William Martin Aiken (1855-1908), Architect
William Martin Aiken was born in Charleston, South Carolina on April 1, 1885, son of Joseph Daniel Aiken.[1] The Aikens were politically prominent, with two cousins who served as Congressmen from South Carolina, one of whom was also the state's governor.[a]. William Martin attended the University of the South in Charleston from 1872-1874, then taught at Charleston's high school and at University of the South until 1877, while already being listed as an architect in Charleston city directories of 1877 and 1878.[b]. He next studied architecture at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, graduating in 1879. He resided in Brookline, Massachusetts, where the city directory listed him as an architect in 1882 and 1883, and he became active in Democratic politics and the "Brookline Battalion." At the same time, Boston city directories listed him as a draughtsman for Boston architects, which later reported including William Ralph Emerson and H. H. Richardson.[c] Aiken relocated to Cincinnati where he established his own practice by 1886. In 1895 he was appointed the Supervising Architect of the Treasury. His brief, two-year tenure in that post included a coast-to-coast tour, visiting federal building projects including in Omaha, Nebraska, and producing some substantial public buildings in Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, and Colorado.{#References|[6][7]]]d] Upon Aiken's resignation in 1897, he settled in New York City, where his practice included private and public commissions. A lifelong bachelor, Aiken died in New York City December 7, 1908.[1][2]
This page is a contribution to the publication, Place Makers of Nebraska: The Architects. See the Format and contents of Nebraska architect entries page for more information on the compilation and page organization.
Contents
Education & Professional Associations
1872-1874, attended University of the South, Charleston, South Carolina.[1][8]
1875-1877, taught at Charleston High School and University of the South, Charleston.[1]
1877-1878, architect, Charleston.[9]
1878-1879, attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, graduating in architecture in 1879.[1][8]
1880-1885, draughtsman and architect, Brookline and Boston, Massachusetts, under William R. Emerson and H. H. Richardson.[5][8][9]
c. 1886-1895, architect, Cincinnati, Ohio.[5][8][9]
1897-1897, Supervising Architect of the Treasury, Washington, D.C.[10][11]
c. 1898-1908, architect, New York City.[8]
1901-1902, consulting architect to office of the President of the Borough of Manhattan, New York City.[1][8]
Member, NY Chapter of AIA; Fellow AIA (1889); member, NY Architectural League, Municipal Art Society, & NY Southern Society.[1][8]
Select Buildings & Projects, including all known Nebraska Projects
SEE Jeremiah O'Rourke, Charles E. Kemper. and James Knox Taylor for Nebraska projects on-going in the 1894-1897 period.
Site visits and on-going supervision, U. S. Post Office and Courthouse (1895-97), 16th St at Capitol Avenue, Omaha, Nebraska.[13][14][e]
Site selection and initial design for U. S. Post Office/Federal Building (1897), South Omaha, Nebraska.[12][16-18][f]
U.S. Government Building, Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition (1897-1898), Omaha, Nebraska.[15][17][19][g]
Notes
a. Cousin William Aiken, Jr. (1806-1887) was a S.C. legislator (1838-1844), Governor (1844-1846), and a U.S. Congressman (1851-1857). He owned an immense rice plantations in S.C. and was also one of the state's largest slave owners, yet he remained a staunch Unionist throughout the Civil War. Cousin David Wyatt Aiken (1828-1887) was a colonel in the Confederate Army and after the Civil War served ten years in Congress from S.C. (1877-1887).[2][3][4]
b. Only 22 in 1877, with just two years of college behind him, Aiken was residing in his father Joseph D. Aiken in 1877 and 1878. His brother Joseph Jr., a student, was also boarding there in 1878. Father Joseph was the Charleston city auditor in 1878, according to the city directory.
