alma mater
OccupationArchitect
Spouse(s)
Aurelie deMauriac (m. 19021938)
Children
  • Katherine Murchison Browning
  • Aurelie Murchison de Wardener
Parent(s)
  • Kenneth M. Murchison Sr.
  • Catherine Elliott Williams

Early life

He was born in Brooklyn, New York City in 1872. Murchison graduated from Columbia University in 1894 and from the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France, in 1900.[1]

Career

Two years after graduating from the École des Beaux-Arts, he opened an office in New York where his first major commissions were for railroad stations for the Pennsylvania Railroad company. Among the stations he designed are the Delaware Lackawanna Station, Hoboken, New Jersey;[2][3] both the Lackawanna Terminal and the Lehigh Valley Terminal in Buffalo, New York, and Pennsylvania Station, Baltimore, Maryland.[4]

In New York, he was well known as one of the founders of the Beaux Arts Balls, elaborate costume parties benefiting architects who had fallen on hard times. He also was a founder of the Mendelsohn Glee Club. At the time of his death, he had started work on a new Dunes Club to replace the one destroyed a few months earlier.[1]

Personal life

On April 5, 1902, Murchison was married to Aurelie de Mauriac. The family lived in the Beaux Arts Apartments, which he designed, at 310 E. 44th St. Together, they were the parents of two daughters:[1]

  • Katherine Murchison, who married Hays Browning.[1]
  • Aurelie Murchison, who married Edoard de Wardener.[1]

Murchison died suddenly, at 11:45 p.m. on December 15, 1938, "as he was emerging from the I.R.T. station in Grand Central Terminal", The New York Times reported.[1]

Buildings

NameLocationDateBuilt forCurrent useImage
Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Station1 Hudson Place, Hoboken, New Jersey1907Lackawanna RailroadRailroad station
Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Station700 Lackawanna Ave at Jefferson Ave, Scranton, Pennsylvania1908Lackawanna RailroadHotel
Beaux Arts Apartments310 E. 44th St., New York1929–1930Apartments
U.S. Marine HospitalStaten Island, New York
Havana Central railway station401 Avenida de Bélgica, Havana, Cuba1912Congress of CubaRailroad station

Munson Steamship Lines Building[5]1 Wall Street Court, New York City1906Munson Steamship CompanyCo-op (converted in 2003)
Pennsylvania Station47 Walnut St, Johnstown, Pennsylvania1916Pennsylvania Railroad
Pennsylvania Station[6]1515 N Charles St, Baltimore, Maryland1911Pennsylvania Railroad
Union Station1000 Water St at Park St, Jacksonville, Florida1919Florida East Coast Railway, et al.Convention center

He also designed:

  • Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Station-Johnstown (Amtrak station)
  • Jamaica (LIRR station), Jamaica, New York.
  • Long Beach (LIRR station), Long Beach, New York.
  • The original Dunes Club, Narragansett, Rhode Island. (Only the gatehouse remains after the 1938 hurricane.)
  • Sands Point Bath Club, East Egg, LI (destroyed by fire in 1986)
  • Forest Hills Stadium, West Side Tennis Club, Forest Hills, Queens, New York City[7]
  • New Colonial Hotel, Nassau
  • First National Bank Building, Hoboken, New Jersey
  • The Murchison Building, Wilmington, North Carolina
  • Co-op Apartments, 39 E. 79th St., New York.
  • The Tully House (Residence), Mill Neck, New York
  • Luola Chapel, built at Orton Plantation in Brunswick, North Carolina, in memory of his sister who died in 1916. He also added wings to the main house.
  • Summer Residences, Narragansett, Rhode Island
  • Primelles Building, Havana, Cuba (American Architect. Vol. 119, Part 1)
  • St. Elmo Hall, home to the St. Elmo Society, at 111 Grove Street at Yale University, today known as Rosenfeld Hall.
  • William A. Clark House (with Lord and Hewlett)

References

  1. http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2011-09-25/news/bs-md-backstory-murchison25-20110925_1_architect-terminals-baltimore-s-penn-station/2
  2. Railroad Gazette. Railroad gazette. 1905-01-01.
  3. Barron, James (September 30, 2016). "Hoboken Terminal, With Flair and Grandeur, Is a Survivor". The New York Times.
  4. Dorsey, John and James D Dilts, ‘’A Guide to Baltimore Architecture’’, Tidewater Publishers, Centerville, Maryland, 1981 p 281-282
  5. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-05-06. Retrieved 2011-11-18.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. Dorsey, John and James D Dilts, ‘’A Guide to Baltimore Architecture’’, Tidewater Publishers, Centerville, Maryland, 1981 p 178-179
  7. http://www.queensledger.com/view/full_story/22026912/article-The-architect-behind-the-Forest-Hills-stadium


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