From BeauxArts to Modernism: The Alabama Architecture of D.O. Whilldin, 1881-1970

FROM BEAUX-ARTS TO MODERNISM:

THE ALABAMA ARCHITECTURE OF

D. O. WHILLDIN, 1881-1970

By

THOMAS MARK SHELBY

A THESIS

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts

in the Joint Program in Art History in the Graduate Schools of

The University of Alabama at Birmingham and The University of Alabama

TUSCALOOSA, ALABAMA

2006

Submitted by Thomas Mark Shelby in partial fulfillment of the requirements for

the degree of Master of Arts specializing in Art History.

Accepted on behalf of the Faculty of the Graduate School by the thesis

committee:

________________________ Catherine Pagani, Ph.D ________________________ Heather McPherson, Ph.D ________________________ John M. Schnorrenberg, Ph.D Professor Emeritus ________________________ Robert O. Mellown, Ph.D Chairperson ________________________ William Dooley, M.F.A. Department Chairperson

_______________ Date

________________________ Ronald W. Rogers, Ph.D Dean of the Graduate School

_______________ Date

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TO MY PARENTS AND IN MEMORY OF MY GRANDMOTHER

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

In the three years that I have spent chronicling the life and works of Birmingham

architect D. O. Whilldin, one of this state’s most significant early twentieth-century

architects, I have been assisted in my research by many people and institutions.

More than half of the research for this thesis was done at the Birmingham Public

Library. I am most grateful to its library and archives staff, including James L. Baggett,

Don Veasey, Gigi Gowdy, and Yolanda Valentin of the Department of Archives and

Manuscripts, as well as librarians in the Tutwiler Collection of Southern History and

Literature, Government Documents and Microforms, and in the Business, Science, and

Technology Department. I am also grateful to other librarians and archivists at the

Tuscaloosa Public Library, Gadsden Public Library, the Morgan County Archives, the

Limestone County Archives, Albertville Public Library, the St. Clair County Museum

and Archives, and Auburn University Special Collections and Archives Department.

Clark Center and his staff at the William S. Hoole Special Collections Library of the

University of Alabama were also particularly helpful.

Many other individuals and organizations also contributed information about

D. O. Whilldin. These included Marjorie White of the Birmingham Historical Society,

Walter Garrett of the Birmingham Park and Recreation Board, Shirley Lollar of the

Tuscaloosa City Board of Education, John Merrill of the Tuscaloosa County Board of

Education, Nez Calhoun of the Jefferson County Board of Education, Sadie Denson and

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Roy Weaver of the Birmingham Board of Education, A.J. de Montgris of the Heritage

Commission of Tuscaloosa County, Gene Ford of the University of Alabama, Lisa

Algiere and Erin Wiggins of the Tuscaloosa County Park and Recreation Authority

(PARA), Pamela Penick of the Arts and Humanities Council of Tuscaloosa County, and

the staff of the State Board of Registration of Architects in Montgomery, the Jefferson

County Historical Commission, and the Gadsden Country Club. Bob Scarboro made

available his extensive collection of early photographs of Gadsden, and the clerks in the

probate records of Jefferson, Tuscaloosa, Etowah, and Shelby Counties were generally

helpful and patient. John McWilliams of Tuscumbia and Pat Morrison of Jasper supplied

some hard-to-locate photographs of some early buildings.

Especially enjoyable, and helpful, were conversations with family and friends of

Whilldin himself. His two granddaughters, Virginia Fox Cord and Cornelia Fox

Crumbaugh shared many stories of their grandfather, family pictures, and other

documents. Myron Sasser, retired Chief of Inspection Services for the City of

Birmingham, recounted many tales and conversations with the architect from the period

he knew him during the 1950s until his death.

I am grateful to the many individuals who own homes or buildings designed by

Whilldin. In many cases these they have the original blueprints and are intimately

familiar with the history of the house. Among them are Kenneth Fowler, Calhoun

Wilson, Dean Frank Walburn, Meg Lancaster, and Dr. and Mrs. Partlow of Tuscaloosa,

and Jeffrey Pizitz, Elberta and Robert Reid, James Hancock, Barclay and Richard

Darden, Mary Crommelin, Mary Crowe, and Cleo O’Neal of Birmingham, and in

Gadsden, Ken and Connie Brown, Leon and Edwina Cooper, and Mr. B. Murdock. I

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especially appreciated access to the roof of the ten story AmSouth Building in Tuscaloosa

by Dr. Roger Suttle, the owner, who also allowed me to copy some of the blueprints to

the building. In Birmingham I wish to thank Chip Watts of Watts Realty for taking me

inside the old Thomas Jefferson, or Cabana Hotel, and David Wininger, whose office

now occupies the Whilldin Building.

Thanks are also extended to Myron Estes, who helped with many of the images

and drawings, and John Lieb for his photography at Phillips High School. Financial

assistance was provided by a stipend from the University’s 2005 Graduate Student

Research and Travel Fund, which helped offset the cost of duplicating blueprints and

travel.

I am most appreciative of my parents who have supported me in this endeavor,

and who have shared stories and information about growing up in Birmingham and

Bessemer. Both attended a Whilldin designed high school.

Last, but not least, I acknowledge the assistance of the members of my thesis

committee, Drs. Robert Mellown, Catherine Pagani, and Heather Mcphearson for their

suggestions and guidance. Gratitude is especially extended to Dr. John Schnorrenberg,

and to my thesis director, Dr. Robert Mellown, for their help, patience, suggestions, and

guidance over the years.

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CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS............................................................................................. iv LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................viii ABSTRACT...................................................................................................................xiii INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 1 CHAPTER ONE: THE EARLY WORKS, 1904-1920 .................................................. 11 CHAPTER TWO: PROFESSIONAL PROMINENCE IN THE 1920S......................... 58 CHAPTER THREE: THE THIRTIES: THE GREAT ESTATES,

PUBLIC HOUSING, AND NEW ARCHITECTURAL STYLES ........................ 129 CHAPTER FOUR: THE POST WAR BUILDING BOOM

AND INTERNATIONAL MODERNISM............................................................. 182 CONCLUSION............................................................................................................. 203 ENDNOTES ................................................................................................................. 212 BIBLIOGRAPHY......................................................................................................... 234 APPENDIX 1 THE “CORNERSTONE LETTER” ..................................................... 245 APPENDIX 2 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF KNOWN PROJECTS ........................ 247 FIGURES...................................................................................................................... 260

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LIST OF FIGURES

1. Color tinted photograph of D. O. Whilldin taken sometime in the 1920s ................ 261 2. Birmingham High School, 1904-1906...................................................................... 262 3. Pilgrim Congregational Hall, 1906-1907.................................................................. 262 4. Elyton School, 1908, and detail of entrance ............................................................. 263 5. Residence for J. Cary Thompson, 1908-1910........................................................... 264 6. Residence for T. G. Brabston, 1909.......................................................................... 265 7. West End Carnegie Library, 1909 ............................................................................ 266 8. Ensley High School, 1909-1911, perspective rendering and detail of entrance ....... 267 9. Architect’s presentation rendering of the Young Women’s Christian

Association, 1911-1912 ........................................................................................... 268 10. The Richmond, 1912, and details ........................................................................... 269 11. Commercial building for Hagedorn and Echols Real Estate, Gadsden,

Alabama, 1912 ..................................................................................................... 270 12. Residence for Walter L. Sessions, 1913 ................................................................. 271 13. The First National Bank of Lincoln, 1914.............................................................. 271 14. Residence for William “Bull” Fitts, Tuscaloosa, 1914........................................... 272 15. Fitts residence, view of staircase and entry hall from foyer ................................... 273 16. Chapter house for Delta Kappa Epsilon Fraternity, 1916....................................... 274 17. Chapter house for Delta Kappa Epsilon Fraternity; Front elevation; June 1916.... 275 18. Proposed Administration Building for the Birmingham Board of Education;

Front elevation; September 1917.......................................................................... 276

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19. Lewisburg School, 1917-18.................................................................................... 277 20. Birmingham Fire Station Number 1, 1920 ............................................................. 277 21. Architect’s presentation rendering of the John Herbert Phillips High School;

1920-1923, second unit completed 1925 and main entrance to school ................ 278 22. John Herbert Phillips Memorial Library................................................................. 279 23. School at Mt. Pinson, 1921-1922............................................................................ 280 24. Main entrance to Tuscaloosa High School, 1923-25.............................................. 281 25. Winsborough Hall, Stillman College, Tuscaloosa, 1920-21 .................................. 281 26. Druid City Hospital and Nurse’s Home, Tuscaloosa, 1921-23 .............................. 282 27. Bank and office building for the Merchants Bank and Trust (1922-1925)

and Bama Theatre (1923-1924) ............................................................................ 283 28. Bank and office building for the Merchants Bank and Trust; Sheet 11

[cornice details]; January 5, 1924 ......................................................................... 284 29. Personal office building for D. O. Whilldin, 1923-1924, and detail of

north half of building ............................................................................................ 285 30. West End Masonic Temple, 1926-1927.................................................................. 286 31. Sims Building, 1926-1927, and detail of second floor arcade................................ 287 32. Pantages Vaudeville House, 1927 .......................................................................... 288 33. Pantages Vaudeville House, interior side view, 1927 ............................................ 289 34. Personal residence for D. O. Whilldin, 1926-1928, and staircase .......................... 290 35. Personal residence for D. O. Whilldin, living room and dining room.................... 291 36. Architect’s rendering of proposed Municipal Stadium at Legion Field, 1927 ....... 292 37. Elevation drawing of Memorial Entrance (extant) and South Entrance

(unexecuted) to Municipal Stadium...................................................................... 293 38. Memorial Entrance to Municipal Stadium at Legion Field, detail of

sleeping lion, west side, 1929 ............................................................................... 293

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39. Aland Building (Ideal Department Store), 1928..................................................... 294 40. Residence for Henry Upson Sims, 1928-1929, and general view of

entrance hall and circular staircase ....................................................................... 295 41. Architect’s rendering of the proposed Medical Arts Building, 1928 ..................... 296 42. The Hotel Thomas Jefferson, 1925-1929................................................................ 297 43. The Hotel Thomas Jefferson, elevation and detail drawing; nd ............................. 298 44. The Hotel Thomas Jefferson, general view of upper floors of building,

17th Street façade................................................................................................... 299 45. The Hotel Thomas Jefferson, lobby ceiling............................................................ 299 46. Residence for the Mountain Brook Land Company, ca. 1929................................ 300 47. Residence for William J. Rushton, 1929, and staircase.......................................... 301 48. Residence for William J. Rushton, Esq.; Sheet 6 Main elevation .......................... 302 49. Residence for William J. Rushton, Esq.; Sheet 3 First Floor Plan ......................... 303 50. Residence for Richard J. Stockham ........................................................................ 304 51. Residence for Mrs. J. Frank Rushton, 1931............................................................ 305 52. Residence for Mrs. George H. Stubbs, 1931 .......................................................... 306 53. Residence for Mary Rushton Yancey, 1937, and entrance hall and staircase ........ 307 54. Hotel Reich, Gadsden, 1928-1930.......................................................................... 308 55. Residence for Adolph P. Reich, 1929..................................................................... 309 56. Residence for Mrs. John S. Paden, 1929 ................................................................ 310 57. Additions and alterations to a store building for Charles Black Clothing

Company, Tuscaloosa, 1930, and detail photograph ............................................ 311 58. Twentieth Street Underpass, detail of sidewalk portal, 1931 ................................. 312 59. Sketch of underpass, nd .......................................................................................... 313

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60. Perspective rendering of the Dr. Pepper Syrup Plant, 1931, and detail.................. 314 61. Residence for Frederick M. Dickinson, Tuscaloosa, 1933, and staircase .............. 315 62. Smithfield Court Housing Project, 1935-1938 ....................................................... 316 63. Tuscaloosa City Hall and Bama Theatre, 1936-38 ................................................. 317 65. Tuscaloosa City Hall and Bama Theatre; Sheet 15, Longitudinal Section;

January 1936, revised 15 April 1936 .................................................................... 318 64. Tuscaloosa City Hall and Bama Theatre; Sheet 13, Greensboro Avenue

Elevation; January 1936, revised 15 April 1936................................................... 319 66. Tuscaloosa City Hall and Bama Theatre, 1936-38, general view of right

side of theatre from balcony ................................................................................. 320 67. Architect’s rendering of proposed building for the Brown Service Company,

1936....................................................................................................................... 321 68. Building for the Brown Service Company; Sheet 5, elevations, April 1936.......... 322 69. White Dairy Company, 1938 .................................................................................. 323 70. Theatre for the Eighth Avenue Theatre Company; Sheet 5, sections

and elevations; 1938 ............................................................................................. 324 71. F. W. Woolworth Store, 1939, and detail ............................................................... 325 72. St. Francis Catholic Church, Bessemer; 1946-47 ................................................... 326 73. Pitman Theatre, Gadsden, 1946.............................................................................. 327 74. Elk’s Lodge, Gadsden, 1949................................................................................... 328 75. Medical Clinic for Dr. E. A. Isbell, Gadsden, 1949 ............................................... 328 76. Addition to the American National Bank, Gadsden, 1954 ..................................... 329 77. Mitchell School, Gadsden, 1947............................................................................. 329 78. Trinity Episcopal Church, Bessemer; 1953-1954................................................... 330 79. Unexecuted design for Trinity Episcopal Church, Bessemer; Sheet 7,

Left Side Elevation, 20 April 1953....................................................................... 331

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80. Unexecuted design for Trinity Episcopal Church, Bessemer; Sheet 8, Interior Elevations and Sections, 20 April 1953................................................................ 332

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ABSTRACT

In this thesis I have documented the life and works of prominent Birmingham

architect D. O. Whilldin. Prior to my research very little has been published about him,

and much of it came from secondary sources and is erroneous. Fortunately, a wealth of

information about this man and the buildings he designed has survived in various archival

and private collections. This thesis not only investigates the life and education of the

architect, but it also contains a compilation of his major and minor structures. His career

is interwoven with the history of Birmingham and Alabama as well as architectural trends

of the first half of the twentieth century. Whilldin, a Philadelphia native, was born in

1881 and was educated at the University of Pennsylvania. He moved to Birmingham in

1902, attracted by the opportunity of a booming industrial economy, and remained there

until his death in 1970. A remarkable architect, he was comfortable in many different

styles, ranging from Arts and Crafts, Beaux-Arts, Prairie, Italian Renaissance, Classical

Revival, Colonial, Art Deco, Moderne, and Modern. He singularly transformed the built

environment of Tuscaloosa and Gadsden, and designed some of the most important and

recognizable buildings in Birmingham. As such, he was integral to the evolution of

architecture in the State of Alabama and left a rich architectural heritage.

INTRODUCTION

Between the 1880s and the late 1920s, Birmingham and other cities in central

Alabama experienced dramatic growth in population, commerce, and industry, which is

readily apparent from the building boom of this era. Birmingham was the most

progressive and one of the largest cities in the South. A New South city in an old South

state, Birmingham was established in 1871 at the crossing of two rail lines: the South &

North Alabama Railway, funded by the state to develop its mineral regions, with the

recently completed Alabama & Chattanooga Railway. At this crossing, located a few

miles east of the county seat of Elyton, the new city was surveyed and platted in a

recently cleared old cornfield.1

Named for its industrial counterpart in England, the new city was based on the

grid system, with square blocks and straight, 100-foot-wide roadways. Included in the

plan were spaces reserved for parks, a cemetery, churches, and the railroad reservation.

