Harold Van Buren Magonigle (1867-1935), Architect

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H. Van Buren Magonigle (Archives of American Art)
New York, New York

DBA: H. Van Buren Magonigle


Harold Van Buren Magonigle was born in Bergen, New Jersey on October 17, 1867 to John and Catherine C. (Devlin) Magonigle. His father was a brother-in-law to the famous thespian Edwin Booth and managed Booth's Theatre in New York City; later he was superintendent of the Players Club, which Booth had founded.[5][6][y]. John apprenticed his son at age 13 as a draftsman in the architectural office of Vaux & Radford, then was employed by other firms in New York City and Boston. He won the Rotch Traveling Scholarship in 1894, supporting two years of architectural study in Europe.[6][10] He returned to New York City where he married Edith Marion Day in 1900.[91][l][q] He was active in the AIA in New York State and nationally, as well as in art organizations as a painter and sculptor. Monuments and memorials were the focus of much of his professional practice and he also served as an advisor or juror for numerous architectural design competitions. In Nebraska, he competed for the State Capitol design in 1920 and in association with Robert W. McLaughlin, Jr., designed the monumental First-Plymouth Congregational Church in Lincoln. He died in Vermont on August 29, 1935.[1][3][81][82][83]

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.

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First Plymouth Congregational Church (1928-31), Lincoln (D. Murphy)

Educational & Professional Associations

1881-1882: apprentice draftsman in the architectural office of Vaux & Radford, New York City.[4][87][91]

1882-1887: architectural apprentice, office of Charles C. Haight, New York City.[87][91]

1886: listed as "architect" in NYC directory, residing with his father.

1887-1891, 1896-7: employed in the architectural office of McKim, Mead & White, New York City.[4][87][91][d]

1890: won gold medal of Architectural League of New York in a design competition for young architects.[4][a]

1891-1894: draftsman with Rotch & Tilden, architects, Boston.[5][10][91][b]

1897: partner with architect Evarts Tracy.[91]

1898: 1st Lieutenant, 109th Infantry, U. S. Army.[2]

1899-1901: head designer and draftsman for Schickel & Ditmars.[91]

1901-1904: partner with architect Henry W. Wilkinson.[14][15][91]

1902-1910: collaborated with sculptor Attilio Piccirilli on several monuments.[12][14][15][23][25]

1904-1935: architect, New York City.

1911: "Consulting architect" (with John M. Carrere and Cass Gilbert) to Municipal Building Commission of Hartford, Connecticut, advising on architects' competition.[31]

1911: member of jury of awards for Sub-treasury Building in San Francisco (with Daniel H. Burnham of Chicago and three others).[32]

1912: member of panel of three architects which selected participants in design competition for Missouri State Capitol, with W. B. Muncie of Chicago and John Van Brunt of Kansas City.[34][j]

1913: member of jury, design competition for Hamilton County courthouse (Cincinnati), with James Knox Taylor and Paul Philippe Cret.[35]

1913: member, board of directors, American Institute of Architects.[40]

1913: associated with James T. Smith in design competition for Waterbury, Connecticut City Hall.[27]

1913: associated with Alexander W. Ross on design for Brooklyn Elks Clubhouse.[37][k]

1913: Magonigle and McKim, Mead & White separately announce new office location--101 Park Avenue, New York City.[38]

active by 1914: member of Salmagundi (Art) Club, New York City.[59]

1914: professional advisor to school commissioners of Indianapolis on design competition for a new public library.[42]

1914: member of panel of three architects, with P. P. Cret and William M. Kendall of New York, advising building commission for joint county/municipal building in Wilmington, Delaware.[43]

1917: employed Albert Harkness as a draftsman.[45][n]

1920: advisor in selection of Louis Bourgeois as architect for Bahai Temple (1920), Chicago (Wilmette), Illinois.[54][r]

1926: member of a panel of three architects, with Thomas Hastings and Edgarton Swartworth, advising building commission for Hartford County Courthouse, Connecticut.[63]

1926-1930: employed Robert William McLaughlin, Jr. as a draftsman, then as an associate architect.[86][91]

1926-1928: president, New York chapter, AIA.[67][87]

1928: president, Architectural League of New York.[72]

1930: worked with Angelo Tagliahue (New York City), sculptor for evangelists on carillon tower, First Plymouth Church.[76]

1931: recipient of Medal of Honor, New York chapter of AIA.[78]

1931: honorary doctorate from University of Nebraska.[79]

Architectural Study Travel

Rotch Traveling Scholarship to England, France, Italy and Greece, 1894-1896.[7][8][11]

British Isles, France, Italy and Spain, 1921.[11][e]


