Silas E. Nelsen was an American architect

Architect

An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...

. He worked for the Tacoma, Washington firm of Heath, Gove, and Bell (see Frederick Heath (architect)

Frederick Heath (architect)

Frederick Heath was an American architect responsible for numerous projects in Tacoma, Washington. He worked out of his own office and as a senior partner at architectural firms. He was involved with Spaulding, Russell & Heath , and Heath & Gove...

) for five years until 1917 when he started his own firm. He designed at least 15 churches, 150 residences, and some of the buildings on the University of Puget Sound

University of Puget Sound

The University of Puget Sound is a private liberal arts college located in the North End of Tacoma, Washington, in the United States...

 campus, as well as designs for several libraries. He was also an architect for some commercial buildings.

Nelsen's works include the McCormick Branch Library and the Everell S. Collins Memorial Library at the University of Puget Sound

University of Puget Sound

The University of Puget Sound is a private liberal arts college located in the North End of Tacoma, Washington, in the United States...

. Nelsen and George Gove are credited as the architects for the Tacoma Mausoleum

Tacoma Mausoleum

The Tacoma Mausoleum is a mausoleum in Tacoma, Washington. Built in 1910, the mausoleum was the first such structure to be built in the United States west of the Mississippi River. In 1918, the mausoleum was sued by David Rea and his wife, who claimed that the existence of a mausoleum near homes...

, which is historic landmark on the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

.

He was a member 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...

.

Background

Nelsen was born in "Stoten" (a likely misspelling of Stoughton

Stoughton, Wisconsin

Stoughton is a city in Dane County, Wisconsin, United States and is a neighbor of Madison. It straddles the Yahara River about 20 miles southeast of the capital, Madison. Stoughton is part of the Madison Metropolitan Statistical Area...

, Wisconsin

Wisconsin

Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...

) and went to high school in Portland, Oregon

Portland, Oregon

Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...

. He did not have formal training in architecture when he went to work for Heath, Gove, and Bell, but was able to start his own firm five years later. His first known project was a Tudor style dwelling at 2420 N. Union Avenue in Tacoma and he followed it with other residential buildings in a "twentieth century period revival styles such as Tudor Revival and Colonial Revival". By the 1930s and 1940s his work became more modern and streamlines in character. He designed a remodeling project for a Sears, Roebuck & Co. Store (1936), designed Fire Station No.2 and No.5 (1935) in Tacoma, and after World War II, he "continued in the Moderne vein with such projects as the Mueller-Harkins Buick Dealership (1948), the Temple Baptist Church (1949), and the Johnson Candy Company Building (1949)."

His projects from the 1950s and 1960s include the Grace Moore Library branch (1950) and Fern Hill Library (1950) branches of the Tacoma Public Library

Tacoma Public Library

The Tacoma Public Library system serves residents of Tacoma, Washington. It operates ten library branches, which include a central library in downtown Tacoma, two regional locations in north and south Tacoma, and in seven neighborhoods. The Tacoma library has nearly 150,000 registered users, and...

 system, "an International Style

International style (architecture)

The International style is a major architectural style that emerged in the 1920s and 1930s, the formative decades of Modern architecture. The term originated from the name of a book by Henry-Russell Hitchcock and Philip Johnson, The International Style...

 addition to the main Tacoma library (1952), the Tacoma City Light Administration Building (1953), and a Student Center (1959)". His design for the Collins Library at UPS was completed in 1952. Nelsen was also a "coordinating architect for several fraternity buildings on the (University of Puget Sound (UPS)) campus (1961)".

Libraries

Silas designed the Charlotte White Mottet Library (1930) for businessman Frederic Mottet, who "built up one of the greatest mercantile establishments in the Pacific Northwest, the Hunt and Mottet Company. He gave the library to Tacoma "in memory of his wife who was prominent in Tacoma's cultural and social life during the late 1880s" on a site "chosen because Mottet and his wife spent many hours riding in the McKinley Hill area." It was built for $9,800, including the land. It was constructed with whitewash

Whitewash

Whitewash, or calcimine, kalsomine, calsomine, or lime paint is a very low-cost type of paint made from slaked lime and chalk . Various other additives are also used...

ed brick library, and styled after a French provincial cottage

Cottage

__toc__In modern usage, a cottage is usually a modest, often cozy dwelling, typically in a rural or semi-rural location. However there are cottage-style dwellings in cities, and in places such as Canada the term exists with no connotations of size at all...

 consistent with Mottet's French Huguenot ancestry. Additions and renovations were carried out in 1964, 1975 and 1989 to "expand the library, bring it up to code, and add a community meeting room."

Works

• The Charlotte White Mottet Library (1930), 3523 East G Street

Tacoma

• Tacoma Mausoleum
  Tacoma Mausoleum
  The Tacoma Mausoleum is a mausoleum in Tacoma, Washington. Built in 1910, the mausoleum was the first such structure to be built in the United States west of the Mississippi River. In 1918, the mausoleum was sued by David Rea and his wife, who claimed that the existence of a mausoleum near homes...
  
  
• Everell S. Collins Memorial Library on the University of Puget Sound campus in Tacoma, Washington (1954)
• McCormick Branch Library
• Mueller-Hawkins Buick Dealership (1948)
• Johnson Candy Co. Building (1949)
• Tacoma Library addition (1952)
• Central Seventh Day Adventist Church, Tacoma (1953)
• Tacoma City Light Administration Building, Tacoma (1953)

Further reading

• American architects directory, Volume 1 - Page 24 American Institute of Architects - Architecture - 1955
• Library journal, Volume 79 - Page 2385