| Note: The information below is from the Amendment to this Nomination. For more information, see original nomination.
The Firm of McCaw & Martin
McCaw & Martin was a prominent architectural firm active in Portland from 1889 to 1897, and was responsible for some of Oregon's most substantial Romanesque-style buildings. In addition to their collaborative practice, the principals of the firm -- William F. McCaw, Richard H. Martin, Jr., and, briefly, F. Manson White -- established solo practices in which each architect created a significant body of work. The following are brief profiles of each of the principals.
William Frederick McCaw was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1850, the son of an architect and builder. In 1872, he immigrated to Toronto, Canada where he was initially employed in the office of William Irving. In 1879, McCaw and Edward James Lennox established their own partnership, which lasted until 1882 when McCaw moved with his family to the United States. His partnership with Lennox, chronicled in the monograph, Edward James Lennox: Builder of Toronto, reveals McCaw to be a gifted designer, well-versed in the Richardsonian Romanesque style long before his arrival in Portland. In Oregon, McCaw partnered with Portland architect E. M. Burton in 1883 and on different occasions he worked for Warren H. Williams, for whom he was superintendent of construction for the legendary R. B. Knapp house. In 1884-1885, McCaw teamed with Albert Wickersham; together they designed the United Presbyterian Church (1884). Practicing alone after 1885, McCaw designed Portland's First Regiment Armory and the Commanding Officer's Quarters (Marshall House) at Fort Vancouver, Washington in 1886. McCaw designed the landmark First Presbyterian Church in 1886 (completed in 1891) and the no-longer-extant Grace Methodist Episcopal Church, completed in 1888 with interior alterations done that year by Richard H. Martin, Jr. These churches introduced to Portland the use of heavy, rough-faced masonry associated with Henry Hobson Richardson.
Richard H. Martin, Jr., was born in England in 1858, and came to Portland with his parents in 1874. His father, Richard Martin, Sr., was a builder and stonemason. Martin worked as a draftsman in the office of Warren H. Williams until Williams’ death in 1888. From 1888 until his association with McCaw, Martin worked in partnership with Alexander M. Milwain.
In late 1888 or early 1889, McCaw and Martin formed a professional partnership. In 1889, Frederick Manson White joined the firm as a draftsman. White was born in 1863 in Derby, England, and immigrated to the United States in 1875. His earliest biography, an entry that White contributed to in Who’s Who on the Pacific Coast (1913), reports that he graduated from Cornell University (1884), MIT (1886), and the Ecole des Beaux Arts (1888). White's contribution was substantial enough that he became a full partner in the firm McCaw, Martin, and White, from July 1891 until June 1892, when he established his own practice.
The following is a list of the work completed by McCaw & Martin in the same time frame as the Dr. K. A. J. Mackenzie House. A significant early work of the McCaw & Martin partnership is the First Regiment Armory Annex (1891), an addition to the armory originally designed by McCaw in 1886. Known today as Portland's Gerding Theater, it is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The works of this firm also include the New Market Annex (1891), the University of Portland’s West Hall (now Waldschmidt Hall) of 1891, and the first building of the University of Oregon Medical School, no longer extant, which opened in Portland in October 1892. Two other McCaw & Martin buildings opened in the fall of 1892: the Dekum Building, a Portland landmark distinguished by distinctive stonework, elaborate carvings, and colorful masonry, and finally, the house of Dr. K. A. J. and Cora Mackenzie, which likewise exhibited a flair for ornamental detail within the framework of Richardsonian Romanesque design. Dr. Mackenzie moved his office to the Dekum Building soon after it opened, as did McCaw & Martin, and F. Manson White.
The McCaw & Martin partnership ceased in 1897. The following profiles the later careers of each of the principals. While Richard Ritz, in Architects of Oregon: A Biographical Dictionary of Architects Deceased---19th and 20th Centuries speculates that McCaw died in 1897, recent research reveals that he actually moved to San Francisco where he was in partnership with the eminent architect William Curlett until about 1901. The firm was known as Curlett & McCaw at that time. The periodical California Architect & Building News listed several works designed by the firm. McCaw, Curlett, and the firm are also listed in San Francisco-Oakland city directories. The U. S. Census for 1900, 1910, and 1920 reveals that McCaw also worked briefly in Los Angeles and Houston, Texas. He is thought to have died in 1922 or 1923.
Richard H. Martin, Jr., continued to practice in Portland and designed several significant buildings that are listed in the National Register of Historic Places individually and/or as part of a district. His Portland works include the Scottish Rite Center (1902), the Olds and King Store (1904), the Masonic Temple (1907), and the home of philanthropist Dr. Henry Waldo Coe (1906, no longer extant). In Cornelius, Oregon, he designed the Albert Sholes House (1909). Martin retired from active practice in 1934. He died in Portland in 1950.