The city was developed by the Elyton Land Company (later the Birmingham Realty Co.),

a real estate firm which held options on 4,000 acres of land at the crossing. Envisioned

as a great industrial center by John T. Milner, chief engineer for the South & North

Railway, much of the early development of the city was characterized by speculative land

deals and rather crude infrastructure, complete with saloons and brothels, marking

Birmingham as a boom town in every sense of the word.2

The key to Birmingham’s success lay beneath the ground. The city is located in a

limestone valley adjacent to iron ore rich Red Mountain, with the Warrior and Cahaba

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coal fields in close proximity. Also readily available was dolomite, used as flux in the

iron and steel industry, and shales and clays for the brick and tile manufacturing

industries. In 1880, the first pig iron was produced at Alice Furnace No.1, ushering in the

economic boom of the 1880s. During this time eleven furnace companies, including

Sloss, began operation, as well as the Birmingham Rolling Mills and the Birmingham

Foundry and Car Manufacturing Company. During these boom years Birmingham was

nicknamed “the Magic City.” By 1890 it had a population of 50,000 and was the largest

city in Alabama.3

By the turn of the century there were at least ninety towns thriving in the

Birmingham district, ranging from small mining communities to larger industrial centers,

such as Pratt City, Thomas, Bessemer, and Ensley. At Ensley, the largest battery of iron

furnaces in the world was completed in 1889, and by 1910 Ensley rivaled Birmingham in

industrial importance. In 1886 the Tennessee Coal, Iron, and Railroad Company (TCI)

entered the Birmingham marketplace, and by 1891 had control of the industrial

operations at Bessemer and Ensley as well as at other sites throughout the district. In

1907 TCI was absorbed by the United States Steel Corporation.4

At the dawn of the twentieth century economic prosperity had transformed

Birmingham into a major regional center. As a physical affirmation of this prosperity,

the first steel frame building in the city was constructed in 1902. Between 1903 and

1913, the skyline of Birmingham changed dramatically, with nine of these highrises

being erected, and soon Twentieth Street began to be called Birmingham’s “Grand

Canyon.” The center of this district was the intersection of 20th Street and 1st Avenue

North, termed the “Heaviest corner on earth” where four skyscrapers rose on each corner.

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The Birmingham Terminal Station (P. Thornton Marye, Architect), completed in 1909,

was considered the finest in the South. Industrial expansion continued as well, and by

1910 Birmingham produced 795 different products and millions of tons of coal, coke, and

pig iron, as well as steel. Birmingham was growing rapidly, and architects and builders

were needed as buildings, infrastructure, and other facilities became increasingly

complex.5

During the first quarter of the twentieth century a number of architects and

builders had been lured to the "Magic City" by economic prosperity. Eugene H. Knight

and William T. Warren, from Jacksonville, Florida and Montgomery, Alabama,

respectively, eventually formed the firm of Warren, Knight, and Davis. They designed a

number of important buildings throughout the state, such as Birmingham's Alabama

Power Company building (1925), the Federal Reserve Bank (1924), the Watts Building

(1927), the Protective Life Building (1928), and a number of buildings at Auburn

University (1920-1940). John Miller and Hugh Martin, from Glasgow, Scotland and

Paducah, Kentucky, respectively, formed Miller and Martin and then later Miller, Martin,

and Lewis. They were responsible for the design of most of the buildings at the

University of Alabama, as well as other important buildings in Birmingham such as the

Birmingham Trust National Bank (1922) and the Birmingham Public Library (1927).

Other important Birmingham firms were those of William L. Welton, designer of the

Massey Building (1920), William C. Weston, originally from New Zealand, designer of

the Title Guaranty Building (1903) and the twenty five story City Federal Building

(1913), Charles and Harry Wheelock, designers of the Steiner Bank (1890), the Frank

Nelson building (1904), the Molton Hotel (1913), and the YMCA (1911), and finally,

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D. O. Whilldin of Philadelphia, the subject of this thesis. Whilldin's most significant

Birmingham buildings included the YWCA (1912), Phillips High School (1923), the

Florentine (1927), and the Thomas Jefferson Hotel (1929), as well as many buildings in

central Alabama that are documented in this thesis.6

Published contributions and current scholarship on the study of the built

environment of Birmingham and central Alabama have largely been limited to individual

buildings and districts, rather than the collected works of an individual architect. The

most significant study to date examines the architecture of the Birmingham firm of

Warren, Knight, and Davis. This catalogue, designed to accompany a Birmingham

Museum of Art exhibit and written by University of Alabama at Birmingham art historian

Dr. John Schnorrenberg, examines the personalities and architectural works of this

prestigious firm.7 Other significant studies of Birmingham architecture, listed in the

Bibliography, have been published by the Birmingham Historical Society. Another rich

source of detailed information for individual buildings or districts and neighborhoods can

be found in nomination forms for the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).

To date, three M. A. theses have been devoted to the built environment of

Birmingham and Central Alabama: Julie Morris, of the University of Alabama, discussed

the designs of the Atlanta, Mobile, and Birmingham railroad terminals and the

contributions of their architect, Philip Thornton Marye.8 Shirley Osband, of the

University of Alabama at Birmingham, examined Art Deco architecture as a modernist

art movement reflecting the ideals of commerce and popular culture. She used three

Warren, Knight, and Davis buildings in Birmingham as case studies on the spread and

regional adaptation of Art Deco: the Alabama Power Company Building, the Protective

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Life Building, and the Federal Reserve Bank.9 Stella Rainey, of the University of

Alabama, examined the styles and building materials of commercial banks erected

between 1887 and 1925 in Tuscaloosa.10

Birmingham has a rich architectural heritage, and much of it was designed by

D. O. Whilldin. This thesis studies his life and work, and his contributions to the

architectural fabric of Birmingham and central Alabama. Chapter One contains a

biographical sketch of Whilldin which reveals his education and architectural training,

covering the years 1881 to 1902. This is followed by a study of his early career and

works, covering the years 1902 to 1919. It was during this time that Whilldin designed

numerous schools and other buildings in Birmingham, Tuscaloosa, and Gadsden.

The second chapter is a study of Whilldin's commissions at the height of his

career during the 1920s. This was an exceptionally productive period, one in which

many of his Birmingham landmarks were built. The third and fourth chapters are a study

of Whilldin's commissions during the economically depressed 1930s and the post-World

War II era, respectively, up to his retirement in 1962 and death in 1970. D. O. Whilldin

was very active in the Birmingham community and a civic leader there for most of his

life. He served on the Birmingham Zoning Board of Appeals for forty-one years, most of

those as chairman, in the City of Birmingham’s Building Department. During the

administration of Birmingham Mayor George Seibels, Whilldin received a plaque from

the mayor on behalf of the City of Birmingham, naming him as the citizen who had

contributed more than any other in the interest of the city's development. He was a

member of the American Insititute of Architects and a founding member of the Alabama

Chapter of the AIA. Whilldin was a 32nd degree Mason and a Shriner associated with

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the Zamora Temple, a member of the Mayflower Society of New Jersey and Alabama, a

member deputy-general of the Society of Colonial Wars, a member of the Birmingham

Country Club, the Sons of the American Revolution, the John Howland Pilgrim Society,

the T-Square Club of Philadelphia, the Citizens Historical Association, and the Cape May

County Historical Society, Cape May, N.J, and an honorary colonel of the Etowah

County Rifles.11 In the Conclusion of this thesis I evaluate Whilldin as a regionally

prominent architect and summarize his major works. The Appendix presents a detailed

Master List of all his known architectural commissions.

Research Methods

Although D. O. Whilldin left behind a rich architectural legacy, much of the

primary information about it, such as office files or job books, has apparently not

survived. The most important source of information, and the nearest thing approaching a

job list, is a letter dated 1 August 1950 from Whilldin to Hill Ferguson. In that year as

the new Birmingham City Hall was nearing completion Ferguson was compiling various

information on Birmingham to be placed in its cornerstone during the dedication

ceremony. He was deeply interested in the architecture and history of Birmingham, and

he solicited local architects to provide information about themselves and their work to be

included. Whilldin’s letter was apparently written from memory, and it is telling in that it

reveals what readily came to Whilldin's mind and what he considered his most important

projects.

In addition to the “Cornerstone Letter” of 1950, a large number of drawings

representing some seventy projects, were deposited in the Birmingham Public Library

Archives by Joseph Fox, Whilldin's son-in-law, sometime in the late 1980s. Based on

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correspondence in the Birmingham Historical Society Five Points South files at the

Archives, these were apparently what remained in Fox's garage after Fox had retired.

Although many of these drawings are full size details, rather than drawings of entire

buildings or complete sets, they were nonetheless valuable in compiling a comprehensive

job list.

A third major source of information came from The Manufacturer's Record. This

was a weekly trade newspaper, published in Baltimore and later Atlanta between 1882

and 1959, that covered industrial and construction development in the South. In addition

to general articles about various cities and industrial projects, a section of the paper titled

Construction Department listed individual projects by state and city, often with estimated

price, type of construction, contractor, and architect. In search of Whilldin’s projects I

examined every issue from 1904 to 1959. Unfortunately, in 1932 the newspaper split and

all construction information was published as The Manufacturer's Record Daily

Construction Bulletin, while the regular Manufacturer's Record issues only contained

highlights. At that time the newspaper also took on a markedly industrial bent, with most

attention given to manufacturing plants and the like. Apparently only the libraries at

Yale and Texas hold The Manufacturer's Record Daily Construction Bulletin in their

collections, and, unfortunately, these were unavailable through Interlibrary Loan.

In a typical Manufacturer’s Record entry, a client is given, a brief summary of the

type of construction (e.g. brick, frame, two story, etc.), expected cost, and architect.

However, information can vary greatly, from extremely detailed to some in which no

client name is even given. To locate these projects, I used the Polk City Directories to

find the address of the client. City Directory information can often be unreliable, and

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care was taken to check forward and backward several years to verify there was an

address change and to verify that the new address had not heretofore existed under a

different owner. For example, if a client commissioned a house in 1909, his address

would have been checked from approximately 1906 through 1914. Information used in

this thesis on occupations and addresses is all from the Polk City Directory, unless

otherwise noted. In some cases, the client could not be found in the City Directory. I

reasoned that, in all likelihood, the client had recently purchased a lot upon which to

build his house, so I consulted probate records. By working backward in the Reverse

Index to Real Estate from the date of listing in the Manufacturer’s Record, the client’s

name could often be found and correlated to a particular piece of property using plat

maps.

After a location had been established, I consulted Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps to

place the building within the context of neighborhood blocks and/or their lot

configurations. These configurations were then used to identify the parcel identification

number on current tax maps, which in turn was used to pull the tax appraisal files of the

Jefferson County Board of Equalization held at the Birmingham Public Library Archives.

In many cases these contained a photograph of the property that was taken in the late

1930s. This proved to be an invaluable resource, for many of the homes built by

Whilldin have since been demolished, and these photographs provide the only known

visual documentation of many houses.

A fourth major source of information concerning Whilldin is the Dixie

Contractor, a weekly trade newspaper for contractors that began publication in 1926 and

continues to the present day. It, like the Manufacturer’s Record, provides entries on a

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job, location, estimated cost, and architect. Other contractor’s bulletins were helpful as

well, such as the Dixie Manufacturer, published in Birmingham, and its successor the

Industrial Register. I applied the same methods discussed above to examine this

material.

Finally, some Whilldin projects were compiled from many disparate sources of

information, such as National Register nomination forms, newspaper clippings, indices,

photograph collections, probate records, school board records, books, magazines, and

happenstance discoveries. Since Whilldin had a distinct personal style, I have attributed

a few buildings to him and I have included them in the job list. I also consulted probate

records to document Whilldin’s real estate purchases in Jefferson and Tuscaloosa

Counties, which led to at least two project identifications. Due to time constraints I have

not consulted the Mechanic’s Lien Records but I plan to examine them in future research

on this architect.12 I have not relied very heavily on newspaper accounts in this thesis,

again, because of time constraints. However, a thorough research of Birmingham,

Gadsden, and Tuscaloosa papers offers the possibilities of additional information on this

architect.

In developing this thesis I produced a research sheet for each project, listing the

title, address, date of design and date of completion, and other fields for additional

information. All photocopies, photographs, and printouts associated with each building

were attached to this sheet, and each sheet was filed in a chronological filing system

based on date of design. I used a digital camera to record photographs, postcards, files,

and other sources of information, as well as standing structures. Digital images for

inclusion in this thesis were enhanced using Adobe Photoshop.

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In summary, in this thesis I have identified and further documented with

photographs and addresses information on over ninety percent of Whilldin’s architectural

projects as revealed in the above mentioned publications. The final product, I hope, is a

relatively accurate narrative and appraisal of the life and work of D. O. Whilldin, one of

Alabama’s most important architects.

CHAPTER ONE

THE EARLY WORKS, 1904 TO 1920

David Oliver Whilldin (Figure 1) was born 8 April 1881 in Philadelphia to an

upper middle class family. His father, David Britton Whilldin, an importer of ivory and

ivory products, died in 1883 two years after his son’s birth. His mother, Margaret

Elizabeth (Prescott) Whilldin, was the daughter of a Delaware commission merchant.

Members of the Whilldin family, originally from England, were among the earliest

settlers of the Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts. As an adult D. O. Whilldin was a

proud member of the Mayflower Descendents of New Jersey. He grew up in

Philadelphia, where he attended the Drexel Polytechnic Institute (now Drexel

University). There he probably studied engineering and graduated in 1901 with a

Bachelor of Science degree. That same year he entered the University of Pennsylvania

and took a special course in architecture, graduating in June 1902.1

The first schools of architecture in the United States were established in the

decades following the Civil War. In earlier years American architecture students who

could afford to do so traveled to France to study at the internationally famous Ecole des

Beaux-Arts. After completing their course work they then apprenticed in an architect's

atelier. The rapid pace of technology in the late nineteenth century made the apprentice

system impractical, and in response, universities in Europe and the United States

established engineering and science departments, some of which offered classes on

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architectural topics. In 1874 the University of Pennsylvania became the fifth institution

in the United States to establish an architectural school. Instruction was patterned after

the teaching program of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. To ensure classical design instruction

and compositional theory, French instructors trained at the Ecole taught in many of these

American schools.2

During his senior year at Drexel and throughout his stay at the University of

Pennsylvania, Whilldin worked part time at the James H. Windrim Engineering Company

of Philadelphia from September 1900 through May 1902, where he gained experience

and training as a draftsman. In May 1902, a month before he graduated from the

University of Pennsylvania, Whilldin was hired by the New York engineering firm of

Ford, Bacon, and Davis to work as the head of its architectural department in their

southern states division. First appearing in the 1904 Birmingham city directory, Whilldin

is listed as chief draftsman for the B. R. L. and P. Company, for whom Ford, Bacon, and

Davis were consulting engineers. In a 1964 Birmingham News interview, Whilldin

related that he had heard about a job in the city where the Birmingham Railway, Light,

and Power Company wanted to redesign their street railway operations. “I gathered

together enough money for a round trip ticket and came to Birmingham to see what it

would be like,” he said. “The city was rough-and-ready and full of excitement. I never

used my return ticket. And I'd rather be right here in Birmingham than anywhere else.”3

He would often describe those early years in Birmingham as a period of “grits, gravy, and

perseverance” in order to survive. After stepping off the train at the L & N Station on

Twentieth Street in 1902, he recalled walking up the sidewalk and watching a large

baptism being conducted at a spring and small pond where the Woodward Building is

13

now located. One particular story Whilldin would tell exemplifies the frontier mentality

of the city. Close to Whilldin’s office was a series of saloons. One day while standing

outside his office, he watched a fight emerge from one of the saloons and into the street,

which subsequently ended with gunshots and the death of one of the men.4

Ford, Bacon, and Davis, 1902-1904

It has been over one hundred years since D. O. Whilldin arrived in Alabama and it

is impossible to determine what extent, if any, he had in the redesign of Birmingham’s

street railway and transit system. Created by the consolidation of many different transit

railway and utility companies into one corporate entity, the Birmingham Railway, Light,

and Power Company, it was heavily financed and controlled by New York capital. The

president of the company was Robert Jemison, a local businessman who would be

inextricably linked to the city’s development. Operations and engineering of the new

company were controlled by the New York firm of Ford, Bacon, and Davis.5

In 1902, just as the young Whilldin was hired, the B. R. L. and P. Company built

a new office building at 2106 First Avenue North. Ford, Bacon, and Davis occupied its

top floor. Soon after Whilldin arrived his company became involved not only in the

redesign of the street railway system and the linking of former transit companies lines

into a cohesive system, but also in the construction of a new car barn that covered four

city blocks. This barn was located on both sides of Fourth Avenue North between 10th

and 12th Streets. It is possible that Whilldin may have had a hand in the design of this

structure, though this has not been substantiated. It was a utilitarian building with

minimal adornment. However, there was some brick corbelling on the upper part of the

structural piers, simple panels alternating with windows along the upper part of the door

14

bays, and a number of different window treatments, including segmental, flat, and round

arches.6

Breeding and Whilldin, 1904-1906

In late 1904, when he was 23 years old, Whilldin joined the practice of

Birmingham architect Harry D. Breeding, a Kentucky native who had graduated with a

degree in civil engineering from Vanderbilt University. Breeding had earlier practiced

architecture with James B. Carr under the name Carr and Breeding. Carr evidently

retired from the firm in 1904. Details about the new partnership are scarce. However, it

appears that it thrived, since Birmingham was growing exponentially at this time and the

need for architects was great. Unfortunately, the identification of many turn of the

century commissions has been lost, save for those published in trade newspapers.

