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Isaiah Rogers

Isaiah Rogers Rogers (1800-1869) was the son of a shipbuilder who apprenticed himself as a carpenter or housewright in Massachusetts to a man named Jesse Shaw.

The years 1852 and 1853 mark the beginning of Luckett and Farley, when a young architect from Ireland, Henry Whitestone, joined forces with established architect Isaiah Rogers.

The firm of Luckett & Farley has undergone several name changes over the decades but the origins are directly from the November 16, 1853 partnership of Rogers and Whitestone Rogers (1800-1869) was the son of a shipbuilder who apprenticed himself as a carpenter or housewright in Massachusetts to a man named Jesse Shaw. Rogers then traveled south and won an architectural competition for a theatre in Mobile, Alabama. After returning to Boston to work with architect Solomon Willard (1783-1861), he opened an office in 1826 and earned a commission for the Tremont Theatre, then obtained a prestigious commission for the Tremont House in Boston. His design, in the latest architectural style, changed the concept of inns to hotels in the United States, with such amenities as elegant lobbies, bars, spacious dining rooms, water closets (toilet rooms), and parlors.

An 1830 publication by W.H. Eliot, A Description of the Tremont House, afforded Rogers enormous publicity and he was commissioned to design hotels throughout the country. Eliot stated in his treatise that Rogers kept “judicious adherence to the established principles of Grecian architecture.” Rogers’ work included the Astor House in New York, the Bangor House in Maine, the Battle House in Mobile, the Burnet House in Cincinnati and the Capital Hotel in Frankfort, Kentucky, and many others. He was also chosen to design

The Louisville City Hall tower was rebuilt by Whitestone in 1876 after a fire. The original building and tower were designed by John Andrewartha.

The new tower had a slightly different profile from the original.

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sumptuous residences, opera houses, commercial buildings, churches, jails, banks and other types of structures.

He married Emily W. Tobey (1803-1878) from Portland, Maine, and they had two sons and a daughter. The sons, Solomon Willard Rogers (1828-1923) and Isaiah (1830-1889) joined the architectural firm. Daughter Cornella (Cordelia) married Sam Hatch, whose father, George, was the mayor of Cincinnati during the Civil War; Rogers designed a large extant residence for him on Dayton Street in Cincinnati.

In 1848 Rogers moved to Cincinnati for the construction of the Burnet House. For the next 21 years he led a peripatetic life, as recorded in his 1838-1867 diaries, on railroads and steamships traveling to Frankfort, Louisville, Richmond, Nashville, Columbus, Dayton, Springfield, Toledo, Indiana, Washington D.C., Minneapolis, New Orleans and Niagara Falls among others.

He also recorded information on clients, and projects, as well as aspects of daily life including costs of food, hotels and sundries, critiques of architecture and lectures, travel modes and health issues. These comments give a picture of Roger’s life as he traveled from city to city.

Isaiah Rogers Rogers and Henry Whitestone’s partnership began on November 16, 1853, according to Rogers’ diary, and lasted until 1857. They collaborated on buildings in Cincinnati, Louisville, Frankfort and other cities.

These diaries were traced in the 1960s by architectural historian Denys Peter Myers (1916-2003) to a granddaughter of Rogers in Atlanta. Myers, a graduate of Harvard University and Columbia University, worked for a number of years at the Historic American Building Survey, and was an expert on gas lighting and architecture in Maine. Copies of the diaries he discovered are at numerous repositories including

Located in mausoleums structure is presentation

Cave Hill Cemetery the Irvin vault is one of most beautiful at Cave Hill. Designed in a High Victorian Gothic style, the limestone located in Section P. The original plans, including an exquisite drawing in watercolor, are housed at the Filson Historical Society.

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the Avery Architectural Library at Columbia University.

He wrote several articles and lectured widely on Rogers.

Isaiah Rogers Whitestone came to America with a letter of introduction from Crofton Vandeleur, of Kilrush House and an M.P. from West Clare in Ireland, to thea Right Honorable Abbott Lawrence (1792-1855), former United States Minister to Great Britain. This letter was possibly used to secure a position with Rogers.

