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The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand
Volume 16, 2006 - Issue 2
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Original Articles

The Making of an Architect

Anscombe in America, 1902–06

Pages 60-82 | Published online: 01 Aug 2012

NOTES

  • Ship lists . Christian McAusland, Port Otago, IM 15/144, Archives New Zealand, Wellington.
  • Edmund Anscombe . 1928 . The Inside Story of the New Zealand and South Seas International Exhibition Dunedin 1925–1926 7 London : E. Anscombe .
  • Olssen , Erik . 1995 . Building the New World: Work, politics and society in Caverhsam 1880s-1920s 98 Auckland : Auckland University Press .
  • 1902 . Both Edmund and Douglas are listed in the New Zealand Electoral Roll for Clutha up until 1903 as living in Waiwera South. This conflicts with Olssen's assertion that they lived with Anscomb.'s parents before going overseas. [this Olssen reference logically carries forwards from the previous note] Edmund and Douglas left New Zealand separately, Edmund in 1901, Douglas in
  • Sinclair , Keith . 1992 . A History of New Zealand Dunedin : Otago Early Settlers Museum . (Auckland: Penguin, 1988), 200, 210, 212; G. E. Thompson, Official record of the New Zealand and South Seas International Exhibition, Dunedin, 1925–1926 (Dunedin: Coulls Somerville Wilkie for Otago Master Printers Association, [1927]), 7–8; Sean Brosnahan and Tania Connelly, Dunedin, New Zealand's First Great City: The roots of some enduring business successes, 2.
  • List of Manifest of Alien Passengers for the U.S. Immigration Officer at Port of Arrival . 1902 . New Zealand Herald M1389—Indexes to Non-Chinese Passenger Lists of Vessels arriving in San Francisco, California 1893–1934, National Archives and Records Administration, San Bruno, California. “Shipping,” (Auckland), January 13, 4.
  • 1976 . History of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition New York : Arno Press . Mark Bennitt (ed.), 115; ‘The Board of Architects commissioned to layout the building and landscape scheme was announced on July 5, 190.’ (113); The first of the large exhibit building contracts began to be let at St. Louis on the 1st February 1902 (115).
  • Information for this paragraph was obtained from the List of Manifest of Alien Passengers . 2006 . US$100 in 1902 is equivalent to NZ$ 3401.54 in
  • 1906 . Crocker-Langley San Francisco Directory for year commencing May 1903 (San Francisco: H.S. Crocker, 1903), 196. Anscombe does not appear in the residential directories in 1901, 1902, 1904, 1905, or 1907. The residential directory for 1906 was not available at either the San Francisco Public Library or the Californian Historical Society, and may not have been published because of the earthquake in San Francisco.
  • 'As the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition approached, civic leaders formed the Civic . 2003 . Improvement League of St. Louis, a volunteer group charged with recommending grand improvements to the city. Following the principles of the popular City Beautiful movement—which promoted civic design as a tool for social improvement—the league developed its landmark City Plan for St. Louis in 1907.'—“The Beautiful City”, exhibition panel, “Reflections: 1904–2003,” Missouri History Museum, St. Louis, September
  • “75 Years Ago—Sunday Apr. 12, 1903” . 1997 . Globe Democratic St. Louis : Missouri Historical Society Press . (St. Louis), April 12, 1978, Information File Card Catalogue, Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis; see also Timothy J. Fox, and Duane R. Sneddeker, From the Palaces to the Pike: Visions of the 1904 World's Fair, 22–23.
  • “Employment Figures 1904” . 1904 . Lousiana Purchase Exposition Company Collection, VI/F12, Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis. “50 Years Ago [April 21, St. Louis Events]”, 21 April 1954, Charles van Ravensensaay Chronological File, Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis.
  • Unreferenced newspaper clipping (May 6, 1904) . Information File Card Catalogue, Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis.
  • 1904 . Louis Directory for 1904 v. 33 (for the year ending April 1st, 1905) Being a Complete Index of the Residents of the Entire City, and a Classified Business Directory St. Louis : Gould Directory Co. . Gould's St., 117.
