Title | 001_Leslie Simmons Hodgson |
Creator | Fullmer, Teddy |
Description | Leslie Hodgson and Eber Piers were important architects in Ogden during the early part of the 1900s. Both architects were known for their work on public buildings along with personal residences. Hodgson is best remembered for Ogden High School, the City/County Building, and the Egyptian Theater. Piers was known for designs such as the Wattis, Dumke, and Marriner Eccles |
Subject | Architecture; Ogden (Utah); Architectural drawing--1910-1960; Architecture--Utah--Designs and plans; Architecture--Utah--History--20th century; Hodgson, Leslie S., 1879-1947; Piers, Eber F., 1889-1961 |
Digital Publisher | Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, Utah, USA |
Date Original | 1980; 1981 |
Date | 1980; 1981 |
Date Digital | 2010 |
Temporal Coverage | 1900; 1901; 1902; 1903; 1904; 1905; 1906; 1907; 1908; 1909; 1910; 1911; 1912; 1913; 1914; 1915; 1916; 1917; 1918; 1919; 1920; 1921; 1922; 1923; 1924; 1925; 1926; 1927; 1928; 1929; 1930; 1931; 1932; 1933; 1934; 1935; 1936; 1937; 1938; 1939; 1940; 1941; 1942; 1943; 1944; 1945; 1946; 1947; 1948; 1949; 1950; 1951; 1952; 1953; 1954; 1955; 1956; 1957; 1958; 1959; 1960; 1961; 1962; 1963; 1964; 1965; 1966; 1967; 1968; 1969; 1970; 1971; 1972; 1973; 1974; 1975; 1976; 1977; 1978; 1979; 1980; 1981 |
Medium | Biography |
Item Description | typed document |
Spatial Coverage | Ogden, Weber, Utah, United States, http://sws.geonames.org/5779206, 41.223, -111.97383 |
Type | Text |
Conversion Specifications | Archived TIFF images were scanned with an Epson Expression 10000XL scanner. Digital images were reformatted in Photoshop. JPG and PDF files were then created for general use. |
Language | eng |
Relation | https://archivesspace.weber.edu/repositories/3/resources/123; https://archivesspace.weber.edu/repositories/3/resources/265; https://archivesspace.weber.edu/repositories/3/resources/313; https://archivesspace.weber.edu/repositories/3/resources/312; https://archivesspace.weber.edu/repositories/3/resources/327 |
Rights | Materials may be used for non-profit and educational purposes; please credit the Special Collections Department, Stewart Library, Weber State University. |
Sponsorship/Funding | Jones, Kenneth W., 1925-2011 |
Source | MS 19, MS 132, P 90, P 91, P 103 Special Collections, Stewart Library, Weber State University |
OCR Text | Show LESLIE SIMMONS HODGSON ARCHITECT OF OGDEN By Teddy Fullmer Professor Peter Goss University of Utah Phase Is The Hodgsons, Father and Son (Autumn, 1980) Phase II: Leslie S. Hodgson (Winter, 1981) THE HODGSONS: TWO GENERATIONS OF UTAH BUILDING In 1937 the 1,150,000 Ogden High School was completed at 2828 Harrison Boulevard. Magnificent Art Deco influenced by Collegiate Gothic, the building was designed by Leslie Hodgson (who also supervised its construction) and was regarded as his masterpiece, the culmination of almost four decades' work. During his forty-year architectural career Hodgson demonstrated his mastery of an astonishing diversity of styles: Wrightian Prairie-style homes and a small chapel; classical revival mansions and the archaeologically authentic Egyptian Theatre, whose decipherable hieroglyphics allegedly spell 1 out, "Old Man Hodgson is a merry old soul"; admirable commercial work such as the downtown Patterson/Kye and Eccles Office Buildings, and the superb Art Deco of the High School, the Forest Services Regional Office Building and the 31,000,000 Municipal Building. One might suspect that he had deliberately set himself to triumph in every architectural style to be found in Utah. It's appropriate that Hodgson's work covers the full spectrum of Utah architecture, because his family history is in a sense the history of building in Utah, personifying two of its three phases-architect-builder and professional architect. Hodgson's 'father Oliver emigrated from litgland to Salt Lake in 1866. Trained as a carpenter in the era of dugouts, adobe and lime concrete, he became a respected building contractor, active almost until his death in 1932-five years before his son's million-dollar High School tour-de-force was finished. "Responsible for the Administration Building for the Mormon Church in Salt Lake City and also for one of the large school buildings of that city,"2 Oliver introduced to the building profession three of his sons-Leslie, Fred and Paul-all of whom went on to successful careers as professionally trained architects. The Hodgson research will be divided into two parts, the introductory section examining the lives of Leslie and (more briefly) his father, and taking a superficial look at Leslie's work. Intensive analysis and documentation of Leslie's oeuvre will be found in the second stage of the project, THE FATHER/BUILDER Oliver Hodgson was born March 8, 1851 in Ovenden Cross, Yorkshire, England. At about years of age, he went to work in a woolen mill in Denholme where his father was an "overlooker." The parents, Mary Shaw and Henry William Sutcliffe Hodgson, also kept a small shop in their house, selling butter, brown sugar, pins, needles, thread and oatmeal to the millworkers. When Oliver was fifteen the family booked passage on the ship "Arkwright," embarking from Liverpool the first week in June, 1866 and landing in New York on the morning of July 6.