c. Boston city directories listed Aiken as a draughtsman at 5 Pemberton Square in Boston, where at least three architectural firms were housed, including Emerson's. A long recounting of Aiken's architectural career published at the time of his appointment as Supervising Architect in 1895 noted "After graduation from the Massachusetts [In]stitute of Technology he entered the office of H. H. Richardson...and subsequently associated himself with W. R. Emerson...a recognized master of residential architecture."[5]
d. Early in his term, Aiken undertook and extensive tour of federal construction projects, including a stop in Omaha. Treasury Secretary Carlisle reportedly had approved the trip, but when it was publicized that Aiken's itinerary included Alaska, Carlisle summoned him back to Washington.[7]
e. From site selection to completion, the construction of Omaha's massive Federal Building extended across three decades and the terms of a half-dozen Supervising Architects, from Windrim to Taylor. Principal credit for the design goes to Willoughby J. Edbrooke, but each successive Supervising Architect oversaw and reported on the project's progress. Aiken visited Omaha in August of 1895 to review the construction and noted that "the brick and stone work...was faultless" and had been completed two months ahead of the contractual deadline. He also addressed with "Superintendent Latenser a number of questions which had been pending for some time." Omaha architect John Latenser had been appointed the on-site construction superintendent of the Omaha federal building in 1893. An inspector from Aiken's office visited Omaha in 1897 and reported continued satisfaction with Latenser and the project's progress.[13][14]
f. Progress on a U.S. Post Office for the fast-growing community of South Omaha had been under discussion for some years before a site was finally selected in 1897. Aiken's predecessor O'Rourke described a program for the building in some detail in 1895. By February of 1897, an Omaha newspaper cited Aiken that "Many of the working plans are completed, but the perspective of the building is still in the process of being worked out, the design of the department being to give South Omaha a distinctively modern structure, at the same time within the limit of the appropriation..." Funding was approved by spring of 1897 and Aiken was described as eager to break ground by summer, but he resigned under pressure in early June.[12][16-18] The annual report of the Supervising Architect for the year ending September 30, 1897, prepared by Acting Supervising Architect Kemper, noted only that "Working drawings are now being prepared."[19]
g. A U.S. Government Building for the Transmississippi & International Exposition in Omaha was initially authorized by an act of Congress of June 10, 1896, during Aiken's time as Supervising Architect. In his annual report for the year ending that September, Aiken specified that the federal expenditure was limited to $50,000, which could not expended until the officers of the exposition offered "satisfactory proofs" that the sum of $250,000 had be raised from other sources.[19].
Expo buildings....A major project of that period was the U.S. Government Building at the Trans-Mississippi Exposition in Omaha. Newspaper reports credited Kemper with "general direction" of the design and cited Edward A. Crane as "the draughtsman in immediate charge."[11-13] Then in his first Annual Report for October 1897 through September 1898, J. K. Taylor proclaimed that "the erection of the Government building" at the Omaha Exposition was "completed within the stipulated time, and the result was most gratifying both as an artistic treatment and accommodation for the Government exhibit." That report also published a rendering of the building inscribed "U. S. Government Building Trans Mississippi International Exposition Omaha, Nebraska. Chas. E. Kemper Acting Supervising Archt."[14] The Omaha Evening Bee reported September 24, 1897 that the U.S. Government Building for the Trans-Mississippi Exposition "was designed under the general direction of Charles E. Kemper, acting supervising architect of the Treasury..." and further identified "Edward A. Crane being the draughtsman in immediate charge."[11] The Annual Report to the Treasury Secretary noted that as of September 30, 1897 the drawings for the U.S. Government Building for Omaha's Trans-Mississippi Exposition "...are now well advanced, with a view of obtaining, at an early day, proposals for the construction of the Government building."[12] By October of 1897, a perspective drawing for the U.S. Gov't Building was being widely published, with the design credited to Kemper and drafting to Crane.[13]
xd. Crane visited Omaha twice in connection with the U.S. Government Building at the Trans-Mississippi Exposition. As early as July 1897 he visited "to make an examination of the ground upon which the government buildings for the Omaha Exposition are to be erected and to prepare an estimate of their cost." The next May, the Omaha World-Herald offered the following "Notes of the Exposition. Edward A. Crane of the government supervising architect's office and designer of the Government building on the grounds, is here to see how the completed structure looks."[19][20]
References
1. "Obituary. William Martin Aiken," The Western Architect (February 1909), V13:2, 24.
2. "His Chances. Wm. M. Aiken Has Returned From Washington," Cincinnati (Ohio) Post (March 11, 1895), 1.
3. "William Aiken, Jr." and "David Wyatt Aiken" in The Political Graveyard, on-line database accessed November 19, 2024 at https://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/aiken.html#036.12.32
4. "Aiken, WIlliam Jr.," South Carolina Encyclopedia, on-line database accessed November 19, 2024 at https://www.scencyclopedia.org/sce/entries/aiken-william-jr/ SEE also "Aiken, David Wyatt" in same database.
5. "Aiken Receives the Appointment," The Cincinnati (Ohio) Enquirer (March 22, 1895), 4.
6. Antoinette J. Lee, "William Martin Aiken," in Architects to the Nation: the rise and decline of the Supervising Architect's Office (Oxford University Press: New York & Oxford, 2000), 191-196.
7. "Cut Short a Junket: Secretary Carlisle Called Down the Supervising Architect. This Made Mr. Aiken Very Angry and His Resignation is Soon Expected," The San Francisco (California) Call and Post (October 25, 1895), 2.
