Elbridge Boyden (1810–1898) was a prominent 19th-century American architect from Worcester, Massachusetts, who designed numerous civil and public buildings throughout New England and other parts of the United States. Perhaps his best known works are the Taunton State Hospital (1851) and Mechanics Hall (1855) in Worcester.
Biography
Early life Boyden was born in Somerset, Vermont, on July 4, 1810, to Amos Boyden, a Revolutionary War Veteran, and Abigail (Wood) Boyden. The family moved to Orange, Massachusetts, where young Elbridge attended public schools. As a young boy, he left school to work in a sawmill. At age sixteen he went to Athol where he was apprenticed to a carpenter, Joel Stratton. Stratton owned two books by Asher Benjamin, which is where Boyden began his architectural training."Two Sons of the American Revolution". Worcester Magazine July 1903: 17. In 1830 he began to work for Jonathan Cutting, a builder from Templeton, who had built the First Church in that town. Before long he bought out Cutting's business, and worked as a builder and designer in Athol until 1844.Boyden, Elbridge. Reminiscences of Elbridge Boyden, Architect. 1890.
Professional career That year, facing bankruptcy due to business reversals, he moved to Worcester, where he first worked on an addition to the old Worcester State Lunatic Asylum. In 1847 he and Phineas Ball, a civil engineer, decided to take an office together in the old Central Exchange Building on Main Street. At this time he established himself as solely an architect. In 1848 he partnered with Lewis E. Joy, as Boyden & Joy.Bancroft, James H. "History of the Central Exchange From 1804 to 1896". Proceedings of the Worcester Society of Antiquity Jan. 1900: 324. They split the following year and he formally associated himself with Ball. The pair operated as Boyden & Ball from 1849 to 1860, and dominated the region's architectural practice.
In about 1863 his son, George E. Boyden, joined his firm, then known as E. Boyden & Son. The younger Boyden died in 1885, but the firm's name remained until the elder Boyden's death. In 1892 Boyden was one of the founders of the Worcester Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, and served as its president from then until his death."Elbridge Boyden, FAIA". Proceedings of the Annual Convention of the American Institute of Architects 1898. Boyden was also a member of the Sons of the American Revolution, and served a term as vice-president of the Massachusetts Chapter. He died in Worcester on March 25, 1898. He married Louisa Davis of Royalston, Massachusetts.
Architectural works
Elbridge Boyden, 1847-1848 Boyden's earliest works were indicative of his training as a builder in the first half of the nineteenth century. His earliest identified works, three houses from 1847, were all designed in the Greek Revival style, then solidly in the mainstream. All on Harvard Street, only one survives. The largest of the three was the Emory Bannister House. Demolished in 1981, it featured a large, single-story Doric portico. The one that still stands is at 1 Dix Street, moved there from Harvard in 1887 for the Otis Putnam House. The house has lost most of its original detail, but retains a Doric porch. It was built for Charles Oliver."Oliver, Charles House". mhc-macris.net. Massachusetts Historical Commission, n.d. Web.
Other works: 1847 - Elbridge Boyden House, 14 Harvard St, Worcester, MassachusettsRoe, A. S. "Twenty Years of Harvard Street". Proceedings of the Worcester Society of Antiquity 1897: 263. The architect's own residence. Demolished
Boyden & Joy, 1848-1849 Boyden's partner from 1848 to 1849, Lewis E. Joy, is an obscure figure at best. All that is known is that after leaving Boyden, he worked with William Brown, Worcester's first professional architect, then working in Lowell. During this brief period, Boyden made great use of the Rundbogenstil Romanesque style. He was one of the earliest adopters of the style, which had been introduced in New York City in 1846 by Richard Upjohn. The earliest of Boyden's projects in this style was an unidentified block of houses on Harvard Street, in 1848.Reports of the First Exhibition of the Worcester County Mechanics Association in the Nashua Halls, in the City of Worcester, September, 1848. 1848. In the following year, 1849, they did the town hall at Gardner, which also incorporated gothic elements."Elbridge Boyden," Light 3, no. 5 (April 4, 1891): 102-103.Glazier, Lewis. History of Gardner, Massachusetts. 1860. It has been demolished.
Boyden & Ball, 1849-1860
Elbridge Boyden and Phineas Ball had shared an office since 1847, but did not become formally associated until 1849. It was during this period that Boyden rose to regional prominence, designing buildings all across the state of Massachusetts, in addition to works elsewhere in the northeast.
This was begun in 1851 with the Taunton State Hospital, a sprawling institutional complex. This was Boyden's first design to feature monumental classicism, in the Italianate style. The original campus was completed in 1854, and closed in 1975. The dome collapsed in 1999, and the remainder of the original complex was demolished in 2005."Taunton State Hospital - Main Bldg - Admin.". mhc-macris.net. Massachusetts Historical Commission, n.d. Web. Boyden's success at Taunton was followed up by two major academic commissions. Both in 1852, Boyden designed the original campus of Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, and the Worcester Medical College. Both were symmetrical and monumental Romanesque buildings, modeled on the Smithsonian Institution Building in Washington. Antioch's three original buildings still stand, but Worcester Medical was demolished in 1965. Prior to its demolition, it had served as the main building of Worcester Academy from 1869.Morrill, Frank J., William O. Hultgren, and Eric J. Salomonsson. Postcard History Series: Worcester. 2005.
