Ficken & Smith; Gambrill & Ficken; H. Edwards Ficken
H. Edwards Ficken (1852-1929) was an English American architect in practice in
New York City.
Early life and career
Henry Edwards Ficken was born May 25, 1852, in
London to Martin and Emily (Coles) Ficken.[1] He was educated privately at home and at the
Greenock Academy in Scotland.[2]
Ficken came to the United States in 1869 and worked variously for the firms of
Renwick & Sands,
Potter &
Robertson, and
McKim, Mead & Bigelow.[2] In 1878, he formed a partnership with Charles H. Smith as Ficken & Smith, though their association was brief. By the following year, he was instead in partnership with
Charles D. Gambrill. In October 1878, Gambrill had dissolved his former partnership with
Henry Hobson Richardson, with whom he had been associated with since 1867. Gambrill & Ficken existed only very briefly, as Gambrill died in 1880 in what was presumed to be a suicide.[3]
Aside from a brief association with Edward H. Clark, initiated in 1885,[4] Ficken maintained a private practice until 1913, when he was appointed supervising architect of
Woodlawn Cemetery, a position he held until his death in 1929.[5]
Ficken was an amateur athlete and a member of the
New York Athletic Club. In 1876, he was
national champion in the
high jump and, in 1877 and 1878, he was champion in the high jump as well as the
120 yards hurdles, though he later retired from competition.[7][8] In 1883, he was chosen architect of the club's new building, though his design was eventually rejected due to cost. After construction began on a more expensive building designed by
Charles W. Clinton, Ficken sued for and was awarded his full professional fee.[9]
Ficken married twice. He married his first wife Josephine Hubbard in 1880.[10] She died in 1886 soon after giving birth to twin daughters, Margery and Dorothy. In 1889, he married second to Mary Beck Goddard, as her second husband.[11] Dorothy married Frederick W. Gwynne and had three children. One of them,
Fred Gwynne, would become a noted actor.
^Although
Richard Morris Hunt was the architect of the house begun in 1885, Pinchot hired Ficken to design interiors and alterations while Hunt was abroad.