George Albert Clough (May 27, 1843 – December 30, 1910) was an architect working in Boston in the late 19th century. He designed the Suffolk County Courthouse in Pemberton Square, and numerous other buildings in the city and around New England. Clough served as the first City Architect of Boston from 1876 to 1883.
Life and career George Albert Clough was born May 27, 1843, in Blue Hill, Maine. He attended the Blue Hill Academy and worked as a draftsman for his father, the shipbuilder Asa Clough. He moved to Boston in 1863, entering the firm of Snell & Gregerson as a student. He remained with Snell until 1869, when he established his own practice."George A. Clough," in Massachusetts of To-day: A Memorial of the State, Historical and Biographical, Issued for the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago, ed. Daniel P. Toomey and Thomas C. Quinn (Boston: Columbia Publishing Company, 1892): 230. In 1876 he was elected City Architect of Boston, the first person to hold the office. He continued in that position until 1883, when he was replaced by Charles J. Bateman."Municipal Affairs," Boston Daily Advertiser, February 27, 1883, 2. He was awarded his largest commission, the Suffolk County Courthouse, in competition two years later in 1885. This building was completed in 1893, largely to Clough's design but with modifications he disapproved of. He was a private practitioner until 1901, when he formed a partnership with Herbert L. Wardner. Clough & Wardner operated until Clough's death in 1910.
Wardner continued to practice on his own in Boston until 1915, when he moved to Poughkeepsie, New York, moving again to Akron, Ohio, in 1919,"Wardner, Herbert Leavitt," in Report of the Thirtieth Anniversary of the Class of Eighteen Ninety-three (1923): 303. where he died in 1939.
Personal life In 1876 Clough married Amelia M. Hinckley of Thetford, Vermont, the sister of Lyman G. Hinckley. They had three children.
Clough died December 30, 1910, at home in Brookline, Massachusetts, at the age of 67."City's First Architect," Boston Daily Globe, January 1, 1911, 18.
Legacy Historian Walter Muir Whitehill described him as "a competent but not very inspired practitioner."Walter Muir Whitehill. The Making of an Architectural Masterpiece: The Boston Public Library. American Art Journal, Vol. 2, No. 2 (Autumn, 1970), p.14
A number of Clough's projects have been listed on the United States National Register of Historic Places.
Architectural works
Gaston Grammar School, City Point, South Boston, 1873Annual report of the School Committee of the City of Boston, 1873 Fields Corner Municipal Building, Dorchester, Boston, 1874 Framingham Reservoir No. 1 Dam and Gatehouse, E end of Framingham Reservoir No. 1, off Winter St. N of Long Ave. Framingham, Massachusetts, 1876 Framingham Reservoir No. 3 Dam and Gatehouse, SE end of Framingham Reservoir No. 3, off MA 9/30 Framingham, Massachusetts, 1876 English High and Latin School, Montgomery St., Boston, 1877 Framingham Reservoir No. 2 Dam and Gatehouse, Between Framingham Reservoirs Nos. 1 and 2, W of jct. of Winter and Fountain Sts. Framingham, Massachusetts, 1877 Marcella Street Home, Boston, 1880Jane Holtz Kay. Lost Boston, expanded ed. 2006 Prince School, corner Newbury St. and Exeter St., Boston, 1881 Old State House (Boston, Massachusetts), restored by Clough 1881-1882Old Statehouse May be Moved Boston Antiquarians Have a Plan to Save the Historic Structure. Kansas City Star; Date: 06-28-1903 Dillaway School, Boston, 1882 Calf Pasture Pumping Station Complex, Dorchester, Boston, 1883 Goddard Hall, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts, 1883 Lyman School for Boys, Westborough, Massachusetts, c.1885,State Library of Massachusetts. Report of the librarian of the state library, 1886. Boston: 1887. NRHP-listed Barncastle, 125 South St. (formerly 'Ideal Lodge') Blue Hill, Maine, 1884 B.M.C. Durfee High School building, Fall River, Massachusetts, 1886 Buck Memorial Library, Bucksport, Maine, 1887 Bridge Academy, ME 127 and ME 197 Dresden, Maine, 1890 St. Mark's Methodist Church, 90 Park St. Brookline, Massachusetts, 1892 Curtis Hall, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts, 1893 Suffolk County Courthouse, Pemberton Square, Boston, 1893 New England Historic Genealogical Society building extension, Somerset St., Boston, 1894New England historical and genealogical register, Volume 65. 1911 William Hayes Fogg Memorial Building, Berwick Academy, Maine, 1894 Church of the Gate of Heaven, South Boston, c.1896American architect and building news, Jan. 9, 1897 Parker House, 185 South St. Blue Hill, Maine 1900 remodeling. Rockland Public Library, Rockland, Maine, 1903Stimpson. Rockland, Rockport and Camden. New England Magazine, Sept. 1904 Vinalhaven Public Library, Carver St. Vinalhaven, Maine, 1906 Bridgewater state workhouse Westboro insane asylum Northampton insane asylum Dana Hall, Wellesley, Mass Sudbury Aqueduct Linear District, along Sudbury Aqueduct from Farm Pond at Waverly St. to Chestnut Hill Reservoir
Gallery
Notes
References
Further reading Massachusetts of today: a memorial of the state, historical and biographical, issued for the World's Columbian exposition at Chicago. Columbia publishing company, 1892. Samuel Atkins Eliot, ed. "George Albert Clough." Biographical history of Massachusetts: biographies and autobiographies of the leading men in the state, Volume 3. Boston: Massachusetts Biographical Society, 1911
External links
WorldCat Flickr. Photo of Prince School building, Boston, 2005 Flickr. Photo of Calf Pasture Pumping Station building, Boston, 2003 Flickr. Photo of Calf Pasture Pumping Station building, Boston, 2009 Flickr. Photo of Calf Pasture Pumping Station building, Boston, 2009 Flickr. Photo of Calf Pasture Pumping Station building, Boston, 2009