Wallis Eastburn Howe (September 12, 1868 – September 15, 1960) was a notable American architect from Rhode Island. Howe became a partner in the Providence architectural firm of Clarke & Howe in 1901 and was senior partner of that firm's successors from 1928 until his death in 1960.
Biography Howe was born in Philadelphia in 1868 to a family with deep roots in Bristol, Rhode Island. He was the 18th and last child of Mark Antony De Wolfe Howe, a great-great-nephew of James De Wolf.Jordy, William H. and Christopher P. Monkhouse. Buildings on Paper: Rhode Island Architectural Drawings, 1825–1945. 1982. Howe's father began his duties of bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Central Pennsylvania in January 1872, and moved his family to Reading the following year.
He first attended Reading's Selwyn Hall, the diocesan school. After graduation, he attended Lehigh University ('89) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ('92).Technology Review 1960: 63–64. Howe went to Bristol (and opened an architect's office) by 1894. In about 1896 he joined the office of Providence architects Martin & Hall, though he continued to accept commissions in Bristol. He quickly gained a high level of responsibility in the office, and was given design duties on several projects. He remained with Martin & Hall until 1901, when he joined the office of Clarke & Spaulding. The firm became Clarke, Spaulding & Howe very briefly, but became Clarke & Howe a few months later upon Spaulding's retirement.
Clarke & Howe became one of Rhode Island's leading firms, beginning in 1903, when they won the commission for the U. S. Federal Building in Providence. By the time the building was completed in 1908, they had gained the commissions for many academic and public buildings. Eleazer B. Homer, another MIT alumnus, was partner from 1907 to 1913.Technology Review Oct. 1907: 506.American Contractor August 9, 1913: 103. Clarke retired in 1928, and the firm became Howe & Church.Architecture 1928. Samuel W. Church had been with the firm since at least 1908, when his family had the firm design the Benjamin Church Home in Bristol. Church retired in 1938, and Earle F. Prout, the firm's chief draftsman, became partner. In 1946 the partnership was expanded to include Edward O. Ekman, as Howe, Prout & Ekman. Ekman had been an associate with Howe & Church from 1928 to 1931, after which he had opened his own office.American Architects Directory. 1956. Ekman left in 1959, and the firm reverted to Howe & Prout in 1960. Donald J. Prout was substituted for Earle Prout, who died the same year. Howe also died that year, and the firm was succeeded by Donald J. Prout & Associates. Prout was only 29 years old at the time.American Architects Directory. 1962. Prout moved the office to Cranston in 1973, where he lived for the remainder of his life.
Howe was the father of George L. Howe, the architect, author and Office of Strategic Services officer.
Architectural work
Private practice, c.1894–1896
Wallis Howe's first known design is the old Bristol Armory of 1894, on Thames Street.Annual Report of the State Auditor, January 1895. 1895. It is unknown how he gained the commission, but it was probably through family connections. Howe chose a Romanesque Revival style that gave a medieval flavor to the armories built at that era. In 1895 he designed a house (60 Church) for Frank M. Dimond, and in 1896 one (40 Woodlawn) for Andrew Lynch. Both were comfortably in the Queen Anne mainstream.Historic and Architectural Resources of Bristol, Rhode Island. 1990.
With Martin & Hall, 1896–1901
Circa 1896, Howe joined the Providence office of Martin & Hall as a designer where he quickly gained a high level of responsibility. He could act on behalf of the firm, apply for building permits, and execute designs under his own name. He began stewardship for several Martin & Hall buildings in the Bristol area. There, he designed the Y. M. C. A. Building on Hope Street in 1898.American Architect and Building News August 14, 1897: xiii. The following year he also designed a harborside residence called Wyndstowe, for Isoline and Hattie Barns. Howe later inherited the house, at 221 Hope Street, from the sisters.
1896 – Alfred Harrison House, 260 Olney St, Providence, Rhode IslandWoodward, Wm. McKenzie. Providence: A Citywide Survey of Historic Resources. 1986. 1897 – St. John's Episcopal Church, 80 Lexington St, East Boston, MassachusettsAmerican Architect and Building News September 25, 1897: iii. 1901 – Walter Hidden House, 150 Meeting St, Providence, Rhode Island
Clarke & Howe, 1901–1928
Howe was associated with Prescott O. Clarke, another MIT graduate, for 27 years. During this period, Clarke & Howe emerged as one of the city's chief architectural firms, with Jackson, Robertson & Adams as their biggest competitor.
Designs include:
1916–1917 – Saint Martin's Church, 50 Orchard Avenue, Providence, Rhode Island, "an unknown masterpiece of early twentieth-century Gothic".Woodward, William McKenzie. PPS/AIAri Guide to Providence Architecture with Foreword by William Morgan. 2003. 1925 – Parish House at St. Martin's Church, 50 Orchard Avenue, Providence, Rhode Island.Woodward, William McKenzie. PPS/AIAri Guide to Providence Architecture with Foreword by William Morgan. 2003. pp. 281–2. 1925 — Guiteras Memorial Building, Bristol, Rhode Island. A large school building; closed in 2025 due to declining enrollment.