^ (diver's mother had given birth in midvoyage to twins, a girl and boy, both of whom died on the wagon journey to Salt Lake.) That evening the Hodgsons and the company of "Saints" from the "Arkwright" took a boat up the East River via New Haven to Montreal, where they caught a train to St. Joseph, Missouri and traveled from there by boat to the "outfitting place" at Wyoming, Nebraska. On July 2b the company of 82 ox teams and two mule-drawn wagons started across the plains. Young Oliver walked the entire distance from the Missouri River to Salt Lake City; after his death he was often quoted by his daughter, Maud H. Fullmer, as having "loved every step. 0 "We reached Salt Lake City on the 28th day of September, l866...(and) took all our belongings in a wagon to "C" Street and 4th Avenue to a house of two rooms. Only one room had a floor in it. The house was a frame building of 2x4 studding. The outside walls were lathed and plaster one coat of plaster only. The inside was not plastered. The room we occupied was about fourteen feet each way." 3 Oliver went to work two days after arrival in a carpenter's shop on the northeast comer of the Temple Grounds, earning $1,00 a day in wages. Hi6 father got a job with Utah Woolen Mills, in a mill at the mouth of Parley's Canyon, "During the summer of 1867 my father built a house of two rooms; one room partly in the ground and the other above it...of lime concrete. The sand and gravel were dug out of the ground and the basement story was built in the excavated hole. We moved into this house before the roof was on. When it rained we used umbrellas to keep off some of the rain...The roof required 3,000 shingles to cover it. We were only able to get 1,000 shingles at a time about two weeks apart...We lived in this house for some time without doors or windows. We used rag carpets to keep out the cold by hanging them over the openings. We got the doors one at a time, also the windows in the same way. We had a small woodburning stove for cooking and heating. The steam from the cooking utensils condensed on the walls until ice formed about half an inch thick. After the doors and windows were all in we laid the rag carpets on the ceiling just to keep 6ome of the warmth in the room...During the summer of 1868 we got the upper story of the house plastered. The flooring of each story was 1x12 natural white pine square edged. This house was one of the two first houses to be built above 4th Avenue. There were a number of dugouts in the neighborhood, consisting of one room with dirt- covered slab roofs that kept them reasonably warm. Oliver remembered seeing a woman come out of a dugout wearing a fine black dress, which was so out of keeping with dugouts that it impressed him very much. In the summer and fall of 18?4 Oliver built a two-room adobe house at 958 East 3rd South, in preparation for his marriage on April 12, 1875 to Mary Ettie Simmons. Four children were bora to the couple in this house, the third and eldest to survive being Leslie Simmons Hodgson. In the spring of 1882 Oliver formed a building contracting partnership with Henry J. Hayvard and John Wardrop; they made $5,000 in the first year. In January, 1883 they were joined by James Wardrop and incorporated the Salt Lake Building and Manufacturing Company, which built a planing mill and lumber yard. The company was very successful until the 1893 business panic. That same year- 1893-Oliver received a very timely two-year mission call to Great Britain. Disappointingly, Oliver's memoirs end with laconic mention of the business panic, but no comment on the mission call. However, family records indicate that he returned from England in 1895 and fathered three more children, making a total of eight who reached maturity and four who died in infancy or childhood. Oliver resumed his career, being listed in Polk's Salt Lake City Directory of 1900 as Treasurer of the Salt Lake Building and Manufacturing Company. He also continued his avocation of skilled carpentry. "Nett," his wife of 53 years, died in 1928, and Oliver lived another four years until he was struck and killed by a streetcar on February 18, 1932 while walking home from his customary Sunday dinner with a daughter's family. During a long, busy work life Oliver established a reputation for honesty and meticulous attention to detail. He had the satisfaction of living to see three sons become well-respected professional architects, one of them responsible perhaps as much as any one person for modelling the face of twentieth- century Ogden. THE ASCHITECT/SON Leslie Simmons Hodgson was born December 18, 1879^ in the two-room adobe house built by his father on Third South. He was fourteen and the eldest of five children when his father went to England on a mission for the LDS Church, so no doubt Leslie assumed the role of head of the family. Leslie learned the building trades from his father and is listed as "machinist" in the 1899 Polk's Salt Lake City Directory. On June 21 of that year he married Louie Maud Taylor in Salt Lake. Leslie studied architecture for five years as draftsman in the office of Samuel S. Dallas and later with Richard K. A. Kletting. 