  • Fox and Sneddeker . 2006 . From the Palaces to the Pike 22 – 23 . ; Wages of between US$1.50 and US$5.00 per eight-hour day in 1902 would have been equivalent to an annual wage in of between NZ$15,036–50,126 per year (assuming a 5-day week) or between NZ$18,043- 60,151 per year (assuming a 6-day week).
  • Charles arrived in San Francisco . 1904 . from Auckland, on December 21, 1903 on the SS Sierra, and Herbert arrived in San Francisco, from Auckland on the SS Ventura on February 1,. They both indicated in the immigration information that their final destination was to be St. Louis.—List of Manifest of Alien Passengers.
  • In a signing the discharge of a mortgage dated March 5, 1904 . Anscombe gives his address as 4568 Bell Avenue, St. Louis, Missouri. His signature is witnessed by George Todd Russell and Herbert Anscombe who give the same address and state their occupations as plumbers, Mortgage No. 23031, DAAB/D116/58/23001–234000, Archives New Zealand, Dunedin.
  • History of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, 120.
  • [Untitled] . 1929 . Dominion (Wellington), April 20, 10.
  • 1924 . Evening Star History of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, 113; George E. Kessler's appointment to the Advisory Board to the Lousiana Purchase Exposition Board of Architects (History of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, 113), is also of note as Anscombe drew on Kessle.'s work in Kansas City in his Dunedin North End Schemes.—E. Anscombe, “Dunedin North End Schemes,” (Dunedin) June 28, 9.
  • 1945 . Dominion For instance: ‘In the matter of town planning, I would like to quote the words of Daniel H. Burnham (America's foremost city planner), spoken when others were attempting to curb him in his endeavours back in 1893: “Make no little plans.”.’—“N.Z. Centennial: Betterment Scheme for Wellington City: An Architec.'s Proposals”, August 27, 1936, 8; ‘It was, however, when living in Chicago that I came in direct contact with Daniel H. Burnham's more important works. The words on the panel were spoken by Burnham in 1907, and since I first read them they have never ceased to be an inspiration.’—“Unusual Panel For Exhibition: Inspiration to Architect: American Planne.'s Ideal,” Dominion, December 2, 1939, 13; ‘By some the proposal might be considered as rather ambitious, but I would quote the words of Daniel H. Burnham, America's foremost city planner: “Make no little plans.”.’—“As it might be: Oriental Bay: Architec.'s Conception”, Evening Post (Wellington), February 10, 8.
  • The architects involved included Cass Gilbert (the Fine Art Halls, the Festival Hall) . 1906–1910 . History of the Lousiana Purchase Exposition Barnett, Haynes and Barnett (the Liberal Arts Building), Theodore C. Link (the Mines and Metallurgy Building), Eames and Young (the Education Building), Carrere and Hastings (the Manufacturers' Building), Van Brunt and Howe (the Varied Industries Building), Walker and Kimball (the Electricity Building), Emmanuel L. Masqueray (the Transportation Building, the Agriculture Building, the Horticulture Building, the Fish, Game and Forestry Building), and Widman, Walsh and Boisselier (the Machinery Building). George E. Kessler was the Chief Landscape Architect.—116, 114. Burnham had designed buildings in San Francisco (e.g. 690 Market St (1889), 220 Montgomery (1891)), and it is likely Anscombe saw these while working in San Francisco. The Merchant's Exchange Building (1903) may also have been built while Anscombe was still in San Francisco. Following the San Francisco fire in 1906, Burnham opened an office in San Francisco run by Willis Polk from
  • 1904 . The Cosmopolitan John Brisben Walker, “XII. Electricity up to,” XXXVII, no. 5 (September 1904): 555.
  • McGuire , Scott . 2005 . Space and Culture “Immaterial Architectures: Urban Space and Electric Light,” 8, no. 2 (May): 129.
  • Kurtz . 1904 . The Saint Louis World's Fair of 1904 St. Louis : Official Photographic Company, Lousiana Purchase Exposition Co. . 105; Universal Exposition, Beautifully Illustrated—Official Publication, [52–53].