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First Plymouth Congregational Church (1928-1931). (D. Murphy)
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First Plymouth Congregational Church (1928-1931). (Nebraska State Historical Society)
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First Plymouth Congregational Church (1928-1931). (D. Murphy)
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First Plymouth Congregational Church (1928-1931). (D. Murphy Collection)
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First Plymouth Congregational Church (1928-1931). (D. Murphy)

Buildings & Projects

The Maine Monument (1900-1913), New York, New York.[12][d]

General U.S. Grant memorial competition (1902).[14][15][g]

General George B. McClellan memorial competition (1902).[16][g]

Mrs. Dow's School (1904), Briarcliff Manor, New York.[91]

McKinley Memorial (1904-1907), Canton, Ohio.[17]

Invited (among 8 "leading architects of New York") to compete for design commission for NYC Post Office (1907-1908) including Cass Gilbert; McKim, Mead & White; and Carrere & Hastings.[18]

Pedestal for Gov. Stevens Thomson Mason monument (1908), Detroit, Michigan.[19]

Estate of Gov. Franklin Murphy (1908-1915), Mendham, New Jersey.[91]

Core Mausoleum (1910-1915), Elmwood Cemetery, Norfolk, Virginia.[90]

Winner, Robert Fulton memorial competition (1910), New York, New York.[20][22]

One of ten $1,000 "Second prize" winners in competition for design of Oakland City Hall (1910), Oakland, California.[29]

Design for a seal for The New Theatre (1910), displayed in Annual Show of NYC Architectural League, New York, New York.[23][h]

Firemen's Memorial (1910-1913), New York, New York.[24][25][39][i]

Invited participant in design competition for Department of State building (1910), Washington, D.C.[30]

Design for Perry's Victory Memorial (1911), for Put-In Bay, Ohio.[33]

Design submitted in competition for Federal capital city of Australia (1912).[34][j]

Invited participant in design competition for Pulitzer Fountain in Central Park (1912), New York, New York.[35]

Invited (among 12 NYC architects) to join 10 additional architects in competition for county courthouse design (1913), New York City. McKim, Mead & White; Carrerre & Hastings; Cass Gilbert among the invitees.[26]

Invited as Jas. T. Smith & H. Van Buren Magonigle, associates, (among field of 7 architects) to complete in design competition for city hall (1913), Waterbury, Connecticut.[27]

Elks Clubhouse (1913), Brooklyn, New York.[37][k]

Brokaw House (1914), 79th Street east of 5th Avenue, New York City.[44][m]

Design for "Victory Way" (1919), temporary installation on Park Avenue between 45th & 50th Street, New York City.[46]

Arsenal Technical Schools (1919), Indianapolis, Indiana.[91]

Isaac Guggenheim estate (1919), Port Washington, New York.[49][91]

Proposal for a monumental water gate as a Great War memorial (1920), at 110th Street and Riverside Drive, New York City.[50]

Invited participant in design competition for Nebraska State Capitol (1920), Lincoln, Nebraska.[51][53]

Design for "camp lodges" at Okara (1920), vicinity of Thendara, Herkimer County, in the Catskill Mountains, New York.[47][o]

Designs for Adirondack cabins (1920), Adirondack League club grounds, Little Moose preserve locality, vicinity of Little Falls, New York.[48][p]

Liberty Memorial (1921-1926), Kansas City, Missouri.[54][56][57][64][66][q]

Design for billboard promoting tourism to Atlanta, Georgia (1924), Times Square, New York City.[58]

Design concept for converting Mt. Penn quarry into an amphitheater as a Founders Memorial (1924), Reading, Pennsylvania.[73][74][t]

Design (with Antonin Raymond, Tokyo) for American Embassy (1925), Tokyo, Japan.[60][61][s]

Design for a tablet honoring fire department horses (1926), to be installed at Firemen's Memorial, Riverside Drive and 100th Street, New York City.[62]

Competition design for New York State Theodore Roosevelt memorial (1926).[91]

World War I Monument (1927-1928), Walnut Hill Park, New Britain, Connecticut.[78]

First Plymouth Congregational Church (1928-1931), Lincoln, Nebraska.[68][69][70][71][72][75][77][79][84][85][86][u][v][w][x] (LC13:D07-045)

Writings

An architectural monograph on Essex: a Connecticut River town, by H. Van Buren Magonigle, New York: R. F. Whitehead, 1920. Accessed January 11, 2019, on-line at https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.31210024753947

Architectural Rendering in Wash, by H. Van Buren Magonigle, F.A.I.A., with a preface by Thomas R. Kimball, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1922. Accessed January 11, 2019, on-line at https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101067658722;view=1up;seq=11

"A Half Century of Architecture: A Biographical Review," by H. Van Buren Magonigle, Pencil Points 14:11 (November 1933): 477-480; 15:1 (January 1934): 9-12; 15:3 (March 1934): 115-118; 15:5 (May 1934): 223-26; 15:7 (July 1934): 357-59; 15:9 (September 1934): 464-66; 15:11 (November 1934): 563-65.