190** was an important year for Leslie: he gained his architect's license, and designed and built a home at 375 "D" Street (no longer standing) for his wife and two children. A nine-month stint in 1905 as chief draftsman for the San Diego office of Hebbard and Gill could well have been the beginning of Hodgson's interest in Prairie style. Irving Gill had worked in Chicago for Adler and Sullivan, where he undoubtedly felt the influence of Frank Lloyd Wright, as well as that of Loui Sullivan, and although Gill didn't practice in the Prairie School style himself, one can logically assume he told his young draftsman about the avant-garde Chicago development. Hodgson returned to Utah in 1906, the California career aborted by his wife* ill health (an allergy to sand-fleas, according to a daughter, Phyllis H. Hol- brook). After a brief stay in Salt Lake he settled in Ogden and formed a partnership with Julius A. Smith. Another young Prairie-style devote, Eber F. Piers, worked for a time as draftsman for the firm. During their first year together Smith and Hodgson put out a book, Architecture of Ogden: J. A. Smith and Leslie S. Hodgson, Architects^ 1906-07. The book is evidence of the firm's amazing productivity, containing photos of some thirty-five commissions. The partnership dissolved in 1910, just as the Eccles Avenue Subdivision began to materialize. Julius Smith remains at this writing a mystery character, appearing neither in Jensen's Biographical Encyclopedia nor in Varrum/Noble, and in Polk's Ogden City Directory before and after the partnership with Hodgson simply as o architect, with offices in the Eccles Building a few floors away from Hodgson- which presumes an amicable parting. Hodgson's son and daughters know nothing about him. In 1910 Leslie moved his family to a home at 2255 Madison Avenue which, according to his eldest daughter's memoirs, "...my father had planned himself...It was not finished at first, so we lived for a time in the basement while painting was done and floors finished upstairs. We children thought it a great experience to live in a basement but I do not recall that my mother shared our enthusiasm." (Author's note: One wonders if Leslie inherited from his father, in addition to a propensity for the building profession, a propensity for living in unfinished houses!) This house, a charming shingle-covered bungalow with broad eaves and marvelous outrigger brackets, still stands, its exterior at least in excellent condition, painted an inviting 60ft brown. (This Madison Avenue home was to figure years later in a refreshingly offbeat business deal.) In the same year as the move to Madison Avenue, work began on the Eccles Avenue Subdivision. David Eccles in 1909 deeded lots to his family and other prominent, carefully chosen Ogdenites, intending to create a unified, exclusive neighborhood, set apart .from the surrounding areas' eclecticism. Hodgson collaborated with Eber Piers in planning and developing the new area, whose proposed Prairie-style motif would be ideally suited to its prairie-like setting. Piers's designs stayed quite strictly with Prairie, but Hodgson was lured into combining influences, as in the LeRoy Eccles home of 1917, later to become the Weber Club: basic Prairie embellished with pantile roof, filigree brickwork, classical brackets, Tuscan-columned front porch and porte-cochere and art-glass-Kediterranean-scene windows. Hodgson later succumbed 7 completely to rampant eclecticism with a Greek Revival home for banker Janes Pingree, and sheepman Patrick Healy's Olde Englishe Cottage, now unfortunately marred by a crass Real Estate sign. Design of the latter home is consistent and shows Hodgson's competence with the style-but one wonders what Piers and Eccles had to say about his exuberant departure from Prairie-style conformity. Hodgson returned to the Prairie style, however, in his years between partners with, among others, two small jewels: The 1916 LDS Branch for the Deaf, 7z+0 21st Street and the Patterson/Nye Building of 191** at 2^22-26 Washington Boulevard, which is large compared to the Branch for the Deaf, but small in relation to another commission from this period-the impressively substantial 1913 Eccles Building Washington Boulevard. Hodgson's solid handling of bulk, topped by a wide, ornate cornice and brackets, ma.kes obeisance to the commercial buildings of the Chicago school, which he very likely learned about from Irving Gill. Hodgson imprinted his mark on Cgden, not only with his buildings, but also with his position as Man of Substance. He was a charter member and early president of the Rotary Club, helping to establish the Rotary Scholarship Foundation. He also belonged to the Ogden Chamber of Commerce, the Weber Club and the Cgden Golf and Country Club, and for 25 years was architect for the Ogden City 3oard of Education. He was a member of the Utah Chapter of AIA and served five years on the State Architectural Examining Board. The Hodgson family consisted of nine children bom between 1900 and 1923* four of whom died in infancy and early childhood. Four daughters and one son still live in Ogden and Salt Lake City. Despite his very active career and civic involvement, Hodgson was a devoted family man. His daughters recall that he was dignified and reserved, but gentle, quietly generous and a lover of music and art. Son Robert, who apprenticed in his office and was later his partner, describes his father as a great poker player with a quick wit and a large repertoire of jokes. He was a tough boss, a perfectionist with a broad reputation for unshakable integrity and ethics. His specifications were "the finest ever." Whenever Hodgson questioned the viability of a cabinetry, masonry or concrete-forming detail, he built a test model in the family-garage-workshop and worked with it till he was satisfied that it was the best he could produce. He periodically stress- tested samples of concrete and masonry to assure himself they met specification requirements. In this respect he was years ahead of his time. After several very productive solo years, Hodgson formed a partnership with Myrl A. McClenahan