Allen & Collens was an American architectural firm based in Boston. It was initially established by architect Francis R. Allen in 1879. After two early partnerships he formed Allen & Collens in 1903 with Charles Collens. The firm was best known as the designers of Gothic Revival buildings, including the Union Theological Seminary campus and Riverside Church in New York City. Allen and Collens died in 1931 and 1956, respectively, and the firm was continued by Collens's partner, Harold Buckley Willis, until his own death in 1962.
History Architect Francis R. Allen established his Boston practice in 1879."Allen, Francis Richmond" in The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography 32 (New York: James T. White & Company, 1945): 243–244. Circa 1880 he formed the partnership of Allen & Kenway with Welsh-born architect Herbert P. Kenway. Kenway had been trained in Manchester and immigrated to the United States in 1874. Before joining Allen, he had worked for city architect George A. Clough after briefly practicing in Auburn, Maine, where his works included the William A. Robinson House.Herbert Phipps Kenway, A Biographical Dictionary of the Architects of Greater Manchester, no date. Accessed November 13, 2024. Their work included Sonnenberg, the Canandaigua, New York, country house of Frederick Ferris Thompson and Mary Clark Thompson. The Thompsons attended the First Congregational Church in Canandaigua, where Allen's brother, Frederick Baylies Allen, was pastor. Mrs. Thompson would become a major client of the Allen firm.Andrew S. Dolkart, Morningside Heights: A History of its Architecture & Development (New York: Columbia University Press, 1998): 98–100. In the late 1880s Kenway's health declined and he died in July 1890 while visiting Wales. Allen continued independently until January 1897, when he formed the partnership of Allen & Vance with Joseph McArthur Vance, a former employee then practicing in Pittsfield."Architects' removals, etc." in The American Architect and Building News 55, no. 1105 (February 27, 1897): x. They designed Lathrop House and Davison House at Vassar College and in 1899 won a competition to design Woman's Hospital in New York City. Mrs. Thompson was a prominent supporter of the hospital. A change of site meant that their design was not built, but Allen was retained as architect and completed the project on a new site in 1906.
In the meantime the Allen & Vance partnership had been dissolved, and in January 1903 Allen formed Allen & Collens with Charles Collens, an employee recently returned from the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. In 1925 Allen retired from the partnership. About the same time J. Lawrence Berry and Harold Buckley Willis became partners, though the firm continued as Allen & Collens. Berry had worked for Allen at the turn of the century before opening his own office, though he frequently associated with the firm on individual projects, such as the Marlborough City Hall. His independent works included the North Hampton Library and St. Luke's and St. Margaret's Church, the latter as a member of the firm of Berry & Davidson. He rejoined the firm sometime after World War I.Henry F. Withey and Elsie Rathburn Withey, "Berry, James Lawrence" in Biographical Dictionary of American Architects (Deceased) (Los Angeles: New Age Publishing Company, 1956): 54. Willis, a decorated veteran of the war, joined the firm in 1920."Willis, Harold Buckley" in American Architects Directory (New York: R. R. Bowker Company, 1956): 609. Berry died in January 1931 followed by Allen in November. The firm was renamed Allen, Collens & Willis when they were joined by architect Edward A. Hubbard, a former partner of Henry Forbes Bigelow. In 1940 Willis, who had served with the American Field Service during World War I, returned to service with that organization.Carlyle Hoyt, "Bostonians will sail for France next month," The Boston Globe, December 27, 1939. In his absence the firm was renamed Collens, Willis & Hubbard. After the war Willis returned and Hubbard was replaced by Carl A. Beckonert, the firm being renamed a final time to Collens, Willis & Beckonert. Collens died in September 1956, followed by Willis in April 1962."Harold Buckley Willis," The New York Times, April 19, 1962. The firm was thereafter dissolved.
Style and legacy The work of Allen & Collens was greatly influenced by Collens's Beaux-Arts education. The École des Beaux-Arts curriculum centered plan and composition, with a strong emphasis on architectural history, as the foundational elements of design. The prevailing style of the Beaux-Arts was Neoclassical, but in practice American students adapted Beaux-Arts principles to the Gothic Revival style and regional vernacular styles, such as the Colonial Revival style.Jean Paul Carlhian and Margot M. Ellis, Americans in Paris: Foundations of America's Architectural Gilded Age: Architecture Students at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts 1846–1946 (New York: Rizzoli, 2014): 18–83 and 112.
Allen & Collens's major work in the Neoclassical style was the monumental William Oxley Thompson Memorial Library of Ohio State University. They won this commission in a limited competition. They developed a national reputation for their Gothic Revival work, which included the Thompson Memorial Library (1905) of Vassar College and the Union Theological Seminary campus (1910) and Riverside Church (1930) in New York City. They admired Gothic architecture for its adaptibility. Like other Beaux-Arts architects they were stylistically flexible and often adapted to the genius loci of a site, such as at Bowdoin College, where Collens found that only the Colonial style was appropriate, or in the First Parish Church (1933) of Waltham, where they channeled the Greek Revival style of the church's 1838 building. Later monumental works included the Christopher Wren-inspired Newton City Hall and War Memorial (1932), winner of the Harleston Parker Medal for 1936, and The Cloisters (1938) in New York City.
