Edward A. Crane (1867-1935), Architect
Edward A. Crane was born in Taunton, Massachusetts in 1867, son of a carpenter, John A. Crane and his wife Susan M. (nee Buchanan). Edward was educated at Taunton High School and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), graduating from MIT's special course in architecture in 1889. He worked for a Boston architectural firm from 1890 to 1896, when he joined the draughting department of the Supervising Architect of the Treasury, where he was chief draughtsman from 1898 to 1903. During that span he was closely involved in the U. S. Government Building at the Trans-Mississippi Exposition in Omaha, his one known Nebraska project. Crane married Marie Antoinette ("Nettie") Baldwin of Winston-Salem, North Carolina in 1897, soon after he joined the Supervising Architect's office. After leaving the Treasury Department in 1903, Crane practiced in Philadelphia on both public and private projects. He was a widower when he died in Philadelphia in 1935.[1][2][6]
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
[hide]Education & Professional Associations
1888: graduated from special course in architecture, MIT, Boston/Cambridge, Massachusetts.[1][7]
1889-1890: entered office of Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge, architects, Boston.[7]
1890s: member of Boston Architectural Club.[7]
1890-1896: "held a position in the office of Wheelwright & Haven," architects, Boston.[3][7]
1896: appointed as clerk (draughtsman) in office of Supervising Architect of the Treasury William M. Aiken, Washington, D.C.[3][a]
1897: lead draughtsman for Acting Supervising Architect Charles E. Kemper.[1]
1898-1903: Chief of Engineering and Draughting Division, under Supervising Architect James Knox Taylor.[1][7]
1903-1925: architect & partner with Rankin, Kellogg & Crane, Philadelphia.[1][7]
1904: Foreign (European?) travel with wife Nettie.[8]
1908: Joined American Institute of Architects (AIA).[7]
1913-1914: City architect of Philadelphia and "superintendent" of Independence Hall.[1][7][16]
1914: Fellow, AIA.[7]
1919-1920: President, Philadelphia Chapter, AIA.[7]
1925-1935: independent architect, Philadelphia.[1][7]
Nebraska Buildings & Projects
U.S. Government Building, Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition (1897-1898), Omaha, Nebraska.[9-12][b][c]
Notes
a. Philadelphia Inquirer reported in 1897 of a visit by Aiken and three of his staff members to review plans for the new Philadelphia Mint, including Crane "who drafted the plans for the new Mint."[4][5]
b. 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."[9] 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."[10] 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. 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 published a rendering of the building inscribed "U. S. Government Building Trans Mississippi International Exposition Omaha, Nebraska. Chas. E. Kemper Acting Supervising Archt."[12] Antoinette Lee points out in her magisterial Architects to the Nation: "In most cases, the draftsmen were the architects of the federal buildings." She notes Crane among "the draftsmen under Aiken...[who were] accomplished architects..." [5:193-194][11]
c. 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."[13][14]
In his History of the Trans-Mississippi & International Exposition of 1910, James B. Hayes called the U. S. Government Building "of first importance and dignity...all that it should be--a fine example of symmetry and perfect outline, a contribution to architectural art worthy of the nation." He detailed that it "was produced in the office of the Supervising Architect of the Treasury..." with the "earliest sketches...made by Geo. O. Totten, Jr., under the supervision of Wm. M. Aiken, then Supervising Architect. These were carefully revised and the whole carried to completion in the ablest manner possible by Edward A. Crane, of Philadelphia, the building being erected partly during the rule of Acting Supervising Architect Kemper and finally completed under the supervision of James Knox Taylor, the present incumbent, who practically inaugurated with this building his masterly revolution of the Supervising Architect's office, its methods and its product."[17] Totten was another of Aiken's draughtsman who went on to a successful architectural career in Washington, D.C., after leaving the Supervising Architect's office in 1898.[5:194-195]
References
1. Ancestry.com. U.S., Find a Grave® Index, 1600s-Current, s.v. Edward Andrew Crane [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.
2. Ancestry.com. Pennsylvania, U.S., Death Certificates, 1906-1971, s.v. "Edward A. Crane," [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014.
3. "Mr. Edward A. Crane of Taunton,..." Boston (Massachusetts) Evening Transcript (January 21, 1896), 4.
4. "New Mint Plans--The Supervising Architect of the Treasury Here to Revise Them," Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) Inquirer (March 12,1897), 12.
5. Antoinette J. Lee, Architects to the Nation: The Rise and Decline of the Supervising Architect's Office (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000), 192-194 (including illustration--Fig. 7.4--of Philadelphia Mint).
6. "Invitations were issued to-day for the marriage of Mr. Edward Crane, a prominent architect, of Washington city, and Miss Nettie Baldwin, an accomplished young lady...," The (Raleigh, North Carolina) News & Observer (May 16, 1897), 1.
7. Sandra L. Tatman, "Crane, Edward Andrew (1867-1935), in Philadelphia Architects and Buildings, database available on-line December 17, 2024 at https://www.americanbuildings.org/pab/app/ar_display.cfm?ArchitectId=A0274&Printable=1 (Includes E. A. Crane portrait.)
8. Ancestry.com. U.S., Passport Applications, 1795-1925, s.v. "Edward A Crane," [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2007.
9. "Plans of the Building--Government Structure at Exposition," Omaha (Nebraska) Evening Bee (September 24, 1897), 1.
10. 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.
11. "Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition U. S. Government Building," Daily Nonpareil (Council Bluffs, Iowa) (October 24, 1897), 8.
12. 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.
13. "Architect Goes to Omaha," St. Louis (Missouri) Globe-Democrat (July 31, 1897), 3.
14. "Notes of the Exposition," Evening World-Herald (Omaha, Nebraska) (May 5, 1898), 3.
15. "City News Notes. Announcement comes from Philadelphia that Messrs. Rankin & Kellogg, architects of the federal building, have admitted to partnership Mr. Edward A. Crane, of that city." Indianapolis (Indiana) Journal (June 1, 1903), 3.
16. "Care for Independence Hall. Prominent Architect, Edward A. Crane, Undertakes Rehabilitation of the Structure and its Surroundings," Boston Evening Transcript (December 4, 1912), 21.
17. James B. Hayes, History of the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition of 1898, (St. Louis, Missouri: Woodward & Tiernam Printing Co., 1910), 112.
Other Sources
Page Citation
E. F. Zimmer, “Edward A. Crane (1867-1935), Architect,” in David Murphy, Edward F. Zimmer, and Lynn Meyer, comps. Place Makers of Nebraska: The Architects. Lincoln: Nebraska State Historical Society, December 19, 2024. http://www.e-nebraskahistory.org/index.php?title=Place_Makers_of_Nebraska:_The_Architects Accessed, April 1, 2025.
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