and opened a new era in Ogden architecture. Information on McClenahan is almost as scarce as on his predecessor, Julius Smith; neither is listed in Warrum/Noble or in Jensen's Biographical Encyclopedia. Polk's Ogden City Directory is a bit more informative this time: his first wife Norma died about 1936, and McClenahan died at age *+9 on January 22, 19^0, survived by his second wife Elsie and several children from his first marriage. Hodgson's daughters Lu and Phyllis remember "Mac" well, as a brilliant draftsman and designer, his clowning exuberance tempered by his conservative partner's restraint. Robert Hodgson describes the team's method of operation: Leslie would give the design concept sketches to "Mac," who would turn out the working drawing details. In "Mac's" words, Leslie was the driver and he the machine. The partners shared a perfectionism and concern with detail, as evidenced by their beautiful Forest Services Regional Office Building. Hodgson and McClenahan personally selected the placement of every single brick in the building, in order to obtain a basement-to-cornice, dark-to-light ombre shading so subtle as to be perceptible only when pointed out from a block-away vantage point and re-examined close up. Frank Lloyd Wright would have been impressed. So amiable was the Hodgson/McClenahan partnership that the earlier-mentioned offbeat business deal involving the Hodgson home on Madison Avenue was not only possible but seemingly a great success. Around 193*+ the Hodgson live- in family was dwindling and no longer in need of their large house, while the McClenahans burgeoned beyond the confines of the modest vine-covered cottage "Mac" had designed at 1265 Marilyn Drive. So, in a master-stroke of pragmatism (or plain common sense), the two families switched homes-and apparently everyone was satisfied. Hodgson and McClenahan produced some of Ogden's most diverse architecture-in function as well as style: the gloriously gaudy 1927 Peery's Egyptian Theatre, 2i+37-1+3 Washington Boulevard, which shares with Salt Lake's Masonic Temple the probable distinction of being the state's only Egyptian Revival examples; the State School for the Deaf's Girls' Dorm and Keating Plant; three Art Deco triumphs-the Forest Services Building, the 1937 High School and the Ogden Municipal Building of 1939. After McClenahan*6 death in January, 19^0 Hodgson took his son Robert into partnership, and the firm became involved in government work. During World War II Leslie was architect for several Federal agencies, including 3ushnell General Hospital in Brigham City and the Naval Supply Depot at Clearfield. On March 28, 19 Vice Admiral 3en Morrell, USN, presented him with the Award for Meritorious Civilian Service. On the evening of July 23, 19^7 Hodgson dropped in to see his daughter Lu but, complaining of fatigue, stayed only a few minutes and went home to prepare for a weekend in the canyon. The next morning he was dead, at age 68. A small classical-revival building stands at 2550 Washington Boulevard- Smith and Hodgson's 1906 Masonic Temple. Although the ravages of time are very clear, the faqaae retains its symmetry and graceful proportions. Across the street looms the Art Deco step-back high-rise Municipal Building of 1939. Ironic but fitting, that these two totally dissimilar works should face each other across Ogden'c busiest street, signifying the beginning and culminating periods of a man who spent over forty years improving Ogden. Some of his designs are gone-the Wright Block's demolition made room for the new Ogden City Mall. Some have been recycled-carved Jesuit priests and sandstone blocks from Bri- ghan City's Lincoln School adorn the False Arrest Saloon's 27th Street facade. Some have been desecrated-a charming little Prairie-style home at 15th and Harrison hides behind white paint and aluminum/plastic additions. Some, like the Masonic Temple, are just old and shabby. But countless others remain as solid and enduring as Hodgson envisioned them. Dozens of tantalizing questions remain unanswered. Who was Julius Smith? Is the Scowcroft Warehouse correctly dated 1900-0^ and if so why is it attributed to Smith and Hodgson when they didn't join forces till 1906? How much of the Eccles Avenue Subdivision is Hodgson's and how much Piers's? Where did "Mac" come from ar.d when aid he become Hodgson's partner? Etc. .etc. .etc. Hopefully, nine more weeks of sleuthings aided by a mild winter to facilitate the Ogden commute will produce a fairly comprehensive evaluation of Leslie Hodgson's contribution to the architecture of Utah FOOTNOTES 1. Conversation with Robert D. Hodgson, 8^0 2kth Street, Ogden. 2. Utah Since Statehood, Historical and Biographical (Varrum/Noble), p. 380. 3. WarrumAoble err in dating Oliver's arrival in Salt Lake City as 1850- one year before his birth. 4. Journal of Oliver Hodgson, p. 3. 5. Ibid., p. 6. Hodgson's obituary in the"Salt Lake Tribune"and the"Deseret'News" incorrectly gives his birth date as December 18, 1878, instead of l879t as indicated in family records. 7. Memoirs of Phyllis H. Holbrook, p. 2. 8. Family records in possession of Mrs. Phylli6 H. Holbrook, North Ogden. BIBLIOGRAPHY Varrua and Noble. Utah Since Statehood, Historical and Biographical. Chicago and Salt Lake: S. J. Clarke Publishing Coapany, 1919- Harris, E. T. Architecture of Ogden: J. A. Smith and Leslie S. Hodgson, Architects, 1906-0?. Salt Lake City: Century Printing Coapany, 1907. Polk, P. L. Salt Lake City Directory, 1899-1906, and Ogden City Directory, 1906-12 and 1925-J+0. Ogden and Salt Lake: R. L. Polk and Coapany, Publishers. Jensen, Andrew. Latter Day Saints Biographical Encyclopedia, rol. If. Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1936. Goes, Peter L. "The Prairie School Influence in Utah." The Prairie School Review, 12:1 (1975). Utah State Historical Society Architects' File: Leslie S. Hodgson. Hodgson Family records, in possession of Mr6. Phyllis H. Holbrook, 2695 North 850 East, North Ogden, Utah. with Mrs. Louie H. Hoaer, 1335 Wasatch Drive, Salt Lake City, Utah University of Utah Marriott Library Western Americana Collection: Leslie Hodgson obituary, Salt Lake Tribune and Deseret News, July 25, 19*+7. Journal of Oliver Hodgson, in possession of author, copy obtained from Mrs. Phyllis Holbrook. Copies of photographs, architectural drawings and rendering obtained from Robert Hodgson. Family photographs obtained from Mrs. Phyllis Holbrook. LESLIE HODGSON: PHASE II By Teddy Fullmer Professor Peter Goss Winter, 1981 FOR THESE, THEN, MY THANKS Architectural history sleuthing can be (at times simultaneously) fascinating, infuriating, exhilarating, maddening, satisfying, exhausting, expensive, addictive-and impossible to do alone. So I extend my profound gratitude to friends, associates and relatives who contributed with such grace to this second, but far from final, phase of Leslie Hodgson research: To Debbie Temme (Utah State Historical Society), Marty Collett (Weber State College Special Collections Library) and Dr. Jeffrey Kahn (Weber County Library), for making valuable information available. To Lu Hodgson Homer and Phyllis Hodgson Holbrook, for sharing personal and family records, and memories of their father. To Robert D. Hodgson, for free and generous access to historically significant photographs, architectural drawing^ personal information and anecdotes; for personally-guided tours of Ogden, and for unfailing good nature and encouragement. To Jeanne Christensen,(Weber County Library), for cooperation, enthusiasm, inexhaustible archival bloodhounding-and for her trust. To Brian Fullmer, for photographic equipment, film, darkroom time and expertise. To Danny Fullmer, for enduring negligent laundry service and less-than- gourmet meals. And-a special thanks to Professor Peter Goss, for good-natured goading, flexible deadlines, and for inspiring a passion for architectural history. T.E.FINTRODUCTION Leslie Simmons Hodgson began hi6 architectural career in Ogden in 1906, after several years' drafting experience in the offices of Richard Kletting and S. C. Dallas in Salt Lake, and some nine months in Hebbard and Gill's San Diego office. The years until his death were prolific, indeed. Partnerships with J. A. Smith, Myrl McClenahan and a just-unearthed, unresearched collaboration with S. T. Whitaker'' produced a body of work astounding in its volume and diversity. The four-year partnership with Smith (1906-1910) brought forth an abundance of charming arts-and-crafts bungalows, stately residences for Ogden's first families and wonderfully solid Richardsonian public buildings-the Dee 2 and Lewis Schools and the puzzlingly-dated Scowcroft Warehouse. In 1910 planning commenced for the Eccles Avenue Subdivision, in which Hodgson associated with owner David Eccles and fellow-architect Eber F. Piers. Hodgson and Piers didn't form a partnership, but worked together to create the elegant, exclusive neighborhood envision by Eccles as a homogeneous Prairie-style enclave. Piers adhered consistently to the horizontal ground- hugging lines of the new Chicago-bom style. Although Hodgson followed Eccles's wishes in part, he couldn't restrain his strong eclectic tastes-most notably in the 1917 LeRoy Eccles mansion at 2509 Eccles Avenue (basically Prairie with multi-period embellishment) and Patrick Healy Jr.'s 1920 English country cottage at 2^80 Eccles Avenue. Hodgson's public work of the 1910-1920 period demonstrated two definite Chicago influences. The 191^ Patterson/Nye Building, 2^22-26 Washington Boulevard, and the 1916 LDS Branch for the Deaf, 7^0 21st Street, are Prairie. The Eccles Building of 1913, 2k01-11 Washington Boulevard, borrows from the Chicago School's solid handling of mass, and from Louis Sullivan's ornate cornice and bracket trim. Hodgson joined forces with Myrl A.. McClenahan in 1920 and his work evolved into still another highly distinctive style. Art Deco came to Ogden with the subtly elegant Forest Services Regional Offices Building of 1931. The 193+ Home Economics Building at USAC-now USU-seems to be a dress-rehearsal for Hodgson's chef-d'oeuvre, the stunning collegiate-Gothic-influence-Art-Deco High School 1937. The step-back high-rise Municipal Building was completed in 1939. After McClenahan died in 19*+0 Hodgson took his son Robert into partnership and the firm became involved in government work-at Bushnell General Hospital in 3righam City, the Clearfield Naval Supply Depot and other government agency commissions. An attempt has been made to formulate a chronological list of known Hodgson work; it is, admittedly, sketchy. Weber County Library Special Collections has a copy of a 190? book, Architecture of Ogden: J. Smith and Leslie S. Hodgson, 1906-07-a wealth of marvelous exterior and interior photographs, with owners* names but no addresses. (A classic example of why architectural historians take lots of aspirin.) Some of these homes have been identified through a time-consuming but profitable system: an owner's name is checked in the Ogden City Directories for one or two years before the