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Arthur Ingersoll Meigs

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Arthur Ingersoll Meigs
BornJune 29, 1882
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US
DiedJune 09, 1956
Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, US
Resting placeSt. David's Episcopal Church, Wayne, Pennsylvania
NationalityAmerican
EducationWilliam Penn Charter School
Princeton University
OccupationArchitect
SpouseHarriet Gertrude Reed "Haddie" (Geyelin) Meigs
Parent(s)Dr. Arthur Vincent Meigs
Mary Roberts (Browning) Meigs

Arthur Ingersoll Meigs (1882–1956) was an American architect.[1]

He and his colleagues at Mellor, Meigs, and Howe were involved in the design and construction oversight of bank buildings, the students' hall at Bryn Mawr College, multiple personal residences of prominent individuals, and the United States Coast Guard's World War Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery, as well as a chapel at the Somme American Cemetery near Bony, France and a monument to the United States Army's Twenty-Seventh and Thirtieth Divisions between Ypres and Mount Kemmel, the latter two of which were commissioned by the American Battle Monuments Commission. The accomplishments of his firm were recognized with the Gold Medal of the Architectural League of New York and the Medal of the American Institute of Architects' Philadelphia chapter.[2][3]

Early life

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Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on June 29, 1882,[4][5] Arthur I. Meigs was a son of Dr. Arthur Vincent Meigs and Mary Roberts (Browning) Meigs.[4] He graduated from the William Penn Charter School in 1899 and from Princeton University in 1903.[4][5]

Career

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From the summer of 1903 to September 1905, he worked for Theophilus P. Chandler Jr. (1845-1928).[4] From October 1905 to June 1906, he worked for Edgar Viguers Seeler (1867-1929).[4]

Meigs started an architectural practise with Walter Mellor in 1906.[4] Later in 1916, George Howe (1886–1955) joined their practise as Mellor, Meigs & Howe, up until 1928.[4] Together, they designed Phi Gamma Delta fraternity house at the University of Washington located at 5404 17th Avenue NE University District in Seattle, Washington.[5][6] In 1913 he designed the Princeton Charter Club, one of the Eating clubs at Princeton University.[7]

Meigs' architectural work was briefly placed on hold during World War I while he served as a captain with an artillery unit in the United States Army.[8][9]

By the early 1930s, Meigs had become prominent enough nationally that he began writing articles for publications in city newspapers. In November 1930, his article, "Simplicity Is Secret Of Beautiful Home: R. T. McCracken, Germantown, Pa., Has Achieved Striking Results on Limited Ground" which was published in The Buffalo News, presented a number of insights, including the following:[10]

"'Garth' means a piece of ground, usually small, set aside or enclosed by a wall or other barrier. It is a descriptive name, and modest, for a modest place, the house of Robert T. McCracken, Germantown, Pa.
The property is divided into three spaces—the front, which is occupied by an orchard, the garden, and the service, located on the northeast side and so small that one has to look for it. Simple materials have been used throughout—a yellowish field stone, most of which was obtained from the cellar excavation, for the walls; brick chimney and shingle roof, and the interior walls of the three principal rooms downstairs are treated with a cement plaster treated by the masons, with a troweled finish and of a putty color.
The grape room, located to the southwest of the dining room, is paved with brick, as is the path on the front of the house, while the garden paths are of flagstone.
House Has Accent.
The entrance drive, which is but 40 feet long and serves only as a place to run a car in and back out again, is paved with pink Belgian blocks, which lend color, texture and tidiness to the whole operation of entering....
If the McCracken house has an accent, it is the fusion of house and garden. Neither the one nor the other would stand by itself....
It is an age of specialization, and specialists, but disadvantages, as well as advantages accrue from everything we attempt. If we specialize we pay a price, and specialization in art is dangerous.
The results of the centralized control in Mr. McCracken's house may be good or bad, in accordance with what anybody chooses to think; but one thing is certain, and that is that everything that was done in and about it carried with it the interest of both the architect and the owner."

