Background
Morse was born in Boston in 1818. His father was Hazen Morse, a noted engraver.
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Alpheus Morse
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As a young man, Morse studied under Alexander Parris, before going off to study in Europe. This house, completed the same year, still stands at 383 Benefit Street.
Career
He first appears in the 1847-1848 Boston directory, as an artist with rooms on Tremont Row. His first architectural commission was a church in Haverhill, the town that his family was from. In 1852, Boston architect George Snell employed Morse to design the interiors of the Boston Music Morse arrived in Providence in 1853.
This firm only lasted for the year.
Upon the death of Thomas A. Tefft, Morse became the city"s most sought-after architect. Through the 1870s he was known for designing houses and other buildings in a chaste Italian Renaissance style.
The public taste changed, however, and in the last years of his practice Morse ably worked in the High Victorian Gothic, Romanesque Revival, and Queen Anne styles. He designed many prominent buildings in Providence, including the old Rhode Island Hospital and Sayles Hall on the campus of Brown University.
Membership
In 1857 he was a founding member of the American Institute of Architects.
