Schenck & Williams
Encyclopedia
Hawthorn Hill
Hawthorn Hill in Oakwood, Ohio, USA, was the post-1914 home of Orville, Milton, and Katharine Wright. Wilbur and Orville Wright intended for it to be their joint home, but Wilbur died in 1912, before the home's 1914 completion. The brothers hired the prominent Dayton architectural firm of...
home for Orville Wright and his sister and father, the Dayton Young Men's Christian Association Building
Dayton Young Men's Christian Association Building
The Landing Apartments is an historic structure located at 117 West Monument Street in Dayton, Ohio. It was designed by Schenck & Williams and added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 25, 1988....
, and the Engineers Club of Dayton
Engineers Club of Dayton
The Engineers Club of Dayton was founded by Colonel Edward A. Deeds and Charles F. Kettering in Dayton, Ohio in 1914. The club's building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the history of the club involves notable Daytonians and historical figures such as Orville...
building. The firm's partners were Harry J. Williams and Harry I Schenck, both 1903 Cornell University graduates and members of the American Institute of Architects
American Institute of Architects
The American Institute of Architects is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to support the architecture profession and improve its public image...
Several other Cornell graduates including Nelson J. Bell (1904), Robert E. Schenck (1912), Albert R. Reilly (1914), Wolfe Marcovitch (1915), Leslie L. Lambert (1916), Ernst W. Kurz (1917) and Ellason R. Smith (1917) came to work for the firm.
The partners were members of the Engineers Club of Dayton
Engineers Club of Dayton
The Engineers Club of Dayton was founded by Colonel Edward A. Deeds and Charles F. Kettering in Dayton, Ohio in 1914. The club's building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the history of the club involves notable Daytonians and historical figures such as Orville...
and designed its building in 1916. Workers completed the construction of the Engineers Club in early 1918. Harry I. Schenck was a charter club member. Architectural Record(in volume 45) included a long article about the club and its building, including a photograph and floor plans. The Club was described as a special collaboration between engineers, who supported it, and architects, and the article's author noted that it was designed in the Georgian architectural style.
Architectural Engineering (of Dayton?) Alumni News lists several architectural engineering graduates (Dan Bollinger '18 and Fred Lewis '21) as working for the firm. William Briedenback '22 went to work for Pretzinger & Musselman, a competing firm.
Projects
- Pleasant Hill United Church of Christ 10 W. Monument Street in Pleasant Hill, Ohio
- Newman-Edwards House (circa 1914) an English Tudor with French Eclectic Influence home at 60 Stoddard in Grafton Hill Dayton. Built for Theodore Newman, president of Dayton Paper Novelty Company. From 1935 to 1958 it was the home of attorney and Judge Cecil Edwards and his family, who was also one of the first airmail pilots in the country. The house features the half timbering and casement windowCasement windowA casement window is a window that is attached to its frame by one or more hinges. Casement windows are hinged at the side. A casement window (or casement) is a window that is attached to its frame by one or more hinges. Casement windows are hinged at the side. A casement window (or casement) is a...
s common to both English and French revival or period houses. The architecture is based on prototypical "design characteristics which evolved from several centuries of farm or rural domestic architecture. However, French Eclectic houses normally lack the front-facing cross gables characteristic of the Tudor style. Instead, the dominant feature here is the hip roof, which in the Medieval French countryside would have probably been constructed of thatch." The twelve room Newman-Edwards house was converted to a duplex in 1962. - Hawthorn HillHawthorn HillHawthorn Hill in Oakwood, Ohio, USA, was the post-1914 home of Orville, Milton, and Katharine Wright. Wilbur and Orville Wright intended for it to be their joint home, but Wilbur died in 1912, before the home's 1914 completion. The brothers hired the prominent Dayton architectural firm of...
(1912-1914) National Historic LandmarkNational Historic LandmarkA National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance... - Engineers Club of DaytonEngineers Club of DaytonThe Engineers Club of Dayton was founded by Colonel Edward A. Deeds and Charles F. Kettering in Dayton, Ohio in 1914. The club's building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the history of the club involves notable Daytonians and historical figures such as Orville...
(1918) NRHP listed - Liberty Tower (Dayton)Liberty Tower (Dayton)The Liberty Tower is a high-rise office building in Dayton, Ohio, United States. The tower was designed by the Dayton architectural firm of Schenck & Williams. The tower is named Liberty Tower after [].-History:...