The Nature, Practice and History of Art, by H. Van Buren Magonigle. Scribner's, 1924.

"The Renaissance" chapter in The Significance of the Fine Arts, published under the direction of the Committee on Education of the American Institute of Architects, Boston: Marshall Jones Company, 1923.

Report (1926) proposing monuments and programs commemorating George Rogers Clark, to commission appointed by State of Indiana.[65]

"The Upper Ground: Being Essays in Criticism," by H. Van Buren Magonigle, Pencil Points (June 1934): 257-60; (July 1934): 341-45; (August 1934): 419-22; (September 1934): 445-49; (October 1934): 489-94; (November 1934): 535-40; (December 1934): 583-96; (January 1935): 13-23; (February 1935): 63-69; (March 1935): 113-20; (April 1935): 163-70; (May 1935): 225-32; (June 1935): 279-82; (July 1935): 377-80; (August 1935): 399-402; (September 1935): 479-85;

"The Values of Tradition: An Address Before the Architectural League of New York," by H. Van Buren Magonigle, Pencil Points 10:1 (January 1929): 17-24.

Notes

a. "Special Correspondence of the Picayune" reported from New York City on the Architectural League exhibition: "The subject of the competition [for young architects] is a classic setting for an antique statue of Zeus to be erected on a triangular plot of ground at the junction of two boulevards and an avenue. Harold Magonigle, of this city, wins the gold medal. His design is a lantern-shaped structure in front of a hemicycle of columns which support a canopy of vine. In addition there are found fountains with figures. The elevation, in water colors and the pen and ink perspective are both charming."[4]

b. Boston Globe in 1894 described the examinations for the Rotch scholarship as a three-day event: "The examinations began with the history of architecture and the arts immediately connected therewith...This morning theory and practice will be the subject...and in the afternoon elementary French...On Saturday morning the examination in original design will be conducted..." Three weeks later the newspaper announced that Magonigle had won the scholarship, stating: "Mr. Magonigle has been studying especially for the scholarship, and has been successful in his first effort."[10]

c. The Indianapolis Journal in early 1894 reported: "A nephew of Edwin Booth, Harold Van Buren Magonigle, has won the traveling scholarship in architecture offered annually by Mr. Rotch, of Boston. This prize entitles him to $1,000 a year for two years, during which time he must travel aboard and study architecture."[7] An exhibition of works by students at the American Academy in Rome opened at the Art Institute of Chicago March 2, 1897, including "plans, elevations, perspective drawings, and sketches by Harold Van Buren Magonigle" and other architects and arts who were recipients of various traveling scholarships.[9]

d. Late in his life, and in his obituaries, Magonigle was often referred to as having worked with or been associated with McKim, Mead & White (MM&W). It is unclear whether that reference was connected to his very youthful connection with that prominent firm. In New York City directories of the late 1890s and early 20th century, Magonigle's office was listed at 156 Fifth Avenue, when MM&W's office was at 160 Fifth Avenue. That proximity presumably did not constitute a business connection, as Magonigle and that firm competed head-to-head in several architectural design competitions in the 1900s. However, in 1913 Magonigle & MM&W both announced they were relocating--to 101 Park Avenue--where they remained at least into the late 1920s. So some connection of Magonigle with MM&W appears to extend through many years of his practice.[26][27][38][83]

e. Magonigle's passport application of 1921 specifically cited "Architectural Study" as the purpose of his planned European trip. That application also includes a photo portrait of Magonigle.[11]

f. The team of Magonigle and sculptor Attilio Piccirilli was chosen among the three finalists for the monument design.[12]

g. The team of Wilkinson & Magonigle were among 29 competitors for the commission for a memorial or statue of General U.S. Grant. The plaster maquettes were displayed at the Corcoran Art Gallery in Washington, D.C. in April, 1902. The Wilkinson and Magonigle design was described as attracting "considerable attention" and was illustrated with a photograph in the Washington Evening Star newspaper of April 9, 1902, which also noted that Attillo Piccerilli [presumably, Attilio Piccirilli] was sculptor for this team of architects. Wilkinson and Magonigle competed among thirty artists for the General McClellan monument, later that same month. [14][15]

h. Piccirilli was the sculptor of the seal, from Magonigle's design.[23]

i. Piccirilli was also sculptor of the Firemen's Memorial.[25]

j. Walter Burley Griffin of Chicago was chosen in the competition; Magonigle received "Hon. mention." [34] Magonigle's plan and a transcript of his lengthy proposal is available on-line at http://urbanplanning.library.cornell.edu/DOCS/magonig.htm (accessed January 10, 2019).

