Parker, Thomas & Rice, known as Parker & Thomas before 1907, was an American architectural firm formed in 1900 by partners J. Harleston Parker and Douglas H. Thomas Jr. and later expanded to include Arthur W. Rice. It operated out of dual offices in Boston and Baltimore and was dissolved in 1933.
History The firm of Parker & Thomas was formed in Boston and Baltimore in 1900 by architects J. Harleston Parker and Douglas H. Thomas Jr., two young graduates of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Beaux-Arts de Paris. Parker and Thomas came from established Boston and Baltimore families and each managed the office in his home city. Early successes came in 1903 and 1906, respectively, when the firm won competitions to design the Sidney L. Christie Federal Building (1910, NRHP-listed) in Huntington, West Virginia, and to plan the new campus of Johns Hopkins University, Thomas's undergraduate alma mater. Planning and construction lagged and the only building the firm designed for the university was the monumental Gilman Hall (1915), not completed until shortly after Thomas's death.
In Boston during this time the firm designed the Tennis and Racquet Club (1904) in the Back Bay and country houses for Frederick Lothrop Ames Jr. (1905) in Easton and for Frederick Ayer (1907, demolished) in Beverly. In 1907 the partnership was reorganized as Parker, Thomas & Rice to include Arthur W. Rice, an older architect who was the surviving partner of the Boston firm of Peters & Rice.Henry F. Withey and Elsie Rathburn Withey Biographical Dictionary of American Architects (Deceased) (Los Angeles: New Age Publishing Company, 1956) During the next few years the work of the Boston office included the Harvard Club of Boston (1913) in the Back Bay and the Essex County Club (1914) in Manchester-by-the-Sea, social clubs for the Boston Brahmin elite. In June 1915 Thomas died after accidentally driving his car into a ditch. To make up for this loss, Parker and Rice invited Robert E. Lee Taylor, a Norfolk, Virginia, architect and fellow MIT graduate to lead the Baltimore office."Taylor, Robert E[dward] Lee" in The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography vol. 41 (New York: James T. White & Company, 1956) During the next twelve year period, the most important work completed in Boston was the John Hancock Building (1922); in Baltimore, the Forest Park High School (1924, demolished).American Contractor (July 22, 1922): 45. In 1924 the Hancock Building was awarded the second Harleston Parker Medal, which Parker had endowed in 1921, by the Boston Society of Architects."Parker Medal given to its donor's firm. Parker, Thomas & Rice wins architectural award," Boston Globe, May 7, 1924.
In 1927 the partnership was reorganized, separating the Boston and Baltimore offices after 27 years. Parker and Rice continued the Boston office under the old name while Taylor and D. K. Este Fisher, a partner since 1924, continued the Baltimore office as the independent firm of Taylor & Fisher."Personals" in American Architect and Building News (January 16, 1924): 20."Announcements" in Architecture (April 1927): 224. The major work of the firm's final years was the United Shoe Machinery Corporation Building (1930, NRHP-listed), a notable example of Art Deco architecture which was then the tallest privately-owned building in Boston. Parker died in May 1930 as the United Shoe building was underway; Rice retired in 1933 and died in January 1938.
Legacy In 1913, critic Herbert Croly described the partners of Parker, Thomas & Rice as being notable in their application of Beaux-Arts architectural principles to their work, principally in the Colonial Revival style. Their work was contrasted with contemporary architecture firms such as Carrère & Hastings which maintained the bombastic style of the Beaux-Arts in addition to its principles of planning and was summed up as being simply in "persistent good taste."Herbert D. Croly, "Notes on the work of Parker, Thomas & Rice of Boston and Baltimore" in Architectural Record (August 1913): 97-167.
Employees of Parker & Thomas and Parker, Thomas & Rice included Henry Bailey Alden and Franklin H. Hutchins.
A number of their works are listed on the United States National Register of Historic Places.
