Chester Holmes Aldrich

Chester Holmes Aldrich (Providence, Rhode Island, 4 June 1871 – Rome, 26 December 1940) was an American architect and director of the American Academy in Rome from 1935 until his death in 1940.

Chester Holmes Aldrich
Born(1871-06-04)June 4, 1871
Providence, Rhode Island
DiedDecember 26, 1940(1940-12-26) (aged 69)
Rome
NationalityAmerican
Alma materColumbia University
École des Beaux-Arts
OccupationArchitect
AwardsFellow of the American Institute of Architects
PracticeDelano & Aldrich
BuildingsKykuit

Early life

Holmes was a member of an old New England family. He was the third son of a merchant, Elisha Smith Aldrich, and Anna Elizabeth Aldrich. He was a distant relative of Senator Nelson W. Aldrich. He graduated from Columbia University's School of Mines in 1893 with a Ph. B.[1]

He attended the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris.[1]

Career
Main article: Delano & Aldrich

He interrupted his studies at the École des Beaux-Arts to work with New York architects Carrère and Hastings, producing the firm's competition drawings for the New York Public Library. After he received his diploma from the Ecole in 1900, he returned to Carrère and Hastings. He had earlier befriended William Adams Delano, and left Carrère and Hastings in 1903 to open a practice with him.[2] Together they are responsible for designing some of the most famous Beaux-Arts buildings in New York; including notably the Rockefeller family mansion of Kykuit, at the estate in Westchester County, and the U.S. Pavilion at the Venice Biennale for the Grand Central Art Galleries.[1]

Aldrich was a fellow of the American Institute of Architects. He was elected to the National Academy of Design as an Associate member in 1928, and made a full member in 1939. A significant collection of correspondence by Aldrich is held by the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library at Columbia University in New York City.[3]

Philanthropy and Rome

Aldrich was for twenty years the President of the Kips Bay Boys Club and was involved with a Staten Island home for boys that provided post hospitalization rehabilitation. Italy awarded him the Order of the Crown of Italy for his involvement with the American Red Cross Commission to Italy from 1917 to 1919. In 1935, he left Delano and Aldrich to head the American Academy in Rome.[4]

Aldrich died in Rome on December 26, 1940, where he was buried at the Campo Cestio.[1]

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References
  1. "C.H. ALDRICH DIES; NOTED ARCHITECT; Member of Delano & Aldrich Designed Embassies, Clubs and Famed Residences STRICKEN IN ROME AT 69 Head of American Academy There Since 1935 Began Practice Here in 1903" (PDF). The New York Times. 27 December 1940. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
  2. Pennoyer, Peter; Walker, Anne (2003). The Architecture of Delano & Aldrich. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 9780393730876. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
  3. Andrews, Wayne. "Chester Holmes Aldrich." Dictionary of American Biography, Supplements 1-2: To 1940. American Council of Learned Societies, 1944-1958. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2008.
  4. "Finding Aid". American Academy in Rome records, 1855-[ca.1981], (bulk dates 1894-1946). Archives of American Art. 2011. Retrieved 17 Jun 2011.
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