Norman Foote Marsh
Norman Foote Marsh | |
|---|---|
 Norman Foote Marsh, c. 1913 | |
| Born | July 16, 1871 |
| Died | September 5, 1955 (aged 84) |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Architect |
| Practice | Preston & Marsh; Marsh & Russell; Norman F. Marsh; Marsh & Howard; Norman F. Marsh & Company; Marsh, Smith & Powell |
Norman Foote Marsh (July 16, 1871 - September 5, 1955)[1][2] was an American architect based in Los Angeles who worked mostly in California and Arizona.
Life and career
[edit]Norman Foote Marsh was born July 16, 1871, in Upper Alton, Illinois, to Ebenezer Marsh and Kate Marsh, née Provost. He was educated in the Upper Alton public schools and at Shurtleff College and the University of Illinois, graduating from the latter in 1897 with a BS in architecture. After graduation he joined the American Luxfer Prism Company, representing them in New York City, Chicago and Philadelphia. In 1900 he relocated to Los Angeles, where he formed the partnership of Preston & Marsh, architects, with J. N. Preston. This was dissolved after a year and he formed the new partnership of Marsh & Russell with Clarence H. Russell.[3]
Marsh & Russell served as principal architects for the design and construction of the city of Venice in 1906, working for the developer Abbott Kinney. Venice's design includes canals and a central district along Windward Avenue with the look of an Italian Renaissance street.[1]
Marsh & Russell was dissolved in 1907[3] and Marsh worked alone until 1915, when he formed Marsh & Howard with Herbert C. Howard, a long-time employee.[4] This was dissolved in 1917[5] and Marsh was again a sole practitioner until 1927, when he formed Norman F. Marsh & Company with engineer David D. Smith and architect Herbert J. Powell. At this time Marsh settled into an administrative role in the firm, delegating design to his partners.[6] In 1928 Smith and Powell became full partners in the reorganized Marsh, Smith & Powell.
Marsh and his partners designed more than twenty churches in the Los Angeles area (in Pasadena, Glendale, San Jose, Long Beach and elsewhere) and at least seven in San Diego. He designed houses in Hollywood, Ojai and elsewhere for prominent persons. He designed dozens of elementary and secondary schools and several university buildings in Arizona and California.[1]
Personal life
[edit]Marsh was married in 1901 to Cora Mae Cairns of Polo, Illinois. They had two children, one son and one daughter.[3] From 1902 he lived in South Pasadena, where he was active in the community, serving on the boards of the YMCA and the public library. In 1955, during a brief illness, he moved into a sanitarium in Pasadena to recuperate. Instead, he died there on September 5, 1955, at the age of 84.[7]
Legacy
[edit]Marsh retired in 1945, but his partners kept his name as part of the firm's until 1955, when they reorganized it as Smith, Powell & Morgridge, reflecting the addition of Howard H. Morgridge.[8] Smith died in 1964, and in 1965 the firm was reorganized as Powell, Morgridge, Richards & Coghlan.[9] In 1977 Powell retired and the firm was renamed Morgridge, Bader, Richards & Coghlan.[10] In 1979 the firm was renamed a final time to Howard H. Morgridge FAIA & Associates and moved its offices out of the city to Tustin. After retiring from full-time practice Morgridge maintained the firm in a small way from his home in Balboa. It was dissolved in 1997.[11]
A number of his works are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[12]
Architectural works
[edit]- a hotel in Hollywood in 1907[1]
- a public library in Azusa in 1909[1]
- the primary building of the first exclusive campus of Mesa Union High School (1909)[13] in Mesa, Arizona, destroyed by accidental fire in 1967[14][15]
- Park Place Methodist Episcopal Church South (1910), 508 Olive Street, San Diego, California[1]
- three original buildings of Phoenix Union High School (1911–12), 512 E. Van Buren Phoenix, Arizona, NRHP-listed[12][16]
- Monroe School (1914), 215 N. 7th St. Phoenix, Arizona, NRHP-listed[12]
- Fourth Avenue Junior High School (1920), 450 S. 4th Ave. Yuma, Arizona (with V. Wallingford), NRHP-listed[12]
- Friendship Baptist Church (1925), 80 W. Dayton St. Pasadena, California, NRHP-listed[12]
- Second Baptist Church (1926), 1100 E. 24th St. Los Angeles, California, (with Paul R. Williams), NRHP-listed[12]
- Parkhurst Building (1927), Santa Monica, California, (principally by Herbert Powell), NRHP-listed[17]
- First Presbyterian Church (1927), 402 W. Monroe St. Phoenix, AZ, NRHP-listed[12]
- Roosevelt School, 201 6th St. Yuma, Arizona, NRHP-listed[12]
- Whittier High School[1]
- Nazarene College, Pasadena, CA
- Ventura High School[1]
- the Women's Improvement Association building in South Pasadena[1]
- buildings for the campus of University of Redlands[1]
- Hollywood High School Historic District, 1521 N. Highland Ave., Los Angeles, CA (Marsh, Smith, & Powell)
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Ray Brandes; Francie Bryson-Mortenson (March 8, 1983). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Park Place Methodist Episcopal Church South / Balboa Park Place". National Park Service. Retrieved April 5, 2018. With 11 photos from 1911 and 1981-82.
- ^ "Norman Foote Marsh 1871-1955". misterdangerous. 2020-08-11. Retrieved 2022-02-27.
- ^ a b c "Norman Foote Marsh" in A History of California, vol. 3 (Los Angeles: Historical Record Company, 1915): 637-638.
- ^ "Personal notes and business factors" in Southwest Contractor 16, no. 1 (November 6, 1915): 8.
- ^ "Personal notes" in Southwest Builder and Contractor 50, no. 14 (October 5, 1917): 9.
- ^ "Architect broadens scope" in Architect and Engineer 88, no. 3 (March, 1927): 120.
- ^ "Norman Foote Marsh, 84, retired architect, dies," Los Angeles Times, September 6, 1955, III-12.
- ^ "Architectural and engineering firm changes name," Los Angeles Times, January 16, 1955, V-10.
- ^ "Area architects change name of partnership," Independent Star-News, February 14, 1965, 11.
- ^ "Firm changes name," Los Angeles Times, September 18, 1977, VIII-5.
- ^ California corporate filings, accessed September 27, 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
- ^ "Mesa Union High School". The Arizona Republican. 1913-10-14. p. 3. Retrieved 2021-01-20.
Norman F. Marsh, Architect
- ^ "Historic schools in metro Phoenix". azcentral.com. 2015-07-01. Retrieved 2021-01-20.
- ^ "'Old Main' Mesa Union High School" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-08-14. Retrieved 2014-08-14.
- ^ Cindy L. Myers; James W. Garrison (April 1982). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Phoenix Union High School Historic District / Phoenix Union High School". National Park Service. Retrieved April 5, 2018. With 21 photos, historic and from 1982.
- ^ Albert Hurtado. "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Parkhurst Building". National Park Service. Retrieved June 9, 2019. With accompanying 12 photos from 1978