The work of F. Manson White, who left the McCaw & Martin practice in 1892, exhibited the Richardsonian Romanesque characteristics of that firm in his early solo career. These buildings include the Imperial Hotel (now the Hotel Vintage Plaza), attributed to White, which opened in Portland in March 1894, and the Auditorium and Music Hall (1894). Other Portland examples of White's work include the Flatiron Building (now Ringler’s Annex) (1917), Chapman Elementary School (1923), and Central Presbyterian Church (Old Laurelhurst, or Bible College) (1924). White’s architectural work can be found throughout Oregon, and many are properties listed in the National Register. In Corvallis is his Corvallis Hotel (1927); in Eugene, the Roosevelt Junior High School (now Agate Hall, University of Oregon) and the Woodrow Wilson Junior High School (now Lincoln School Condominiums) (1924), and from 1926, the First Baptist Church (now the John G. Shedd Institute for the Arts); in McMinnville, the First Baptist Church (1927); in Medford, the First Presbyterian Church (1927); in Roseburg, Roseburg High School (1916); and in Seaside, the Seaside City Hall (1916). F. Manson White retired from architectural practice in 1933. He died in Portland in 1952.
Significant Buildings by McCaw & Martin
The following discusses in greater detail some of McCaw & Martin’s most significant Oregon buildings.
Dekum Building or The Dekum, 519 SW 3rd Street, Portland, Oregon (1892). National Register, Listed 1990.
According to the National Register nomination, the Dekum Building "achieves significance as an excellent example of Richardsonian Romanesque architecture designed by the pre-eminent practitioners of the idiom." Of further significance is the association with the buildings namesake and builder, Frank Dekum, a pioneer merchant, banker, and developer.
First Presbyterian Church, 1200 SW Alder Street, Portland, Oregon (1886). National Register, Listed 1974.
While McCaw crafted the original design in July 1886, Richard Martin and F. Manson White, at different times, contributed to interior design and detailing by the time the church was substantially completed in 1891. As noted in its National Register documentation, "The First Presbyterian Church, is among the few remaining examples of High Victorian Gothic architecture in Portland and ranks as one of the finest examples in the state."
Mackenzie, Dr. Kenneth A. J., and Cora, House, 615 NW 20th Avenue, Portland, Oregon (1892). National Register, Listed 1996.
The National Register nomination provides substantial information about the architectural features of this house and its historical associations. Leland Roth, in Shingle Styles: Innovation and Tradition in American Architecture 1874 to 1982 provides further testament about its uniqueness: "In this house the architects combined massive and rough-faced Richardsonian masonry and broad, round arches in the lower elements, but drew on the Shingle Style for the upper walls and roof. Instead of wood shingles, however, they substituted slate in a return to one of the original sources of this idiom. This is one of the rare American houses to employ slate as a wall sheathing material."
New Market Annex, 58 SW 2nd Avenue, Portland, Oregon (1889). Portland Skidmore/Old Town Historic District.
A Richardsonian Romanesque design of 1889 attached to the historic New Market Theater, this McCaw & Martin work was commissioned by David L. Thompson, a real estate and business entrepreneur, twice mayor of Portland, and once territorial governor of Idaho.
Portland Oregon National Guard Armory Annex, 123 NW Eleventh Avenue, Portland, Oregon (1891). National Register, Listed 2000.
The Portland Oregon National Guard Armory Annex (or First Regiment Armory Annex) was built in 1891 as an annex to the 1887 First Regiment Armory, demolished in 1968, designed by William F. McCaw. The fortress-like structure is a rare example of the ‘castellated’ architectural style. It is the earliest armory facility in Oregon and is representative of the beginnings of National Guard history in the state.
Skidmore Building, 70 NW Couch Street, Portland, Oregon (1888). Portland Skidmore/Old Town Historic District.
McCaw had plans ready for this building in August 1888 and Martin conceivably contributed to the final design. Designated a primary structure in the Skidmore/Old Town National Historic Landmark District, this building is now a component of the University of Oregon's White Stag Block. Its design is interesting transitional structure that combines elements of Victorian Italianate and Richardsonian design elements.
Stratton-Cornelius House, 2182 SW Yamhill Street, Portland, Oregon (1891). National Register, Listed 1978.
The Stratton-Cornelius house is a three-story Queen Anne style, gable-roofed structure with a full brick basement. It is an outstanding and pristine example of the fully developed Queen Anne Style in Portland. Heretofore not identified as a McCaw & Martin work, the verifying source is, "The Building Boom; The Principal Improvements Now Being Made in the City; How the Work Is Progressing," as well as Portland city directory correlations.
University of Oregon Medical School Building. Corner of Lovejoy Street and 16th Street, Portland, Oregon (1892).
Described in the Morning Oregonian, October 5, 1892, and illustrated in many University of Oregon catalogs until its demolition, a picture of this structure with McCaw & Martin identified as architects can also be found in The Oregonian Souvenir.
University of Portland West Hall. 5000 N. Willamette Blvd., Portland, Oregon (1891). National Register, Listed 1977.
The firm McCaw, Martin and White was inspired by Henry Hobson Richardson's Sever Hall at Harvard University for their design of West Hall, now known as Waldschmidt Hall, the first building of Columbia University, now the University of Portland. An East Hall designed by the firm was never constructed. |