In February 1854, Rogers wrote in his diary, “packed my valise and went on board the steamer David White from Louisville to Cincinnati.” He left at 3 p.m. and arrived the next morning at 8:30 a.m.; the trip cost $2.50. On February 16, 1854, he wrote that he telegraphed (he was an adopter of the latest technology) to Cincinnati for six plasterers to assist in finishing the Galt House Hotel. The telegraph cost $1.50. (From 1865 to 1869, Whitestone designed and rebuilt the Galt House after a fire.)

Constant travel was practiced by every major architect of the period in pursuit of commissions, as noted by Mary N. Woods in From Craft to Profession: The Practice of Architecture in Nineteenth-Century America.

Rogers also noted attendance at the Universalist Church, lectures and theatre, as well books he read including Uncle Tom’s Cabin and The Spy. Rogers was among the founders of the American Institution of Architects in 1836, along with Thomas U. Walter, Alexander Jackson Davis, William Strickland and others. The organization did not last due to many reasons including economics, however, in 1857 The American Institute of Architects was founded under the leadership of Richard Upjohn.

Rogers held the post of Superintendent (or Chief) of the Bureau of Construction, later known as the Supervising Architect of the Treasury, from July 1862 until September 30,1865.

Rogers

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and

Whitestone’s

partnership

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on

The Cathedral on Fifth Street in downtown Louisville was designed by William Keely (1805-1875) and dedicated on October 3, 1852. Keely had immigrated from Ireland and the cathedral was his first major commission. After a fire in January of 1854 Rogers and Whitestone were hired to redesign the tower and steeple for the church. The brick cathedral, which still stands, is in the Gothic Revival mode popular, especially for religious structures, in the mid-nineteenth century.

November 16, 1853, according to Rogers’ diary, and lasted until 1857. They collaborated on buildings in Cincinnati, Louisville, Frankfort and other cities.

Rogers died on April 13, 1869 and the Cincinnati Daily Times of April 14, 1869 noted that he was “a distinguished architect… who superintended the erection of the extension to the Treasury Building” and “in private life he was a man of the purest character, steadfast in his attachments, true to his professions of friendship. Always guided by principles of honor and justice.”

Whitestone (1819-1893) was born at Cloudegad House, Ballynacally, County Clare, Ireland. The family, however, was English, though his ancestors had been in County Clare since 1667, when the Reverend Francis Whitestone was appointed Rector of Cloudegad. Henry was the first son after three daughters born to Thomas and Catherine Fitzgerald Whitestone, who married on May 15, 1814.

Isaiah Rogers The Whitestones had two daughters, Austine Ford Whitestone (born 1863) and Henrietta (born 1865). Mrs. Whitestone died of pneumonia shortly after Henrietta’s birth.

Whitestone was apprenticed to James Pain (Paine) (1799-1877) in Limerick, Ireland. James and his brother, George Richard (1793-1838), were apprenticed and worked with the renowned English architect John Nash (1752-1835). Nash was known for his work in Regent’s Park as well as numerous other projects. The Pain brothers’ grandfather William Pain was the author of a series of builder’s pattern books and their father, James, was a builder and surveyor and is said to have built the original Kew Bridge.

Both James and George worked in Ireland for Nash, George in Cork and James in Limerick. They designed

Standing on the southeast corner of Second Main Streets, the Louisville and Nashville Railroad structure was originally built for __________________. It has numerous details of the Renaissance Revival prevalent in many of Whitestone’s designs. The limestone building has an entry with columns topped by ______ Capitals.

This location was the site of the original Galt House.

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Isaiah Rogers

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The Cathedral on Fifth Street in downtown Louisville was designed by William Keely (1805-1875) and dedicated on October 3, 1852. Keely had immigrated from Ireland and the cathedral was his first major commission. After a fire in January of 1854 Rogers and Whitestone were hired to redesign the tower and steeple for the church. The brick cathedral, which still stands, is in the Gothic Revival mode popular, especially for religious structures, in the mid-nineteenth century.

Isaiah Rogers

Standing on the southeast corner of Second Main Streets, the Louisville and Nashville Railroad structure was originally built for __________________. It has numerous details of the Renaissance Revival prevalent in many of Whitestone’s designs. The limestone building has an entry with columns topped by ______ Capitals.

This location was the site of the original Galt House.

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