Employees of the Allen firm include: Reino Aarnio"Aarnio, Reino" in American Architects Directory, 2nd ed. (New York: R. R. Bowker Company, 1962): 1. H. Daland Chandler"Chandler, H(enry) Daland" in American Architects Directory, 1st ed. (New York: R. R. Bowker Company, 1956): 90. Rose Connor Harry Wright Goodhue Louise Hall"Hall, Louise" in American Architects Directory, 1st ed. (New York: R. R. Bowker Company, 1956): 221. S. Wesley Haynes Samuel Eldon Homsey Victorine du Pont Homsey Lois Lilley Howe Juan Nakpil"Nakpil, Juan F(elipe)" in American Architects Directory, 1st ed. (New York: R. R. Bowker Company, 1956): 400. Richard Roth"Roth, Richard" in American Architects Directory, 1st ed. (New York: R. R. Bowker Company, 1956): 474.
Partner biographies Francis R. Allen Francis Richmond Allen (November 22, 1843 – November 7, 1931) was born in Boston to Frederick Deane Allen, a dry goods merchant, and Mary Richmond Allen, née Baylies. He was educated at the Boston Latin School and at Amherst College, graduating from the latter in 1865. He then entered his father's dry goods business, Allen, Lane & Company. In 1875, Allen married and bought a house lot on Fairfield Street in the Back Bay. He hired architect W. Whitney Lewis to design the house, which was completed in 1876."20 Fairfield," Back Bay Houses, no date. Accessed November 13, 2024. This experience apparently triggered a career shift, and that year he left his father's business to enter the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) architecture school. After a year at MIT he spent another in Paris, studying in the Beaux-Arts atelier of Joseph Auguste Émile Vaudremer. Also studying in the Vaudremer atelier at the time was fellow Bostonian Arthur Rotch.Harry L. Katz, A Continental Eye: The Art and Architecture of Arthur Rotch (Boston: Boston Athenaeum, 1985): 42. He returned to Boston in 1878 and worked for Peabody & Stearns before opening an office of his own in 1879.
Allen was married to Elizabeth Bradlee Wood. They had two children, both daughters, only one of whom, Dorothy, survived to adulthood. She married yachtsman and Kidder, Peabody & Company partner Chandler Hovey. Allen was a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and from 1904 to 1925 he was vice president of the Comité permanent international des Architectes, a predecessor to the International Union of Architects. He was a member of the Society of Beaux-Arts Architects, the Boston Society of Architects, the Bostonian Society, the General Society of Colonial Wars, the Country Club, the Mayflower Society and the St. Botolph Club. He died in Boston at the age of 87.
Charles Collens Charles Collens (October 14, 1873 – September 18, 1956) was born in New York City to Charles Terry Collins and Mary Abby Collins, née Wood. Collens and his siblings used the "Collens" spelling of their surname. His father was a native of Hartford, Connecticut, and was Yale-educated pastor. In 1875 he was called to Plymouth Church in Cleveland. His mother was a native of Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Collins died in 1883 and Mrs. Collins raised their children in New Haven. Collens was educated at Yale University, graduating in 1896. For the next year he worked as a private tutor, accompanying a family in Europe and Egypt. In 1897 he joined the Boston office of Peabody & Stearns as a drafter. In 1900 he traveled to Paris and joined the atelier of Jean-Louis Pascal, and he was admitted to the École des Beaux-Arts in September. He returned to Boston in April 1902 and joined Allen's office, and became Allen's partner in January 1903."Charles Collens" in Decennial Record of the Class of 1896, Yale College (New York: De Vinne Press, printers, 1907): 282–284."Collens, Charles" in Who's Who in America (Chicago: A. N. Marquis Company, 1928): 523.
Collens was married in 1903 to Margaret Winsor. They had three children, one son and two daughters. Like Allen he was a Fellow of the AIA and was additionally an associate National Academician of the National Academy of Design.National Academicians, National Academy of Design, no date. Accessed August 16, 2023. He was a member of the Society of Beaux-Arts Architects, the Boston Society of Architects, the Country Club, the St. Botolph Club, the Union Club and the Yale Club. He died in Boston at the age of 82."Charles Collens," The Boston Globe, September 19, 1956.
Harold B. Willis
Architectural works Francis R. Allen, 1879–1880, 1890–1897 and 1901–1903 1880 – Charles G. Wood Jr. and Mary Knight Wood house, 274 Marlborough St, Boston"274 Marlborough," Back Bay Houses, no date. Accessed November 14, 2024. Built for Allen's brother-in-law and his wife. A contributing resource to the NRHP-listed Back Bay Historic District. 1893 – Main Building annex, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New YorkKaren van Lengen and Lisa Reilly, Vassar College: An Architectural Tour (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2004) Funded by trustee Frederick Ferris Thompson. The first of the Allen firm's projects for Vassar College. Demolished when the Main Building was restored. 1893 – Strong House, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York Funded by trustee John D. Rockefeller and named for his daughter. 1893 – Thompson Biology, Chemistry and Physical Laboratories, Williams College, Williamstown, MassachusettsEugene J. Johnson and Michael J. Lewis, Williams College: An Architectural Tour (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2019) Funded by Frederick Ferris Thompson. After a fire Thompson Chemistry Laboratory was replaced by Allen & Collens in 1916. All three now incorporated into the Science Center. 1894 – Frederick Baylies Allen house, 45 Brewster St, Cambridge, MassachusettsChristopher Hail, Cambridge Buildings and Architects, 2003. Accessed November 14, 2024. Built for Allen's brother.