However, drawings for one of the firm’s first projects, the Birmingham High School,

survive. They consist of fifteen ink on linen sheets of plans, elevations, and sections,

dated 25 November 1904 and signed Breeding and Whilldin, 15 Watts Building,

Birmingham. In addition, there are twenty-one ink on paper details, all undated and

mostly unsigned. One sheet appears to be a preliminary sketch of terra cotta details.

These were working drawings because almost all of them have pencil calculations and

emendations.7

Although this was one of the earliest commissions of their joint practice, all of the

drawings are inscribed “Job # 171.” This could be an office numbering system carried

over from the earlier Carr and Breeding practice. It is difficult to ascertain which

architect was responsible for the design process. One would assume that Breeding was

responsible for the design since he was the senior partner and was twenty years older than

15

Whilldin. Whoever was responsible for the original design, it is evident that Whilldin

received a good deal of the credit. The fact that the Birmingham Board of Education

retained him as one of their primary architects for another two decades indicates the

Board had to have been pleased with Whilldin’s work on the high school. That Whilldin

valued his work on this project is evident in the fact that he kept these drawings in his

possession to the end of his life.

The Birmingham High School (Figure 2) represented the city's first major

investment in education. Under construction for most of 1905, it was dedicated 11 April

1906. Built at a cost of $250,000, it was one of the most expensive early building

projects in the city and, no doubt, the firm spent much of its time during these years

supervising its construction. It was thoroughly Beaux Arts in inspiration, proportion, and

detailing. In plan the building took the form of an E with a central gymnasium and

auditorium, typical for early twentieth-century school designs. The auditorium is

especially interesting for its curvilinear balcony.

The four story building had a primary entrance facing Twenty Fourth Street and

an identical, but slightly smaller, entrance facing Seventh Avenue. These projecting two

story entries, constructed of smooth ashlar, were designed as simplified Roman tripartite

triumphal arches faced with four Ionic pilasters with wreath-framed oculi in their attic

story above each arch. They were topped by balustrades with cast bronze decorative

embellishments and terra cotta detailing.8

In elevation, the raised basement and first floor formed a massive base or podium

composed of smooth ashlar at the ground level surmounted by rusticated brick above. An

elaborate stone stringcourse separated the base from the upper two stories built of brick.

16

These upper stories of the building were adorned with Ionic pilasters. Above the top

floor was an elaborate entablature with a dentil cornice, and at the center of each

projecting bay were wreathed roofline terra cotta cartouches. Terra cotta details were

also located on the corners of the slightly projecting corner wings and the pilaster

capitals. These corner wings give the building an interesting mass and divide the façade

into three parts, echoing the triple arch division of the entries.

The completion of this school building firmly established Whilldin’s position as a

rising architect in Birmingham. In 1905, during its construction, Breeding and Whilldin

received other commissions including two four-story brick store buildings for the Burger

Dry Goods Company and for J. Blach and Sons, the Tuscumbia Merchants Bank, the

domed main building at the Alabama Presbyterian College in Anniston,9 a residence for

attorney George W. Yancey in Glen Iris Park, and the classical brick Ensley Carnegie

Library, entered by an arch between paired pilasters in a projecting bay. This was the

first Carnegie library in the Birmingham area. The only other project known from the

Breeding and Whilldin partnership after 1905 was a plan produced for the Ensley Board

of Education for an addition to the 1901 Bush Hills School.

The 1905, 1906, and 1907 city directories listed the Breeding and Whilldin firm

as still located at 15 Watts Building. However, the practice was short lived. In the 1908

directory Whilldin is listed individually with an office address at 711 Title Guaranty

Building, just down the hall from the newly formed practice of Warren and Welton and in

the same building as Miller and Martin. Breeding, however, continued to be listed at #15

Watts Building. The practice seems to have dissolved very early in 1907, for in May

Breeding alone is listed as architect for a warehouse and an elementary school to be built

17

in Tuxedo for the Ensley Board of Education. He continued to practice in Birmingham

until his untimely and tragic death in 1941, when he was struck down by an automobile

on Twentieth Street South. Breeding never achieved the prominence of his former

partner, nor did he ever, like Whilldin, become a member of the AIA. However,

Breeding was recognized as a leading authority on structural concrete. After severing his

partnership with Whilldin, Breeding is known to have designed the Farley Building, Del-

Mar Apartments, and the Sixth Avenue Presbyterian Church, all in Birmingham, as well

as the Alston Building in Tuscaloosa.10

On 20 February 1905, Whilldin married Cornelia Pierce English of Philadelphia,

the daughter of a ship-builder. They had two children, Virginia Lucy (b. 2 April 1906)

and David Oliver, Jr. (b. 6 May 1909). His daughter married Joseph Fox, an engineer

who later joined, to a degree, Whilldin's practice. His son graduated from Sewanee

Military Academy and later attended Birmingham Southern College and The University

of Alabama. In World War II David, Jr. served in the U.S. Army, Transport Service.

Mrs. Whilldin was a member of the Birmingham Independent Presbyterian Church, while

D. O. Whilldin was an Episcopalian.11

Establishing a Practice, 1907-1909

In the 9 August 1906 Manufacturer's Record, it was announced that the Pilgrim

Congregational Hall was having plans prepared for a three story pressed brick building to

be used for church purposes. This building is also listed on a handwritten sheet of paper

in the Whilldin file at the Birmingham Public Library Archives with a date of 1907 for

plans and specifications. This seems to indicate that Pilgrim Congregational Hall was

perhaps Whilldin’s first commission after leaving the Breeding practice. He was 25 years

18

old at the time.12

Originally located where the current Birmingham City Hall (Charles McCauley,

Architect, 1950) now stands, it was a rectangular three story brick Beaux-Arts style

meeting hall for congregational denominations (Figure 3). The façade of this two story

brick building was formed by three two-story arches separated by pilaster –like panels of

brick that were given vertical emphasis from the deep groove, or flute, within the

brickwork. These panel pilasters rose from stone walls and were capped by stone sills at

the base of the arches. Each arch had a large keystone. Above the arches was a

projecting entablature and modillion cornice. Three light rectangular windows filled the

lower story of the two side arches. The central door between them had a triangular

projecting pediment above it with carved console brackets. Tall three light arched

windows above recessed brick panels fill the second story. Presumably the hall would

have been located on the second floor and brightly lit by these windows. The overall

design was one of simple elegance.

If announcements in the Manufacturer's Record, a weekly trade paper for building

and industrial news in the South, are a reliable index for construction activity, then

Whilldin had very little work during 1907. During that entire year no announcements

mentioned him as architect, nor have any other commissions been discovered other than

the Pilgrim Congregational Hall. Unfortunately, Whilldin began his own practice just as

the Panic of 1907, which occurred in March of that year, ended a ten-year period of

economic prosperity for the Birmingham district. The decline of the stock market and the

failures of many banks and businesses nationwide acutely affected the local economy,

resulting in the purchase of the Tennessee, Coal, and Iron Company by the United States

19

Steel Corporation. 13 Fortunately, the Panic of 1907 was short-lived due to a fast

economic rebound, and by 1908 entries in the Manufacturer's Record indicate that

Whilldin was fully established and busy working on at least seventeen projects. Most

were residential, with the exceptions of a competition entry for a skyscraper, Elyton

School, and the Avondale Masonic Lodge.

One of Whilldin’s earliest documented endeavors was the creation of a rendering

for a design competition. In late 1907 the Empire Construction Company determined to

build a third skyscraper at the corner of Twentieth Street and First Avenue North, the

"Heaviest Corner on Earth." In February 1908 the company announced an architectural

competition for the sixteen story Empire Building and it invited city architects to submit

drawings. Whilldin did so but he did not win the competition, and the award was

presented to the firm of Carpenter and Blair of New York with Warren and Welton as

associated architects.14

The design for Elyton School (Figure 4) was Whilldin’s first significant

independent project. Incorporated in 1820 and located several miles to the west of the

center of Birmingham, Elyton was the original county seat and the first settlement in

Jones Valley. In June 1908 the Elyton Board of Education solicited plans from local

architects for two new schools, one to have at least ten rooms and the other only four.

The following month the board accepted Whilldin's plans. The larger of the two school

buildings was to be two stories above a basement, with an exterior of red brick with stone

trim, a stone faced main entrance, twelve classrooms, two teacher's rooms and a

principal's room with a lavatory. It was to cost $25,000. This still extant building first

exhibits characteristics employed by Whilldin in many of his schools. It also represents a

20

marked departure from the design of the earlier 1905 Birmingham High School in its

massing, detailing, and plan.15

Elyton School is a three story brick and stone Jacobean Revival style building

with front and side entrances at a split level between the basement and first floor. One of

the striking features of this building is the contrasting horizontals and verticals of stone

set against the red brick wall. The basement level consists of ashlar masonry and brick,

with a wide stringcourse setting it apart from the upper two floors. The façade is divided

into three parts: a recessed center which contains the primary entrance and decorative

embellishment, and flanking wings. The group of four windows on each outer face of the

slightly projecting wings have stone sills and lintels and stone jambs between them but

their outer jambs are formed of irregularly projecting blocks of stone and rise from the

stringcourse to the entablature. Diamond-inspired brick panels fill the space between the

two stories of windows. An entablature of an architrave and two molded courses above it

encircles the building and above the roofline are decorative stone panels inset into a

crennelated parapet. The most important feature of the building is the central entry (see

Figure 4). The doorway is surmounted by a segmental open scrolled pediment within

which is an urn. Above the pediment are three windows and above them the architrave is

taller, raising the two moldings above their lateral continuations. This higher course

supports a stone escutcheon-like carving backed by a semicircular pediment of brick.

Overall, the composition is horizontal, with decorative and vertical emphasis being

placed at the central entrance.

By August 1908, one month after winning the Elyton School job, Whilldin began

drawing plans for the Avondale Masonic Lodge. According to custom he reserved the

21

first floor for retail rental space and used the second floor to house the meeting hall.

Built at a cost of $6,000 and completed the following year, the Avondale Masonic Lodge

is still extant. Two round arched entry doors set at each end of the façade, the dominant

focal points of the façade, provide access to first floor store and second floor hall. In an

unusual move, Whilldin places a metope under both arch springers. A Masonic symbol

located in the tympanum of one arch indicates the door to the lodge located upstairs.

Stone darts and intricate brickwork embellish the upper zone of the façade. The three

light window on the second floor of the façade is the width of the shop window below.

Above it the brickwork forms a frieze which extends along the side of the building above

the five tall double windows which illuminate the meeting hall. The central part of the

parapet of the front of the building rises to form a triangular pedimented gable which is

the width of the three light window below it. The eclectic mixture found in the Avondale

Masonic Lodge foretells the career of an architect whose work would be characterized as

eclectic and occasionally unorthodox, almost Mannerist, yet aesthetically successful.16

During Whilldin’s first couple of years in private practice much of his work was

residential, with projects in Ensley, Anderson Place, Phelan Place, Hanover Place,

Rhodes Circle, and other parts of South Highlands. The remaining projects from 1908

consisted of three flats and at least twenty-one homes. The predominant popular

architectural style of the period was Craftsman. Influenced by the Arts and Crafts

movement, which emphasized high standards of craftsmanship and detailing, it

profoundly influenced American domestic architecture of the early twentieth century.

Built to relate to the natural environment, Craftsman homes typically exhibited non-

symmetrical facades of stucco, clapboards, or shingles, and to a lesser extent brick and

22

stone, with a low to moderate pitched roof with wide, overhanging eaves. Exterior

elements such as exposed roof rafters, bargeboards, brackets, triangular knee braces,

multiple pane over single pane windows, and simple interior detailing are all hallmarks of

this style. In Birmingham, its impact was especially strong and rather early, probably

beginning in earnest with Miller and Martin’s design for the 1903 Birmingham Country

Club. The hilly and rocky land around the city supplied an abundance of fieldstone for

Craftsman homes, which further reinforced the notion of relating the home to the land.

Evidence of the Craftsman style can be found in many Birmingham neighborhoods. In a

number of cases, other styles such as Tudor Revival, often incorporated aspects of this

style. I prefer the term Craftsman Tudor, as it describes a hybridization of styles. It is

this building type that characterizes Whilldin’s early residential designs.17

The earliest known house designed by Whilldin was a two story residence for

Nathanial C. Walpole, a regional sales manager, located at 1130 Sixteenth Avenue South

in the Cullom Street neighborhood. Designed in April 1908 and built at a cost of $6500,

the house was situated on a corner lot and had a rear garage. This still extant brick, rock,

and stucco Craftsman Tudor home is characterized by the use of extensive faux half

timbering, metal downspouts, gable finials, and a fieldstone chimney.18

Beginning in November 1908 Whilldin designed eleven homes in Anderson

Place. One of Birmingham's first streetcar subdivisions, it was nestled on the gentle

lower slopes of Red Mountain along 15th Avenue South between Fifteenth and

Seventeenth Streets South. Developed by J. Cary Thompson between 1906 and 1910,

most of the initial homes were built around 1908 and were setback on large lots with

landscaped yards in the boulevard-like 1600 block of Fifteenth Avenue South. It was a

23

successful venture, and the large, attractive homes made it one of Birmingham's most

distinctive neighborhoods. By 1910 Anderson Place was described as "one of the most

famous home places in the district."19 Unfortunately, no plans are known to exist of

Whilldin's Anderson Place houses. However, at least seven homes can be attributed to

him.

Both the developer and his father chose to live in this subdivision. Records

indicate that J. Cary Thompson first lived at 1613 Fifteenth Avenue South, an attractive

two story wood frame Craftsman home. By 1911 he had moved to 1631 Fifteenth

Avenue South. This is the only home in the area that is three stories (actually two and a

half proper) with brick veneer, and has an overall similarity in floor plan and

symmetrical design to the homes designed by Whilldin. Though undocumented, it stands

to reason that Whilldin--so prominently mentioned in connection with Anderson Place--

would design the developer’s personal residence, just as he did for the developer’s father

at 1601 Fifteenth Avenue South. This latter home had a Venetian window at the center

of the second floor beneath a pedimented gable, while using Craftsman elements such as

fieldstone piers.