In 1932, Meigs designed the new Friendfield House on the Friendfield Plantation near Georgetown, South Carolina.[11] He designed an expansion to the Federal-style Brooklawn mansion in Chester County, Pennsylvania, in 1931.[12]

In 1940, Meigs attended the seventy-second national convention of the American Association of Architects in Louisville, Kentucky.[13]

After Mellor's death in 1940, Meigs worked with Edward F. Hoffman Jr. (1888-1971) and semi-retired.

Meigs was a member of the Philadelphia chapter of the American Institute of Architects, the Athenaeum of Philadelphia and the Radnor Hunt Club.[4]

Horse racing

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During the 1930s and 1940s, Meigs purchased and entered horses in steeplechase and hunt races, as well as horse shows.[14] In September 1930, he road his horse, Madrigal, in jumping events at the Bryn Mawr Horse Show.[15] In 1934, Meigs' four-year-old brown gelding, Ortheris, won the Twelfth Annual Up-Country Hunter and Pony Show.[16]

In April 1936, his horse, El Rey Keno, won the first steeplechase race ever held on the grounds of Land Hope, his estate near Unionville, Pennsylvania.[17] Several thousand spectators attended the private race in which fourteen horses vied for victory.[18]

In 1939, Meigs' horse, Red Ned, won by eight lengths at Broad Axe, bringing home the Harston Cup during the Whitemarsh Valley Hunt; however, tragedy struck when another of his horses, Michaelangelo, fell and broke its back during a jump in the Skippack Plate contest that same day.[19]

In October 1941, he entered his horse, Militiades, in the Huntingdon Valley Hunt races.[20] The next month, his "black fencer," Coq Noir, won the Pickering Challenge Cup at Valley Forge.[21]

Personal life and death

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In March 1926, tragedy struck the Meigs family when Arthur Meigs' brother, John Forsythe Meigs II, died from pneumonia at the age of 45.[22]

Meigs married Harriet Gertrude Reed "Haddie" (Geyelin) Meigs (1893-1971) on September 13, 1935. They honeymooned in Bermuda.[23] During the 1930s and 1940s, he and his wife lived in Radnor, Pennsylvania on an estate known as "The Peak" and at "Land Hope," their estate in Unionville.[24] In the summer of 1941, they leased Whetstone, a home in Newport, Rhode Island that was owned by Dr. and Mrs. Owen J. Toland.[25]

During the winter of 1941, Meigs inherited roughly $200,000, following the death of his mother.[26]

Meigs suffered a cerebral hemorrhage at his estate, The Peak, in Radnor, Pennsylvania, and was transported to the Bryn Mawr Hospital, where he died on June 9, 1956.[27][28][4][5] He and his wife are buried in the cemetery of St. David's Episcopal Church in Wayne, Pennsylvania.

  • Princeton Charter Club (1913), Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey
    Princeton Charter Club (1913), Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey
  • Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity House (1916), University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
    Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity House (1916), University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia

References

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  1. ^ Hine, Thomas. "Permanency Fades from Architectural Scene." Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: The Philadelphia Inquirer, June 27, 1974, pp. 1A, 3B (subscription required).
  2. ^ Annual Report of the American Battle Monuments Commission to the President of the United States: Fiscal Year 1926, pp. 13, 14, 20, 38. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1927.
  3. ^ "Arthur I. Meigs '03" (obituary), in Princeton Alumni Weekly, July 6, 1956, p. 45. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University, retrieved online November 27. 2022.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Arthur Ingersoll Meigs data from the Philadelphia Architects and Buildings (PAB) project of the Athenaeum of Philadelphia
  5. ^ a b c d Pacific Coast Architectural Database
  6. ^ Pacific Coast Architectural Database: University of Washington, Seattle, Phi Gamma Delta House
  7. ^ "Charter Club". Princeton University.
  8. ^ "3 Officers Arrive as Freighter Docks: Captain Arthur I. Meigs, of This City, Among Army Men Brought Here." Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: The Philadelphia Inquirer, March 19, 1919, p. 24 (subscription required).
  9. ^ "Philadelphians Who Obtained Commissions." Chattanooga, Tennessee: The Sunday Times, December 2, 1917, p. 8 (subscription required).
  10. ^ "Simplicity Is Secret Of Beautiful Home: R. T. McCracken, Germantown, Pa., Has Achieved Striking Results on Limited Ground." Buffalo, New York: The Buffalo News, November 6, 1930, p. 34 (subscription required).
  11. ^ Frances Cheston Train, A Carolina Plantation Remembered, The Social Register Association, Summer 2013
  12. ^ Splain, Shelby Weaver (2022-07-20). "Just Listed! January - June 2022". Pennsylvania Historic Preservation. Retrieved 2023-06-16.
  13. ^ "National Building Material Symposium Planned Here During Architects' Meeting" (article with photo). Louisville, Kentucky: The Courier-Journal, May 12, 1940, p. 50 (subscription required).
  14. ^ "Commemorating a Famous Hunt" (article with photo). Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: The Philadelphia Inquirer, March 3, 1940, p. 65 (subscription required).
  15. ^ "Over the Jumps at Bryn Mawr" (photo with caption). Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: The Philadelphia Inquirer, September 26, 1930, p. 17 (subscription required).
  16. ^ "Hunters and Ponies Win Ribbons at Show." Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: The Philadelphia Inquirer, September 20, 1934, p. 2 (subscription required).
  17. ^ "El Rey Keno Victor in Landhope 'Chase." Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: The Philadelphia Inquirer, April 22, 1936, p. 18 (subscription required).
  18. ^ "Classy Entries Vie in Timber Race: 14 Horses Entered in Sole Event of Private Meet on Meigs Estate." Philadelphia: Pennsylvania: The Philadelphia Inquirer, April 21 1936, p. 16 (subscription required).
  19. ^ Zane, John H. "Whitemarsh Hunt Feature Is Captured by Red Ned: 3000 See Meigs' Horse Score by Eight Lengths at Broad Axe as Several Spills Furnish Thrills; Horse Seriously Hurt." Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 7, 1939, p. 18 (subscription required).
  20. ^ "Huntingdon Valley Hunt Races at Justa Farm Today." Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: The Philadelphia Inquirer, October 4, 1941, p. 23 (subscription required).
  21. ^ "Coq Noir Victor In Hunt Feature." Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: The Philadelphia Inquirer, November 2, 1941, p. 46 (subscription required).
  22. ^ "John F. Meigs, 2d" (obituary). Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: The Philadelphia Inquirer, March 19, 1926, p. 29 (subscription required).
  23. ^ "Some Chat About Those Who Will Soon Marry." Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: The Philadelphia Inquirer, September 29, 1935, p. 62 (subscription required).
  24. ^ "Tuesday, April 21," in "This Week's Calendar." Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: The Philadelphia Inquirer, April 19, 1936, p. 3 (subscription required).
  25. ^ "House Guest at Winter Harbor" and "Newport: Gay Fetes Highlight Program." Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: The Philadelphia Inquirer, July 6, 1941, p. 33 (subscription required).
  26. ^ "Accounting O.K.'d In $400,000 Estate." Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: The Philadelphia Inquirer, January 23, 1941, p. 30 (subscription required).
  27. ^ "A.I. Meigs, Architect, Dies." Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: The Philadelphia Inquirer, June 11, 1956, p. 10 (subscription required).
  28. ^ "Arthur I. Meigs '03" (obituary), Princeton Alumni Weekly.
[edit]
  • "The Peak" (photo of Arthur I. Meigs' estate in Radnor, Pennsylvania), Radnor Historical Society, retrieved online November 27, 2022.
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