Boyden also worked on at least three churches during this time. The first of these (1856), the Congregational Church at Brookfield, hangs on to the Romanesque, and has much in common with the slightly later work of John Stevens of Boston."Evangelical Congregational Church". mhc-macris.net. Massachusetts Historical Commission, n.d. Web. He was also commissioned to build the 1858 Town House, which was originally the 1858 Townhouse, in Sherborn, Massachusetts, with a bequest from Thomas Dowse's will. It is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1859 Boyden remodeled the Baptist Church at Athol, designing a new facade and tower for the church. The tower was destroyed in 1938.History of Athol, Massachusetts. 1953. Also in 1859 they remodeled the First Congregational Church in Keene, New Hampshire. Like much of Boyden's work at the time, it featured a monumental Italianate facade.Tolles, Bryant F., Jr. New Hampshire Architecture: An Illustrated Guide. 1979. This would be only the first of Boyden's many works in Keene.
Also during this time, Boyden & Ball designed many commercial buildings in Worcester. Of these, the first significant one was Horticultural Hall at 18 Front Street. It was an unusual use of the Romanesque in a commercial setting.Transactions of the Worcester County Horticultural Society for A. D. 1886. 1887. The building's fate is not precisely known, and may have been incorporated into the current building on the site. Next came the Clark Block in 1854, at 401-409 Main Street. An impressive structure in its day, half of its Italianate facade has been replaced, and the other half is highly deteriorated."Clark Block". mhc-macris.net. Massachusetts Historical Commission, n.d. Web. In 1855 came Mechanics Hall, perhaps Boyden's best-known work. Here, Boyden's classical work dwarfed its neighbors, both then and now."Mechanics Hall". mhc-macris.net. Massachusetts Historical Commission, n.d. Web. It was a popular place for meetings and performances, and remains so today. In 1857 Boyden & Ball designed the Front Street Theatre, adjacent to Horticultural Hall. It was the first venue in Worcester designed specifically for theatre productions.Hurd, D. Hamilton. History of Worcester County, Massachusetts. 1889. It was destroyed by fire in 1898.Engineering News 10 March 1898: 81.
Boyden & Ball also did a few more works further afield, including Denny Hall, Spencer's first high school in 1857,"Denny Hall". mhc-macris.net. Massachusetts Historical Commission, n.d. Web. Larchmont, the country home of Ransom C. Taylor,"Larchmont". mhc-macris.net. Massachusetts Historical Commission, n.d. Web. and the Town House at Sherborn, both in 1858."1858 Sherborn Town House". mhc-macris.net. Massachusetts Historical Commission, n.d. Web.
Other works include: 1850 - Ash Street School, 4 Ash St, Worcester, Massachusetts"Ash Street Schoolhouse". mhc-macris.net. Massachusetts Historical Commission, n.d. Web.Howland, Henry J. The Heart of the Commonwealth: or, Worcester as it is. 1856. 1850 - Harrington Corner, 427 Main St, Worcester, Massachusetts"Harrington Corner". mhc-macris.net. Massachusetts Historical Commission, n.d. Web. Remodeled in 1972 1854 - Lincoln House Block, 370 Main St, Worcester, Massachusetts 1855 - George Hobbs House, 12 State St, Worcester, Massachusetts"Hobbs, George House". mhc-macris.net. Massachusetts Historical Commission, n.d. Web. Demolished 1858 - 1858 Town House, 3 Sanger Street, P.O. Box 2, Sherborn, Massachusetts 1859 - Tatnuck School, 1067 Pleasant St, Worcester, MassachusettsCity Document, No. 64. Address of Hon. James Logan, Mayor of the City of Worcester, 1910. With the Annual Reports of the Several Departments for the Financial Year Ending November 30, 1909. 1910. Demolished
Elbridge Boyden, 1860-1863 For a brief period in the early 1860s Boyden was the sole principal in his office. During this period he retained the Italianate style that he had been working with since the early 1850s. The largest project of this time was the 1862-built Damon Mill at Concord."Damon Mill, The". mhc-macris.net. Massachusetts Historical Commission, n.d. Web. It is an uncommon example of an industrial structure receiving a full architectural treatment. He also designed, in 1863, the First Congregational Church at Spencer, which was similar in its elaborate design to the First Congregational Church in Keene, built four years earlier."First Congregational Church". mhc-macris.net. Massachusetts Historical Commission, n.d. Web. The Spencer church was destroyed by fire, believed to have been started by a lightning strike, in June of 2023.y Claire Law and Adam Sennott, "Lightning strike likely sparked fire that destroyed historic Spencer church, official says," Boston Globe, June 3, 2023. Accessed June 3, 2023. Other works include: 1860 - House for Samuel Dinsmoor Jr., Main St, Keene, New Hampshire
E. Boyden & Son, 1863-1898
Circa 1863 Boyden's son, George E. Boyden, became a partner in the office, which became E. Boyden & Son. Though the younger Boyden died in 1885, the firm remained E. Boyden & Son until Elbridge Boyden's death, making it the longest-lasting period in the firm's history.