Gurdon_P._Randall

Gurdon P. Randall

Gurdon P. Randall

American architect

Gurdon P. Randall (February 18, 1821– September 20, 18841884)[1] was an architect in Chicago, Illinois. Early in his career, he studied in Boston, Massachusetts, in the office of Asher Benjamin. He moved to Chicago when he was 30, and practiced there for 34 years, focusing on large institutional architecture.[2] He designed a number of notable buildings, including several that survive and are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[3]

Quick Facts Born, Died ...
Union Park Congregational Church, Chicago, 1869.

Biography

Gurdon P. Randall was born in Braintree, Vermont on February 18, 1821. His siblings included Francis V. Randall, an attorney and Union Army officer during the American Civil War.[4] He attended public school and assisted his father in lumbering and carpentry. Randall married Louisa Caroline Drew on January 31, 1842. When he was twenty-two, Randall moved to Boston, Massachusetts to study architecture[5] with Asher Benjamin and G. W. Gray. In 1845 he returned to Vermont, establishing an architect's office at Northfield,[6] later relocating to the larger town of Rutland. Randall specialized in railroad buildings, designing many of the structures on the Vermont Central and Rutland & Burlington lines. In Rutland Randall worked with his brother J. J. R. Randall, who succeeded to the practice when he relocated,[7] in 1850, to Syracuse, New York. He practiced there for another six years.[5]

In 1856, he moved west to Chicago, Illinois. There, he focused on designing public buildings such as county courthouses and churches. Major commissions in the Chicago area included University Hall at Northwestern University, Union Park Congregational Church, Eighth Presbyterian Church, and Plymouth Church. He also designed plans for the Theological Seminary of the Northwest and the original University of Saint Mary's of the Lake. Many of his Chicago works were destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire in 1871. Outside of the Chicago area, Randall also designed some of the first buildings at The State Normal University in Bloomington, Illinois; the Minnesota State Normal School in Winona, Minnesota; and the Whitewater Normal School in Whitewater, Wisconsin.[5] He died on September 20, 1884.

Architectural works

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References

  1. [1]
    Fife, Camille (June 8, 2007). "National Register of Historic Places: Nomination Form, Benton County Courthouse" (PDF). Retrieved 2013-02-17.
  2. [2]
    "Architect History". First Baptist Congregational Church. Archived from the original on 2012-09-12. Retrieved 2013-02-17.
  3. [3]
    "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  4. [4]
    Child, Hamilton (1888). Gazetteer of Orange County, Vt., 1762-1888. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse Journal Company. p. 84 – via Google Books.
  5. [5]
    Biographical Sketches of the Leading Men of Chicago. Chicago, IL: Wilson & St. Clair. 1868. pp. 326–330.
  6. [6]
    "To the Public," Vermont Patriot and State Gazette (Montpelier, VT), January 11, 1845, 3.
  7. [7]
    "Randall," Vermont Watchman (Montpelier, VT), September 2, 1891, 1.
  8. [8]
    John R. Schmidt, "Lost Chicago landmark: the old Old St. Mary’s"
  9. [9]
    Frank A. Randall, History of the Development of Building Construction in Chicago (Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1999)
  10. [10]
    Madison County Courthouse NRHP Registration Form (1981)
  11. [11]
    Montgomery County Courthouse NRHP Registration Form (1994)
  12. [12]
    Morgan County Courthouse NRHP Registration Form (1986)
  13. [13]
    Jay Pridmore, Northwestern University: Celebrating 150 Years (Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 2000)
  14. [14]
    Congregational Church of Iowa City NRHP Registration Form (1973)
  15. [15]
    Union Park Congregational Church and Carpenter Chapel NRHP Registration Form 2006)
  16. [16]
    Marshall County Courthouse NRHP Registration Form (1983)
  17. [17]
    Feldman, Jim (1997). The Buildings of the University of Wisconsin. Madison: The University Archives. pp. 32–35. Retrieved 2022-01-28.
  18. [18]
    Macon Historic District NRHP Registration Form (1974)
  19. [19]
    Mercer University Administration Building NRHP Registration Form (1971)
  20. [20]
    Randall, Gurdon (1884). Book of designs for school houses. Chicago: Knight & Leonard. pp. interior of front cover.
  21. [21]
    Wilber W. Caldwell, The Courthouse and the Depot: The Architecture of Hope in an Age of Despair (Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 2001)
  22. [22]
    Benton County Courthouse NRHP Registration Form (2008)
  23. [23]
    Menominee County Courthouse NRHP Registration Form (1975)
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