Frederick H. Trimble

Frederick H. Trimble was an American architect practicing in Central Florida from the early 1900s through the 1920s, working in the Colonial Revival, Spanish Colonial Revival and Prairie Style.

Frederick Homer Trimble was born on June 2, 1878 and died Aug 13, 1934. His parents were Andrew Hill Trimble and Cynthia Ann Wright. [familysearch.org] Fred was one of their thirteen children: ten boys and three girls. [hhttp://www2.ups.edu/dsa/trimble/thestory.html] [History of Florida: Past and Present, Historical and Biographical, by Harry Gardner Cutler - Florida - 1923]

Frederick Homer Trimble graduated from Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa, and was appointed by the Methodist Church to serve as the first industrial missionary to Foochow, China in 1905, putting to use his schooling in architecture and civil engineering. [Catalogue of Morningside College, Morningside College, Sioux City, Iowa, 1909] While on furlough, he married Rena Nellie Bowker, who then also went to China as a missionary, in 1906. While in China, Trimble served as superintendent of construction of Hwa Nan College, the Woman's College of South China. [A Historical Profile of Sioux City, by John F. Schmidt, p. 241] [ A Century of Protestant Missions in China, 1807-1907: Being the Centenary, by Donald MacGillivray, Christian Literature Society for China Missions, 1907; p. 439 ] [Hwa Nan College: The Woman's College of South China, by L. Ethel Wallace, 1956; p. 11]

panish Colonial Revival

Trimble began his architectural career in the United States in Fellsmere, Florida. [http://74.125.45.104/search?q=cache:XtAOuSPWtncJ:www.flheritage.com/facts/reports/places/index.cfm%3Ffuseaction%3DListAreas%26county%3DIndian%2520River+%22F.+H.+Trimble%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=9&gl=us] His pioneering use of the Spanish Colonial Revival style so suitable for the Florida environment, presented in buildings of his design during the mid-1910s (see for example his suavely mature Farmer’s Bank in Vero Beach of 1914), anticipated the national surge in popularity of this style that would come following the exposure it received at the Panama-California Exposition in San Diego of 1915.

Trimble was noted for his design of school buildings; starting with the Fellsmere School (1915) he designed more than 50 schools in Florida. [http://74.125.45.104/search?q=cache:XD-NeocF_kQJ:www.bgcirc.org/images/images/PJ.pdf+Fellsmere+trimble&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=6&gl=us] Trimble's was one of only ten architectural firms listed in the Orlando phone directory in 1926, the others being: F. B. Bodine, Fred E. Field, David Hyer, Murray S. King, George E. Krug, Howard M. Reynolds, Ryan and Roberts (Ida Annah Ryan and Isabel Roberts) and Percy P. Turner.

This group of architects was quite intentional about creating in Central Florida a style of architecture that was suited to the region. Here is how they described it in an artcle from "The Florida Circle" of May 1924:

"Just as architects of old created styles to harmonize with their environment, so have the architects of Florida been creating, from native motifs, a style that is carefully adapted to the climatic conditions and surroundings of the state. This style has an individuality all its own and should have a fitting name to express its origins . . . The Florida Association of Architects will give a prize of $25.00 for the name selected." [The Florida Circle, Jacksonville, FL, Vol. 1 No. 2, May 1924]

This contest was to conclude in November of 1924 and the winning name announced thereafter.

Florida Southern College

In the mid-1920s, Trimble created a master plan for the campus of Florida Southern College in Lakeland, based upon Thomas Jefferson's campus plan for the University of Virginia. [http://contentdm.rollins.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/wpandcfl&CISOPTR=597&CISOBOX=1&REC=3] Frank Lloyd Wright’s later design for the campus was influenced by Trimble’s concepts, especially the domed central feature which Wright translated into a water dome, finally made operational in 2008.

Architectural Work – Partial Listing

* “Meadow Marsh” Luther F. Tilden House, 940 Tildenville School Road, Winter Garden, FL – 1900 (renovations and additions to the 1877 house) – Classical Revival – added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1995
* Farmer's Bank (Vero Furniture), Osceola Boulevard and Seminole Avenue, Vero Beach, FL – 1914 – Spanish Colonial Revival [http://books.google.com/books?id=MWA477c4ebAC&pg=PA48&lpg=PA48&dq=%22F.+H.+Trimble%22&source=web&ots=3rnz6UI8Bh&sig=ZvqWy1Ny6wgaHjPPruImHUxJh0s&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=7&ct=result#PPA48,M1]
* Fellsmere Public School, 22 South Orange Street, Fellsmere, FL. – 1915-16 – Prairie Style [http://www.flheritage.com/facts/reports/places/index.cfm?fuseaction=FullImage&id=991]
* Methodist Hospital of Central Illinois, Peoria (consulting architect)- 1917
* Delaney Elementary School (now William Beardall Senior Center), Delaney and Gore Streets, Orlando, FL – 1920 [http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Rapids/8428/hikeplans/orlando_lk_lucerne/planorlluce.html]
* Carey Hand Funeral Home, 36 West Pine Street, Orlando, FL – 1920 – Romano-Tuscan style [http://www.apartmente.com/KEY/HISTORIAL%20TRAIL.htm]
* Orlando High School - 1921 [Today's Education,Published by National Education Association of the United States, 1921; p. 208]
* Ocoee High School - 1921 [Today's Education, Published by National Education Association of the United States, 1921;p. 35]
* West Coast High School (Gulf High School), New Port Richey, FL – 1922 – Prairie Style [http://www.fivay.org/gulf/history1.html]
* Royal Park Inn, Royal Park Subdivision, Vero Beach, FL – 1924 – Spanish Colonial Revival [http://books.google.com/books?id=MWA477c4ebAC&pg=PA48&lpg=PA48&dq=%22F.+H.+Trimble%22&source=web&ots=3rnz6UI8Bh&sig=ZvqWy1Ny6wgaHjPPruImHUxJh0s&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=7&ct=result#PPA62,M1]
* Florida Theatre (now Vero Theatre), 2036 14th Avenue, Vero Beach, FL – 1924 – Mediterranean Revival – added to the National Historic Register in 1992 [http://cinematreasures.org/theater/10663/] [http://www.flheritage.com/facts/reports/places/index.cfm?fuseaction=FullImage&id=395]
* Orange Apartments, Nineteenth Place, Vero Beach - c. 1925 – Spanish Colonial Revival [http://books.google.com/books?id=MWA477c4ebAC&pg=PA48&lpg=PA48&dq=%22F.+H.+Trimble%22&source=web&ots=3rnz6UI8Bh&sig=ZvqWy1Ny6wgaHjPPruImHUxJh0s&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=7&ct=result#PPA60,M1]
* Joseph-Reynolds Hall, Florida Southern College, Lakeland, FL ["A Guide to Historic Lakeland, Florida", by Steve Rajtar]
* Florida Southern College, Campus Master Plan, Lakeland, FL - 1925
* Blackstone Hotel (later Fort Gatlin Hotel) (demolished), 545 North Orange Avenue, Orlando – 1926 – Spanish Colonial Style [http://www.cfhf.net/orlando/1926.htm]