k. Magonigle associated with architect Alexander W. Ross on the Brooklyn Elks Clubhouse.[37]

l. In 1913, Rebekah Harrison Magonigle, who had been married to Harold in the 1890s and divorced him in North Dakota in 1899, sued him for alimony in New York State. Her petition was denied on the basis that she had waited too long.[41]

m. New York Times reported in 1914: "Plans were filed yesterday by the architect, H. Van Buren Magonigle, for a new residence to be erected on the north side of Seventy-ninth Street, 110 feet east of Fifth Avenue, for Mrs. Elvira Brokaw Fischer. The house will have a frontage of 35 feet and a depth of 102.2 feet, with a facade of brick and limestone. In the front will be an automobile drive."[44]

n. Harkness won "Honorable Mention" in the newspaper's competition.[45]

o. The Tribune's advertisement for Okara includes a perspective sketch for "One of the Okara camps as planned by H. Van Buren Magonigle, Architect." It also notes that "A prominent New York architect has drawn up plans for lodges suitable to the location which can be built at very reasonable cost."[47]

p. A 1920 article on Magonigle's Adirondack cabin designs quotes him at length on his process of selecting colors compatible with that setting, noting "The principal motive actuating the design of this series of lodges was first to find something in design and color suited to the Adirondack background...It took me three months of scrambling around through the brush last summer to find the true Adirondack color..." He identified that color as "a hazy blue," with "gray black of spruce bark after a rain," and "The fall colors, the gold of the beeches and the scarlet of the maples after the first hard frost" as accents.[48]

q. In 1920-1922, Edith Magonigle was president of the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors.[46] She was chosen to create murals at the Liberty Memorial in Kansas City, designed by her husband. The "mural" was to be a giant sculptural frieze. The board of governors of the memorial rejected her as the sculptor in 1926.[51][58][60] Both Harold and Edith Van Buren Magonigle submitted paintings to an exhibition in Lincoln by the Nebraska Art Association in 1932.[80]

r. A lengthy article in the Butte (Montana) Miner described the Bahai faith and its planned Temple in Chicago. It noted that when the Bahai convention in New York City in 1920 "finally narrowed down the design of Bourgeois and that of another the committee felt unwilling to decide without expert advice...Bourgeois strongly opposed to having any artist or architect of national reputation, who must necessarily be a Beaux Arts man, pass upon his original and new conception, but he was forced to yield, and H. Van Buren Magonigle was called in....In the end Magonigle told the committee that if they wished a striking and original design which embodied all styles without unduly favoring any, but uniting them into an original unity well symbolizing the spirit of the religious movement for which the temple must stand, they could have not choice but to take the Bourgeois model."[54]

s. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin reported in 1925 that Mr. & Mrs. Magonigle passed through on their return from a trip to Japan, where he had designed the new American embassy building.[61]

t. Magonigle's description of his concept is quoted at length in Reading Times of June 25, 1928, based on transforming the existing quarry or quarries into an outdoor, "natural" amphitheater.[74]

u. A Lincoln newspaper mentioned in December 1927 that Magonigle was spending a few days in Lincoln. A church project was not referenced, but rather that "the famous architect" took the opportunity "to make a study of the new capitol...His conclusion is that it is 'the most significant piece of architecture yet produced in the United States.'" Foreshadowing his design for First-Plymouth Church, Magonigle noted that "Mr. Goodhue was a Gothicist, but instead of trying to crowd the requirements of the Nebraska capitol into a Gothic envelope he went over to the classical. In fact he used any form that would serve the purpose of the state."[69] It was not until February of 1928 that the Lincoln press connected Magonigle to First-Plymouth's "fact finding" efforts toward construction of a new building.[68] At a church meeting of February 20, 1928, Rev. Benjamin F. Wyland reported for the "fact finding committee": "When the study of what our new church building ought to be was begun, invitations were sent to leading architects of America; first to those who build Colonial churches and second, to those who build Gothic churches, and third, to those who were classed as independent or original architects. Mr. Collins of 'Collins and Allen' of Boston came before the committee and presented the Colonial Church. The Goodhue Associates were represented by Mr. Phillips on the Gothic Church and Mr. H. Van Buren Magonigle of New York City present original designs for a new type of church architecture. Many informal meetings have been held over a period of several months viewing the designs of Mr. Magonigle and the sympathy and good will exhibited towards them moved the committee, at their last meeting to instruct the pastor to inform the church as to the situation. That was done."[84] Allen & Collens was an architectural partnership of Francis Richmond Allen and Charles Collens, active 1904-1931. Hardie Phillip was one of the principals in the Goodhue Associates.[88][89]