Architectural works 1900: A.D. Club, Cambridge, MassachusettsAmerican Architect and Building News (March 8, 1902) 1901: Alex. Brown & Sons Building, BaltimoreJohn Dorsey and James D. Dilts, A Guide to Baltimore Architecture, 3rd ed. (Centreville: Tidewater Publishers, 1997) NRHP-listed 1902: Mills Building, Washington, DCJames M. Goode, Capital Losses: A Cultural History of Washington's Destroyed Buildings (Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1979): 348. Demolished in 1964 for the second Mills Building, completed in 1966 1903: Belvedere Hotel, Baltimore NRHP-listed 1903: John Whitridge Williams house, "Ram Point," Westerly, Rhode IslandRichard C. Youngken, Ram Point National Register of Historic Places Registration Form (2015) NRHP-listed 1904: Tennis and Racquet Club, Back Bay, BostonRichard M. Candee, Naomi Miller, Keith N. Morgan and Roger G. Reed, Buildings of Massachusetts: Metropolitan Boston, ed. Keith N. Morgan (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2009) 1905: Frederick Lothrop Ames Jr. estate, "Stone House Hill," Easton, MassachusettsBrickbuilder (February 1908) Now (2026) Donahue Hall of Stonehill College 1905: Bourne High School (former), Bourne, MassachusettsCarey L. Jones and Laura J. Kline with Betsy Friedberg, Bourne High School National Register of Historic Places Registration Form (2013) NRHP-listed 1905: Fenway Studios, Fenway–Kenmore, Boston A National Historic Landmark, also NRHP-listed 1905: Rosenfeld Building, BaltimoreFred B. Shoken, Heiser, Rosenfeld, and Strauss Buildings National Register of Historic Places Inventory–Nomination Form (1980) Contributes to the NRHP-listed Heiser, Rosenfeld, and Strauss Buildings complex 1905: William D. Sawyer house, MilwaukeeBrickbuilder (June 1906) Designed by Parker & Thomas, architects, with Buemming & Dick, associate architects; contributes to the NRHP-listed North Point South Historic District 1906: B&O Railroad Headquarters Building, Baltimore"New B. and O. building," Baltimore Sun, January 26, 1905. Designed by Herbert D. Hale and Parker & Thomas, associated architects, with Henry G. Morse, associate architect 1906: William Finney house, "Little Greenwood," Churchville, MarylandChristopher Weeks, Finney Houses Historic District National Register of Historic Places Registration Form (1989) Contributes to the NRHP-listed Finney Houses Historic District 1906: National Bank of Commerce Building, Norfolk, VirginiaManufacturers Record (October 20, 1904): 337. The tallest building in Norfolk until the construction of Icon Norfolk (1967); demolished in 1988 1907: Frederick Ayer estate, "Avalon," Beverly, MassachusettsArchitectural Record (July 1908) Demolished 1907: Savings Bank of Baltimore Building, Baltimore 1907: Tarratine Club, Bangor, MaineGregory K. Clancey, Great Fire of 1911 Historic District National Register of Historic Places Inventory–Nomination Form (1984) Contributes to the NRHP-listed Great Fire of 1911 Historic District 1908: Lincoln Center School (former), Lincoln, MassachusettsSchool Board Journal (December 1907): 26. Now (2026) the Lincoln Town Officers; contributes to the NRHP-listed Lincoln Center Historic District 1909: R. H. Stearns Building, Downtown Crossing, BostonDouglass Shand-Tucci, Built in Boston: City and Suburb, 1800–2000 (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1999) NRHP-listed 1910: Sidney L. Christie Federal Building, Huntington, West VirginiaS. Allen Chambers, Buildings of West Virginia (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004) NRHP-listed 1910: Gilman School, Baltimore 1910: Union Boat Club, Beacon Hill, Boston 1912: Columbian Life Building, Downtown Crossing, BostonDonlyn Lyndon, The City Observed: Boston. A Guide to the Architecture of the Hub (Random House, 1982) 1912: Hansa Haus, Baltimore NRHP-listed 1912: Ellen Dexter Sharpe house, Providence, Rhode IslandWilliam H. Jordy, Buildings of Rhode Island, ed. Ronald J. Onorato and William McKenzie Woodward (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004) Since 1989 Brown University's Antonio Machado House, or Casa Machado 1913: Harvard Club of Boston, Back Bay, Boston 1914: Essex County Club, Manchester, MassachusettsArchitectural Forum (June 1918) 1915: Gilman Hall, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore 1915: Stephens and Newell Halls, Towson University, Towson, MarylandReport of the Maryland State Normal School Building Commission, December 31, 1915 (1916) 1916: 39 West Lexington, Baltimore 1919: Lincoln Street development, Bath, MaineEngineering and Contracting (July 24, 1918): 96. A United States Housing Corporation development, designed by Loring Underwood, planner, and Parker, Thomas & Rice, architects 1919: George F. Lindsay House, Saint Paul, MinnesotaLarry Millett, AIA Guide to St. Paul's Summit Avenue and Hill District (Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2009) 1921: The Hartford headquarters, Hartford, ConnecticutAmerican Contractor (May 8, 1920): 50. Designed by Edwin Sherrill Dodge and Parker, Thomas & Rice, architects 1922: John Hancock Building, Back Bay, Boston Recipient of the second Harleston Parker Medal in 1924; enlarged in 1928 1924: Chamber of Commerce Building, Financial District, Boston"Boston Chamber builds $6,000,000 structure" in Iron Trade Review (November 6, 1924): 1245. Demolished to make way for 100 Federal Street 1924: Forest Park High School, Baltimore Demolished 1924: George F. Schrafft house, Newton Centre, Massachusetts"Boston's exhibitions (1927)" in Architectural Record (June 1927): 537. Now home to the Rappaport Center for Law and Public Policy 1926: Boston Five Cents Savings Bank Building, Downtown Crossing, Boston Enlarged in 1972 by Kallmann & McKinnell 1926: Monumental Life Insurance Company Building, Baltimore"Real estate deals and building news; bids asked for erection of new home for insurance company," Baltimore Sun, October 8, 1925. 1927: Boston Consolidated Gas Company Building, Back Bay, Boston 1927: Leakin Hall, Peabody Institute, BaltimoreManufacturers Record (April 30, 1925): 121. 1928: First English Lutheran Church, Guilford, BaltimoreAnn G. Giroux, Guilford (Charleston: Arcadia Publishing, 2015) 1929: Henry Dexter Sharpe and Mary Elizabeth Sharpe house, Providence, Rhode Island Mrs. Sharpe, a self-educated landscape architect, planned the house's grounds; since 1985 Brown University's Rochambeau House 1930: United Shoe Machinery Corporation Building, Financial District, Boston Designed by Parker, Thomas & Rice, architects, with Henry Bailey Alden, associate architect; NRHP-listed 1931: John R. Macomber estate, "Raceland," Framingham, Massachusetts"Macomber plans to rebuild race plant destroyed by fire," New York Times, August 12, 1930. Originally built in 1925 and burned in 1930; rebuilt in a similar style but on an enlarged scale
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