George H. Clemence

George H. Clemence
George H. Clemence, c. 1903
Born	(1865-01-13)January 13, 1865 Worcester, Massachusetts, United States
Died	February 2, 1924(1924-02-02) (aged 59) Worcester, Massachusetts, United States
Nationality	American
Occupation	Architect
Awards	Fellow, American Institute of Architects (1896)

The former Waldo Street Police Station in Worcester, designed by Clemence in the Italian Renaissance Revival style and completed in 1918

Print advertisement for Clemence, 1898

George H. Clemence (January 13, 1865 - February 2, 1924) was an American architect based in Worcester, Massachusetts, during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He designed public buildings, schools and private homes throughout central Massachusetts.

Life and career

George Henry Clemence was born January 13, 1865, in Worcester, Massachusetts, to Richard H. Clemence, a carpenter and grocer, and Eva Clemence, née Osgood. He was educated in the Worcester public schools, but apparently did not graduate from high school, and entered the office of Worcester architect Stephen C. Earle in 1882. In 1886 he enrolled in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a special student in architecture. After completing his course he returned to Earle's office as chief drafter. ^[1] In 1890 he left to join Darling Brothers, general contractors who had just completed Earle's Pleasant Street Baptist Church (1890), ^[2] and two years later left to open an office of his own. ^[1]

Clemence's best-known works were the central fire station of the Worcester Fire Department (1899, demolished) and the Waldo Street Police Station (1918, NRHP-listed), the former headquarters of the Worcester Police Department. ^[3] Both buildings were based on Italian Renaissance palazzos. Clemence modeled his fire department headquarters on the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, possibly following the lead of Edmund M. Wheelwright's design for the former headquarters of the Boston Fire Department (1894). ^[4]

Worcester architect G. Adolph Johnson worked in Clemence's office. ^[5]

Personal life and death

He was married to Anna Eliza McDonald in 1889. They had a daughter, Hazel, in 1890, and lived in a secluded house on Appleton Road adjacent to the Fairlawn estate. He was a Mason, affiliated with the Athelstan lodge in Worcester, as well as a Royal Arch Mason. ^[1] In 1896 he joined the American Institute of Architects (AIA) as a Fellow and is the most recent Fellow from Worcester. ^[6] He served as the third and last president of the Worcester chapter of the AIA from the time of Stephen Earle's death in 1913 until 1917, when its four remaining members voted to dissolve the chapter and join the Boston Society of Architects. ^{[1] [7]}

In later life, Clemence's health declined. He died February 2, 1924, in Worcester at the age of 59. ^[3]

Architectural works

A number of his works are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. ^{[8] [9]} They include:

In Worcester:

• Beacon Street Firehouse
• Bloomingdale Firehouse
• Dartmouth Street School
• Elizabeth Street School
• Harry Goddard House
• Green Hill Park Shelter
• Upsala Street School
• Waldo Street Police Station

In Southbridge, Massachusetts:

• Elm Street Fire House
• LaCroix-Mosher House

References

1. "George Henry Clemence" in History of Worcester and its People 3, ed. Charles Nutt (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1919): 314.
2. Inland Massachusetts Illustrated (Worcester: Elstner Publishing Company, 1891): 53.
3. "Obituary: George H. Clemence, FAIA" in Journal of the American Institute of Architects 12, no. 6 (June 1924): 298.
4. Richard M. Candee, Naomi Miller, Keith N. Morgan and Roger G. Reed, Buildings of Massachusetts: Metropolitan Boston, ed. Keith N. Morgan (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2009): 135.
5. John Nelson, "G. Adolph Johnson," in Worcester County: A Narrative History , vol. 3 (New York: American Historical Society, 1934): 82-83.
6. College of Fellows History & Directory, 2023 ed. (Washington: American Institute of Architects, 2023)
7. Proceedings of the Fifty-first Annual Convention of the American Institute of Architects (Washington: American Institute of Architects, 1918): 15.
8. Brian R. Pfeiffer and Candace Jenkins (May 1979). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Worcester Multiple Resource Area". National Park Service.
9. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. July 9, 2010.