  • 1989 . A Guide to the Architecture of St. Louis Columba : St. Louis Chapter, American Institute of Architects; University of Missouri Press . George McCue & Frank Peters, xxviii.
  • 1972 . Architecture 1820–1970 Wellington : A. H. & A. W. Reed . John Stacpoole and Peter Beaven, 74.
  • Kurtz . The Saint Louis World's Fair of 1904 43
  • [Untitled] . 1929 . Dominion April 20, 10.
  • Anscombe quoted in “Unusual Panel For Exhibition,” 13 .
  • McEwan , Ann . 1940 . Fabrications “Learning by Example: Architectural Education in New Zealand Before,” 9 (May 1999): 5; see also Ann McEwan, “An ‘American Dream‘in the.’ England of the Pacifi.': American Influences on New Zealand Architecture, 1840–1940,” PhD thesis, University of Canterbury, 2001, 199.
  • Gary Black letter to Ann McEwan, May 7, 1994 .
  • 1929 . Evening Star “An American Tour,” 11; “Dunedinite Abroad: Return from a World Tour: Mr. Edmund Anscombe's Impressions,” January 10, 6.
  • Entwisle , Peter . 1992 . “Gallery ‘a work of ar.’ itself,” . In Otago Daily Times (Dunedin), October 21, 8; Rosemary Entwisle, “Anscombe, Edmund (1874–1948),” in Jane Thomson (ed.), Southern People: A Dictionary of Otago Southland Biography (Dunedin: Longacre Press in association with the Dunedin City Council, 1998), 11.
  • Mortgage No: 27606, Archives New Zealand, Dunedin .
  • School Admission Records for Mosgiel School note that, prior to Mosgiel School . 1998 . Ruby attended school in Brooklyn, New York. “Mosgiel School Otago New Zealand—An Alphabetical Listing of Admission, Progress, Withdrawal Registers, 1874–1920,” compiled by the Dunedin Branch New Zealand Society of Genealogists (Inc), 3, Hocken Library, Dunedin.
  • Applications for registration 1914, NZIA/W2429/1/1, Archives New Zealand, Wellington .
  • Edmund Anscombe, “A World Trip: Through America . 1929 . Evening Star ” March 16, 6.
  • “Shipping Telegrams . 1906 . Otago Daily Times ” December 20, 6; “Shipping Arrivals,” Otago Daily Times, December 24, 1906, 4; “Shipping: Clearance—Dec. 15”, Sydney Morning Herald, December 17, 1906, 8. In Anscombe's 1928 serial account of another trip (”A World Trip”) reference is made to being in Naples (Anscombe, “A World Trip: Impressions of Italy,” Evening Star, January 23, 1929, 6.) and London (Anscombe, “A World Trip: London after Twenty-One Years,” Evening Star, February 4, 1929, 15) about 1907. As mentioned previously, this serial account mistakenly incorporates 1907 into his five-year trip in his discussion of skyscrapers in America. Thus it is likely that the implicit 1907 references to London and Naples actually occurred in 1906. These references are minimal, suggesting Anscombe did not spend long in London and Naples, and it is possible that he was referring to an experience of these places while he and his family were en route to New Zealand from New York.
  • Olssen . Building the New World 99
  • The full text of the advertisement reads: . 1907 . Otago Daily Times “Edmund Anscombe, Architect, Plans and Specifications Made, Contracts Let, and Personal Supervision of their Faithful Execution given for all Classes of Building. Work in Town or Country. American experience. Terms reasonable. Colonial Mutual Chambers. 23m 134 Princes street, Dunedin.”—“Late Advertisements”, March 23, 12.
  • At the time there were 13 ordinary members and three Associate members in the branch . “NZIA, Otago Branch: History c1935,” [6]. NZIA Otago Branch, Misc-MS-0757, Hocken Library, Dunedin.
