John A. Wood (June 11, 1837 – December 18, 1910), was an American architect . His work in upstate New York included projects in Poughkeepsie and Kingston, New York, as well as four armories, in Kingston, Newburgh, Bethel, and Watertown. His work in Tampa, Florida, includes the Tampa Bay Hotel and Old Hillsborough County Courthouse. His hotel work included the design of the Piney Woods Hotel, Oglethorpe Hotel, Mizzen Top Hotel, and Grand Hotel.

The Tampa Bay Hotel was listed on the National Historic Register in 1972.Hillsborough County Florida department of State

Biography

Wood was born in Bethel, New York. He began his career in 1863 in Poughkeepsie before moving his office to 153 Broadway in New York City. He completed several projects in the area of Kingston, New York as well as in Brunswick, Georgia.

Wood's parents were Stephen C. Wood and Mary Crist Wood.Kingston, New York: the architectural guide by William Bertholet Rhoads, James Bleecker Wood is buried in the Evergreen Cemetery in Bethel.

Wood established his practice in Poughkeepsie by 1863. The buildings he designed in the area include several on and around the Vassar College campus. He also did work in Kingston, including the New York State Armory (1878) and, at the end of his career, the Stuyvesant Hotel (1910). He also designed the Tremper House by Mount Tremper (constructed for wholesale grocery businessmen Thomas and Jacob Tremper), one of the earliest railroad resorts in the Catskill Mountains. It was located by the Phoenicia stop of the Ulster and Delaware Railroad.

Hotel design became his specialty and Wood achieved a reputation for his architectural style, especially his use of Moorish Revival style. The Tampa Bay Hotel is his most famous work, a striking five-storied, 511-room building with ornate Victorian architecture features (sometimes referred to as gingerbread), as well as Moorish architectural features including minarets, cupolas, and domes. The resort was built for Henry B. Plant, a railroad and shipping tycoon. It is now part of the University of Tampa campus and is known as Plant Hall. It contains the Henry B. Plant Museum.

Wood stated his dislike for Queen Anne style in the Thomasville Times in 1886: "Dear Sir – Please correct the statement in Saturday’s Times that the ‘Piney Woods Hotel is built in the Queen Anne style.’ Neither the Piney Woods nor any other hotel that I have ever designed is in that beastly style, which is at best no style at all."March/ 1709 Reynolds Street, Brunswick March/ April 2009 Golden Isles Magazine

The summer home of Effingham Brown Sutton in West Islip, New York (ca. 1870)consisted of a mansion and several fine cottages. The main house, Woodruff Sutton cottage, and gate house were razed by railroad magnate Edwin Hawley. The last original building, owned by George Nicholas in later years, was demolished in the 1950s.

Wood's design for the Grand Hotel (Highmount, New York) was a project for Thomas Cornell, owner of Hudson River steamships and the Ulster and Delaware Railroad. Cornell concluded that a hotel near the railroad would boost traffic and draw wealthy clients who would be hours away from Grand Central Station in New York City. The three-story hotel included elegant features such as turrets, and a covered piazza along its 350-foot length.

Wood's design for a large hotel in Charleston, South Carolina was covered by The New York Times in a January 6, 1894 article. January 6, 1894 New York Times

List of works

Bardavon Opera House (1869), Poughkeepsie, New York Kingston City Almshouse (1874), Kingston, New York Kingston Argus Building (1874, demolished), Kingston, New York Newburgh Free Library (1875),Heritage Sites #23 City of Newburgh Newburgh, New York New York State Armory (1878), Kingston, New YorkNancy L. Todd New York's historic armories: an illustrated history page 88 Watertown Armory (1879), Watertown, New York (demolished 1966) New York State Armory (1880), Newburgh, New York Mizzen Top Hotel (1880) New Summer Hotels January 9, 1881 New York TimesSummer Retreats page 42 Builder and Wood-worker, Volume 17Mizzen Top Hotel Historical marker 687-691 Broadway / 250-254 Mercer Street, New York City (1885–88) Oglethorpe Hotel (1888), Brunswick, Georgia Tampa Bay Hotel (1891), Tampa, Florida Old Hillsborough County Courthouse (1892, demolished 1953https://tampapix.com/conventview2.htm) Grand Hotel in Highmount, New York (1881)Grand Hotel A Slide Talk by Annon Adams; A Program for the Town of Middletown Historical Society at Skene Memorial Library Piney Woods Hotel, Thomasville, Georgia Mahoney-McGarvey House at 1709 Reynolds Street in Brunswick, GeorgiaFlickr image of Mahoney-McGarvey House Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery gates and gatehouseVirginia Buechele Frost Mausoleum Friends of the August 2006 Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery Newsletter Vassar Brothers Institute, Poughkeepsie, New York Vassar Home for Aged Men, Poughkeepsie, New York Poughkeepsie Alms House, Poughkeepsie, New YorkPOORHOUSE History of Dutchess CountyAlmshouse photo Calisthenium and Riding Academy, Poughkeepsie, New YorkCalisthenium and Riding Academy/ Avery Hall Vassar EncyclopediaEarly Images (drawing) Vassar Library Akin Free Library, Pawling, New York (1908) Stuyvesant Hotel in Kingston, New York (1910)picture of Stuyvesant Hotel

References

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