book's 1907 publication date. When an address is found the extant structure at that site is compared to the picture in the Smith/Hodgson book. If they match,a photograph is taken and added to the extant slide file. At least fourteen homes have thus been identified and photographed, and several other homes and businesses found to have been demolished-to make room for such glorious contributions to the Good Life as the Ramada Inn cliche and the Ogden City Mall. A nostalgic arts/crafte buff is heartened at the number of Smith/Hodgson cottages and residences approaching their eighth decade with integrity and a certain eclat. But one could weep at the neglect and indignity imposed upon some of their contemporaries. The fine brickwork of E. S. Rolappfs residence at 251 Madison Avenue cowers behind a shameful coat of baby blue paint. His next-door neighbor H. H. Rolapp, 2520 Madison Avenue, no doubt cringes in his grave because of his home's white siding protuberance and tacky wrought-iron porch railing. Bob Hodgson has explicitly descriptive words for the aesthetes who redecorated the living room of the Hodgson family home at 2255 Madison Avenue; tooled copper fireplace, oak banding and wainscoting were "modernized" k with white paint all around. Nor have the schools escaped abandonment and desecration. The Lorin Farr School at 22nd street and Harrison stands dejectedly behind a "For Lease" sign. On 20th Street just above Washington Boulevard, the Dee School's sturdy Richardsonian stonework is caked with chalky white paint and its windows hidden by utterly incongruous lacy white leaf-and- vine grilles. And to twist the knife one more turn, a huge sign blatantly tells the world that the building is now the home of "Li'l Audrey's Ladies' Spa." Civilization Marches On. , PHASE III A mind-boggling amount of research remains undone. In-person perusal of Hodgson drawings in the Weber State College Architectural Drawings Collection will doubtless yield many clues, as will continued study of old city directories. And there is a potential gold mine of information and leads, in the persons of the many proud Ogden residents/architectural enthusiasts Research has so far uncovered a disappointingly small amount of Hodgson Prairie style. But the few undated homes and-more intriguing-the schools invite the hope that much more Prairie awaits discovery. The known examples demonstrate Hodgson's affinity for enriching the Wrightian style with his own touch, as in the Larkinesque Lorin Farr School. One suspects that Hodgson's 25-year stint as Ogden School District Architect was as fecund as were other aspects of his long and varied work-life. Hopefully all of Hodgson's extant work will eventually be identified and photographed, and demolished buildings will be recorded. And then ... Phase IV-Tne Interiors. (One experiences a recurrent fantasy: A stooped, bleary-eyed nonagenarian wanders in the sunset glow, pad, pencil, camera and magnifying glass at the ready and head filled with plans for future phases of the Leslie Hodgson Story. FOOTNOTES 1 • On May 6, 1981, while examining architectural drawings in Bob Hodgson's office, the author noticed that a sheet for the Eccles Building was signed "S. T. Whitaker and Leslie S. Hodgson, Architects." Bob said the two were partners for about three years-possibly 1910-14. This was the first time Whitaker's name had appeared, in the current research project. * 2. The Ogden Historical Buildings Survey unequivocally gives Hodgson credit for the Scowcroft Warehouse, but also dates the building 1900-04-two years before Hodgson moved to Ogden-and one doubts that Salt Lake-Ogden was an easy commute in those days. Fossible, but unlikely. To thicken the plot, Bob Hodgson remembers his father describing in detail the "mill construction" method used in the Warehouse-graduated wooden beams reinforced with wedges called chokers. 3. Bob Hodgson proclaims the archaeological authenticity, and insists that the hieroglyphics somewhere on the facade spell out "Old Man Hodgson is a merry old soul. 4. In conversation with the author, May 6, 1981 BIBLIOGRAPHY lHarri6, E. T. Architecture of Ogden: J. A. Smith & Leslie S. Hodgson, Architects, 1906-07. Salt Lake City: Century Printing Company, 1907. Polk, R. L. Ogden City Directory, 1905-06. Ogden: R. L. Polk & Company, Publishers. Utah State Historical Society Files: Weber County Ogden Historic 3uildings Survey. •Hill, Jos. H.; KcGuire, F. A.; Critchlow, W. J. Ogden, the Junction City Ogden: Pacific Realty Association, Inc., c. 1909-10. •The City of Ogden & Weber County, Utah, Part 3, vol. JU Sal* Lake City: E. V. Fohlin, publisher, 1914. Weber State College Special Collections: Architectural Drawings-Leslie S. Hodgson. Weber County Library: Prominent Citizens* File. Prominent uilaings File. Photographs and architectural drawings in possession of Robert D. Hodgson 850 2Hh Street, Ogden, Utah. Interview with Robert D. Hodgson, 850 2*+ th Street, Ogden, May 6, 1981. Goss, Peter L. "The Prairie School Influence in Utah." The Prairie School Review, 12:1 (1975). •Weber County Library Special Collections CHRONOLOGY OF KNOW HODGSON DESIGNS The following is a list of everything so far known to the author as having been designed by Leslie Hodgson, as well a6 reliable attributions. Included are buildings, extant and demolished, and all extant architectural drawings. Further investigation i6 necessary to determine which of the drawings are for uncompleted projects. Works of undetermined dating follow the chronological listing. The list identifies documentation sources according to this code: OHB: Ogden Historical Buildings (copies at Weber County Library and Utah State Historical Society, Salt Lake City). USKS: Utah State Historical Society. WSC: Weber State College Special Collections, Architectural Drawings Collection. RHP: Robert Hodgson Historical Photograph Collection. RHAD: Robert Hodgson Architectural Drawings Collection. S/K: Architecture of Ogden: Smith & Hodgson. An asterisk accompanying a building's name indicates the building is extant. HODGSON CHRONOLOGICAL LIST 1900-0*+: • John A. Scovcroft Warehouse, 2300 Wall Avenue. OHB, R. Hodgson memories. 