- Charles F. Kettering HouseCharles F. Kettering HouseThe Charles F. Kettering House is a National Historic Landmark in Kettering, Ohio, the residence of inventor Charles F. Kettering, founder of Delco. The Tudor Revival house, also known as Ridgeleigh Terrace, was reputed to be the first house in the United States with electric air conditioning. It...
(1914) National Historic Landmark. Destroyed by fire in 1997; rebuilt in an unsympathetic manner. - Facilities of Grace Church (Dayton, Ohio)
- Ashland National Bank building (1922), an 11-story bank building at the "heart of downton" Ashland, KentuckyAshland, KentuckyAshland, formerly known as Poage Settlement, is a city in Boyd County, Kentucky, United States, nestled along the banks of the Ohio River. The population was 21,981 at the 2000 census. Ashland is a part of the Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH, Metropolitan Statistical Area . As of the 2000 census, the...
- Second Church of Christ Science (circa 1923), a Neoclassical or Classical Revival church on Grand Avenue and Belmonte Park North. Schenk and Williams also designed several houses in the Grafton Hill area. The building was described by architectural historian Steve Gordon as "solid, pretentious and patriotic." The Neoclassical style gained popularity as a result of its widespread use at the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893 and the Pan-American Exhibition at San Francisco in 1901. The church also has more contemporary Beaux-Arts style features, Neoclassical architecture usually being simpler or more austere. Public buildings seemed particularly suited to the robust but restrained design features of the style. Usually built of stone, this type of building often features large post and lintel Grecian forms, as apparent on the Second Church of Christ Science where four thirty foot Doric columns dominate the facade.
- Beta Theta Pi House (1927) an English Vernacular style building at Denison UniversityDenison UniversityDenison University is private, coeducational, and residential college of liberal arts and sciences founded in 1831. It is located in Granville, Ohio, United States, approximately 30 miles east of Columbus, the state capital...
. It was the first fraternityFraternityA fraternity is a brotherhood, though the term usually connotes a distinct or formal organization. An organization referred to as a fraternity may be a:*Secret society*Chivalric order*Benefit society*Friendly society*Social club*Trade union...
to build uphill following the 1925 plan for the new Fraternity Row. - La Plaza Shopping Center (1937) Palm Springs
- Graphic Arts BuildingGraphic Arts BuildingThe Graphic Arts Building in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, USA, is an eight story, 58 unit, reinforced concrete building. Following an approval in 2005 for redevelopment, it currently houses the Graphic Arts Lofts ....
221-223 S. Ludlow St. in Dayton, associated with the printing and publishing industry. Located in an area once known as Dayton’s publishing district, the five-story building, completed in 1925, has a poured-in-place concrete structure designed to be fireproof and carry the weight of heavy printing equipment and supplies. Generous windows take full advantage of natural daylight. It housed the Christian Publishing Association – founded in 1843 as the Ohio Christian Book Association – until 1936. - NCR Building 26 (1938), (altered and later demolished by the University of Dayton in 2007) an Art DecoArt DecoArt deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
building on Stewart Street and Patterson Boulevard in Dayton. It served as a night school for NCRNCR CorporationNCR Corporation is an American technology company specializing in kiosk products for the retail, financial, travel, healthcare, food service, entertainment, gaming and public sector industries. Its main products are self-service kiosks, point-of-sale terminals, automated teller machines, check...
employees and during World War IIWorld War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
was leased the building to the Navy to house the secret Naval Computing Machine Laboratory (NCML), where Joseph R. Desch led the development of an American version of the BombeBombeThe bombe was an electromechanical device used by British cryptologists to help decipher German Enigma-machine-encrypted signals during World War II...
, a machine that decrypted German communications. The University of DaytonUniversity of DaytonThe University of Dayton is a private Roman Catholic university operated by the Society of Mary located in Dayton, Ohio...
owned the building and wanted it demolished for a new development in 2007. Their consultant's report concludes that although Building 26 has significance because of its association with NCML and Medal of MeritMedal of MeritSeveral countries award a military or civil medal called Medal of Merit:* Medal of Merit of the Dominican Woman* Medal of Merit * Medal of Merit * Medal of Merit...
recipient Joseph Desch, the building lacks integrity due to removal of much Art Deco ornamentation when it was encased on three sides by a newer building in the 1960s, concluding that Building 26 is ineligible for National Register of Historic Preservation listing. Dayton residents protested April 23, 2007 at a public hearing at Carillon Historic Park, facilitated by the Ohio Historic Preservation Office. - Dayton Power and Light Building 601,607-609, 613-645 E. Third St.
Dayton, Ohio. Listed in the National Register of Historic Places since April 12, 2006.