Henry G. Morse

Henry Grant Morse, Jr. (1884, Canton, Ohio - May 28, 1934, Essex Fells, New Jersey)^[1] was an American architect, best known for the two English manor houses that he relocated to Richmond, Virginia.

He studied architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and established himself in New York City before the age of 20. As an associate, he collaborated with Boston architect Herbert D. Hale on the Camden Free Public Library Main Building (1903–05) in Camden, New Jersey; the Norfolk Public Library (1903–06) in Norfolk, Virginia; and the United Engineering Societies Building (1904–07) in New York City.^[2][3] These were all projects funded by Andrew Carnegie. As associates, Hale and Morse both collaborated with architects Parker & Thomas on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Building (1904–06) in Baltimore, Maryland.^[4][5] While working in Camden and Baltimore, the pair kept an office in the Drexel Building in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.^[6]

On his own, he designed a laboratory building at Yale University, and Tudor-style houses in New Rochelle, New York for mural artist Frederick Dana Marsh and cartoonist Clare Briggs.

He worked as a partner in the firm of Hawes & Morse for a number of years. He designed a Y.M.C.A. in Camden, New Jersey.^[7]

He was noted in particular for his work on Virginia House in Richmond, Virginia, which is partly a reconstruction of a Tudor manor shipped over from Warwickshire, England. Morse was hired in 1925 to visit England and study other manors, travelling around the English countryside and surveying properties such as Wormleighton Manor, fusing together different ideas into the final reconstruction in Virginia.^[8] He also supervised the relocation of Agecroft Hall, which was re-erected next door to Virginia House.

He died in 1934.

Selected works

• Camden Free Public Library Main Building (1903–05), 616 Broadway, Camden, New Jersey, with Herbert D. Hale, principal architect. The building is vacant and no longer used.
• Norfolk Public Library, (1903–06), 345 West Freemason Street, Norfolk, Virginia, with Herbert D. Hale, principal architect.^[9] The building is currently (July 2013) for sale.^[10]
• Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Building (1904–06), 2 North Charles Street in Baltimore, Maryland, with Herbert D. Hale, associate architect, and Parker & Thomas, principal architects. Now the Hotel Monaco Baltimore.
• United Engineering Societies Building (1904–07), 29-33 West 39th Street, Manhattan, New York City, with Herbert D. Hale, principal architect. Now the headquarters for Thor Equities.
• Dunham Laboratories (1912), Yale University, 10 Hillhouse Avenue, New Haven, Connecticut.
• Frederick Dana Marsh residence (1914), 56 Avon Road, Wykagyl Park, New Rochelle, New York.^[11]
• Clare Briggs residence (1917), 1 Byworth Road, Wykagyl Park, New Rochelle, New York.^[12]
• Agecroft Hall (relocated & rebuilt 1925-26), 4305 Sulgrave Road, Richmond, Virginia.
• Virginia House (relocated & rebuilt 1925-29), 4301 Sulgrave Road, Richmond, Virginia.

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  Virginia House, relocated by Morse to Richmond, Virginia.

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  Agecroft Hall, relocated by Morse to Richmond, Virginia.

References

1. Henry G. Morse at the archINFORM database.
2. "H. D. Hale Winning Architect," The New York Times, July 14, 1904.
3. The 1907 United Engineering Societies Building, from Daytonian in Manhattan.
4. Joseph J. Korom, The American Skyscraper, 1850-1940, A Celebration of Height (Branden Books, 2008), p. 285. from Google Books.
5. Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Headquarters Building on YouTube.
6. Guide to the Norfolk Building Inspection Office.
7. "Morse, Henry G.", Who's Who in American Art - Brief Biographies of American Architects Who Died Between 1897 and 1947.
8. "Construction and design,". Virginia Historical Society. Retrieved December 9, 2009.
9. "Norfolk's First Public Library," from Norfolk Public Library.
10. FOR SALE - Former Carnegie Library, from Riddle Associates Inc., Commercial Real Estate.
11. House and Garden, February 1918: "Residence of Frederick Dana Marsh, Esq, New Rochelle, NY."
12. " 'Blue Anchor' - Former Home of Cartoonist Clare Briggs."

External links

• Henry G. Morse from Philadelphia Architects and Buildings.