1906: • Shupe-Williams Candy Factory, Wall Avenue & 26th Street. S/E. • Masonic Temple, 2550 Washington Blvd. 0KB, S/fc. 1906-07: See Section 2 of thi6 report, in which the book, Architecture of Ogden, Smith & Hodgson, 1906-07, is reproduced in its entirety. Dating of individual buildings has not yet been established. 1910: • John S. Houtz Residence, 2522 Eccles Avenue. USHS. Wilford Williams home. WSC. Mound Fort School. RKAD. (heating and ventilating) Elijah Larkin Residence, 25^5 Eccles Avenue. USHS. Tabernacle Square Landscape Design. WSC. • William Wright/Joseph Morrell Residence, 2533 Eccles Avenue. USHS • Hugh M. Rowe Residence, 2555 Eccles Avenue. USHS. J. S. Lewis Workshop, Stable & Ice House. WSC. B. W. White Cottage, 2^81 Hudson Avenue. WSC. • Central School/ Elks Club Lodge Remodeling. OHB, RHP. 2527 Grant Avenue. 1912: ' • Ralph E. Bristol (Bristoe?) Residence, 2^0 Van Buren Avenue. OHB, RHP. State School for the Deaf & Blind, 20th Street & Monroe Avenue. RHAD. Greenhouse, Cow Barn & Domestic Science Cases. Mound Fort School Addition. RHAD. Heating and Plumbing HODGSON CHRONOLOG T 1913: • Eccles Office Building, 2k01-11 Washington Blvd. OHB. Joseph Parry Investment Company, 23rd Street & Washington Blvd. WSC. Burton Implement Company. WSC. 1914: • Patterson/Nye Building, 2^22 Washington Blvd. OHB. • James Canse/Ottis Weeks Residence, 2529 Eccles Avenue. USHS. • William H. Shearman Residence, 2532 Eccles Avenue. USHS. Evanston State Bank. WSC. 1915: • Hans Hansen/James Pingree Residence, 2669 Madison Avenue. OHB. 1916: • LDS Branch for the Deaf, 7*+0 21st Street. OHB. Peter Goss Article. ( Bibliography) 1917: • LeRoy Eccles Residence, 2509 Eccles Avenue. RRAD, USHS. Becker Brewing & Malting Company, Evanston, Wyoming. WSC. Last & Thomas Store Fronts (for D. H. Peery Estate). RHAD. 1917-18: Guy Johnson summer home, Ogden Canyon. WSC. 1919: Parley T. Wright summer home, Ogden Canyon. WSC. J. W. Levedahl Cottage. WSC. 1920: • Patrick Healy Jr. Residence, 2580 Eccles Avenue. WSC, USHS. 1921: Frank Wright Home. WSC. A. W. Wright Home remodeling. WSC. • Albert E. Becker Home. WSC. (See slide 32) • Washington School, Washington Blvd. & 33rd Street. RHP 1922: Reed Hotel Ladies' Parlor. WSCHODGSON CHRONOLOG T 1923: Betts Apartment House, 26th Street & Adams Avenue, D. K. Stewart Double Home. WSC. 1923-25: Roy D. Thatcher Home. WSC. 192^: • Peery's Egyptian Theatre, 2^37-^3 Washington Blvd. 1925: • Union Stockyards Coliseum, 550 West Exchange Road. 1927: Henry G. Stein Home. WSC. • Hotel Bigelow/Ben Lomond, 25th Street & Washington Blvd. RHP. National Dollar Store. WSC. Eccles Building Remodeling. RHAD. 1929: 213 • Armory Building,/23rd Street. RHP. Hotel Bigelow Garage. WSC. 1930: • Union Stockyards Exchange Building. WSC, RHP. 1931: Union Stockyards Sheep Barn. RHAD. 1933: • Union Stockyards Exchange Building, 550 West Exchange Road. RHAD. Addition. 193^: Home Economics Building, USAC (now USU). RHAD. ' * Forest Service Regional Office Building. RHP. 1937: • Ogden High School, 2828 Harrison Blvd. RHP, RHAD. 1939: • Cgden Municipal Building, 25^1 Washington Blvd. 0KB, RKAD. 19^0: Box Elder County, Jail, Brigham City. RHAD. WSC. OHB, RHP. REAP, 'RHAD. HODGSON CHRONOLOG T 1941: Administration Building-LDS Cooperative Security Corporation. RHAD. Revision: 1943. RHAD. 1942-43: Dwelling Units-Lion Coal Corporation, Wattis, Utah. WSC. 1944: Walker Potato Chip Company, 2214 Kiesel Avenue. RHAD. Demolished. A. J. Robson Storage Building, Plain City. RHAD. 1947: Continental 3aking Company. RHAD. Globe Kills. RHAD. Fred Williams Garage. RHAD. Demolished. UNDATED EXTANT HODGSON BUILDINGS C. J. Humphries Cottage, 1435 25th Street. WSC. (See slide 59) W. H. Williams Cottage, 1433 25th Street. WSC. (See slide 53) Humphries/Williams Joint Garage. WSC. (Humphries and Williams site identified by Robert Hodgson-May 6, 1981.) LDS 10th Wa'rdV-S32* Kiesel Avenue. WSC. (Slides 49 8c 50) Fred Williams Residence, 1961 Washington Blvd. (Slides 62 & 63) SHAD Lorin Farr School, 22nd Street & Harrison Elvd. RHP. (Slide 54) Polk School, 26th Street & Polk Avenue. RHP. (Slides 51-4) Unidentified remodeled Prairie bungalow, 25th St. & Harrison Blvd. (fclide 57) (Attributed by Robert Hodgson, May 6, 1981) Richardson Cottage, 700 25th Street. (Slide 61) (Attributed by Robert Hodgson, May 6, 1981) Chandler Cottage, 1283 26th Street. (Slides 55 & 56) (Attributed by Robert Hodgson, May 6, 1981) Girls' Dormitory, State School for the Deaf, 20th Street & Monroe Avenue RHP. (Slide 48) Central Junior High School (Old Ogden High School), 25th St. & Monroe Ave. (Slide 47) (Attributed by Robert Hodgson & Phyllis Holbrook, May 6, 1981) ARCHITECTURAL DRAWINGS BY LESLIE HODGSON IN POSSESSION OF ROBERT D. HODGSON Last & Thomas Store Fronts (for D. H. Peery Estate), 1917. parchment-3 sheets; linen-2 sheets. Utah State School for the Deaf & Blind, 1912. Greenhouse: linen-7 