Thompson’s imposing residence (Figure 5), one of the largest of Whilldin’s early

career, was built at a cost between ten and twelve thousand dollars This two and a half

story brick and stucco Craftsman Tudor home has a gable roof with three cross gabled

dormers. The first floor is brick, and stucco and faux half-timbering compose the second

floor cladding. There is a front porch and a side room covered with a hip roof. Typical

Tudor detailing is present with diamond paned window glass and chimney detailing. The

Tudor forms in the chimney appear in its exposed third story, above the plain width of its

24

projecting second story level. Here the brick is laid to suggest the multiple flues, and the

chimney mass is differentiated so that each corner is set off from the core by a slight

projection from the central mass. However, the overall composition of the home lacks

the asymmetrical aspects of Craftsman Tudor design. Interestingly, all of Whilldin’s

Anderson Place homes reject many of the asymmetrical aspects of Craftsman architecture

and, instead, feature symmetrical plans with Craftsman details.21

The real estate boom in Birmingham continued unabated into 1909, with

continuing development along the Southside in neighborhoods such as Anderson Place,

Phelan Place, Country Club, Highland Avenue and its environs, and Robert Jemison’s

Mountain Terrace, as well as north of town, such as the Norwood area. In all, sixteen

homes were designed by Whilldin that year. Several appear to have been designed for

real estate developers, such as three homes for the Birmingham Realty Company, and at

least four homes for Walter Sessions, including his personal residence at 1000 Crescent

Avenue (now Twenty-eighth Place South). The Sessions home is interesting because of

the enormous window area and their simple framing for their time. Surely it must have

seemed like a glass house to passersby. During this period of growth and prosperity,

Whilldin also began to acquire real estate.

Whilldin designed two rather individual homes in 1909. He built for Thomas G.

Brabston, an employee of the B. R. L. and P. Company, an attractive two story cross-

gabled frame Craftsman home at 1006 Crescent Avenue (Figure 6). Largely symmetrical

and well proportioned, the carved woodwork in the front gable, the circular side porch,

and the patterned brickwork around the full length front porch add charming details to

this still extant home. Over in the 1600 block of Fourteenth Avenue South, Whilldin

25

designed a small two story brick and stucco Craftsman cottage for Mr. F. T. Frierson.

The symmetrical design, details such as clipped gables, chimney stacks, a shed dormer,

roof cresting, and stone inserts in the brick porch piers give the house a cottage-like feel.

It should be noted that each of these features, such as the decision to include stone inserts

within the brick piers, represents a conscious choice not only to add greater sophistication

to the building, but also to increase costs.

Whilldin designed three residences in Hanover Place, one of Birmingham’s

earliest planned developments. Both Hanover and Rhodes Circles were created when

Highland Avenue was laid out in 1884. By the end of the first decade of the twentieth

century Hanover had become one of Birmingham’s most fashionable addresses for the

city’s elite. Two of Whilldin’s homes are still extant: the Markell residence at 2720

Hanover and the Benners residence at 2762 Hanover. The Benners residence is a

remarkable stone home, and must have been an expensive and major residential

commission for Whilldin.22

The year 1909 was a watershed for Whilldin’s career. Already an established

residential architect, he received important commissions for public buildings including a

library and city hall complex for West End, a three story jail with Gothic battlements for

Hale County, a Beaux-Arts inspired freight depot for the B. R. L. and P. Company in

Bessemer, and six schools: Hemphill, Pratt City, Baker, Ensley High School, Fairview,

and Robinson. Commercial projects included the four story Etowah Trust and Savings

Bank (later American National Bank) in Gadsden, Whilldin’s first multi-story

commercial building, and he may have designed the J. H. Berry Company office in North

Birmingham, an outstanding example of a Beaux-Arts classical façade.

26

On 1 February 1909 the town of West End, located adjacent to Elyton on the

western side of Birmingham, was granted the sum of $10,000 by Andrew Carnegie to

build a public library. The philanthropy of the Pittsburgh steel baron provided millions

of dollars to communities across the country between 1886 and 1919 to construct some

1,689 small public libraries. It was to be the fourth Carnegie Library built in the

Birmingham district, and was one of fifty-two Carnegie grants given that year.23

The town of West End commissioned Whilldin to draw up the plans for the

library. Municipalities had to undergo a rigorous process for securing the grant from the

Carnegie Foundation. One of the requirements was that all architectural plans had to be

approved by James Bertram, Carnegie’s personal secretary who oversaw the library

philanthropy program.24

Carnegie libraries generally had a simple elevation consisting of a basement and a

first floor. Local architects were free to choose whatever style they determined to be

most appropriate. Carnegie and Bertram never advocated a particular style or issued

blueprints. They were only concerned that the buildings were functional and efficient.

Contrary to popular belief, not all Carnegie libraries look alike. Their styles range

through Beaux-Arts, Classical Revival, Italian Rennaissance Revival, Tudor Revival,

Prairie, and Spanish Revival. Of course, the most popular by far were the first two, and

out of the Classical Revival emerged a distinct subtype, the Carnegie Classical.25

Whilldin’s now demolished West End library can be considered an example of the

Carnegie Classical style (Figure 7). It was a rectangular block with projecting central

front steps and porch leading to a slightly projecting Ionic porch, distyle in anits beneath

a triangular pediment with an escutcheon-like decoration in the tympanum. The

27

basement level rose a half story above the ground. It had a wide band of stone at the

base, a wider band of brick above it, and a stylobate stringcourse which projected as the

upper surface of the projection of the half basement wall to flank either side of the

entrance steps. Three light, double hung windows with diagonally subdivided grills in

the transom stood above recessed wooden panels. These window compositions were the

full height of the wall from stringcourse to architrave band beneath a brick frieze and

stone cornice. The roof is hipped and had a central octagonal base that supported a

circular dome adorned with acanthus at its springing. On the interior the adult reading

room was separated from the children’s reading room by the domed rotunda, ringed with

columns, that housed the librarian’s desk.

Whilldin also designed the town’s city hall. The library and city hall were

designed as a cohesive unit. The library faced Tuscaloosa Avenue, and the two story city

hall building was located immediately behind it. After annexation by Birmingham, the

city hall building functioned as a fire station. The side fire house doors faced Cotton

Avenue.26

By June 1909, Whilldin was in the process of producing, or had completed, plans

for four area schools: substantial additions to Hemphill for the town of West End,

Robinson Elementary for the Birmingham Board of Education, and Fairview and Baker

for the Ensley Board of Education.27 By September of that year the Pratt City Board of

Education had commissioned Whilldin to design a new school for their city.28

As early as July 1909 the City of Ensley had begun preparations to erect a new

and modern high school for the bustling little city. By mid-October preliminary plans

had been accepted from Whilldin, with final plans adopted the following month for the

28

$80,000 high school.29 Annexation by Birmingham in January 1910 delayed

construction, and the project may have run over budget.30 In the 14 September 1911

Manufacturer’s Record it was announced that the Board of Education would spend

$50,000 to complete the high school building. Certainly the largest school design to date

for Whilldin, and one of the most important of his early career, the Ensley High School

was also a stylistic departure.

Extending the length of a city block, the two story and basement Ensley High

School is built of a buff colored brick (Figure 8). The overall design can be read as a five

unit composition, with slightly projecting central and outer wings. The basement story,

wholly above ground, is treated in deeply drafted brick and the emphatic proportions of

the jack arches over each window and the central door are strong features of this level.

The drafting of the brick to form quoins defines the end bays and the central bay. A

stringcourse around the whole of the building forms the sill of the first floor windows.

The lintels are continuous from pier to pier as are the second floor sills. The architrave of

the entablature is the lintel of the second floor windows and continues around the

building. There are diamond and triangular shaped stone inserts above the first floor

windows. Circular stone inserts appear on the parapet at the top of the piers. This

parapet is broken by a balustrade above the central entrance. The figure given here is a

postcard image of the architect’s rendering of the new school. The stone panel above the

door simply has “Name of School” on it. In plan, the school is shaped like an E with an

auditorium. When it was first built, Ensley High School could accommodate nearly a

thousand students. Ensley High School remains today as an educational landmark in the

Birmingham district.

29

Whilldin and Price, 1910-1911

In September 1909 Whilldin invited architect Bem Price to join his practice.

During this short partnership, which lasted two years, records indicate that each architect,

on occasion, continued to take private commissions and to work independently of the

other. Price, a native of Oxford, Mississippi, graduated from the University of

Mississippi in 1902 with a degree in engineering. He later recalled that his partnership

with Whilldin was his first job in architecture. Indeed, it appears that Whilldin, who was

two years older than Price, acted as a mentor and helped Price establish himself in

Birmingham. In 1911 Price established his own successful practice, designing such

buildings as the Limestone County Courthouse (1918) in Athens, Alabama, the Peabody

Building on the University of Mississippi campus, and Birmingham Fire Station No. 4

(1926). In the last building the extent of Whilldin’s influence is readily apparent.31

Whilldin and Price are noted for only four projects: the Walker County High

School in Jasper, an addition to the Wilmer Avenue School in Anniston, the Quintard

Avenue School in Anniston, and the W. P. Johnson residence in Gadsden. The Walker

County High School and the Johnson residence may have been entirely of Price's design.

Simple and compact, the Walker County High School lacks many of the design elements

typical of Whilldin’s school projects, especially in regard to the central entry and flanking

windows.32 In 1910 five projects are mentioned with D. O. Whilldin as the only

architect: a two story commercial building at Nineteenth Street and Avenue E in Ensley,

a proposed store and hotel building that was apparently never built, the Pratt City

Masonic Lodge, a residence for Robert T. Pittman on the corner of Twenty-eighth Street

and Tenth Court South, and the J. B. Cunningham School in Birmingham’s east end.

30

In February 1910 the Walker County High School plans were well underway by

Whilldin and Price as were the plans for the J. B. Cunningham School in east

Birmingham by D. O. Whilldin. Located at Eighth Avenue and Forty-fourth Street

North, the Cunningham School was a three story Italian influenced brick and tile roof

building. The large central block had two flanking units, with cross hipped roof. The

central entry, which reads as one vertical unit, is capped by a steeply sloping pediment

with an oculus. The door is surmounted by a large stone circular arch, similar to those

used on the Avondale Masonic Lodge only on a larger scale. One element that should be

noted is the use of small sidelights or windows. Here Whilldin uses them in the entry

vestibule which contained the main stairwell as well as the stairwells in the flanking

units. The architect employed a similar device at Elyton and Fairview Schools and at the

Quintard Avenue School in Anniston. An interesting aspect of the Cunningham School is

that its planning is modern, but is not as sophisticated as, say, the Quintard Avenue

School in its styling and massing, being more reminiscent of late nineteenth century

schools.

The Cunningham School, an uncommon building type for the Birmingham school

system in that it was one of the very few schools more than two stories high, was an

example of advanced institutional building design. Containing thirty rooms and able to

accommodate over a thousand pupils, the 280 foot long school featured fireproof

corridors, a 400 seat auditorium, and an automatic ventilating system that changed the air

in the classrooms ten times an hour. Its estimated total cost was $60,000.33

Whilldin received an important commission in June 1911 to design a substantial

addition to the now demolished Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA). The

31

winner of a highly publicized architectural competition, the six story brick and stone

building featured a dining room that could seat 110, a fireproof gymnasium, and a roof

garden with pergola. The addition was built at a cost of $60,000 and the old building was

renovated at a cost of $25,000. The building was dedicated and opened to the public 14

May 1912. Whilldin may have had an edge in the process, for his design harmonizes

well with his earlier Pilgrim Congregational Hall (1907) which was located adjacent to

the new building. The YWCA was a major downtown commission and one of his more

visible designs to the downtown business community. The splendid elevation rendering,

presumably used in the competition and published in the dedication booklet, is interesting

for it shows how Whilldin visualized a building (Figure 9). The bold use of contrasting

materials and surface textures is especially evident in this drawing, elements that are lost

in photographs.34

The Nineteenth Street façade of the YWCA had a tripartite division, both

horizontally and vertically. The first floor was of smooth ashlar. The double door central

entry, protected by a narrow projecting balcony with carved consoles, had molded jambs

and an architrave with an immense keystone. Smaller keystones and jack arches were

above the pairs of windows flanking the door. The vertical shaft of the building,

consisting of the second through fifth floor, was dominated by three vertical banks of

pairs of windows that terminated in round arches. These arches were framed by brick

voussoirs and stone imposts and keystones. The second floor windows were enclosed by

stone balustrades, and recessed panels separated the windows on each floor from the

next. The entire central composition was framed by large stones simulating quoins and

capped by a stone cornice. The sixth floor, representing the topmost element of the

32

vertical composition, consisted of square pairs of windows separated by panels of highly

elaborate brickwork. The two outermost panels were stone, each with a large relief

escutcheon. This composition was capped by an elaborate dentil cornice.

Above this top floor was a rooftop garden and pergola, shown in both the

elevation rendering and in a surviving set of working drawings dated June 1911. A brick

and stone parapet was located at the corners of the building, and between was a cadence

of 1:2:2:1 of what were probably wooden columns, all of which supported the pergola

latticework. The architect’s elevation rendering shows plantings along the parapet and

luxuriant growth of vines and flowers in and among the pergola, which would have

continued around the building along its sides. It appears that by the late 1930s this

rooftop pergola had been removed, judging by a photograph taken around 1938.

The interior of the YWCA was functional and logical, although the finished

building departed from Whilldin's original plans. As described in George Cruikshank’s

History of Birmingham and its Environs (1920), the ground floor had a swimming pool,

showers and lockers, a laundry, kitchen, storage, and furnace room. The second floor

contained the main lobby, parlors, an office, and lecture room, and on the third floor was

a gymnasium, with the rest of the floors devoted to bedrooms. On the plans, the

gymnasium is placed on the fourth floor, and a large dining room on the second floor.

Also on the second floor is a space designated as “Bible Class,” presumably the lecture

room, with four tiers for seating. Floors three through six are, with the exception of the

gymnasium, devoted to bedrooms. For maximum use of space Whilldin employed a T

shaped corridor that ran the length of the building then branched at the front, allowing for

four bedrooms along the front and access to a fire escape on the south side.

33

Interior photographs published in the dedication program reflect the relative

openness of the design. This building is important, not only as a major downtown

commission, but also as semi-public downtown space. This is especially true with the

parlors. Here note that the frames of the roof beams are emphatically boxed and finished

in dark wood. A cornice, also finished in dark wood, encircles the room, above which are

paneled rectilinear decorations. Also note that all of the pocket doors and openings are

nearly the full height of the walls themselves. This is a very open and informal interior,

with casual furniture such as wooden armchairs and rocking chairs. Some of this

furniture is built in, a decidedly Craftsman influence.

In 1911 Whilldin suggested an association composed of Birmingham architects be

organized. In January of that year the first meeting was held in Whilldin’s office and an

organization committee consisting of Whilldin, Hugh Martin, and W. L. Welton was

formed. Harry B. Wheelock was elected temporary president. The final result of these

meetings was the Birmingham Association of Architects. Later, this group would be

instrumental in forming the Alabama Chapter of the AIA.35

Professional Maturity and Prosperity, 1912-1915

The YWCA building, certainly one of the more distinctive buildings built in

Birmingham at the time and a commission that was awarded in a public competition,

represented the early architectural maturity of Whilldin’s career. Judging from the sharp

decrease in Manufacturer’s Record entries, there was a slight economic downturn in the

years 1910 and 1911. However, by 1912 the Birmingham district had quickly recovered

and resumed its phenomenal growth. By May 1912 building permits and construction

costs exceeded the total for the previous year.36

34

The comparison of jobs between 1911 and 1912 is equally telling. Only three

projects are known from 1911: the YWCA building, a sanitarium in Wylam, and a home

built by Whilldin and Bem Price on a lot they bought in Phelan Place.37 In 1912 Whilldin

was involved on at least thirteen projects. Residential construction consisted of two

apartment buildings, representing a new mode of housing, two bungalows for T. L.

Anglin, and a residence for Keystone Realty at 2914 Juniper (Tenth Avenue South).

