Albert Randolph Ross

Albert Randolph Ross (October 26, 1868 – October 27, 1948) was an American architect. Born in Westfield, Massachusetts, he was a son of architect John W. Ross.

Albert Randolph Ross, Architect

Albert Ross attended grammar school in Westfield and later in Davenport, Iowa, where he went on to high school, finishing in 1884.[1] After working as a draughtsman in his father's Davenport architecture office from 1884 to 1887, he spent a year working for an architect in Buffalo, New York, before joining the New York City firm of McKim, Mead and White in 1891.[1][2] In 1898, he formed the firm of Ackerman & Ross with William S. Ackerman, a partnership which dissolved in 1901.[2]

In 1927, when he was awarded a $10,000 prize in a competition to design a new courthouse for Milwaukee out of 33 who submitted proposals,[3] he told the Milwaukee Journal why he settled on a traditional design:[4]

When I went into the competition I considered whether to design a building in the modern and experimental trend for a great public courthouse. I made modern sketches, but in my opinion they fell flat for this purpose. They were not typical and expressive of public work, so I turned to that type established by our forefathers.... I have no quarrel with trends in modern architecture. I take a fling at it myself. But it simply won't do for public buildings. It violates the dictates of a definite style built up through one hundred and fifty years of our history. A departure into modernism would not be suitable for a courthouse. We must be trained slowly to things violently new. The public's money cannot rightly be used to force experiments down its throat.

In 1901, Ross married Susan Husted, from Brookline, Massachusetts.[1] From 1901 until 1948 his main residence was on Negro Island, near Boothbay Harbor, Maine.[2] He died October 27, 1948.[2]

Principal architectural works

Among the buildings that Ross designed were 12 libraries.[2] Some of his notable design projects included:

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References
  1. John William Leonard, Albert Nelson Marquis. Who's who in America, Volume 4: Albert Randolph Ross.
  2. "Columbus in Photographs: Albert Randolph Ross". Archived from the original on 2011-09-27. Retrieved 2011-05-05.
  3. "Architect Here Wins $10,000 Prize" (PDF). New York Times. August 4, 1927. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
  4. Wright, Frank Lloyd (1943). Frank Lloyd Wright: An Autobiography. Duell ,Sloan and Pearce. p. 358.
  5. "Library History". Port Jervis Free Public Library. Archived from the original on 2011-09-14. Retrieved 2011-10-04.
  6. Evening Times-Republican, March 4, 1902, page 5.
  7. Needham Free Public Library, accessed February 11, 2015
  8. Old Town Public Library, accessed February 11, 2015
  9. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  10. The Courier-News (Bridgewater, New Jersey), May 4, 1905, page 2: "The work of engraving two tablets...at the new courthouse is in progress. The tablet on the right will read 'Union County Courthouse Commenced February 1903; Completed April 1905...Architects, Ackerman & Ross..."
  11. Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, New York), June 24, 1905, page 3.
  12. Hartford Courant (Hartford, Connecticut), July 6, 1905, page 10.
  13. Draper Hall, M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University at Albany
  14. Former Carnegie Library, Denver
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