v. Lincoln Star of May 27, 1928 announced a half-million dollar campaign to fund the construction of a new First-Plymouth Church. Magonigle was named as the architect, "Associated with...Robert W. McLaughlin, Jr." Rev. B. F. Wyman noted: "The longing of our people has not been for a colonial or Gothic church, one the product of New England and the other of old Europe...but for an original type that would fit the pioneer spirit of the west and of our Pilgrim faith and yet be rooted deep in church traditions."[71] Earlier, Wyman noted "The plans...call for a type of architecture that will fit in with the free atmosphere and surroundings of the plains, as does Goodhue's new capitol. Although a striking departure from accepted styles, the new building will be monumental."[70]

w. A lengthy article on major building projects underway in Lincoln in 1930 featured the church, with two full paragraphs devoted to the colors and pattern of its brickwork. "Three fundamental colors, old rose, mulberry, and old gold, have been combined, the two basis colors, the gold and old rose being used as the true colors of Nebraska, the rose for the sunsets, the gold for harvest fields....To add to the beauty of the church, five different sizes of bricks have been used, forming a pattern in the masonry work, particularly when viewed, as a painting might be, from a distance." The inspiration for the brickwork is ascribed to a study of Stockholm town hall by Robert W. McLaughlin, Jr. "associated with H. Van Buren Magonigle in the design of the church...."[75]

x. In January of 1930, to keep costs within the $500,000 limit originally set by the congregation, a building committee member reported "Certain specifications...are being adapted at the present time to western methods of building whereby further considerable economies can be effected. This adjustment of bids to specifications that have been Lincolnized is a decided advantage to both the church and western contractors." Knox Burnett of the Davis & Wilson firm of Lincoln assisted the committee in this effort "...and said that a considerable saving over the original figures would be possible by adopting local building practices. This can be done without any detriment to the working efficiency or the esthetic merit of the plans."[85]

y. John Henry Magonigle was at Booth's bedside when he died in 1893, was one of three executors named in the actor's will, and received a significant bequest from his estate.[92][93]

References

1. Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 1880 United States Federal Census [database on-line], s.v. "Harold Magonigle." Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010.

2. Ancestry.com. New York, Military Service Cards, 1816-1979 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.

3. Ancestry.com. New York, New York, Extracted Marriage Index, 1866-1937 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014.

4. "Gotham Gossip. A Vastly Creditable Exhibition by the Architectural League...," Times-Picayune (New Orleans, Louisiana) (December 31, 1890), 2.

5. "Booth, Edwin (1833-1893)," in The Vault at Pfaff's: An Archive of Art and Literature by the Bohemians of Antebellum New York, an on-line archive of Lehigh University, accessed January 7, 2019, at https://pfaffs.web.lehigh.edu/node/54246 S.V. "Magonigle."

6. Times-Picayune (New Orleans, Louisiana) (May 6, 1894), 14.

7. "About People and Things," Indianapolis (Indiana) Journal (January 4, 1894), 4.

8. "Guide to the Rotch Travelling Scholarship Records, 1882-1996," MIT, Institute Archives & Special Collections: Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1999, 2002, 2010. Magonigle listed on page 5 of pdf available on-line at https://libraries.mit.edu/archives/research/collections/collections-mc/pdf/mc520.pdf Accessed January 2, 2019.

9. Chicago Tribune (February 28, 1897), 31.

10. "Large Prize Offered. Architects Want to Go to Europe and Are Showing Merit," Boston Globe (April 3, 1894), 7; "Won by Mr. Magonigle. He Will Receive the Rotch Scholarship of $2000," Boston Globe (April 24, 1894), 4.

11. Ancestry.com. U.S. Passport Applications, 1795-1925 [database on-line], s.v. "H. Van Buren Magonigle," Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2007. 1894 and 1921 passport applications.

12. "Maine Monument Designs. Selections Made in the New York Competition," (Washington, D. C.) Evening Times (November 9, 1900), 4.

13. "U.S.S. Maine National Monument," in Central Park on website of the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, on-line at https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/central-park/monuments/966 Accessed January 2, 2019.

14. "Grant Memorial. Competition of Artists," Los Angeles Times (April 2, 1902), 4.

15. "The Grant Memorial--Advisory Committee's Work Practically Ended. Report in Writing Made by All Except Mr. Daniel H. Burnham," Evening Star (Washington, D.C.) (April 9, 1902), 8.

16. "M'Clellan's Statue--Public Exhibition of Models Tomorrow at Corcoran Gallery," (Washington DC) Evening Star (April 30, 1902), 1.

17. "M'Kinley Memorial Architect," (Lincoln) Nebraska State Journal (October 21, 1904), 3; "Work on M'Kinley Monument," (Lincoln) Nebraska State Journal (May 19, 1905), 8.

18. "New York's Post-Office--Eight Architects Names to Submit Designs for New Building," Washington (D.C.) Post (November 23, 1907), 4.

19. "Odd Information," Atchison (Kansas) Daily Champion (September 4, 1908), 3.

20. "To Design Fulton Monument--First Round Decided in Competition of Aspiring Architects," Baltimore (Maryland) Sun (January 7, 1910), 2.