  • [Untitled] . 1929 . Dominion April 20, 10; “An American Tour,” 6; Anscombe, The Inside Story, 7; Anscombe, “Letter to His Worship the Mayor” (February 25, 1936), “Proposed 1940 Centenary Exhibition, Wellington” [1], NZ Centennial Exhibition Company Ltd. Records, WCC 00023:21:643, City Council Archives, Wellington; “Dunedin Notes,” Progress 5, no. 6 (April 1, 1910): 208.; “New YMCA Building, Dunedin,” Progress 6, no. 10 (August 1, 1911): 773; John Stone (ed.), Stone's Otago & Southland Directory 1910 (Dunedin and Wellington: Stone, Son & Co. Ltd, 190), opp. 870; Stone's Directory 1911, opp. 906; Stone's Directory 1912, opp. 918; “Unusual Panel For Exhibition,” 13.
  • Anscombe, “Dunedin Notes,” 208.
  • Stone's Directory 1911 Stone's Directory 1910, opp. 870; opp. 906; Stone's Directory 1912, opp. 918. In Stone's Directory 1913, Anscombe had formed a partnership with Leslie Coombs, their advertisement (opp. 706) does not mention Anscombe's time in American nor his earlier success in competitions. Coombs's qualification, ARIBA, is stated, though Anscomb.'s status as a FNZIA does not appear.
  • Progress “New YMCA Building, Dunedin,” 773, emph. added; Cf. a similar reference to Girls' High School, Dunedin: ‘The lavatories are arranged on the American principle, a system entirely new here.’—“Girl.' High School, Dunedin,” 6, no. 10 (August 1, 1911): 774.
  • 1997 . “Anscombe, Edmund A17,” . In The Dictionary of New Zealand Biography 1921–40 Auckland : Godwit Publishing Limited . G. D. Bowron, Vol. 4 (Auckland: Auckland University Press with Bridget Williams Books; Wellington: Department of Internal Affairs, 1998), 16; Entwisle, “Gallery ‘a work of ar.’ itself,” 8; Entwisle, “Anscombe, Edmund,” 11; Julia Gatley, “An Expression of Pride,” New Zealand Historic Places 43 (September 1993): 19; David McGill, Landmarks: Notable Historic Buildings of New Zealand, 249; Olssen, Building the New World, 98; “Product of an exhibition addict's vision,” Sheppard Collection, Architecture Library, University of Auckland.
  • “Dunedin Architect Honoured in his own country . 1928 . Evening Star ” February 8,. At the same time, A. J. Wilkinson noted at a Dunedin farewell function for Anscombe in 1928 that ‘the first trip abroad undertaken by Mr. Anscombe [was] in pursuit of experience in his profession. He had returned from that tour to the United States an able architect, and he had left his mark in the city.’—“A farewell function,” Otago Witness (Dunedin), February 14, 1928, 37.
  • Anscombe . 1931 . “Letter to His Worship the Mayor,” [1]—note his “having had many years' experience in America”; “Napier's Greatest Issue: An Efficient City Plan,” . In Hawke's Bay Tribune (Hastings, NZ), March 5, 5.
  • It seems logical to assume that Anscombe's experience at the Louisiana Purchase . The Inside Story Exposition would have formed a significant part in his bid to be exhibition architect of the 1925 New Zealand and South Seas International Exhibition. Anscombe was one of the first to suggest that Dunedin host an exhibition, he was appointed to the exhibition Sites Subcommittee (”Proposed Exhibition: Meeting of Provisional Committee: Sub-Committees Appointed,” Otago Daily Times, April 17, 1923, 10), he was in frequent correspondence with the exhibition Committee Executive, he presented a proposed layout-plan and a perspective, asking the Committee to accept these gratis, he ‘gave a lengthy address on Exhibitions generall.’ in person to the Directors of the Exhibition on October 24, 1923, and was on January 8, 1924 unanimously voted to be Exhibition Architect by the exhibition Works Committee, endorsed by the Directors on January 10, 1924—Minutes of Directors‘Meetings, April 1923-May 1924, vol. I, 24, 149, 219; New Zealand and South Seas International Exhibition, 1925–26, MS-0492–001-001/001, Hocken Library, Dunedin. While archival documentation does not provide detail to confirm that Anscombe discussed his experience at the St. Louis Worl.'s Fair during this period, it is likely that some mention of this aspect of his 1901–06 trip was made. The Inside Story was a 1928 self-published exposé of Anscombe's version of the political goings-on of the 1925 New Zealand and South Seas International Exhibition (in which Anscomb.'s agenda is to place himself as an expert in exhibition design, and to demonstrate that he was not given full credit for his contribution to the success of the 1925 Dunedin exhibition). The Inside Story was published in London by Anscombe. The coincidence of ‘practical trainin.’ in this context, echoing previous references to the ‘practical side of the professio.’ (“A farewell function,” 37) recalls Anscombe's reference to.' being actively engaged in the building of the Lousiana Purchase Exposition.'—7.
