- Alexander McMillan Welch
Alexander McMillan Welch (1869–1943) [His portrait by Seymour Millais Stone is at the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, of which Welch was a Trustee, 1920-1943, and Chairman of the Executive Committee, 1931-1938. The [http://www.newyorkfamilyhistory.org/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=8 Society's webpage] notes his obituary, "The Record", 75:1 (January 1944). ] was an American
architect trained in theBeaux-Arts tradition, who led hisNew York City firm of Welch, Smith and Provot, in partnership with George Provot.Welch, a descendant of Philip Welch, who emigrated to
Ipswich, Massachusetts in 1654, [Alexander McMillan Welch, "Philip Welch of Ipswich, Massachusetts 1654 and His Descendents", (Richmond Virginia: Byrd Press) 1947:3-16.] graduated fromColumbia University and theÉcole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Under the influence of his brother-in-law,Bashford Dean , Welch collected some antique swordsThe firm's trademark style of discreet brick and limestone townhouses in neo-Georgian style is embodied in 1009 Fifth Avenue, one of a row of four houses built in 1899-1901 for the speculative builders William and Thomas Hall. Number 1009 was purchased by the tobacco magnate
Benjamin Newton Duke who gave it to his daughterMary Duke Biddle . Similar rowhouses by Welch, Smith and Provot are 28 through 38 West 86th Street (1906–1908).Welch was the consulting architect in restorations made to a number of designated historical landmarks, including Alexander Hamilton's
Hamilton Grange in Hamilton Heights, upper Manhattan and the Dutch ColonialDyckman House , [Welch married Fannie Fredericka Dyckman in the house, 2 June 1896 ("New York Times", 3 June 1896) Mrs Welch and her sister Mrs Bashford Dean, presented the house to New York City in 1916 ("The New York Times") July 1916; the free restoration and furnishing of the house is described by Randall Mason, "Historic preservation, public memory and the making of modern New York City", in "Giving Preservation a History: Histories of Historic Preservation" Max Page, Randall Mason, eds. 2004:131ff.] as well as George Washington's Headquarters in White Plains, New York.elected commissions
*The New French Hospital, 450-58 West 34th Street, New York (1905), for the French Benevolent Society, ["Year Book of the Architectural League of New York", 1905.] as the result of a competition supervised by A.D.F. Hamlin, Columbia University. Isolated sunrooms at the rear south-facing facade were provided for each floor. The tuberculosis ward on the top floor was isolated from the others.
Notes and references
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