21. "The Fulton Monument Plans," American Contractor (May 28, 1910), 64 (providing lengthy description of Magonigle's proposal).

22. "Costly Memorial to be Erected for Robert Fulton--The Monument will be in the Form of a Magnificent Watergate in the Hudson River and will be after the Design of H. Van Buren Magonigle," Miami (Florida) News (June 2, 1910), 2.

23. "Art Exhibitions--The Annual Show of the Architectural League," New York Tribune (February 2, 1910), 7.

24. "New Sites for Firemen's Memorial," New York Times (April 20, 1910), 3.

25. "To Begin Work on Memorial," New-York Tribune (November 28, 1910), 6.

26. "New York Court House Competition," American Contractor (January 11, 1913), 63; "New York, N.Y...Court House: $15,000,000...," American Contractor (April 5, 1913), 65 (plans submitted in competition).

27. "Waterbury, Conn.--City Hall: $600,000...," American Contractor (May 3, 1913), 39.

28. "Gotham Firm Receives Prize for City Hall Design," Oakland (California) Tribune (June 23, 1910), 13.

29. "Plans for City Hall Reviewed by Men Who Will Make Selection--Twenty-Eight Noted Architects Submit Drawings for Oakland's New Municipal Building, to be Erected Soon," Oakland (California) Tribune (June 20, 1910), 9.

30. "Invited to Compete--Architects Asked to Design Government Buildings," Evening Star (Washington, D.C.) (October 20, 1910), 2.

31. "The Municipal Building is in Sight. City now has property desired for site," Hartford (Connecticut) Courant (January 21, 1911), 5.

32. "Contest for Plans for the Subtreasury--Building Here Is Made Basis of Competition," San Francisco Call (February 16, 1911), 2.

33. "New Classic Design for Perry Memorial--Famous Architect Submits Plans to Commission Which Will Meet At Put-In Bay Next Week," Sandusky (Ohio) Star-Tribune (August 31, 1911), 1 (with drawing of design); "Centennial Plans Will Go Forward...National Fine Arts Commission to Decide Upon Design," Sandusky (Ohio) Star-Tribune (September 11, 1911), 1.

34. "Capital Designs--Big Red-Sealed Packet Opened. Chicago First Prize," Sydney (Australia) Morning Herald (May 24, 1912), 9.

35. "Central Park Site for the Pulitzer Fountain Granted...Competition for Design," Saint Louis (Missouri) Post-Dispatch (December 22, 1912), 32.

36. "Judges Are Named For Architects' Competition in Which Courthouse Plans Will Be Submitted," Cincinnati (Ohio) Enquirer (June 24, 1913), 13.

37. "Best House in State for Brooklyn Elks," Brooklyn (New York) Daily Eagle (August 23, 1913), 12 (with rendering).

38. "Personal," American Contractor (May 3, 1913), 130C.

39. "Firemen of the World to Fight Imaginary Flames--Fire Fighters From Every Important Country of the Globe Soon to Gather in New York City for Monster Convention," Buffalo (New York) Morning News (August 24, 1913), 19.

40. "Desire Artistic Work for Nation--Architects Plan Law Enabling Government to Secure Most Able Architects," Detroit Free Press (October 26, 1913), 15.

41. Honolulu (Hawaii) Star-Bulletin (December 13, 1913), 14; "Divorcee of 16 Years Wants Alimony," Washington (D.C.) Herald (February 11, 1914), 7; "Cannot Get Alimony after Fourteen Years--Court Rules That Former Wife Waited Too Long Before Suing Magonigle," Evening World (New York, New York) (February 21, 1914), 4.

42. In "Social Notes," Dayton (Ohio) Daily News (February 9, 1914), 5.

43. "Architects Plans--Board Will Consider Those for New Joint Building To-day," Morning News (Wilmington, Delaware) (February 25, 1914), 2.

44. "New Home for Brokaw Family," New York Times (April 3, 1914), 18.

45. "Young Architects Solve Problem of Good Looking, Comfortable Country Dwellings of Moderate Cost," (New York, New York) Sun (April 1, 1917), 35.

46. "'Victory Way' To Be Centre of Loan Activities--Noted Artists Design Splendid Plaza in Park Avenue," New York Tribune (April 13, 1919), 7.

47. "You Will Need Blankets, August Nights, In Your ADIRONDACK Camp at Okara," advertisement, New York Tribune (July 11, 1920), 14.

48. "New Designs Are Being Planned for Adirondack Camps," Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania) Press (November 29, 1920), 17.

49. Captioned illustration of "Two of the art treasures that were destroyed in the recent million-dollar fire at the Fine Arts Building," New York Tribune (February 15, 1920), 58.

50. "Elaborate Models For War Memorial Put on Exhibition," New York Tribune (February 17, 1920), 23.