Educational projects included the Springville School, a sophisticated building of complex

and delicate design, and Whilldin’s first college design, the Seventh District Agricultural

School in Albertville, a more monumental school whose drafted brickwork, projecting

end and central bays, and window groupings directly recalled those of Ensley High

School. Other projects included a school in Springville, a jail in Winfield, several

commercial buildings, and the First National Bank in Pell City.

The number of jobs from outside the Birmingham district indicates that Whilldin

had achieved some regional recognition and was good at securing work. Indeed, Pen and

Sunlight Sketches of Greater Birmingham (1912) noted that some of the best known

buildings of the city were designed by Whilldin:

His offices are on the seventh floor of the Title Guaranty Building, where he employs four assistants, and is prepared to furnish the very best that is represented by his profession. Mr. Whilldin has added materially to his clientele by his originality of design and his strict fidelity of execution. The larger buildings which he has designed are very impressive, for to his work he gives an artistic finish which adds to the beauty of the building, and he is prepared to give satisfaction as to cost as well as to appearance.38

Ensley High School and Elyton School were listed as examples of his ingenuity and skill,

and, it was noted that Whilldin actively takes an interest in helping promote the

development of Birmingham.39

35

One of his employees was Jack B. Smith, a sixteen year old from Elyton, who

first worked for Whilldin during the summer of 1910. He continued to work as an office

boy for the next two summers, and in the fall of 1912 attended architecture school at

Whilldin’s alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania. During his college years he

returned to Birmingham in the summers and worked for Whilldin as a draftsman. In

1916 Smith graduated with a B. S. in Architecture and went on to a relatively successful

career.40

In 1912 Whilldin constructed two works for himself. He had purchased fifty feet

of frontage on Nineteenth Street in Ensley in 1911 for $4,750, and by May had decided to

build a one story commercial block with three storefronts, apparently for rental income.

The building itself was unremarkable, save for the criss-crossing brickwork in the upper

zone and the square stone inserts in the upper corners of the windows, the latter a

decorative trait that would become a common motif in Whilldin’s commercial designs.

In October, Whilldin, along with H. M. Watson and T. G. Brabston, purchased the lot at

2906 Juniper Avenue, where it appears they built a two story Craftsman Tudor home with

clipped gables.41

The most important commission of 1912 consisted of the construction of a new

$50,000 apartment building in the Five Points South neighborhood, built for Mason J.

Dillard, president of the Dillard-Clark General Agency (insurance) of Birmingham, who

had been involved in real estate transactions with Whilldin earlier in 1910. The

Richmond Apartment House, located at 2030 Highland Avenue, is one of the most

distinctive apartment buildings in the Five Points South neighborhood (Figure 10). Built

of a yellow-buff colored brick, it stands three stories tall with projecting two-story

36

balconies along Highland Avenue and within two interior corners of its courtyard. Court

apartment blocks were popular during this period as they gave a sense of community and

a measure of privacy to the residents. The most striking aspect of the apartment building

is the detailed attention given to the exterior brickwork which relies on patterns and relief

rather than contrast. Stone is rarely employed with the exception of window sills,

balcony rails, and balustrades, and only three part windows have decorative keystones.

Otherwise, brick is used for all other architectural elements, such as stringcourses, arches,

lintels, and piers. Glazed ceramic tiles are used around entrances and piers, as well as

underneath the eaves. The window arrangement along the interior of the courtyard is

irregular in regard to both placement and size. The building itself is primarily Beaux-

Arts in style and planning, its symmetry readily apparent from the elevation drawing. Its

public entrance, located at the rear of the courtyard, is more elaborately treated than the

informal porch entries along the front, creating a visual and stylistic tension which makes

this such an outstanding structure (see Figure 10 for detail views).

The apartment house is situated on an irregular lot within the heart of Five Points,

creating a curious floor-plan for the eastern wing of the building. Specifications called

for twelve, five- and six-room apartments and six bachelor apartments. Projecting bays

are prominent throughout the plan and vary in size. The stairs and central entry hall are

located at the rear of the narrow entry court. The entry halls and stair lobbies, featuring

egg-and-dart moldings, are paved with tile and bordered with a fret pattern. The stairs,

placed within a great rear projecting bay, are of marble, and twist and rise in four flights

from the basement, creating a dramatic interior space.42

37

A popular story goes that the Dillards decided to tear down their recently

purchased home and replace it with an income-producing apartment house. When their

next door neighbors, who objected to this idea, returned from summer vacation they

found the house gone and the Richmond’s foundations in place. They were even more

dismayed to learn that the building was built right up to their property line.43

This amusing story, however, is largely incorrect. The recently purchased Dillard

home on Highland Avenue burned in January 1912 at a complete loss, and by late spring

construction was underway on the Richmond. Today the Richmond is little changed

with the exception of its two front balconies and entry porches, which have been enclosed

within the last decade and decorated with faux half-timbering.44

A second large apartment building was commissioned in December 1912 by

Rebecca Anderson for the corner of Highland Avenue and 21st Street, within view of the

Richmond (then under construction). The Fairmont Apartments, also three stories and

built of brick and Indiana limestone, was erected at a cost of approximately $50,000.

Situated on a site made difficult by the angle of the intersection and the elevation of the

lot, the Fairmont Apartments form an acute angle with little setback from the street. A

circular tower that contained open terraces and provided entry, via stairway, to the

building, was employed to soften the juncture of the two wings. Decorated with long

bands of limestone and an open balustrade along the roofline, the Fairmont Apartments

commanded a prominent presence along Highland Avenue before it was demolished in

the 1970s.45

At the time the Richmond and Fairmont were built, apartments were beginning to

become commonplace in the Five Points South neighborhood. Many of them were rather

38

distinctive, such as Richard Massey's Terrace Court (1907). Even today this

concentration of historic apartment buildings is a characteristic feature of Five Points

South. On numerous occasions apartments replaced earlier houses in this neighborhood.

A two story brick building built for Hagedorn and Echols Real Estate in Gadsden

illustrates how Whilldin embellished his commercial blocks and storefronts by setting

them apart from the ordinary (Figure 11). The ground floor has stone trim which

delineates the bays and provides contrasting foundations and cornice lines. Most striking

are the bands of terra cotta lozenges within the piers and spandrels. Stone darts inlaid

with a single terra cotta lozenge decorate the second floor between the paired single

windows, above which is a stringcourse, alternating brickwork, and a delicately carved,

classically styled stone cornice, surmounted by a crested parapet. This is a lively and

highly original design, and perhaps Whilldin is here anticipating or prefiguring the arrival

of Art Deco by ten to fifteen years.

The four years leading up to the entry of the United States into World War I was a

time of unrivalled growth in the city of Birmingham. In the January 1914 issue of the

Jemison Magazine, the previous year was characterized as one of “unprecedented

progress in the Birmingham District.” It further states that “Vast sums were invested in

new enterprises, building activity was far greater than during any previous year. . . the

population of the city grew approximately ten thousand, and similar increases were

shown along all lines of endeavour.” Construction costs and building improvements

were $3, 813,079 in 1912, which doubled to $6,222,157 in 1913. This cost differential

was hailed as prophetic of the growth of the Birmingham District in the coming years.46

39

Whilldin began at least eighteen projects in 1913, including a frame church

building, an addition to Terrace Court Apartments (later called the San Jose Apartments),

a bank in Attalla, two store buildings in Wylam, a remodeling of the Hotel Printup in

Gadsden, three homes and a duplex in Gadsden, a two story home in Cropwell (near Pell

City), and a number of residential commissions in Birmingham. One home in

Birmingham, built for Walter L. Sessions, is especially noteworthy because it is the first

home where the architect employed the Classical Revival (or Neoclassical) style.

The Sessions home was built at 23 Fairview Circle, now 2930 Rhodes Circle, and

stands at the corner with Thirtieth Street (Figure 12). The Rhodes Park neighborhood,

like Highland Avenue and the adjacent ellipse of Hanover Place, was among the most

prestigious addresses in Birmingham during the first two decades of the twentieth

century. Rhodes Circle was an exclusive development begun in 1908 with the

construction of several large homes, most notably those of Rufus Rhodes, publisher of

the Birmingham News, and Adolph B. Loveman and Joseph H. Loveman, both of

Loveman’s Department Stores. Over the next few years lots were sold to elite members

of Birmingham society as well as up and coming middle class citizens, all of whom were

attracted to this quiet, yet convenient, knoll overlooking the city.47 One of these lots was

purchased by William Sessions, manager of the Prudential Insurance Company, who

commissioned Whilldin to design a personal residence (he had commissioned his earlier

house from the architect in 1909).

The Sessions residence is a well-proportioned Classical Revival home with a

projecting portico with four colossal paired Ionic columns, their angle of contraction

balancing the narrowness of the pediment above them. Curiously, pilasters are

40

completely lacking. In plan the house is L shaped with a large projecting bay window at

the rear of the central portion. Again, as is common with many of Whilldin’s designs,

small, slit-like windows flank the central entry. One of the more interesting aspects of

the design is his treatment of the windows, where he uses a brick and stone splayed lintel,

also called a jack arch. The windows on the first floor are contained within a bricked

arch with a keystone, but the windows themselves are not arched. The second floor

windows each overlook a small balconet. Another common Whilldin trait is the

placement of a small Venetian window within the side gable. However, the feature that

sets this home apart from many others is the brickwork. Laid in Flemish bond, the

brickwork reflects the work of a master craftsman, and the starkly white mortar gives a

brilliant textured diaperwork effect.48

During this period Whilldin designed a number of local bank buildings in small

towns throughout the state. Continuing to use the Beaux-Arts classicism of the 1910

J. H. Berry Building, he designed the Pell City First National Bank in 1912, the Attalla

First National Bank in 1913, the Winfield State Bank in 1914, and the Lincoln First

National Bank and the Selma City National Bank in 1915. Classical architecture,

especially Greek, had always been considered the standard style used for banks and

public institutions in the United States, evolving from Benjamin Latrobe’s Bank of

Pennsylvania (1799) and William Strickland’s Second Bank of the United States (1824).

Between the 1890s and late 1920s the classical temple, expressed through the Beaux-Arts

style, became the standard design of bank buildings in America, presenting a monumental

and secure image. The popularity of the classical bank style can still be seen today in

small towns where temple-fronted banks created an imposing presence on Main Street.49

41

The Pell City First National Bank was one of the few banks where Whilldin used

the Ionic order. Executed in brick and stone, this sophisticated Classical Revival bank

featured a monumental entrance consisting of a pedimented portico, reached by a broad

flight of steps, carried on two pairs of Ionic columns. The columns are unfluted. The

central entry, with its hood on consoles and substantial jambs, is flanked by paired Ionic

pilasters which are behind the columns. A narrow window opens between each pair of

pilasters. The correct entablature with three fasciae in the architrave and a continuous

frieze is carved around the whole of the building with belt courses at the base of the wall

and above the cornice. The side façade reveals the overall structural massing, with a

slightly projecting central block. At each end of this central block were paired Ionic

pilasters with two more in between. Here three two-story windows illuminated the

banking room. Flanking the central block were a one story window on one end and a

door on the other, and above them were carved panels of stone. The Alabama Land

Book, published in 1916, praised the First National Bank building of Pell City as “said to

be the finest small town bank in the United States.”50

On a simpler scale, the 1915 Lincoln First National Bank embodied the temple

front ideal of small town banking houses (Figure 13). Executed in buff colored brick, the

building featured a stone distyle Doric portico flanked by two narrow windows. Its

archaeologically correct entablature, complete with triglyphs, metopes, and pediment,

and its perfect proportions, represent one of Whilldin’s purest expressions of

neoclassicism. Indeed, a bank advertisement in the Alabama Land Book of 1916 shows

the front elevation of the bank with the caption “The Keynote of Bank Architecture in

Alabama-Combine Strength and Beauty.” The consoled hood of the door and the

42

window grilles takes its cues from Beaux Arts classicism. A raised gable skylight

illuminated the banking room in the absence of large side windows.

In marked contrast to the purer forms of neoclassicism of the Pell City and

Lincoln examples, the Attalla First National Bank, designed in 1913 and completed the

following year, represents the eclecticism of Beaux-Arts classicism. Again using the

paired Ionic columns, the central entry, surmounted by a small pediment on consoles, is

set within a large arch composed of a window with small diamond-shaped panes.

Flanking this arched entry are paired, engaged, Ionic columns, between which are small

narrow windows and a plain stone panel. This arched window is essentially the arch of a

Venetian window whose lower sidelights are the lower side windows. This is clear from

the entablatures that carry the arch and the lintels of the side windows. The three part

balustrade at the parapet level corresponds to the entrance columns and the doorway.

The side façade follows a similar pattern as the First National Bank of Pell City, with

arched windows framed within single and paired Ionic pilasters. This structure embodies

the elaborate, historic, and eclectic qualities of Beaux-Arts architecture, such as the

paired and engaged columns, decorative brackets and keystones, pediment within an arch,

paired pilasters, dentils, brick banding, stone panels, roofline balustrade, and decorative

voussoirs.51

Twelve projects are noted for 1914 and nine for 1915. In addition to the frame

church from the previous year, Whilldin received commissions for two more: a parish

house for St. John’s Episcopal Church in Ensley, and an education or Sunday School

building for the Lutheran Church in Birmingham. In the latter design the solid archway

above the door with its slender keystone is a common Whilldin trait. He also received

43

further work for the Birmingham Board of Education which consisted of the design for

the new Central Park School in 1914, which closely followed his Baker and Fairview

Schools designs, and possibly the design for the Gate City School in 1915. Other major

projects included commercial buildings, a clubhouse on the Coosa River in Shelby

County, a cotton warehouse and in all likelihood two buff brick commercial buildings in

Lincoln, and two Birmingham hotels: the Granada in 1914 and the DeSoto in 1915.

Whilldin worked on residential projects throughout Birmingham, such as the Laumer

residence in Norwood, the Leary residence in Forest Park, and the Dr. J. A. Moore

residence on Milner Crescent, as well as others.

The Hotel DeSoto, located at the corner of Nineteenth Street and Fifth Avenue

North, is interesting because of its striking profile. Only two stories high, it spreads

along the street, decorated only by the square stone window lintel ends and the two long

bands of the stringcourse. The diamond shaped lozenges found on the Hagedorn and

Echols Building in Gadsden are repeated here in some of the shopfronts. This overall

lack of ornamentation along with the absence of a cornice, creates a stripped, streamlined

effect and a marked departure from its contemporaries. In addition, the emphatic

contrasts between the stone and terra cotta with the dark brick, as with the YWCA

building, are expressive and striking.

Whilldin was also involved in residential projects in Tuscaloosa in the Audubon,

Pinehurst, and Queen City neighborhoods. The residence for J. D. McQueen, built on

4th Street near Queen City Avenue, represents one of Whilldin’s finest Craftsman Tudor

homes. Unlike the earlier asymetrical T-shaped designs here he employed paired wall

gables on either end of the façade with a pedimented central entrance and large front

44

porch. Tudor in spirit with the faux half-timbering, the detailing and the use of natural

materials pay homage to the Arts and Crafts tradition.

The Prairie style residence designed in 1914 and probably completed in 1916 for

William “Bull” Fitts at 1 Pinehurst, just off University Boulevard, was the most

substantial home designed to date, and indeed one of the largest and finest of his entire

career (Figure 14). According to some family accounts, Fitts was shut out of the family

business after returning from the Spanish-American War. He then went to Texas where

he made a fortune in cattle, and returned to Tuscaloosa and got into the lumber and

banking business. In a gesture of retort, Fitts commissioned Whilldin to design him the

largest and most luxurious home in the city, one far grander than any his family members

had. He got what he wanted.52

This massive home, built of yellowish-buff colored brick and stone and roofed

with red tile with cresting, is externally one of the very few Prairie style homes that

Whilldin designed. In keeping with the Prairie style, the architect emphasized the

horizontal with a low to the ground appearance through careful integration with the site,

deep, overhanging eaves, square piers, and a low pitched hip roof. The two and a half

story house has a flanking porte cochere and one story wings to the side and rear of the

structure. Most exceptional, however, is the exquisite brickwork with marble insets.

