Mifflin E. Bell

Mifflin Emlen Bell (October 20, 1847[1] – May 31, 1904[2]), often known as M.E. Bell, was an American architect who served from 1883 to 1886 as Supervising Architect of the US Treasury Department. Bell delegated design responsibilities to staff members, which resulted in a large variety of building styles, including Second Empire, Châteauesque, Queen Anne and Richardsonian Romanesque.[3]

U.S. Post Office and Courthouse (Keokuk, Iowa)
Mifflin Emlen Bell
Born(1847-10-20)October 20, 1847
East Bradford Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania
DiedMay 31, 1904(1904-05-31) (aged 56)
Chicago, Illinois
OccupationArchitect
BuildingsSeveral US Post Offices, Courthouses, and Customhouses

Life and career

Bell was born on a farm in East Bradford Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania to Chalhly Bell & Mary Emlen.[4] He married Addie Vanhoff on June 7, 1871, and by 1876 he was living in Springfield, Illinois with his wife and two children, working as Assistant Superintendent of the statehouse.[1] Bell's tenure as Supervising Architect for the US Treasury began on November 1, 1883, with an annual salary of $4,500 (equivalent to $123,477 today).[5] He was member of the Joint Commission to Complete the Washington Monument, and his name is engraved on the north face of the monument's capstone. Bell submitted his resignation from the position by mid-1887 and moved to Chicago. In Chicago, Bell was appointed as superintendent of repairs for the city's federal buildings, and was in charge of federal buildings at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition.[6] He died in Chicago of pneumonia in 1904.[7]

Many of his works survive and a number of these are listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).[8]

Works
  • U.S. Post Office, Brooklyn, New York. One of the finest examples of Richardsonian Romanesque
  • U.S. Post Office, Quincy, Illinois, in the Châteauesque style
  • U.S. Court House and Post Office, Keokuk, Iowa, now the Lee County Courthouse, in the Queen Anne style
  • U.S. Post Office, Hannibal, Missouri, a late Second Empire style
  • U.S. Post Office, Former, and Federal Courthouse, Auburn, New York, a late Richardsonian Romanesque style
  • Marion County, Iowa Courthouse; Knoxville, Iowa Richardsonian Romanesque Marion County Courthouse
  • Paul Laxalt State Building - formerly the U.S. Court House & Carson City Post Office, now home to the Nevada Commission on Tourism in Carson City, Nevada
  • U.S. Court House and Post Office in Augusta, Maine photographed in 2013.

References
  1. John Carroll Power; Sarah A. Power; Old Settlers' Society of Sangamon County (Ill.) (1876). History of the early settlers of Sangamon County, Illinois. Edwin A. Wilson & Co. p. 740. Retrieved 2011-12-19.
  2. "Illinois, Cook County Deaths, 1878-1922". FamilySearch. Retrieved 20 September 2013.
  3. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-17. Retrieved 2009-06-21.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) HCRS nomination form
  4. "United States Census, 1850". Retrieved 20 September 2013.
  5. Archived copy. Archived from the original on 2013-09-21. Retrieved 2016-05-24.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) American almanac and treasury of facts, 1887
  6. Archived copy. Archived from the original on 2014-07-04. Retrieved 2016-05-24.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) Architects to the nation By Antoinette Josephine Lee
  7. "M.E. Bell, Architect, Dead". Chicago Daily Tribune. 2 June 1904. p. 9. Archived from the original on 11 August 2014. Retrieved 6 August 2014 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  9. "The American Architect and Building News". XX (560). 18 September 1886: 134. Archived from the original on 5 February 2015. Retrieved 9 March 2015. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  10. Maine Historic Preservation Commission (11 January 1974). "National Register of Historic Places Registration Form" (PDF). NPS.gov. National Park Service. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
  11. NRHP nom with accompanying photos
  12. "Monroe County Courthouse". Wisconsin Historical Society. Archived from the original on 2015-02-16. Retrieved 2015-02-15.
  13. http://napersettlement.org/documentcenter/view/333
Preceded by
James G. Hill		 Office of the Supervising Architect
1883–1886		 Succeeded by
William A. Freret
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