51. "Plans for the Nebraska Capitol Considered by the Jury," Sunday State Journal (Lincoln, Nebraska) (July 4, 1920), 28 (illustrating designs by the nine competitors not chosen, with Goodhue's winning design illustrated on page 1).

52. "Women Painters Elect New Officers," Austin (Texas) American (November 21, 1920), 16; "Heads Women Painters--Miss Emily N. Hatch Succeeds Miss [sic] H. Van Buren Magonigle," New York Times (April 13, 1922), 19.

53. In "Mere Mention," Evening State Journal (Lincoln, Nebraska) (January 9, 1920), A-6.

54. "Exponent of an Universal Religion Uniting All Creeds in One to Lecture in Butte on Tour of the United States from Old Persia," Butte (Montana) Miner (January 3, 1921), 2.

55. "K.C. Accepts Memorial Plan--Structure To Cost Two Million To Commemorate World War," Topeka (Kansas) State Journal (June 29, 1921), 6.

56. "Huge Memorial to be Erected for Service Men--Kansas City Monument to World War Veterans Will Cost $2,000,000." Washington (D.C.) Times (July 11, 1921), 3.

57. "Woman to Decorate $2,000,000 Building--Mrs. H. Van Buren Magonigle to Do Mural Work on Kansas City Esthetic Centre," New York Times (April 16, 1922), 34.

58. "Atlanta's Invitation Read Daily by Millions," The (Atlanta, Georgia) Constitution (November 9, 1924), 11 (illustrated).

59. Philadelphia Inquirer (April 19, 1914), 12.

60. (New York) Daily News, (September 6, 1925), 38.

61. Honolulu Star-Bulletin (Hawaii) (December 24, 1925), 15.

62. "Tablet Will Honor Brave Fire Horses," (New York) Daily News (February 8, 1926), 37.

63. "Design for County Court House Picked," Hartford (Connecticut) Daily Courant (June 30, 1926), 1,2.

64. "Kansas City Drops Mrs. Magonigle as Memorial Sculptor," Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, New York) (December 1, 1926), 1.

65. "George Rogers Clark," Chllicothe (Ohio) Gazette (January 28, 1927), 4.

66. "Magonigle Demands Reason Kansas City Rejected War Frieze Executed by His Wife," Brooklyn (New York) Daily Eagle (February 2, 1927), 11.

67. "Architect Ouster Hearing Up Today," (New York) Daily News (March 30, 1928), 47.

68. "To Study Church Plans--First-Plymouth Congregation to Elect Building Committee Monday Evening," Lincoln (Nebraska) State Journal (February 20, 1928), 4.

69. "More or Less Personal," Lincoln (Nebraska) State Journal (December 22, 1927), 4.

70. "$500,000 Church Plans Approved--First Plymouth Structure Will be Modern Type of Architecture," Lincoln (Nebraska) Star (May 14, 1928), 2.

71. "Impressive Carillon Tower and Cloister Court Will Distinguish New First-Plymouth Church," Lincoln (Nebraska) Star (May 27, 1928), D-2.

72. "New Plymouth Church to Be Impressive Structure," Lincoln (Nebraska) Star (August 26, 1928), H-1 (77), illustrated with rendering of tower.

73. "Capturing the Quarry," Reading (Pennsylvania) Times (June 23, 1928), 6.

74. "Plan for Outdoor Amphitheater--Heinly Quotes Architect--No Buildings for Mt. Penn Site," Reading (Pennsylvania) Times (June 25, 1928), 11.

75. "Lincoln Continues Its Building Activity--four large structures, costing several million dollars, are being erected outside the business section of city," Lincoln (Nebraska) Sunday Star (October 12, 1930), D-1 (34).

76. "Figures of Evangelists to Be Places on Tower of Congregational Church About First of Year," Lincoln (Nebraska) State Journal (December 24, 1930), B-14 (30), illustrated.

77. "First Plymouth Congregational Church to Be Dedicated Easter," Lincoln (Nebraska) Sunday Star (March 29, 1931), D-1 (29), illustrated.

78. "H. VanBuren Magonigle, Designer of Plymouth Congregational Church Awarded Art Institute Honor Medal," Lincoln (Nebraska) Star (April 26, 1931), D-3 (39). SEE also "World War I Monument, New Britain," in CT Monuments.net Connecticut History in Granite and Bronze, on-line resource accessed January 6, 2019 at http://ctmonuments.net/2010/04/world-war-i-monument-new-britain/

79. "University Honorary Degrees Given to Five," Lincoln (Nebraska) Evening Journal (June 6, 1931), 9 (with portraits); "Five Honored with University Degrees--Abbott, Wyer, King, Magonigle and Davidson Are Recognized by U. of N.," Evening State Journal (Lincoln, Nebraska) (June 6, 1931), 1; "Five Granted University of Nebraska Honorary Degrees Saturday," Lincoln (Nebraska) Star (June 6, 1931), 1-2 (with portraits).