For example, the parapet of the master bedroom terrace alternates with soldier

courses and rowlock courses of brickwork between the piers and parapet, with small

white marble lozenges and half-lozenges at regular intervals. On the second level, false

windows are outlined in brick headers with narrow stone insets, also of white marble,

representing the keystones. The lintel of the single double-hung windows is a row of

45

stretchers set vertically to form the lintel and rows set horizontally to form the jambs with

four headers set at each upper corner. Even more remarkable are the bands of darker

colored marble lozenges set within stone panels, presumably of marble as well, between

the massive wooden brackets of the eaves. This detailing continues on the chimney as

well, with three rows of soldier courses at the chimney base, and marble darts just below

the corbelling of the chimney top.

The expansive front porch, which runs the entire width of the house, is paved with

terrazzo of varying colors. Immediately in front of the double leaf entrance is a circular

design of red, black, and white mosaic tiles that frames Fitt’s initials. The stone door

surround however, departs from typical Prairie designs, and hints at what is to come on

the interior. This surround has two bands of carving. The outer band consists of a series

of scallops, and the inner band resembles bead-and-reel molding.

The interior detailing is just as impressive, and equally eclectic. The entrance hall

is Corinthian (Figure 15). This rectangular space is ringed with Corinthian pilasters.

Between the two pilasters at the end of the hall are two columns, set close to the pilasters,

that form a columnar screen between the entrance hall and the stair hall. The stair rises in

two flights and has a wide intermediate landing. This staircase is beautifully finished in

carved oak and mahogany. The lower flight is on the right, the landing just above the

steps that lead down to the library. Above the landing is a six light window. The second

flight returns upward to the left, giving access to the six bedrooms on the second floor.

Engaged pilasters on the side wall of the entrance hall flank doors to the adjacent

rooms. They also flank the front door. These have some simply molded architraves.

Above the pilasters and columns is an elaborate Corinthian entablature with an

46

ornamental frieze. Crown and dentil molding complete the composition. The ceiling

beams cross the hall from the intermediate columns and pilasters and are adorned with

oval paterae with a central foliate ornament.

Immediately to the right of the entrance hall is the large dining room, executed in

what appears to be largely Georgian detailing, with plaster wall panels and elaborate

molding. All of the public rooms can be closed by rolling doors of carved mahogany. To

the left of the entrance hall is the living room, beautifully appointed with nearly full

height walls of carved mahogany. These carved panels and the mantelpiece are

Adamesque. The hearth of the fireplace is finished with mosaic, multicolor tiles. Above

the mantel, the chimney is pierced and open to the adjacent sunroom.

The sunroom is perhaps one of the most remarkable rooms in the house. Finished

in white plaster, the entire room contains intricate panels of latticework finished in a dark

stain, providing dramatic contrasts and recalling the warmth of an English Arts and Crafts

room. Even the ceiling is covered with this latticework. Framing the piercing of the

chimney is carved woodwork that simulates a window, from the sills to the narrow

“keystone.”

Records indicate that the house was built at a cost of $75,000, an unheard of

amount at the time. Also unusual for that era is the steel framing, then rarely used in

residential construction. Throughout the house it is evident that materials and

craftsmanship were of the highest caliber and no expense was spared. Clearly, a house of

this complexity and magnitude required a team of craftsman, including carvers,

woodworkers, and brick and stone masons. The brick mason, especially, would have to

have been a master craftsman, given that the execution of the complex joints, tapers,

47

courses, and chamfers throughout the exterior is flawless. The attention to detail, down

to the complex latticework at the back entrance, typifies Whilldin’s architecture and his

practice. The planning and execution of the detailing, as well as the overall design of the

house, is exceptional and the house ranks as one of Whilldin’s finest designs. A project

such as this would have required a great deal of supervisory time from the architect, and

the house rising on the corner of Pinehurst and University Avenue would have been the

talk within social circles of the town, no doubt giving Whilldin the opportunity to secure

more jobs in Tuscaloosa.

War and Recovery, 1916-1920

By 1916, America’s involvement in the war in Europe seemed inevitable. War is

never good for the architectural or construction professions. Whilldin received only eight

commissions in 1916. These consisted of four fraternity chapter houses designed for The

University of Alabama, the Savoy Theatre in the black entertainment district of

Birmingham, and additions and alterations to three buildings: the Merchants Bank and

Trust in Tuscaloosa, the Hotel Printup in Gadsden, and a residence in Birmingham. In

1917 the number of commissions dropped to three, and by 1918 Whilldin was involved in

only two projects aside from Jefferson County rural school building project. Two of the

1917 commissions would have been major jobs had they been built: an Administration

Building for the Birmingham Board of Education and a new school in Wylam. The war,

however, postponed their construction.

In the summer of 1916 Whilldin designed some of the first fraternity chapter

houses on the campus of The University of Alabama. The issue of allowing fraternities

to live on campus in chapter houses was highly controversial and hotly debated by

48

President John Abercrombie and later President George Denny and the university’s board

of trustees. Although a 1906 campus master plan had made provisions for the location of

chapter houses on the western edge of campus, it was not until 1914 that one (Phi

Gamma Delta) was eventually designed and built by the Birmingham architect, William

L. Welton. Until that time fraternities and sororities rented houses in Tuscaloosa

neighborhoods adjacent to the campus. In 1916 Whilldin received the commissions to

build three chapter houses: Sigma Nu, Kappa Sigma, and Delta Kappa Epsilon. He also

received the commission to remodel an old faculty house for Sigma Chi. These

structures were designed in the popular Colonial Revival or Georgian style, but are

essentially Classical Revival in spirit. An article in the school newspaper, the Crimson

White, noted that the Sigma Nu and Kappa Sigma houses are of “Massachusetts colonial

style” and that the ∆ΚΕ House was built “along the lines of the southern colonial

home.”53

For the Sigma Nu house, located on the northern side of University Avenue, the

architect employed paired Ionic pilasters and an entablature with gabled pediment to

create a monumental entry, whose doorway was surmounted by a rectangular transom

under a bracketed hood with a cartouche. Above this was a pair of windows opening

onto an iron balconet. To contrast with the red brick walls Whilldin used a stone belt

course above the ground, splayed lintels for the first floor windows, a narrow stone

stringcourse below the second floor windows, and hipped dormers with casement

windows. A one story wing extension to the west, probably finished with stucco,

featured paired Tuscan pilasters, and was balanced on the east by a porte cochere.

49

The Kappa Sigma house, once located on University Avenue between Gorgas

Hall and the Education Library on the site of the Bruno Business Library and Stadium

Drive, was much larger than the Sigma Nu house. It consisted of a rather wide façade

with flanking second floor sleeping porches above open porches on the first floor. These

porches were framed by pilasters. Whilldin emphasized the double leaf central entry

surmounted by a transom protected by a decoratively grilled hood supported by paired

Tuscan columns. Above the hood were paired windows, both of which were framed by

Tuscan pilasters and a wide entablature. Flanking this entry were small, rectangular

sidelights, presumably for the entry hall, followed by Venetian windows on the lower

level whose upper arched portion had been infilled but retained a narrow, decorative

keystone. Three dormers with casement windows completed the composition. Three

dominant characteristics of Whilldin's domestic architecture can be seen in this building:

small detached sidelights, a Palladian window with infilled arch, and casement windows

within dormers.

The ∆ΚΕ House (Figure 16) was one of the most imposing edifices along

fraternity row, and came to be known as the “mansion on the hill.” Constructed of dark

red brick, it stands two stories and has a basement and an attic, where the chapter room is

located. A complete set of blueprints, dated June 1916, presents a clear image of how the

house, which has been altered over the years, originally appeared (Figure 17). These

blueprints consist of four elevations, four plans, and one cross section.

For the ∆ΚΕ house Whilldin employed a massive pedimented portico with four

colossal Tuscan Doric columns supporting an entablature. The stone foundation is

rustically unclassical. The door surround is best described as Palladian, with fluted

50

pilasters carrying an entablature. Above, flanked by simplified scrolls, is the three light

window of the stair landing and its arched header and keystone, which intrudes into the

entablature on the interior of the portico. This tall arched frontispiece is read as one

vertical unit. Flanking this entry are small, detached sidelights and engaged pilasters.

Main façade windows are placed in groups of three, with those on the first level

surmounted by infilled arches within which glazed green tile forms lozenges. Decorative

stone imposts connect the windows. This scheme is employed on the sides of the house

as well. Second floor windows on the two side elevations have jack arches and a thin

keystone. Within the gable ends are small Venetian windows, with an infilled arch and a

decorative keystone. The east façade had a porte cochere supported by Tuscan columns.

A wing for the kitchen and sleeping porch, illuminated by a bank of windows, projected

from the rear of the house. The design of the home is very sophisticated in its massing,

scale, and composition. When it was built the ∆ΚΕ chapter house was the most

impressive house on Fraternity Row, and even today it commands respect on University

Boulevard.

According to the plans the public spaces on the first floor consisted of a reception

hall with a large, imposing fireplace of white marble and a mirror framed by panels, with

crown and dentil molding. This fireplace faced visitors as they entered the double doors

and underneath the staircase landing. To the left was the living room, which had an

exterior entrance, to the porte cochere, and to the right was the billiard room and, behind

it, the house mother’s room. The dining room was to the rear of the reception hall, and

the kitchen was located within the rear extension of the house. Public spaces were

finished with oak. Two flights of stairs, one on each side of the reception hall, led to a

51

landing from which a single flight led to the second floor. The second floor featured a

longitudinal corridor, with a row of four study rooms on both the front and back of the

house. The original floorplan was simple and functional, with open public spaces

creating a sense of a grand and open private home.

In the summer of 1916 a significant event occurred in the history of the

architectural profession in the state when architects met to form the Alabama Chapter of

the American Institute of Architects (AIA). Formed to deal with the lack of cooperation

of state architects and the lack of regulation, the chapter was, and still is, the major

professional organization of architects in Alabama. The first meeting was held July 6th

in Birmingham, where the founding members, Frederick Ausfield, Frederic C. Biggin,

Hugh Martin, John Miller, Bem Price, George Rogers, William Warren, John Wetzel,

Harry Wheelock, and D. O. Whilldin, approved a constitution and by-laws, based on the

Virginia Chapter. The Alabama Chapter grew through the years and established

standards of practice, connections with the industrial and manufacturing sectors, and

political and legislative activity. In this latter instance the chapter aided in the passage of

the State Registration Law for Architects in 1931. During World War II it worked with

government officials to assist the war effort. The chapter was also involved with

fundraising and financial assistance for the School of Architecture at the Alabama

Polytechnic Institute (now Auburn University).54

In 1917 Whilldin designed an administration building for the Birmingham Board

of Education, to be located on Seventh Avenue North between Twenty-third and Twenty-

fourth Street, on the same block as the Birmingham High School building (Figure 18).

He created a complete set of ink on vellum plans, all signed and dated September 1917.

52

William B. Ittner is listed as consulting architect. Ittner, based in St. Louis, was a

nationally recognized expert on school design and efficient planning. He began a private

practice only the year before, after retiring as architect for the St. Louis Board of

Education. His nationally acclaimed school buildings for the city were recognized, not

only for their aesthetic qualities, but also for the way in which he standardized materials

and equipment, which in turn minimized construction costs.55

The proposed Administration Building was Beaux-Arts in style and detailing, and

recalled his earlier Pilgrim Hall and YWCA designs with the triple giant order arcade.

The entire structure was placed on a podium, reached by a flight of steps leading to the

double leaf central entry. The arches and pilasters, as well as the door surround, cornice,

sills, and lintels, were of stone, which would have contrasted with the brick walls.

Narrow, slit-like windows flanked the entry within the two outer arches. Within these

windows, as well as within the transom, were metal grilles. Carved stonework, such as

the cartouche above the door, the bracket of the hood, scrollwork that extended out to the

balustrade lamps, the panels with the shield and garland, and oversize lettering, were

indicative of the architect’s attention to detail. The stepped back hipped or pavilion roof

gave the rather small building a dignified finish.

In plan, the arrangement of the interior was simple and straightforward. A public

lobby, secretary’s office, and other rooms were located on the first floor. Off to one side

of the lobby was an open staircase to the second floor, where the boardroom,

superintendent’s office, as well as two other offices and a clerk’s room, were located.

The boardroom would have been encountered first after climbing the stairs, and would

have looked out over the front of the structure.

53

This planned building was exceptional in its design and detailing, and would

easily have ranked as one of the finest structures in the city had it been built. In addition

to construction restrictions during World War I, Central High School burned five months

after the drawings of the proposed building were finalized, and more pressing needs

pushed the new Administration Building down on the board’s priority list. The war set

the building program for the Birmingham Board of Education back for several years, and

an ambitious building program that consisted of thirty-two schools and additional units,

had to be put on hold. One of these delayed projects was Whilldin’s design for a new

school building in Wylam, which was not built until 1922.

Architectural and construction industries were initially slow to recover after the

war. The rising cost of labor and building materials meant that projects had to be

estimated and bid at new, higher price levels than before the war. However, by the end of

the decade a new and unprecedented period of growth signaled the beginning of a new

era of development for the Birmingham district.56

Perhaps the most important client for Whilldin during this period was the

Jefferson County Board of Education. Rural schools rather than city schools were the

focus of much of his attention. It was not until 1916 that Jefferson County had a high

school, even though the Alabama High School Law of 1907 called for at least one high

school in each county. In 1915 the state legislature enacted a constitutional amendment

that authorized each county to levy a special school tax, not to exceed three mills. The

counties were then redistricted into special school districts and smaller schools were

consolidated into larger, more central schools. These special school districts could then

vote on a special school tax, again not to exceed three mills, called a district tax.57

54

During the administration of superintendent N. R. Baker (1917-1925), this

process of consolidation and building program was aggressively pursued. Apparently

Whilldin was hired to lead this new building program. In January 1917 Jefferson County

voters approved a county wide tax, and in March it was announced that the Jefferson

County Board of Education would erect sixty-five to seventy new schools.58

The first school built under the program is perhaps one of the finest. The

Lewisburg School (Figure 19), completed and opened in 1918, was a compact two story

brick building with a semi-circular porch with four Tuscan columns. This porch is in

front of the slightly projecting two story entrance bay of the building. Above the porch is

a large arched window with a secondary arch on columns within it, which has a lintel

crossing the springing of the arch. The effect is that of a Venetian window within the

great arch. The large keystone of the great arch rises into the opening of the broken

segmental pediment which spans the central projecting entrance block. Its arch springs

from the cornice of the entablature which crowns the breadth of the whole façade. Small

windows flank both the entry and the great arch, providing additional texture to the

façade. Five double-hung windows, their lights each six over six, open into each of the

four classrooms apparent on the façade. This is one of Whilldin’s more remarkable

buildings --not wholly classical but yet recollecting the full breadth and depth of the

history of architecture in the selection of its various elements.

While the Lewisburg School was being completed four more consolidated schools

were either in the planning stages or were already under construction: Powderly,

Bradford, Majestic, and Sayre. All of these schools had eight rooms and followed a

similar U shaped plan. Standardization of plans and building materials was one of

55

Whilldin’s primary contributions to the Jefferson County school system, which

economized on both time and money.

The centerpiece of the building program was not originally a part of it. In late

1917 or early 1918 the Jefferson County High School was destroyed by fire. Completed

in late 1918 or early 1919, the rebuilt Jefferson County High School consisted of a three

story central block with flanking two story wings. For this school, as with many of the

other county schools, Whilldin used the Georgian style, with a cupola and finely detailed

entry portico. This cupola is rather small in relation to the central block. The school

contained an auditorium and gymnasium, and was one of the most modern in the state.