Howe & Church, 1928–1938
In 1928 Prescott Clarke retired and was replaced by long-time employee Samuel W. Church. The newly established firm had few opportunities to design commercial buildings, due to the Great Depression. With the exception of three buildings in 1929, no such commissions came into the office until World War II. The first of these was the Insurance Building, on Canal Street. It was built to house two insurance companies, the Rhode Island Insurance Company and the Merchants Fire Insurance Company.Engineering News-Record 1929: 5. For this, the last tall building built until the 1950s, Howe chose to reuse one of his favorite motifs, the ogee gable. With the exception of this distinctive element, the building is otherwise a plain, conservative example of the Colonial Revival in limestone. The next building was the Empire Street headquarters of the Old Stone Safe Deposit and Trust Company, a newly established subsidiary of the Providence Institution for Savings. It uses a much more ornate Classicism than many of the firm's contemporary works. Most of the neighboring buildings are plain, and this building may be considered the "visual highlight" of the block. The third commercial building, now lost, was the Providence National Bank at 90 Westminster Street. It was a standard neo-Georgian work, though it was noted for its expansive use of glass. In 1937, it was called out as one of the best modern commercial buildings in the state.Rhode Island: A Guide To The Smallest State. 1937. In 2005 it was demolished for the 110 Westminster project, which was never built.
Civic and academic buildings composed much of the firm's output for many years. This was kicked off in 1929 with Howe & Church being commissioned to design the new Emma Pendleton Bradley Hospital in East Providence, a children's psychiatric hospital.Power 1929: 78. The building was, like many of Howe's designs, was in the neo-Georgian style, again reusing the ogee gable. The following year the architects designed the Rochambeau and South Providence libraries for the Providence Public Library. These were to be based on the prototype Clarke & Howe had developed in the '20s, but that design proved impractical for the chosen sites. Rochambeau was a distinctive H-plan structure, featuring neo-Georgian motifs heavily. South Providence, on a narrow mid-block site, was very plainly built. In 1932 Howe designed a new building for the Roger Williams Baptist Church, at a time occupying an 1855 building by Thomas A. Tefft. Due to the building's declining condition and the depression, the church decided to consolidate some of its operations with the Cranston Street Baptist Church. The Cranston Street church offered to pay for much of the building's cost, with the stipulation that they could use the new building's community facilities. The church built its new building in a Byzantine revival style, at Cranston and Ford Streets.Engineering News-Record 1932: 635. In 1935 Howe planned a second major hospital, the main building at the Rhode Island State Sanitorium at Wallum Lake.Bridgemen's Magazine 1936: 792. Known as Wallum Lake House, it replaced Thornton & Thornton's deteriorating building, built in 1903.Engineering News December 18, 1902: 218. Howe's design was modeled on his Bradley Hospital, on a much larger scale. While that was under construction, Howe designed the new Cranston City Hall, which replaced a 19th-century building that was considered a firetrap.Bridgemen's Magazine 1936: 87. The new building, built in 1936, was large but otherwise unremarkable.
Howe & Church also built a number of private residences, mostly by 1931. The largest of these was a house in 1929 for William S. Tully at 132 Nayatt Road in Barrington.Historic and Architectural Resources of Barrington, Rhode Island. 1993. In 1930 in Providence, the architects designed a house for Elizabeth G. Wood, Samuel Church's widowed daughter. At 72 Manning Street, it is a good example of neo-Federal work inspired by the work of John Holden Greene. In 1938, they designed a large mansion for Charles B. Rockwell Jr. at Bristol, on Poppasquash Road. Known as Point Pleasant, it is a simple but large example of rural English revival.
Other designs include: 1929 – Faunce House Annex, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 1930 – Frederick A. Hallworth House, 330 Freeman Pkwy, Providence, Rhode Island 1930 – Theodore L. Sweet House, 5 Stadium Road, Providence, Rhode IslandFreeman Plat Historic District NRHP Nomination. 1995. 1931 – Astor Hall, St. George's School, Middletown, Rhode IslandEngineering News-Record 1931: page 62. 1931 – William Dixon House, 20 High St, Bristol, Rhode Island 1933 – Nurses' Home, Providence Lying-In Hospital, 50 Maude Street, Providence, Rhode IslandBridgemen's Magazine 1933: page 227. 1934 – Bristol County Courthouse (Restoration), 240 High Street, Bristol, Rhode Island 1935 – Simpson Hall, Rhode Island State Hospital for Mental Diseases, Howard, Rhode IslandBridgemen's Magazine 1935: page 682. 1938 – Barrington Public Library (Old), 283 County Road, Barrington, Rhode IslandJordy, William H. Buildings of Rhode Island. 2004. 1938 – Weaver Memorial Library, 41 Grove Avenue, East Providence, Rhode IslandEast Providence, Rhode Island: Statewide Preservation Report P-EP-1. 1976.
Howe & Prout, 1938–1946
Samuel Church retired from the firm in 1938, and head draftsman Earle F. Prout became a partner. During this period of Howe's career, the firm lost individual residential commissions, but regained commercial work. 1940 marked the beginning of the firm's relationship with the New England Telephone and Telegraph Company, a Boston-based utility. NET&T had bought out the Providence Telephone Company, for which Clarke & Howe had designed a major office building, and now were in charge of designing telephone exchanges for the company. The first of these, built in 1940, was the Fall River exchange.Engineering News-Record 1945: 20. At 326 North Main Street, it is vaguely neo-Georgian, but contains modernist influences. Next, in 1941, was a replacement for the company's South Providence/Edgewood exchange.Engineering News-Record 1941: 25. At 1096 Broad Street, it is a plain but unexpectedly monumental building in the neo-Georgian style. Parts of the building have been altered, and it has been vacated by the telephone company.