Ellis Fuller Lawrence (November 13, 1879 – February 27, 1946) was an American architect who worked primarily in the U.S. state of Oregon. In 1914, he became the co-founder and first dean of the University of Oregon's School of Architecture and Allied Arts, a position he held until his death.
Lawrence concurrently served as campus architect for the University of Oregon and designed many campus buildings, including Knight Library and the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art. Lawrence Hall on the university campus (which replaced his Architecture and Art Building of 1923) was named in his honor in 1956. His body of over 500 projects includes churches, residences, commercial and industrial buildings, funerary buildings, multi-family residences, and public buildings.
In 1988, the private residence he designed for Thomas A. Livesley, a prominent Salem, Oregon businessman and civic leader, was purchased through private donations and donated to the state and now serves as the Governor's official residence (Mahonia Hall).
Biography Ellis F. Lawrence was born in Malden, Massachusetts and received his secondary education at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts graduating in 1897. He received both his bachelor's and master's degrees at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the first school of architecture in the United States. After graduation in 1902, Lawrence worked for the Boston architectural firms Peabody & Stearns and Andrews, Jaques & Rantoul as well as for architects John Calvin Stevens and Constant-Désiré Despradelle before he left to travel in Europe. He was employed by the Boston architectural firm Codman & Despradelle in 1905.
In 1906, Codman & Despradelle (Boston), sent Lawrence to San Francisco to commence work there, but the 1906 San Francisco earthquake convinced him to stay in Portland, Oregon where he had stopped on the way. He lived in Portland the rest of his life and commuted to his work as dean and campus architect in Eugene.Guide to the Ellis Lawrence papers at the University of Oregon
He was associated with several Oregon-based architecture firms: MacNaughton, Raymond & Lawrence (1906–1910); Lawrence & Holford (1913–1928); Lawrence, Holford, Allyn & Bean (1928–1933); and Lawrence, Holford, & Allyn (1933–1941). Lawrence's final partnership, Lawrence & Lawrence (1944–1946), was with his son, Henry Abbott Lawrence.
Buildings designed by Lawrence
On the National Register of Historic Places
Eugene, Oregon Alpha Phi Sorority House, University of Oregon Chambers House Knight Library, University of Oregon Hope Abbey Mausoleum Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, University of Oregon Women's Memorial Quadrangle (includes Gerlinger Hall, Susan Campbell Hall, and Hendricks Hall), University of Oregon
Portland, Oregon Belle Court Apartments Cumberland Apartments Henry B. Dickson House Lewis T. Gilliland House Albert, Oscar, and Linda Heintz House Dr. Harry M. Hendershott House James Hickey House Irvington Tennis Club William H. Lewis Model House Alexander D. McDougall House Natt and Christena McDougall House Henry B. Miller House Paul C. Murphy House Isaac Neuberger House Harry T. Nicolai House John V. G. Posey House O. L. Price House Samuel G. Reed House Maurice Seitz House Blaine Smith House Stanley C.E. Smith House Arthur Champlin Spencer and Margaret Fenton Spencer House John A. Sprouse Jr. House Alice Henderson Strong House Fred E. Taylor House Troy Laundry Building Wells-Guthrie House James E. Wheeler House
The Earl Bronaugh House
Other Oregon NRHP structures Old Kappa Alpha Theta Sorority House, Corvallis James M. and Paul R. Kelty House, Lafayette Leaburg Powerhouse, part of the Leaburg Hydroelectric Project Historic District, Leaburg Hall–Chaney House, Milwaukie Elsinore Theater, Salem Mahonia Hall, (Oregon Governor's mansion), Salem
Other buildings
Baker Middle School, Baker City Cooley House, Lewis and Clark College, Portland Franklin Building, Salem, contributing structure to the Salem Downtown Historic District Martin House, Eugene McArthur Court, University of Oregon, Eugene Mount Crest Abbey Mausoleum, Salem Ocean View Abbey Mausoleum, Astoria Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity house, Eugene Donald R. Newberry House, Medford, Oregon John Hughes house, Salem Oregon Prentiss Hall, Whitman College, Walla Walla, Washington Hunter Conservatory, Whitman College, Walla Walla, Washington
See also National Register of Historic Places listings in Oregon
References
Harmony in Diversity : The Architecture and Teaching of Ellis F. Lawrence. Edited by Michael Shellenbarger; essays by Kimberly K. Lakin, Leland M. Roth, Michael Shellenbarger. Eugene, Or.: Museum of Art and the Historic Preservation Program, School of Architecture and Allied Arts, University of Oregon, 1989. Ritz, Richard Ellison. "Lawrence, Ellis Fuller," Architects of Oregon; A Biographical Dictionary of Architects Deceased—19th and 20th Centuries. Portland, OR: Lair Hill Publishing, 2002.
External links Ellis Lawrence Building Survey, from University of Oregon Libraries Harmony in Diversity : The Architecture and Teaching of Ellis F. Lawrence. Architecture of Ellis F. Lawrence National Register of Historic Places multiple property submission Pt. 1
Ellis F. Lawrence, in The Architecture of the University of Oregon: A History, Bibliography, and Research Guide Ellis F. Lawrence, The Oregon Encyclopedia, by Elizabeth Walton Potter.