For most of the other rural county schools the design was scaled back with minor

references to the Georgian style. Whilldin occasionally used fine details, as at the Bonner

School where he employed rounded dormers that form window headers, or at Mineral

Springs where Spanish Revival elements were used. County schools ranged from two

room buildings, such as at Labuco Mines, to four rooms, as at Maxine, and on up to ten

rooms for the high schools. Some of the other schools completed through 1920 include

Shades-Cahaba, North Pratt, Cottage Hill, Sylvan Springs, Cane Creek, Leeds, and Mt.

Olive.59

In addition to the projects underway for the Jefferson County Board of Education

in 1919, Whilldin was involved in at least six more projects that year. These include the

conversion of the John Cartwright residence into apartments,60 additional units to the

Tuscaloosa High School, a store for F. W. Woolworth in Ensley, the Gadsden Country

Club, and possibly the school in Ragland in St. Clair County.

56

In May 1919 interests representing Erskine Ramsey and G. B. McCormack

commissioned Whilldin to design a store for the F. W. Woolworth Company. The two

story stone and buff colored brick building measured only thirty-three feet by one

hundred forty feet, and was built at a cost of $25,000.61 The façade is divided into two

distinct levels. The first level is entirely of plate glass for retail displays angled around

two separate entry doors. The second floor consists of a colonnade of engaged Tuscan

Doric columns, between which are windows, ornamental ironwork, and stone panels. A

denticulated cornice and crested parapet caps the entire composition. This distinctive

storefront is yet another outstanding example of how Whilldin embellished and elevated

an ordinary storefront to a higher level of aesthetic quality.

Finally, the Gadsden Country Club was formed on 25 July 1919 by a group of

businessmen, including Otto Agricola and Adolph P. Reich, and incorporated in August

of that year with 250 shareholders, who each put up $1,000. Located approximately two

miles south of the city among the rolling hills of the Coosa River valley, the new club

needed a clubhouse. A. P. Reich, who was on the building committee and was familiar

with Whilldin’s work at his Printup Hotel, commissioned him to design a $20,000

building.62

Nestled on the slopes of Hensley Mountain, the sprawling two story wood and

stone clubhouse was built in the Craftsman Tudor style. No drawings survive of this

building and it is difficult to understand the plan from the limited number of images. The

first level was clad in a fieldstone veneer, and the second level was of stucco and faux

half-timbering. The Manufacturer’s Record entry notes that plans called for a thirty by

fifty foot ballroom, a kitchen, dining room, and shower baths. Presumably the locker

57

rooms would have been located on the first floor, as well as the other services used for

the golf and swimming facilities. The longitudinal portion of the building faced out onto

the golf course below. A long, continuous bank of windows, which probably marked

where the ballroom and dining rooms was located here. Three half timbered dormers

were located on the roof, and projecting gabled wings of the structure are marked by

jerkinhead roofs, also known as clipped gables. Sadly, this fine building was demolished

in the early 1960s and replaced by an uninspired modern design.

The arrival of a new decade signaled the beginning of an unprecedented period of

growth for the Birmingham district. Whilldin had been practicing architecture in

Birmingham for almost sixteen years. During that time he had established himself as one

of the city’s most prominent architects. The 1920s were to see Whilldin become one of

the dominant figures in the architecture of central Alabama.

CHAPTER TWO

PROFESSIONAL PROMINENCE IN THE 1920S

The arrival of the “Roaring Twenties” ushered in an unprecedented era of growth

for the Birmingham district, one in which much of the built environment and physical

landscape of the city as we know it today was formed. With high hopes for the future,

civic leaders predicted Birmingham would surpass Atlanta and New Orleans as the

south’s largest metropolitan area. The city itself had a population of just over 110,000,

with over 300,000 people living in the metropolitan area. In the 5 May 1921

Manufacturer’s Record it was estimated that new homes were started at the rate of ten a

day, with 3,000 dwellings being erected in a year. In 1925, over 7,000 buildings were

erected, and by 1927 Birmingham led eighty American cities in home building.

Birmingham was unquestionably the leading industrial city in the South, producing

millions of tons of coal, pig iron, and steel. In addition, industrial diversification resulted

in over 1,600 different products being produced in the city. Rail transportation was

unequalled, with nine trunk lines and ninety-three passenger trains serving the city.

Birmingham was poised to gain national recognition as one of the country’s leading

metropolitan areas.1

In order to gain national recognition, however, infrastructure and city services

needed to be updated and expanded. In 1918, 1919, and 1922, city leaders presented a

series of bond issues to citizens for a referendum, all of which were approved. The first

58

59

referendum on 6 May 1918 called for a million dollars in bonds to rebuild the recently

burned Central High School and to erect a new eastern high school. The following year

another referendum called for $4,500,000 in bonds for a number of civic improvements,

including $2,000,000 for new grammar schools, $1,000,000 for new high schools,

$500,000 for a new municipal auditorium, $500,000 for a new central fire station and

new equipment, and $500,000 for a new combined city hall and library complex. Nearly

half of these bond-issue-funded projects were designed by Whilldin.2

The new Fire Station No. 1 (Figure 20), located between Nineteenth and

Twentieth Streets, had fire house doors facing both Sixth Avenue North and what is now

Park Place for pull-through engines, and was completed in June 1921. Equipped with the

most up to date alarm system and engines, the new station was built at a cost of $100,000.

An elegant design, both facades consisted of three large arched openings, all but one

reserved for firehouse doors. Entry to the office was through the remaining large arch,

fitted with a single leaf door under a bracketed, semicircular stone hood. Outside the

door and hood were a series of semicircular windows, which filled the remaining space of

the large arch. On the second floor, arranged in three groupings were three windows with

semicircular heads. These arched windows were separated by columns which gave the

overall composition a Mediterranean appearance.3

Directly across from Woodrow Wilson Park (Linn Park) was to be the civic

cornerstone of the bond issue: the Municipal Auditorium. The story behind what is now

called Boutwell Auditorium is a rather convoluted one, with controversies surrounding

the location, the proposed size and seating capacity, political changes in city government,

dismissal of H. D. Breeding as architect, and finally a design by a committee.

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The first controversy began with where the new auditorium should be located.

Fortunately wisdom prevailed and its current location at Eighth Avenue and Twentieth

Street was selected so that it could be incorporated into the proposed civic center area.

This area had Capitol Park (later Woodrow Wilson and now Linn Park) as its nucleus,

surrounded by a proposed courthouse, city hall, art museum, and library, and convenient

to hotels and streetcars.4

The second controversy arose over how large the auditorium should be, with

arguments for a 3,500 seat auditorium and exhibition hall that had a common stage pitted

against the less-informed popular opinion of having a 10,000 seat auditorium. By May of

1921 the city had called upon several prominent Birmingham architects to work on the

design. Thomas Lamb, a theater architect of national reputation, was to be consulting

architect. However, by 1922 the entire city commission had been voted out of office, and

replaced by those favoring a “larger is better” mentality. In May of that year a new

$5,000,000 bond issue was presented, to include money for additional units to complete

Phillips, Woodlawn, and Ensley High Schools, to erect six new grammar schools and

remodel others, $750,000 for parks and playgrounds, $750,000 for libraries, and an

additional $500,000 for what was appearing to be a million dollar auditorium.5

The new commission wanted a 10,000 seat auditorium, and called for an

architectural competition. Renderings were to be submitted by the first of September

1922 from architects in the city. Interestingly enough, it appears that H. D. Breeding,

Whilldin’s former partner, was favored over some of the best architects of the city.

Breeding claimed he could build a 10,000 seat auditorium out of the money available by

placing the stage in one corner of the structure and building a huge gallery covering over

61

half of the orchestra seats below. The 2 November 1922 Manufacturer’s Record stated

that the new auditorium was to be of brick with terra cotta trim and have a seventy foot

dome, and by January 1923 the first contracts were let.6

Although the city commission employed Breeding to draw up the plans, a number

of influential citizens, especially J. Frank Rushton, got involved and finally swayed the

citizens and the city commission that the planned auditorium was impractical, inefficient,

and a huge waste of money. By the summer of 1923 Breeding’s contract was canceled

and the Birmingham Association of Architects (part of the Alabama Chapter of the AIA)

were brought back to work out the plans. This association consisted of Hugh Martin and

John Miller of Miller and Martin, William Warren and Eugene Knight of Warren, Knight,

and Davis, D. O. Whilldin, Harry Wheelock, and Bem Price.7

By July 1923 it appears that “North Italian” architecture had been selected as the

style for the new auditorium with blind brick arches and paneled and corbelled cornices.

The supervisory architect was to be Harry B. Wheelock. Designed as a combination

building, with seating for 6,000 as an auditorium or as a large exposition hall with many

of the seats removed, the building was dedicated on 1 June 1924.8

A series of blueprints and drawings in the Whilldin Collection gives some insight

into the early planning stages of the design of the auditorium. Eight of these sheets are

preliminary sketches dated 16 June 1921 and are signed Warren and Knight. One of the

plans shows a theater and arena combination building with a central stage. The most

interesting sheets, though, show an elaborate dome and a neoclassical façade of pilasters,

monumental statuary, and roofline urns. Twenty sheets are dated 26 May 1923, and

include Sheet 7, Front and Rear Elevation, and Sheet 9, Longitudinal Section, and are

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signed “Associate Architects, Birmingham, Alabama.” In the 1950 “Cornerstone Letter”

Whilldin did not mention being architect of such a prominent civic building, nor did

Warren, Knight, and Davis ever claim to have designed it. However, the shift from a

neoclassical to a modified northern Italian, or Lombard, style, may indicate that Whilldin

and perhaps Bem Price played a major role in the design of the auditorium. However, the

civic center complex was always intended to be a grouping of neoclassical buildings.

The auditorium was built set-back from the street, with the intention that when additional

funds became available the neoclassical façade would be added.9

The largest single project funded by the bond issue was the new Central High

School, to replace the one burned in 1918. Touted as Birmingham’s “million dollar

school,” it was renamed in honor of Dr. John Herbert Phillips, who served as

superintendent of the school system from 1883 until his death in 1921. By October of

1919 Harry B. Wheelock had been selected as architect for the new Woodlawn High

School, and by January of 1920 Whilldin had been selected as architect for this

centerpiece of the Birmingham school system.

The school occupies an entire city block, bounded by Seventh and Eighth

Avenues North and Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth Streets. To the rear, connected by a

tunnel underneath Eighth Avenue, is the Board of Education warehouse, built in 1920,

and physical plant, built in 1922, also designed by Whilldin and built exclusively for the

new high school. Phillips High School was one of the very few million dollar projects

that Whilldin designed. Standing at three stories and a basement, Phillips High School is

an outstanding example of Tudor Revival architecture in the city (Figure 21).

Architectural styles based on the English Tudor (Late Gothic), Elizabethan, and Jacobean

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(English Renaissance) periods were popular for educational buildings during the first part

of the twentieth century.10

Phillips High School was constructed in two phases. The first unit completed was

dedicated 30 May 1923. It consisted of the front of the building and extended back to

include the side entrances. This first unit, when opened, had an enrollment of 2,453

students. By 1924, with enrollment increasing to over 3,000 students, the construction of

the second and final unit of the school began. It was completed in December 1925.

Although built in two separate phases, the school was conceived and planned as a whole

from the beginning, unlike other schools where later additions contrast with the original

structure (e.g., Robinson, Baker). This is clear from the architect’s rendering and from

the plans published in 1921 (see Figure 21). William B. Ittner was consulting architect,

as he was with all other school buildings built in the city at that time, because he was a

specialist on efficient school planning.11

The façade of the building can be read as five units--a projecting main block and

two outer units connected by hyphens. The whole of the composition is unified

horizontally by the contrasting stone beltcourses against the rough textured red brick with

V-pointed mortar joints. There are three entrances along each side façade, all set within a

shallow loggia framed by Tudor arches. The central side entrances have a two story bay

window above them to illuminate the stairwells. Between the two floors of the bay

window is a band of finely carved stone panels portraying shields below drapery and set

amidst a pattern of oak leaves and acorns.

The most striking feature of the Seventh Avenue, or main, façade is the central

entry with its flanking towers and finely detailed bay window (see Figure 21). This bay

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window, decorated with a band of five carved panels between the two floors, is

crenellated. These five panels contain, from left to right, the seal of the City of

Birmingham, the Alabama Great Seal, the seal of the United States, the seal of Jefferson

County, and the seal of the Board of Education. Above the bay window, a polygonal

Gothic canopy projects from the face of a low triangular pediment, essentially a

Renaissance form, to overhang a shallow recess rising from the line of the parapet to the

pediment. The base of this recess is tied to horizontal bands of stone that crosses the

whole central entrance tower. Projecting blocks of stone frame the niche and merge it

with the brick expanse around it. Within the niche is a tall, opened book, clearly the

symbol of education. The upper portion of the two towers each contain a deep vertical

channel of stone with an elongated shield, flanked by diagonally set brickwork that gives

the surface a rich, textured appearance with its juxtaposition of forms and contrasting

colors.

The hyphens contain three groups of four rectangular windows. Narrow stone

mullions separate each light. The original fenestration, now replaced, consisted of nine

over nine double hung windows. The outer structural units or projections contain one

group of four windows flanked on either side by a single rectangular window. This

grouping of windows reveals that the corner classrooms are larger than those within the

hyphens. These outer units are also adorned with large stone panels above the cornice.

These panels portray a shield, set below drapery and amidst oak leaves and acorns. Oak

trees are a traditional symbol of strength. The continuous row of gargoyle figures along

the cornice, which appear to represent aquatic creatures such as frogs and fish in varying

degrees of amused facial expressions, gives a whimsical and Gothic touch to the design.

65

There are at least six different gargoyles, and this pattern repeats throughout the building.

The gargoyles along the cornice of the second unit face downward more than those on the

first unit. The roof drains are small box-like openings that recall the narrow arrow

openings often found in Gothic military architecture.

Other exterior features consist of terraces along the forward side entries and, of

course, the main entrance. These terraces are paved with large, green flagstones. An

elaborate balustrade surrounds the terraces. The flagpole, located to one side, is original

and consists of an octagonal base surrounded by a small octagonal terrace, also paved

with large flagstones.

The main entry to the school on Seventh Avenue North, accessed by the main

front terrace, is within a vaulted stone loggia framed by a great arch with richly molded

jambs that sit on a block plinth. This Tudor arch has a molded hood with shields framed

by medallions placed in the spandrels. On either side of the loggia are metal Tudor

Gothic inspired wall sconces, placed within a recessed panel. The limestone blocks in

and around the loggia exhibit an interesting mixture of stone carving or finishing

techniques, with some blocks vertically scored, others randomly pecked, and yet others

chisel-finished. Three double leaf oak doors, each with an ogee arch, provide access to a

foyer. The original brass door stops and kick-plates are still in place. Above the doors is

an elaborately carved label molding and tracery that forms a series of ogee arches.

Once inside the entry foyer, there is a broad flight of white marble steps, at the top

of which is another series of oak doors similar to the exterior set. On either side of the

entry foyer, the lower walls, wainscoting, and moldings of which are finished in blocks of

white marble, is a plaster cast of a famous Classical sculpture. At the top of the steps and

66

off to each side is a single oak door, decorated in a similar fashion as the others, with an

ogee arch. The elaborate molding consists of a continuous plasterwork frieze of grapes

and grape leaves.

From the entry foyer one enters the first floor corridor. Above the doors that lead

out to the entry foyer is a mural entitled The Development of Education. Directly ahead

are three entrances to the auditorium. Above each is a mural. The one on the left is

entitled The Discovery of Fire, the one in the center The Dawn of Civilization, and the

one on the right The Birth of the Alphabet. Located between the center and outer

auditorium entrances are two large plaster casts of famous Classical sculptures.

