Background

Guy Lowell was born on August 6, 1870 in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. He was the son of Edward Jackson Lowell and Mary (Goodrich) Lowell.

Education

Lowell received his early schooling in Dresden and Paris, was prepared for college at Noble's School in Boston, and graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts from Harvard in 1892. He next entered the department of architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, then flourishing under the leadership of the brilliant Frenchman, Despradelle, and followed a two-year course leading to the degree of Bachelor of Science in 1894. Feeling the need of European training, he sailed for France in 1895 and entered the Atelier Pascal of the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He received his diploma from the École in 1899. In Paris, Lowell followed the regular course of the Beaux-Arts. His designs had the exuberance and the frequent lack of restraint so often observed in students' work in France. More important, he absorbed the logic and, above all, the inherent grasp of planning which is the especial glory of French architecture and the most useful asset in French architectural education.

Career

From the beginning of his practice in America, Lowell showed that he was to abandon the flashy and exuberant detail that he had learned in Paris and would return to the conservatism and refinement which has marked American architecture at its best. In America, he had immediate success. His social position and connections gave him unusual opportunities which his unusual gifts and thorough training enabled him to capitalize. That his success was largely due to his own ability, however, was proved by the fact that he in no wise feared competition with the most brilliant of his contemporaries. His work was extremely variegated. At Harvard he built Emerson Hall, the New Lecture Hall, and the President's House. He was the leading spirit of the architectural expression of Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts, where he designed many buildings and created one of the most inspiring ensembles in American scholastic work. His hand is seen in the Carrie Memorial Tower at Brown, in buildings at Simmons College, Boston, and at the State Normal School, Bridgewater, Massachusetts.

His designs for private residences--many of them of the most elaborate sort--are to be found in Massachusetts, in Maine, and on Long Island. At Piping Rock he designed one of the most attractive and simplest of country clubs, using a modified Dutch Colonial style indigenous to the district. Other public buildings which came from his office were the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the Cumberland County Court House, Portland, Maine; and the New Hampshire Historical Society, Concord, New Hampshire.

His interest extended to landscape architecture and he designed not only gardens in connection with estates, but city gardens as well. Although his inspiration came undoubtedly from his studies in Italy, his work was never imitative nor offensively archeological. In the field of landscape architecture he published American Gardens (1902), Smaller Italian Villas and Farmhouses (1916), and More Small Italian Villas and Farmhouses (1920).

His style was charming in its informality. He was an enthusiastic amateur photographer and largely illustrated his books with his own photographs. For a number of years he lectured on landscape architecture in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. During the World War he entered the American Red Cross with the rank of major and served principally in Italy. There his skill, tact, courage, and gift for organization enabled him to accomplish much, and his outspoken friendship for Italy gave courage to a country which received far less attention and sympathy in America than did the better-known and better-understood allies, Great Britain and France.

After the death of his cousin, Percival Lowell, he was the sole trustee of the Lowell Observatory at Flagstaff, Arizona, and the responsibility gave him a new hobby--the grinding of lenses for telescopes. He was an enthusiastic yachtsman and participated in the international races at Kiel.

Achievements

• Guy Lowell has been listed as a notable architect by Marquis Who's Who.

Works

More photos

• book

  • American Gardens;

    ( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

  • Small Italian Villas and Farmhouses

    (Guy Lowell toured Italy in the early 20th century, record...)

  • book

Interests

• Lowell was a lover of music, painting, and sculpture, and had more than an amateur's knowledge of these arts.

Connections

In April 1898, Lowell married Henrietta Sargent of Brookline, Massachusetts, daughter of Charles Sprague Sargent.

Father:

Edward Jackson Lowell

Mother:

Mary (Goodrich) Lowell

Spouse:

Henrietta Sargent

Cousin:

Percival Lowell

References

• Pioneers of American Landscape Design (Professional Architecture)