sheets. Domestic Science Department cases: linen-1 sheet. Cow Barn: linen-7 sheets. Ogden City and County Building, 1939- parchment-34 sheets. Alterationsadditions to Grant School, Hodgson & McClenahan, n.d. linen-5 sheets; parchment-7 sheets. Eccles 3uilding Office Remodeling & Rearrangements, 1927-35. linen-2 sheets; parchment-59 sheets; blue-3 sheets. North Side Junior High School, n.d. Original: linen-4 sheets; parchment-3 sheets. Addition: linen-1 sheet; parchment-4 sheets. Mound Fort School, heating, plumbing and ventilating, 1910-12. Linen-6 sheets. Addition: linen-7 sheetb. Pingree School Addition, n.d. linen-5 sheets; parchment-8 sheets. R. J. Walker Potato Chip Company, 2214 Kiesel Avenue, 1944. paper-4 sheets; blue-1 sheet. A. J. Robson Storage Building, 1944, Plain City, Utah, paper-3 sheets. Administration Building-LDS Cooperative Security Corporation, 1941-43. paper: 29 sheets; blue-14 sheets. Tourist Apartments for Dick Gunn, Washington Blvd. and 33rd St., n.d. paper-8 sheets. 3ox Elder County Jail, Brigham City, Utah, 1940. paper-16 sheets. Continental Baking Company Ogden Plant, 26th Street, 1947. Original: paper-3 sheets; parchment-7 sheets. Addition: linen-16 sheets; paper 15 sheets. Globe Mills, 1947. linen-4 sheets; paper-1 sheet. Mr. & Mrs. Fred Williams Residence, 1961 Washington Blvd., n.d linen-5 sheets; paper-1 sheet. Fred Williams Garage, 19*+7. paper-1 sheet. L. R. Eccles Residence, Grounds & Gardens, 1917. linen-17 sheets. Ogden City & County Building, 1939. linen-62 sheets. Jail: parchment-8 sheets. Union Stockyards , 550 W. Exchange Road. Livestock Show Coliseum, 1925* paper-4 sheets; parchment-2 sheets. Addition, 1933: paper-3 sheets; parchment-35 sheets. Exchange Building, 1931: parchment-18 sheets. Sheep 3arn, 1931: parchment-10 sheets. Larkin & Sons Mortuary, 19^5. parchment-6 sheets; paper-9 sheets; linen-9 sheets. W. H. Wright & Sons Company Store, n.d. Alterations & Additions: lineni-1 sheet. (Note: The Robert Hodgson Collection also includes drawings for the Ogden High School (Harrison High School) and the Eccles 3uilding. They were, however, unavailable at the time the rest of the collection was examined. LESLIE HODGSON ARCHITECTURAL DRAWINGS IN WEBER STATE COLLEGE SPECIAL COLLECTIONS Betts Apartment House, 26th & Adams, 1923, Hodgson & McClenahan. linen-1 sheet; paper-9 sheets. First National Bank 3uilding, n.d. Hodgson & McClenahan. linen-sheets. Becker Brewing & Malting Company, Evanston, Wyo., 1917. linen-10 sheets; paper-5 sheets. J. W. Levedahl Cottage, Ogden, 1919. linen-13 sheets; paper-U sheets. B. W. White cottage, 2^81 Hudson, 1911. paper-15 sheets. C. J. Humphries cottage, n.d. linen-6 sheets. W. H. Williams cottage & joint garage with C. J. Humphries, n.d. linen-k sheets. Dwelling Units, Lion Coal Corp., Wattis Utah, 19^2-*+3. paper-35 sheets. Albert E. 3ecker home, 3rinker Ave. & 26th St., 1921, Hodgson & McClenahan. linen-9 sheets. Mrs. Albert E. Becker home, n.d., Hodgson & McClenahan. linen-7 sheets. Mrs. J. W. Chase home, n.d., Hodgson 8c McClenahan. paper-22 sheets. Mr. & Mrs. Patrick Kealy Jr. home, 1920, Hewitt, Hodgson & McClenahan. paper-13 sheets. Guy Johnson summerhouse, Ogden Canyon, 1917-18, Hodgson & McClenahan. paper-10 sheets. J. W. Levedahl horn** n.d. paper-5 sheets. Mrs. J. 0. Read home, n.d. Hodgson & McClenahan. linen-3 sheets; paper-sheets. Henry G. Stein home, 1927, Hodgson & McClenahan paper-3 sheets. D. K. Stewart home (double house), 1923-25, Hodgson & McClenahan. paper-6 sheets. Evanston State Bank, Evanston, Wyo., 1911*. linen-10 6heets; paper-8 sheets. Roy D. Thatcher home, 1925-25, Hodgson & McClenahan. paper-18 sheets. J. S. Lewis Workshop, Stable & Ice House, 1911-12. paper-11 sheets. Wilford Williams home, 1910. linen-6 sheets. Arthur W. Wright home remodeling, 1921, Hodgson & McClenahan. paper-5 sheets. Frank Wright home, 1921, Hodgson & McClenahan. paper-10 sheets. Parley T. Wright summerhouse, Ogden Canyon, 1919, Hodgson & McClenahan. paper-7 sheets. Hotel Bigelow Garage, 1929» Hodgson 8c McClenahan. paper-7 sheets. Reed Hotel Ladies' Parlor, 1922, Hodgson & McClenahan. paper-25 sheets; linen-1 sheet. LDS 10th Ward Meetinghouse, n.d. linen-9 sheets. Fred J. Kiesel Warehouse, n.d. paper-6 sheets. Mess & Bunkhouses, Bear River Club Co., Ogden, 1912. paper-5 sheets. Bramwell 3ook & Stationery Store, 2363 Washington Blvd., 1922, Hodgson & paper-3 sheets. McClenahan. Burton Implement Company, 1.913. linen-11 sheets; paper-3 sheets. Scowcroft & Sons Warehouse, Price, Utah, n.d. paper-2 sheets. T. C. Mercer Store, 314-18 25th St. Remodeling, n.d. linen-5 sheets. National Dollar Store, 1927. Architect: Bernard J. Joseph, San Francisco, paper-8 sheets. Hodgson & McClenahan, supervising architects. Joseph Parry Investment Co., 23rd & Washington Blvd, 1913. linen-16 sheets; paper-11 sheets. Ogden Furniture & Carpet Co, remodeling, n.d. linen-6 sheets. Richardson & Hunt Store, additions and alterations, 1915. linen-3 sheets; paper-4 sheets. James H. Spargo Co., Washington Blvd. n.d. paper-2 sheets. Woodmansee Store, 2^55-59 Washington Blvd. n.d. Hodgson & McClenahan paper-5 sheets. George W. Larkin Terrace, n.d. Smith & Hodgson, linen-6 sheets. Union Stock Yards Exchange 3uilding, 1930, Hodgson & McClenahan. paper-9 sheets. Tabernacle Square, 1911, Hodgson and W. T. Stillvell, Landscape Architect, paper-11 sheets. "Demolished. |
Format | application/pdf |
ARK | ark:/87278/s6rad253 |
Setname | wsu_hod |
ID | 45401 |
Reference URL | https://digital.weber.edu/ark:/87278/s6rad253 |