Allen & Collens

The Cloisters in Manhattan

Union Theological Seminary in New York City

Thompson Memorial Library at Vassar College

Sonnenberg Gardens in Canandaigua, New York

Allen & Collens was an architectural partnership of Francis Richmond Allen and Charles Collens. The partnership was formed in 1904.^[1]:5 Allen had previously been in partnerships working from Boston, as Allen & Kenway (1878-91) and Allen & Vance (1896-8),^[2] who executed Lathrop House (Vassar College) (1901) and Davison House (Vassar College), 1902.

It was a "leading Boston and New York firm" in the early 1900s. The firm was known for its Gothic Revival design work, and "[m]ost notable of the firm's works are the reconstructed Cloisters at Fort Tryon Park and a Gothic Revival hall at Vassar College, in Poughkeepsie, New York.^[3]:4

Works by the firm and its principal partners (with attribution) include:

• Central Presbyterian Church, 593 Park Avenue, New York, New York (Allen & Collens)^[4]
• The Cloisters museum buildings, Fort Tryon Park, Manhattan (Allen, Collens & Willis)^[5][6]
• Thompson Memorial Library, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York (Allen & Collens)
• First Parish Church, 87 School St. Waltham, MA (Allen & Collens)^[7]
• Hartford Seminary Foundation, 55 Elizabeth St. and 72-120 Sherman St. Hartford, CT (Collens, Charles)^[7]
• Lindsey Chapel, Emmanuel Church, Boston (Allen & Collens)^[8]
• Newton City Hall and War Memorial, 1000 Commonwealth Ave. Newton, MA (Allen & Collens)^[7]
• Reformed Dutch Church of Poughkeepsie, 70 Hooker Ave. Poughkeepsie, NY (Collens, Charles)^[7]
• The mansion at Sonnenberg Gardens, the estate house of Mr. and Mrs. Frederick F. Thompson in Canandaigua, New York^[1]:5
• Stillington Hall mansion, Gloucester, Massachusetts^[9]
• Second Church in Newton, Newton, Massachusetts^[10]
• Union Theological Seminary, W. 120th St. and Broadway New York, NY (Allen & Collens)^[7]
• United Congregational Church, 877 Park Ave. Bridgeport, CT (Allen & Collens)^[7]
• US Post Office--Canandaigua, 28 N. Main St. Canandaigua, NY (Allen & Collens)^[7]

Francis R. Allen died in November 1931, and Charles Collens, who continued to practice under the name Collens, Willis and Beckonert, died in September 1956.^[11][12]

References

1. Larry E. Gobrecht (December 1986). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Canandaigua Post Office". New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Retrieved 2009-06-14. See also: "Accompanying 14 photos".
2. Marquis, ed.Who's Who in New England 1915.
3. Kate Ohno and John Herzan (May 1983). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: United Congregational Church" (PDF). National Park Service. and Accompanying 5 photos, from 1983
4. "Central Presbyterian Church". nycago.org.
5. "Cloisters Opened on Tryon Heights". The New York Times. May 11, 1938.
6. "Architects File Plans For the New Cloisters". The New York Times. April 6, 1935.("Plans of the Cloisters Building ... were filed yesterday by Allen, Collens & Williams, the architects.")
7. Staff (2010-07-09). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
8. "Architects & Craftsmen of Lindsey Chapel, Emmanuel Church, Boston". Emmanuel Church.
9. "Ron Hazelton House Tour". Good Morning America. January 6, 2006. Retrieved March 16, 2015.
10. Staff (2007-01-23). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
11. "F. R. Allen Dead; Boston Architect". New York Times. November 8, 1931.
12. "Charles Collens Dies; Designed Buildings Here". Hartford Courant. September 20, 1956. p. 5.