William Gray Purcell

William Gray Purcell (July 2, 1880 - 1965) was a Prairie School architect in the Midwestern United States. He partnered with George Grant Elmslie. The firm of Purcell and Elmslie produced designs for buildings in twenty two states, Australia, and China. The firm had offices in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Chicago, Illinois, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Portland, Oregon.

The architectural practice most widely known Purcell and Elmslie consisted of three partnerships. The first, Purcell & Feick, was created at Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1907 between Purcell and his Cornell School of Architecture classmate, George Feick, Jr. George Elmslie and Purcell had been friends since 1903, when Purcell worked for a short while in the office of Louis Sullivan, and Elmslie was an informal influence in the work of Purcell & Feick. In 1909, Elmslie joined the office in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the name of the firm changed to Purcell, Feick, & Elmslie in 1910. Feick left the partnership in 1912, and the name of the practice became Purcell & Elmslie until being dissolved in 1921.

Over the course of the partnership, Purcell & Elmslie became one of the most commissioned firms among the Prairie School architects, second only to Frank Lloyd Wright. Afterward his partnership with Elmslie ended, Purcell continued with his own practice in Portland, Oregon, before tuberculosis forced him into bedrest in a sanatorium at Banning, California, between 1931 and 1935. Following succussful lung surgery, Purcell retired to an estate in the foothills of southern California, near Pasadena. He continued to develop and support the cause of American architecture for another thirty years, mostly through publishing many essays, consulting with architectural historians, and other writing.

There are two houses built by William Gray Purcell for his personal residence in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The second was built in 1913 and called "Lake Place" by the Purcell family. Known now as the Purcell-Cutts residence, the house is maintained by the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This residence is considered one of the finest achievements of any progressive firm in residential design.

His "Maryhill" in Edina, Minnesota, is interesting because of the documentation of how it was created. It was designed by Purcell in correspondence with the future owners, Paul & Mary Carson, and the 600 pieces of their correspondence are in the University of Minnesota's Architectural Archives.

Not all of Purcell's work fits in the "Prairie School" category. Several of his houses in Portland, Oregon's, West Hills show how he adapted his ideas to fit a more urban setting. A feature shared by one of those houses and Maryhill is a sleeping loft, but the Portland example also features a wooden carving of Nils on his goose flying out over the living room.

Purcell is also the author of the 1967 book, "St. Croix Trail Country: Recollections of Wisconsin," a memoir of his youth spent in the Wisconsin lake country.

Further reading

* Gebhard, David (edited by Patricia Gebhard), "Purcell & Elmslie: Prairie Progressive Architects", Gibbs Smith, Salt Lake City 2006, ISBN 1423600053

* Purcell, William Gray, "St. Croix Trail Country: Recollections of Wisconsin," University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, 1967

External links

* [http://www.organica.org/purcellandelmslie.htm Purcell and Elmslie, Architects]

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