Arthur Randall Dean (1869-1949), Architect
Arthur Randall Dean was born on February 5, 1869 at Mount Vernon, New Hampshire, the seventh child of Reverend Samuel Chase and Augusta Abbot Dean’s eight offspring.[4:1-4][8][15] The Dean family moved to Nebraska in 1872. Arthur was a decorated high school and college athlete, an avocation he continued through 1894 in Chicago.[4:1-4] Arthur attended Doane Preparatory School and a semester of Doane College in Crete, Nebraska before moving to Minneapolis to begin his architecture career. In 1903, Arthur and his brother George formed their own firm in Chicago, called Dean & Dean, Architects, which Arthur continued for decades after George’s death.
Arthur Dean married Emma Quinby Fuller of Ashland, Nebraska on September 18, 1901.[4] Emma was a prominent academic musician, who studied at the University of Nebraska, the Doane College Academy, Wellesley College, the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago, and taught at both the University of Illinois and the American Conservatory of Music.[2] They had two sons, Arthur Fuller, born in 1908, and Louis Abbott, born in 1912.[4][15] Both sons became architects.[21] Arthur Dean died on November 13, 1949 in Chicago.[14]
This page is a contribution to the publication, Place Makers of Nebraska: The Architects. See the format and contents page for more information on the compilation and page organization.
Contents
Educational & Professional Associations
1884: preparatory student, Doane College Preparatory Academy, Crete, Nebraska.[4:4-5]
1885: student, Village School, South Bend, Nebraska.[4:4-5]
1886-1888: preparatory student, Doane College Preparatory Academy, Crete, Nebraska.[4:4-5]
ca. 1889 -1890: college student, Doane College, Crete, Nebraska.[4:5]
1890-1893: draftsman, William Ellery Channing Whitney, Architect, Minneapolis, Minnesota, is hired as the superintendent for Minnesota State Building, World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago, Illinois.[4:5]
ca. 1894-ca. 1898: student and designer, doing “night work with private instruction under engineers, artists and architects,” reportedly working in four other Chicago, Illinois firms.[4:5][c]
1900: listed in the Chicago city directory as Arthur R. Dean, Architect, Chicago, Illinois.[b]
ca. 1900-1901: draftsman, Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge, Architects, Chicago, Illinois.[4:5][a]
1901-1903: chief superintendent, Pond & Pond, Architects, Chicago, Illinois.[4:6]
1903-1919: partner with brother, George Dean, in the firm Dean & Dean, Architects until George’s death in 1919, Chicago, Illinois.[4:6][7]
1920-ca. 1940: sole partner in firm of Dean & Dean, Architects after George’s death, Chicago, Illinois.[4:6][7]
Nebraska Buildings & Projects
From George’s death in 1919 onward, Arthur ran the Dean & Dean firm on his own. See the Dean & Dean page for the buildings George and Arthur designed on behalf of the firm.
Notes
a. He worked with the Boston firm on their new construction in Chicago.[4:5]
b. Neither of the Deans were listed in 1880, 1885, or 1892 Chicago directories.[13]
c. Arthur is casual with the dates here, listing associations in numbers of years rather than by giving exact dates.[4:5]
References
1. Harold Allen Brooks, The Prairie School (Norton, 1996), 27-44, 56-63, 336-352.
2. James Herbert Kelley, ed. The Alumni Record of the University of Illinois. (Urbana-Champaign: University of Illinois, 1913): 696. Accessed February 20, 2019 through Google Books, https://books.google.com/books?id=sW0mAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA696&dq=arthur+randall+dean+architect&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjsl8PnocvgAhWNAHwKHXbqDx8Q6AEILzAB#v=onepage&q=arthur%20randall%20dean%20architect&f=false
3. Abbot M. Dean, Summary of Dean Family History. TS. SA01-8 form
4. Dean, Arthur Randall, “Life of Arthur Randall Dean,” TS. (July 1933): 7pp. Copy in Doane College Archives.
5. “Doane College Notes: George R. Dean obituary,” The Vidette-Herald (December 18, 1919): 5:1-2. Copy in Doane College Archives.
6. “George Robinson Dean” My Jacob Family. Accessed October 10, 2019 via http://www.myjacobfamily.com/favershamjacobs/georgerobinsondean.htm
7. Henry F. Withey & Elsie Rathburn Withey, “Dean, George S.” Biographical dictionary of American Architects (deceased) (Los Angeles, New Age Pub. Co.: c. 1956).
8. “Dean Family [RG4194.AM]” History Nebraska. Accessed October 15, 2019 via https://history.nebraska.gov/collections/dean-family-rg4194am
9. “Old Grad Speaks Up,” The Crete News (July 30, 1931) Copy in Doane College Archives.
10. “Wholesome Advertising for Crete,” The Crete News (July 2, 1931): 1. Copy in Doane College Archives.
11. “Doane College News,” The Crete News (Aprill 30, 1931). Copy in Doane College Archives.
12. “George Robinson Dean” FindaGrave.com Accessed October 15, 2019 via https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/61944682/george-robinson-dean
13. “Streets & Directories” ChicagoAncestors.org. Accessed October 17, 2019 via https://chicagoancestors.org /tools/streets-and-directories
14. Ancestry.com, “Arthur Randall Dean” Newspapers.com Obituary Index, 1800s-current [database on-line]. (Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2019.) Accessed October 24, 2019.
15. Janet Jeffries, “Dean Family Tree” Ancestry.com. (Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2019.) Accessed October 24, 2019 via https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/family-tree/person/tree/157495314/person/142069753056/facts
16. ”Doane College News,” The Crete Vidette (July 17, 1919): 8.
17. ”Map of Doane College Campus, Crete, Nebraska.” (June 30, 1927; Revised January 20, 1928). Copy in Doane College Archives.
18. Janet Jeffries, “Smith Hall, Doane College: Historical Overview,” Broadsheet, September 2011. Copy in Doane College Archives.
19. Janet Jeffries, “Dean Memorial Pergola,” TS. (April, 2007) Copy in Doane College Archives.
20. George R. Dean, “Progress before Precedent,” The Brickbuilder 9:4 (April 1900), 91-97. Accessed January 19, 2019 via https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=B1tNAQAAMAAJ&hl=en_US&pg=GBS.PA91
21. Liz Dean to Penny Chatfield, handwritten letter (April 1, 1978), in NSHS file.
Acknowledgements
We gratefully acknowledge Janet Jeffries, cultural historian and past archivist at Doane College, for sharing her extensive research on the Dean family for the Dean pages.
Page Citation
D. Murphy and Lydia Allen, “Arthur Randall Dean (1869-1949), Architect,” in David Murphy, Edward F. Zimmer, and Lynn Meyer, comps. Place Makers of Nebraska: The Architects. Lincoln: Nebraska State Historical Society, November 26, 2019. http://www.e-nebraskahistory.org/index.php?title=Place_Makers_of_Nebraska:_The_Architects Accessed, November 22, 2024.
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