Background
Whitehouse was born in Portland, Oregon in 1867, to Benjamin Gardner Whitehouse and Clara née Homans.
Whitehouse was born in Portland, Oregon in 1867, to Benjamin Gardner Whitehouse and Clara née Homans.
He graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) in 1906.
He was awarded the Guy Lowell Traveling Fellowship in 1905 which facilitated his pursuing studies at the American Academy in Rome, Italy from 1906 to 1907. He was the first ever recipient of that award from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Whitehouse started his own practice in 1907. He then partnered with Bruce R. Honeyman in 1908.
Beginning in 1909 he partnered with J. André Fouilhoux and Edgar M. Lazarus in the architectural firm "Lazarus, Whitehouse & Fouilhoux".
Lazarus later left the firm, which continued under the name Whitehouse & Fouilhoux, which lasted until 1917. lieutenant was the longest-running architectural firm in Oregon.
Among other buildings, the firm designed the University Club (1913) now listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), the Jefferson High School, the Lincoln High School and the Conro Fiero House, formerly listed on the NRHP but delisted after its destruction by fire. They also collaborated with New York-based firms J. H. Freelander and A. Doctorate. Seymour, in the construction of the Portland Municipal Auditorium (now the Keller Auditorium).
The firm closed as a result of World War I, when Fouilhoux enlisted in 1918.
Following the war Whitehouse operated Morris H. Whitehouse, Architect, changing this name to Morris H. Whitehouse & Associates in 1926, having been joined by Glenn Stanton and Walter East. Church. They designed the Temple Beth Israel synagogue (1928), the United States. Courthouse (1929-1931) and the Multnomah Stadium. From 1932 to 1935 the firm was named Whitehouse, Stanton & Church.
Whitehouse & Church designed the Oregon State Library in 1939.
The firm was again renamed in 1942 to Whitehouse, Church, Newberry & Roehr, with the addition of Earl P. Newberry and Frank Roehr, the last name change before Whitehouse"s death. Even after his death the firm remained in operation, undergoing several other name changes.
He was also director and then president of the Oregon arm of the American Institute of Architects. He also served on the Oregon State Board of Architect Examiners from 1919 to 1930.
Whitehouse died at age 66 in Portland.
Whitehouse and his associates designed many structures in Oregon and other parts of the Pacific Northwest. The following Oregon structures appear on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP):
Portland
705 Davis Street Apartments (1913), 2141 Northwest Davis Street (Whitehouse & Fouilhoux)
Anna Lewis Mann Old People"s Home (1910), 1021 North-East 33rd Avenue (Whitehouse & Fouilhoux)
Balfour–Guthrie Building (1913), 731-733 Southwest Oak Street
Elliott R. Corbett House (1915), 1600 Southwest Greenwood Road (Whitehouse & Fouilhoux)
H. L. and Gretchen Hoyt Corbett House (1916), 1405 Southwest Corbett Hill Cir (Whitehouse & Fouilhoux)
Aaron Frank Residence (1922), 1125 Southwest Saint Clair Avenue (contributing structure of the King"s Hill Historic District)
Alexander and Cornelia Lewthwaite House, 1715 Southeast Montgomery Doctor
University Club (1913), 1225 Southwest 6th Avenue (Whitehouse & Fouilhoux)
United States. Courthouse (1932), 620 Southwest Main Street
Other cities
Conro Fiero House, 4615 Hamrick Road, Central Point (Whitehouse & Fouilhoux)
Columbia Gorge Hotel, 9000 Westcliffe Doctor, Hood River
Elizabeth Clark House, 812 John Adams Street, Oregon City (Morris H Whitehouse & Associates)
Chemeketa Lodge Number. 1, Odd Fellows Buildings, 185-195 High Street North-East, Salem (with Walter Doctorate Pugh)
Non-NRHP.
Whitehouse was a member of the Portland Architectural Club.