  • “Obituary: Mr. Edmund Anscombe . Evening Post ” October 9, 1948, 8.
  • The series of articles were published under the title “A World Trip” . 1929 . Evening Star in the throughout January, February and March
  • Anscombe . “A World Trip: Through America,” 6.
  • Anscombe . The Inside Story letter to Mr. McEwan (April 29, 1929), in copy of Dunedin Public Library, McNab NZ 606ANS.
  • [Untitled] . 10
  • 'During that period I was actively engaged on works of magnitude, including the Louisiana . 1904 . Purchase Exposition, St. Louis in.'—Anscombe, “Letter to His Worship the Mayor,” [1].
  • [Untitled] . 10
  • The Burnham quote was the well-known: . 'Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men's blood and probably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will never die, but long after we are gone will be a living thing, asserting itself with ever-growing insistency. Remember that our sons and grandsons are going to do things that would stagger us. let your watchword be order and your beacon beauty.'—Anscombe, “Unusual Panel For Exhibition,” 13.
  • “Obituary . 1948 . Evening Post ” 8; “Obituary: Mr. E. Anscombe,” Dominion, October 11, 5; “Obituary: Mr. Edmund Anscombe,” Otago Daily Times, October 11, 1948, 4; “Obituary”, Evening Star, October 11, 1948, 6; “Obituary,” Home and Building (December 1948-Janunary 1949), 13.
  • Anscombe's father . Dominion and brother were carpenters, another brother was a plumber.—“Obituary,” 5.
  • “Obituary . Evening Post ” 8.
  • “Obituary . Evening Star ” 6.
  • “Obituary . Home and Building ” 13. “Obituary”, Evening Post, 8.
  • “Obituary . Otago Daily Times ” 4; “Obituary,” Evening Post, 8; “Obituary,” Dominion, 5; “Obituary,” Home and Building, 13.
  • “Otago University: . 1937 . Otago Daily Times New School of Mines Building: The Approved Designs,” January 18, 1908, 6; “Otago University: New School of Mines Building,” Otago Daily Times, December 12, 1907, 2; Herbert Chapman, Registrar, University of Otago, letter to Edmund Anscombe, April 1
  • 1996 . “A Brilliant Spectacle: The Centennial Exhibition Buildings,” . In Zeal and Crusade: The Modern Movement in Wellington Christchurch : Te Waihora Press . G. D. Bowron, in John Wilson (ed.), 44; Bowron, “Anscombe, Edmund A17,” 16; Gatley, “An Expression of Pride,” 19; Hardwicke Knight and Niel Wales, Buildings of Dunedin: An Illustrated Architectural Guide to New Zealand's Victorian City (Dunedin: John McIndoe Ltd, 1988), 72; Christine McCarthy and Michael Findlay, “‘Make no little plans’: The Architecture of Edmund Anscombe,” exhibition catalogue (Dunedin: Hocken Library, University of Otago, 2000), unpaginated; McEwan, “An ‘American Dream’,” 199, 249; McGill, Landmarks, 249. Peter Entwisle dates Anscombe's return as 1906, Entwisle, “Gallery.' a work of art'itself,” 8; while Rosemary Entwisle mentions a return date of 1907 placed provisionally as.'1906 or 1907'.—Entwisle, “Anscombe, Edmund (1874–1948),” 11. Shaw and Hallett state Anscombe arrived in New Zealand in 1901 and returned from America in 1907 in what appears to be a typographical error.—Peter Shaw and Peter Hallett, Spanish Mission Hastings: Styles of Five Decades (1987. Napier, NZ: Cosmos Publications, 1990), 26. Kernohan only refers to Anscombe's return to New Zealand in 1907.—David Kernohan, “Introduction,” in Wilson (ed.), Zeal and Crusade, 12; Kernohan, Wellington's Old buildings: A photographic guide to old buildings in central Wellington (Wellington: Victoria University Press, 1994), 25. In an unsourced article in the Sheppard Collection (Architecture Library, University of Auckland), Anscombe is described as an “American- trained architect”, without reference to this period in time.—“Product of an exhibition addict's vision”. Shananhan refigures this, describing Anscombe as.' an American architect'.—Mary Shananhan, “Not Strictly Formal”, Home and Building (April-May 1992): 110.
