Background
Charles Hercules Rutan was born in 1851 in Newark, New Jersey, United States.
Charles Hercules Rutan was born in 1851 in Newark, New Jersey, United States.
At the age of eighteen entered the Boston office of Gambrill & Richardson for a period of architectural training. Promoted later to the post of draftsman, he continued with the firm until the death of the senior member in 1880, subsequently was retained as one of H. H. Richardson’s chief designers.
When in 1886 Mr. Richardson’s demise left much unfinished work in his Brookline office, three of the drafting staff, George F. Shepley, Mr. Rutan, and Charles A. Coolidge entered into partnership as his successors. Later Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge established an office in Boston, and within a few years ,became one of the leading architectural organizations in the U. S. Among the partners’ first important commissions was the Ames Office Building, the highest in Boston when completed in 1892, and on the top floor the firm opened new offices. Other major works planned and built during Mr. Rutan’s latter years include the South Terminal R. R. Station in Boston, 1899; Stillman Infirmary at Harvard University, 1901; Buildings at the University of Chicago. 1901-03; Library at Brown University, Providence, R. I; Harvard Medical School, 1903-07: First Congregational Church, Fall River, Mass., 1911-13; the Merchants National Bank Building; Y.M.C.A,; the Administration Build¬ing of the Massachusetts General Hospital, all in Boston, and finally, the three Freshman Dormitories at Harvard University, 1913-14.