8. "William M. Aiken Dead," New York Times (December 8, 1908), 9.
9. City directories, Charleston, S.C. (1877-1878); Brookline & Boston, Massachusetts (1881-1883); Cincinnati, Ohio (1886-1894).
10. "Stepped into O'Rourke's Shoes," Omaha (Nebraska) Evening Bee (March 21, 1895), 2.
11. "Architect Aiken Too Slow--His Resignation Considered Necessary by Secretary of the Treasury Gage. Lacking in Experience and Permits Inexcusable Delay With Public Buildings," Evening World-Herald (Omaha, Nebraska) (May 4, 1897), 5.
12. "South Omaha Postoffice...Distinctively Modern Structure to Be Erected at a Cost of $75,000--Work to Be Begun as Soon as Possible," Omaha (Nebraska) Evening Bee (February 19, 1897), 6.
13. "Ahead of Time. Supervising Architect Aiken Pleased with the Construction and Progress of the New Building," Evening World-Herald (Omaha, Nebraska) (August 28, 1895), 1.
14. "Report on John Latenser--Finds Everything Here Satisfactory," Omaha (Nebraska) Evening Bee (March 26, 1897), 6.
15. "Intends it for a Triumph--Aiken's Idea of the Government Building--United States to Have Quarters at the Transmississippi Exposition that Will Be a Credit to the Country," Omaha (Nebraska) Evening Bee (April 13, 1897), 6.
16. "Supervising Architect Aiken is fretting..." [re information needed to commence plans for South Omaha post office], Omaha (Nebraka) Daily Bee (April 23, 1897), 1.
17. "Government's Exposition Building," Omaha (Nebraska) Evening Bee (June 5, 1897), 5.
18. "South Omaha World-Herald...Authentic information has been received from Washington...," Omaha (Nebraska) World-Herald (March 8, 1895), 7.
19. William Martin Aiken, Annual Report of the Supervising Architect to the Secretary of the Treasury for the Year Ending September 30, 1896 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1897), 50.
20. Charles E. Kemper, Annual Report of the Supervising Architect to the Secretary of the Treasury for the Year Ending September 30, 1897 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1897), 46.
21. James Knox Taylor, Annual Report of the Supervising Architect to the Secretary of the Treasury for the Year Ending September 30, 1898 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1898), 36-37 (with illustration).
x10. "Government Building. Work Now Being Pushed as Rapidly as Possible," Evening World-Herald (Omaha, Nebraska) (September 24, 1897), 1.
x11. "Plans of the Building--Government Structure at Exposition," Omaha (Nebraska) Evening Bee (September 24, 1897), 1.
x12. Charles E. Kemper, Annual Report of the Supervising Architect to the Secretary of the Treasury for the Year Ending September 30, 1897 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1897), 46.
x13. "Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition U. S. Government Building," Daily Nonpareil (Council Bluffs, Iowa) (October 24, 1897), 8.
x14. James Knox Taylor, Annual Report of the Supervising Architect to the Secretary of the Treasury for the Year Ending September 30, 1898 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1898), 36-37.
x15. Catalogue of Washington and Lee University, Lexington, VA for the Year ending June, 1882. (Lynchburg: Virginian Steam Book and Job Printing, 1882; 9.
x16. "Charles E. Kemper" (obituary), Daily News Leader (Staunton, Virginia) (December 17, 1942), 11.
x17. "Official Under Charges. C. E. Kemper Accused of Insubordination and Incompatibility," Evening Star (Washington, D.C.) (September 28, 1910), 18.
x18. "Changes Are Made. Appointments in Office of Architect of the Treasury. J. H. Wetmore is Named," Evening Star (Washington, D.C.) (June 18, 1911), 2.
x19. "Architect Goes to Omaha," St. Louis (Missouri) Globe-Democrat (July 31, 1897), 3.
x20. "Notes of the Exposition," Evening World-Herald (Omaha, Nebraska) (May 5, 1898), 3.
Charles E. Kemper, Annual Report of the Supervising Architect to the Secretary of the Treasury for the Year Ending September 30, 1897 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1897), 46. (Expo bldg)
Other Sources
Page Citation
E. F. Zimmer, “William Martin Aiken (1855-1908), Architect,” in David Murphy, Edward F. Zimmer, and Lynn Meyer, comps. Place Makers of Nebraska: The Architects. Lincoln: Nebraska State Historical Society, November 20, 2024. http://www.e-nebraskahistory.org/index.php?title=Place_Makers_of_Nebraska:_The_Architects Accessed, November 22, 2024.
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