  • Bowron . “Anscombe, Edmund,” . 16
  • McGill . Landmarks 142 – 143 . ; “Obituary,” Home and Building, 13; “Product of an exhibition addict's vision”.
  • Bowron . 1904 . “Anscombe, Edmund,” . 16; c.f. Anscombe was ‘engaged in building the Louisiana Purchase Exhibition in St. Louis’.—Bowron, “A Brilliant Spectacle,” 44.
  • Entwisle . 1904 . “Anscombe, Edmund,” . 11; The Lousiana Purchase Exposition opened on 30 April 1904 and closed 1 December
  • McEwan . “An ‘American Dream’,” 199; McEwan, “Learning by Example,” 5; Entwisle, “Gallery ‘a work of ar.’ itself,” 8; Entwisle, “Anscombe, Edmund,” . 11
  • McEwan . “An ‘American Dream’,” 199; see also McEwan “Learning by Example,” . 5 – 6 .
  • McEwan . 1995 . “Learning by Example,” 2–3, 5; cf. Michael Findlay, “Barbarians At The Gate: Expatriate New Zealand Architects and the Problem of Ultra-Modernism,” . In Regional Response: Papers and Proceedings SAHANZ Annual Conference, Christchurch, New Zealand, 6–8 July 1991 Christchurch : SAHANZ . in Ian Lochhead (ed.), 135.
  • McEwan . “Learning by Example,” . 4
  • McEwan . “An ‘American Dream’,” . 199 200, 204.
  • 1909 . Architectural Review Charles Francis Osborne, “Architectural Education,” 26 (July): 37.
  • 1909 . Journal of the Royal Institute of British Architects A. D. F. Hamlin, “Architectural Education in America,” (December 18,): 145.
  • Annual Report . 1907, 33, “Minute Books 1900–48,” NZIA, Otago Branch 1900–89, Box 1, 88074, Hocken Library, Dunedin.
  • 2004 . “. we have no style.”: New Zealand Architecture 1900–18: A one day symposium Wellington : Centre for Building Performance Research . Cf Michael Findlay, “William Henry Dunning: The Quiet Man,” in Christine McCarthy (ed.), 14–19 for a contemporary account of builder-architects.
  • “Otago: . Institute of Architects: Minute Book [4th Sept 1900—26/5/15],” NZIA Otago Branch, Box 1, Hocken Library, Dunedin.
  • Annual Report 1908 [37] . “Minute Books 1900–1915,” NZIA, Otago Branch 1900–89, Box 1, 88–074, Hocken Library, Dunedin.
  • Applications for registration, 1914, NZIA/W2429/1/1, Archives New Zealand, Wellington .
  • 'On the recommendation of the Otago District Branch Mr. Edmund Anscombe . 1915 . NZIA Journal of Proceedings an Associate, of Dunedin, was promoted to the rank of Fellow of the Institute.'—7th Annual Meeting, Town Hall Dunedin (November 27, 1912), “New Zealand Institute of Architects, Minute Book ‘2’,” 112, J. C. Beaglehole Room, Special Collections, Victoria University of Wellington Library, Wellington; see also (July), III, no. 6, 8; December 17, 1907, “New Zealand Institute of Architects Council Meetings, Minute Book, Minutes 1906–1910,” 72, J. C. Beaglehole Room.
  • Applications for registration . 1914, NZIA/W2429/1/1, Archives New Zealand, Wellington

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