R. Brognard Okie | |
---|---|
Born | Camden, New Jersey, U.S. | June 26, 1875
Died | 27 December 1945 70) | (aged
Alma mater | University of Pennsylvania |
Occupation | Architect |
Years active | 1898-1945 |
Richardson Brognard Okie Jr. (1875-1945) was an American architect. He is noted for his Colonial-Revival houses and his sensitive restorations of historic buildings.
Okie was born in Camden, New Jersey, to Dr. Richardson B. and Clara Mickle Okie. [1] He grew up in Chester County, Pennsylvania, graduated from the architecture program at the University of Pennsylvania in 1897, and briefly studied in Europe. [2] He gained practical experience from a summer (1896) spent with William L. Price. After college he was employed by Arthur S. Cochran and soon became his associate. [1] In 1899, he formed a partnership with architects H. Louis Duhring Jr. and Carl Ziegler, that lasted until 1918. He practiced independently until his death in 1945. In his later years he was joined by his son Charles (b. 1915). [2]
He designed a re-creation of George Washington's "President's House" as an attraction at the 1926 Sesquicentennial Exposition in Philadelphia; a re-creation of Pennsbury Manor, William Penn's manor house on the Delaware River, as a museum for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; and restored the Betsy Ross House in Philadelphia as a museum. He also designed dozens of exquisitely-detailed Colonial-Revival houses in the suburbs surrounding Philadelphia. He bought his own house, "Hillside" in Radnor, Pennsylvania, in 1901, and tinkered with it periodically. It remains in his family's possession. [3]
A number of his works are listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. [4] Okie's papers are held by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. [5]
Willistown Township is a township in Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 10,497 at the 2010 census. At the 1860 census, the population of Willistown was 1,521, and in 1980 it was 8,269.
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Radnor is a community which straddles Montgomery and Delaware Counties, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located approximately 13 miles west of Philadelphia, in the Main Line suburbs. The community was named after Radnor, in Wales.
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Pennsbury Manor is the colonial estate of William Penn, founder and proprietor of the Colony of Pennsylvania, who lived there from 1699 to 1701. He left it and returned to England in 1701, where he died penniless in 1718. Following his departure and financial woes, the estate fell into numerous hands and disrepair. Since 1939 it has been the name of a reconstructed manor on the original property.
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St. David's Episcopal Church, also known as St. David's at Radnor or Old St. David's, is a parish of the Episcopal Church located at 763 South Valley Forge Road in Radnor Township, Pennsylvania. The church property contains the original church built in 1715, a chapel, church offices, school and cemetery. The property straddles the borders of Radnor Township and Newtown Township in Delaware County and the majority of the cemetery is in Easttown Township, Chester County. It was founded c. 1700 in the Welsh Tract section of the Province of Pennsylvania by Welsh settlers and has grown to be the largest congregation in the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania with approximately 3,000 members. The original church and cemetery were placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
The Radnor Friends Meetinghouse is an historic, American Quaker meeting house that is located on Sproul and Conestoga Roads in Radnor Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania.
Herman Louis Duhring Jr. was an American architect from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He designed several buildings that are listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
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Furness & Evans was a Philadelphia architectural partnership, established in 1881, between architect Frank Furness and his former chief draftsman, Allen Evans. In 1886, other employees were made partners, and the firm became Furness, Evans & Company. George Howe worked in the firm and later became a partner at Mellor & Meigs, another Philadelphia firm.
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The Reading Furnace Historic District is a national historic district that is located in Warwick Township and East Nantmeal Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania.
Bolingbroke Mansion is an 18th-century mansion located in Radnor, Pennsylvania, now used as a party house.
Garrison, James B. (2013). Stone Houses: Traditional Homes of R. Brognard Okie. New York: Rizzoli. ISBN 978-0-8478-4078-6.