80. "Noted Artists Will Exhibit in Lincoln--Magonigles and Miss Meiere Among Those Scheduled to Show Paintings at Display," (Lincoln) Nebraska State Journal (January 10, 1932), 9. See also "Nebraska Art Association Buys Two Paintings for Collection," Sunday Journal and Star (March 13, 1932), B-9 (includes illustration of "Jack and Mrs. Sprat" by Edith Magonigle).

81. "Harold VanBuren Magonigle" on Find A Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/138811762, s.v. "Harold VanBuren Magonigle," on-line resource access December 31, 2018.

82. Ancestry.com. Vermont, Death Records, 1909-2008 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.

83. "Prominent Architect Dies at 67--H. Van Buren Magonigle Won Recognition as Designer of Public Memorials and Buildings," Hartford (Connecticut) Courant (August 30, 1935), 4.

84. "Extracts from Clerk's Record Books 1866-1965," First Congregational Church, manuscript in archives of First-Plymouth Church.

85. "Build New Church Within Limit Set--First-Plymouth People Hear Report," Lincoln (Nebraska) Evening Journal (January 16, 1930), 15.

86. City of Lincoln Building Permit #19512, issued May 24, 1930; estimated cost $300,000; Architect: H. Van Buren Magonigle, R. W. McLaughlin, New York City; contractor: Olson Construction Co.

87. "Harold Van Buren Magonigale papers...Biographical/Historical Information," New York Public Library Archives & Manuscripts.

88. "Allen & Collens," in Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, accessed January 9, 2019 at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allen_%26_Collens

89. "Mayers Murray & Phillip," in Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, accessed January 9, 2019 at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayers_Murray_%26_Phillip

90. Tim Bonney, "Elmwood Cemetery...Norfolk, Virginia," National Register of Historic Places Registration Form (listed August 27, 2013) 7-6,7. Accessed January 9, 2019 on-line at https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/VLR_to_transfer/PDFNoms/122-0116_Elmwood%20Cemetery_2013_NRHP_FINAL.pdf

91. Kay Fanning, "Magonigle, Harold Van Buren (17 October 1867-29 August 1935)" American National Biography, (1999 in print, February 2000 on-line).

92. "Edwin Booth is Dead. The Great Actor Passes Away at 1:15 This Morning," Salt Lake Herald (Salt Lake City, Utah) (June 7, 1893), 2.

93. "Edwin Booth's Will. The Bulk of His Property Left to His Daughter--Other Bequests," Star-Gazette (Elmira, New York), June 21, 1893, 1.

Other Sources

The Art and Architecture of First-Plymouth Church. (Lincoln, Nebraska: First-Plymouth Church, 2011) [74 pp.].

Cunningham, Harry Francis, "Harold Van Buren Magonigle, F.A.I.A.. A.N.A., D.Arch: 1867-1935," Architecture 72 (October 1935): 219.

Duerfeldt, Kathryn. Century of Commitment: An historical story of First-Plymouth Congregational Church of Lincoln, Nebraska, 1866-1966. [Lincoln: First-Plymouth Congregational Church, ca. 1966]

Harold Van Buren Magonigle architectural drawings and papers, 1894-1944 (bulk 1894-1930), Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University Libraries, Archival Collections, 2000 items. Finding aid accessed January 9, 2019 on-line at http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/archival/collections/ldpd_3460631/

Harold Van Buren Magonigle papers,1894-1939 [bulk 1919-1930], New York Public Library Archives & Manuscripts, 4 linear feet (10 boxes, 1 oversize folder). Accessed January 9, 2019 on-line at http://archives.nypl.org/mss/1838

"In Memorium: H. Van Buren Magonigle, 1867-1935," Pencil Points 16:12 (December 1935): 12.

Sullivan, Francis P., "A Conscientious Artist: H. Van Buren Magonigle, F.A.I.A., 1867-1935," Pencil Points 16:10 (October 1935): 520-22.

Swales, Francis S., "Master Draftsman, X: Harold Van Buren Magonigle," Pencil Points 6:2 (February 1925): 47, 65-66.

Wyland, Rev. Ben F., "Carillon Tower and Forecourt of the First Plymouth Congregational Church, Lincoln, Nebraska." (Lincoln, Neb.: n.d.).

Page Citation

E. F. Zimmer, “Harold Van Buren Magonigle (1867-1935), Architect,” in David Murphy, Edward F. Zimmer, and Lynn Meyer, comps. Place Makers of Nebraska: The Architects. Lincoln: Nebraska State Historical Society, July 2, 2020. http://www.e-nebraskahistory.org/index.php?title=Place_Makers_of_Nebraska:_The_Architects Accessed, November 22, 2024.


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