Albert Kelsey, American architect. Decorated Commander of Isabella la Catolica by Alfonso XIII. member various town planning commissions; member of the board of directors Fairmount Park Art Association President Architectural League America, 1908-1909; member Architectural League of New York, Pennsylvania Association Architects (president 1916-1917), Numismatic Society.
Background
He was born in 1870 in Saint Louis, Missouri, the son of economist and writer A. Warren Kelsey and novelist Jeanette Garr Washburn. His father had been a close friend of the artist Winslow Homer, and his mother was the daughter of Wisconsin Governor Cadwallader C. Washburn. The family moved to the Chestnut Hill section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where Albert Junior. grew up and went to school.
Education
He apprenticed with architects Theophilus P. Chandler, Junior. and Cope and Stewardson, and participated in the drafting atelier of the T-Square Club of Philadelphia.
Career
He studied town planning abroad, and returned an ardent supporter of civic improvement, carrying its doctrines, as a lecturer, through the country. In 1899, he was elected the first president of the Architectural League of America, and devised the exhibit on municipal improvement for the 1904 Saint Louis World"s Fair. His firm employed the young architect Louis Magaziner in 1907.
The partnership was short-lived, and its only major commission was the Pan-American Union Building (now Organization of American States) in Washington, District of Columbia Kelsey worked on his own after 1909.
Over a 16-year period he created a campus of Tudor Revival buildings for the Carson Valley School, just outside Philadelphia. Kelsey married Henrietta L. Allis, of New New York
The couple lived at 8831 Crefeldt Street in the Chestnut Hill section of Philadelphia. They had a daughter, Charlotte.
Achievements
Membership
Member various town planning commissions. Member of the board of directors Fairmount Park Art Association President Architectural League America, 1908-1909. Member Architectural League of New York, Pennsylvania Association Architects (president 1916-1917), Numismatic Society.
Clubs: Franklin Inn, T-Square, University (Philadelphia).
Connections
Married Henrietta L. Allis, January 18, 1898. Married second, Mistress. Children: Albert Washburn, Charlotte Elizabeth, Charles Cashman.