Directly in the center of the building is the auditorium, able to seat 2,040 people.

The stage and gymnasium behind it will seat a thousand more. The auditorium is

arguably one of the most impressive public spaces in the City of Birmingham. The

proscenium is framed by acanthus leaves and other motifs executed in plaster. The

hardwood floored stage is raised, and has metal grillwork and recessed lighting along its

front. The seats rest on hardwood floors, with the aisles and forward area covered in non-

original linoleum. The metal frame and wood seats are original, and are decorated with

the interlaced letters “JHP.” The ceiling of the auditorium is a veritable tapestry of

plasterwork, consisting of a series of recesses with rosettes, guilloche patterns, and

acanthus leaves. The rosettes function as receptacles for light bulbs. The balcony is

accessed by three double doors on the first floor, one set of double doors on the second

floor, and two sets of double doors on the third floor, as well as through a blind arched

doorway on either side of the proscenium.

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Connecting the several parts of the school are two long corridors that run the full

depth of the structure, and three cross-corridors. Stairwells are located along the 23rd and

24th Street sides of the building at the central entrances, which are illuminated by the

windows. On either side of the auditorium is a double stairwell. These stairwells are

clearly designed to handle large crowds of students. A full thirty percent of the building

is dedicated to corridors and stairwells. Originally the locker rooms, lunchroom, and

shop classes were all lit by an extensive series of skylights, now covered. Light courts

helped illuminate the rest of the building’s interior, and a massive skylight once allowed

light into the auditorium.12

The basement or ground floor, owing to the topography, was only partially used.

It contains the armory, boys gymnasium, music room, and manual and vocational training

shops, as well as the lunchroom. Below the auditorium and gym is the machinery room

which still contains much of the original heating and ventilating equipment. On the first,

second, and third floors, classrooms ring the outside of the extensive corridors. The first

floor contained at least twenty four classrooms, the girls gymnasium, and additional

rooms for general science as well as offices for the school staff. The second floor

contained twenty classrooms with two study rooms and the library. The third floor

contained seven classrooms with an additional twelve rooms for chemistry labs and home

economics. Within the front tower and bay window was the “household suite” finished

in white enamel paint and consisting of an entry hall, living room, dining room, kitchen,

bedroom, bath, and closet. To one side was the Cooking Room. There is also a

bookkeeping room and a bank. This interesting feature simulates an actual working

bank, complete with teller windows and marble finish.13

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Perhaps the most beautiful room of the building is the John Herbert Phillips

Memorial Library (Figure 22), many of the books and funds for which were bequeathed

to the Board of Education by the late superintendent. Located on the second floor within

the front facing towers and bay window, the library was finished in Flemish oak with

beautifully crafted bookmatched panels. The library, with its ornate ceiling of quatrefoils

connected by diamonds, grillwork, massive fireplace and carved mantel, and suspended

lights recalls the long galleries of Tudor and Elizabethan manor houses, a reflection of

the eclectic and historicist styling of the 1920s. Even the furniture reflects the period; the

massive oak tables with turned legs, are Jacobean, and the chairs appear to belong to the

English Georgian period. The fireplace, trimmed in white marble, is framed within a

Tudor arch (see Figure 22). Its wood mantle has a Latin phrase, in Gothic lettering,

which means “To delight as well as instruct the reader.” The mantle is flanked by two

finely carved owls, traditional symbols of wisdom, and brass grills for air circulation.14

Interestingly, it appears that Whilldin changed some aspects of the interior

arrangement of the second unit (1925), as plans found in the Hill Ferguson Collection at

the BPL Archives differ slightly from those published in the dedication booklet of 1923.

It appears that the original scheme for a swimming pool in the basement was abandoned,

and replaced instead with a boy’s gymnasium. Other rooms, such as the Music Room

and Armory, were reconfigured as well. On the first floor, behind (or north of) the girl’s

gymnasium was the upper part of the boy’s gymnasium. On the second floor two study

rooms were located above the boy’s gymnasium.

The dedication of Phillips High School was a celebratory event in Birmingham,

consisting of all day festivities and speeches from dignitaries such as President Denny of

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the University of Alabama. The new school served an area of twenty one square miles of

the city of Birmingham, with Woodlawn handling students in the eastern end, and Ensley

High School handling western area students. Fortunately, Phillips High School has

survived to the present day, with only minor modifications.15

Also addressed in the bond issues of 1918 and 1919 was the construction of new

grammar schools in various sections of the city. Between 1922 and 1925 Whilldin

designed and completed eight more projects, in a variety of styles, for the Birmingham

Board of Education: the new Wylam School and additional units to Central Park in 1922,

the new Glen Iris and Bush Schools in 1923, the erection of the Industrial School for

Negroes, or A. H. Parker High School in 1924, additional units to Elyton and Fairview

Schools and a major expansion and remodeling of the Board’s office in 1925, in a

classical style, on what is now Park Place, and completion of an additional unit to Ensley

High School in Spring of 1926.

The new Glen Iris was perhaps the most significant of these projects. Built in the

Tudor Revival style, the school features two projecting polygonal towers with a

crenellated parapet between them, all of which is placed between the projecting, slightly

pedimented, end bays of the building. Adjacent to these towers are the stone entrances

with their stepped pediments. The most striking feature of Glen Iris is the contrasting

color and texture of its wall surfaces, with rustic masonry for the basement level, brick

with stone trim above, and the slightly recessed expanse of brick in the end bays, which

contain a stone outlined panel surmounted by a shield. This recession of the wall surface

continues along the building’s upper zone, delineated by a Gothic stringcourse.

A similar stylistic treatment, though not as sophisticated, is carried out at Bush

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School as well, and at Wylam (originally designed in 1917 but postponed by the war),

which is relatively unadorned save for a projecting oriel window. Even less decoration is

found with the new Parker High School, a stuccoed building with blind arches enframing

the windows. The latter school’s simplicity, and for that matter its complete difference in

style, is reflective of the disparities in white and black education during that era.

The Era of School Building, 1919-1925

Whilldin firmly established a name for himself as one of the premier school

designers in the state of Alabama. Between 1919 and 1925 Whilldin built no less than

forty new schools as well as additions to many more, primarily in Bessemer, Tuscaloosa,

Decatur, Athens, and a number of rural schools for Jefferson and Tuscaloosa Counties.

In 1919 the Bessemer Board of Education commissioned Whilldin to design

Vance Elementary School, the first of a series of schools he would design for that city.

The Vance School is a compact structure, with an arched entry enframed by engaged

Ionic columns, recalling the entry at Robinson Elementary in Birmingham. The arched

headers of the side entry doors are infilled with brick and have a narrow keystone, here

recalling the entry from the Education Building of the Lutheran Church in Birmingham.

By 1920 the city was in need of additional schools, and citizens voted on a

$300,000 bond issue to fund a new high school and grammar school, the latter of which

was to be Jonesboro elementary. The Jonesboro school closely followed Whilldin’s

previous designs for Baker, Fairview, and Vance in that it was compact and relatively

small, a typical design of the period for grammar schools.

The new Bessemer High School, completed in 1924, is a relatively simple

building, stripped and severe in its adornment. Although using a somewhat reduced

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Tudor Revival style, the building has an oriel window projecting above the main entrance

inscribed with the date. Stone panels decorate the upper zone of the flanking wings, and

the ubiquitous owl overlooks the side entrances. The following year he would design

Dunbar High School, also known as the Bessemer Negro High School, located at Sixth

Avenue and Twenty-seventh Street. The barren simplicity of this school is in marked

contrast to those built for white students.

In northern Alabama, in Decatur and Athens, bond issues were also being

presented to the voters for school improvements. The new Decatur High School, also

called Riverside School, recalls his high school design for Bessemer. Again employing

the Tudor Revival style, the Decatur High School is a relatively unadorned red brick

structure, with a stone arched entry fused with the bay window above. A stringcourse,

angled downward and essentially a Gothic profile, unites the composition horizontally,

and stone shields, set beneath segmental heads, decorate the windowless end bays as well

as the central entry. The side entrances are interesting, with a Gothic hood molding and

Renaissance style drafted stonework within the arch.

The Jefferson County Board of Education, however, continued to be Whilldin’s

primary client during the early 1920s. Continuing the building program under the

administration of Dr. N. R. Baker, over twenty new rural schools were built throughout

the county. Many of these schools were brick, reflecting an emphasis on larger and more

permanent structures.

Whilldin continued to use a Colonial or Classical Revival style as the basis for

many of his county schools. The planning, of course, is twentieth century in their

massing and the disposition of their interior elements. However, like his earlier schools

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at Banner and Mineral Springs, he applied other stylistic elements. For instance, at

Hueytown High School (comp. 1921) he used a stucco finish and a row of arched

windows to create a Spanish effect. At the Wilkes School (comp. 1924), now located in

Midfield, the architect used broad sloping roofs and an irregular roofline, creating an

English vernacular effect, and at McNeil (comp. 1924), located near Bessemer, elements

of Jacobean architecture were employed.

One of the largest and most expensive schools was the new Minor High School.

Built at a cost of $75,000, it contained ten classrooms, an auditorium, and a library, and

closely followed Shades-Cahaba in its design. It is wholly classical and takes many of its

cues from the Renaissance. Additional schools were completed at McAdory, Gardendale,

New Castle, Adamsville, Graysville, Woodward, and Leeds in 1921, Palos and Old

Jonesboro in 1922, Bessie, Lipscomb, Corner, Irondale, Trussville, and McDonalds

Chapel in 1923, Johns in 1924, and West Jefferson, Sandusky, Bluff Park, and Edgewood

in 1925, among others.16

Three especially interesting designs are the “rock schools” at Huffman (comp.

1921), Mt. Pinson (comp. 1922), and Center Point (comp. 1925). The school at what was

then called Mt. Pinson is perhaps the most famous (Figure 23). Traditional local lore

holds that after requesting a school be built in their community, and being rejected

because the county had no funds, that local citizens collected the rocks who then built the

school. This is largely incorrect. The school was planned as part of the county Board of

Education’s ambitious building program, which was adequately funded through bond

issues and credit loans. By July 1921 the plans were complete and construction was

underway the following month by the Miller Brothers, contractors for the project at

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$18,500. However, as with many buildings in the Birmingham area, local chert rocks

were quarried and collected for use as building material. These rocks were of course easy

and cheap to obtain, and Whilldin designed a structure that lent itself to this type of

construction. Stylistically, the steep gables with finials over the projecting bays with

hemi-hexagonal windows that project from them are Tudor.17

The exact number of schools Whilldin designed for Jefferson County is uncertain.

He gives thirty as the number in the 1950 “Cornerstone Letter.” However, the number of

additions and remodeling projects, along with the new schools, is probably double that

number. He was clearly proud to have been a part of laying out and establishing the first

modern school system for the county. In 1925 a new superintendent took office, and by

August of that year Whilldin had been replaced by Bem Price and the firm of Denham,

Van Keuren, and Denham.18

In 1921 the Tuscaloosa County Board of Education began a new building

program, and from that year until approximately 1924 Whilldin designed several rural

schools in that county. The first of these was Holt High School, a two story brick

building completed in 1922. The others were usually more modest in size and wood

frame, and included buildings at Echola, Windham Springs, Vance, Northport, Coker,

Duncanville, Cedar Tree, and Piney Grove. He may also have designed the school at

Coaling.19

Finally, in addition to schools for Tuscaloosa County, Whilldin also designed

several school buildings for the city of Tuscaloosa. The first of these projects was an

addition to the Tuscaloosa High School (W. E. Benns, 1911) in 1919 and an East End

school. Later in 1922 he designed additions to the Stafford and West End schools. On

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18 June 1923 the city voted on $500,000 in bonds for a new high school, conversion of

the old high school into a junior high school, and two new grammar schools. These latter

two buildings became Verner Elementary School and probably the Twentieth Street

School.20

However, the centerpiece of the building program was the new high school built

on 21st Avenue. Completed in 1925, the building extends the full block between Twelfth

and Thirteenth Streets. The school was originally configured in the shape of an E with a

projecting auditorium from the rear. Classrooms extended along the exterior banks of

windows and light courts to help illuminate the interior classrooms and corridors.

The brick and granite Tuscaloosa High School is one of Whilldin’s greatest

school designs (Figure 24), second only to Phillips in Birmingham. The central entry,

with its projecting stone porch of paired, fluted pilasters that frame the central arch, the

whole of which is surmounted by two finials, is rooted in the architecture of the Jacobean

Period of England. This stone porch merges into the second floor bay window with its

carved panels, inscribed with the name and date of the school. Along the parapet of this

central unit is an intricate composition of finials, scrollwork, and other decorative

devices. In the upper zone of the slightly projecting outer wings is a single stone panel

containing a cartouche.

The overall school design is one of contrasting colors and forms. It is the

brickwork, though, that is particularly interesting. Here Whilldin uses red brick with a

randomly interspersed darker colored brick which contrasts with the granite quoins of

each building corner and the window surrounds. Above the stringcourse and running

completely around the façade, the architect employs patterned brick diaperwork, just as

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he did in his first school design at Elyton in 1908 and later at Robinson, in east

Birmingham, in 1909.

This Jacobean Revival structure provides an interesting contrast with

Birmingham’s Phillips High School, essentially a Tudor Revival building. The influence

of the continental European Renaissance is readily apparent in the classicized entrance,

with its round arched form with keystone, scrolls, and pilasters, merged with the vestigial

Tudor bay window above, and at the parapet line is a Renaissance composition complete

with finials, another Tudor device.

In all, Whilldin designed no less than forty schools during that great era of school

building for a number of city and county systems. The sharp increase in the number of

new schools throughout Alabama was reflective of the growing concern for education,

especially for black children, by a progressive state government. Many of these

educational reforms, and the establishment of the State Board of Education, were initiated

under the administration of Governor Thomas Kilby and advanced further under the later

administration of Governor Bibb Graves.21

Prominence in Tuscaloosa, 1920-1925

Schools were not Whilldin’s only projects in Tuscaloosa. During the early 1920s

Tuscaloosa, like Birmingham, was experiencing a period of unprecedented growth. The

23 June 1921 Manufacturer’s Record noted that the city was undergoing a period of

building activity that surpassed any other in its history. Whilldin had already made a

name for himself in Tuscaloosa, primarily through his fraternity houses at the University

and some imposing residential designs. In addition, the city directories during this time

indicate that it lacked a practicing architect. It was only natural to reach out to a

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Birmingham architect already familiar with the Tuscaloosa area. Societal connections

also helped. William “Bull” Fitts, whose massive home at No. 1 Pinehurst Whilldin had

designed, was one of the most prominent citizens in Tuscaloosa, and was intimately

involved with the Merchants Bank and Trust as well as other corporate and governmental

entities.

Between 1920 and 1925 Whilldin dominated the Tuscaloosa building market as

designer. During this time the vast majority of his commercial and residential

commissions were there, and by 1923 he had opened an office on Broad Street. Among

his projects were buildings at Bryce Hospital, the Druid City Hospital and Nurses Home,

some fraternity and sorority houses at the University, a building at Stillman Institute,

several theatres, Tuscaloosa Fire Station No.1, numerous residences, the Tuscaloosa High

School and several other city schools, a number of Tuscaloosa County schools, and a ten

story office building for the Merchants Bank and Trust. He may also have designed the

Tuscaloosa Country Club.

During the 1920s, fraternities and sororities continued to build chapter houses in

ever-increasing numbers on the University of Alabama campus. Fraternities had been

allowed on campus as early as 1914, but it was not until 1921 with the construction of the

Kappa Delta house that sororities were permitted to locate on campus. It is known that

Whilldin designed the Phi Delta Theta fraternity house (1920), Sigma Chi fraternity

house (1924), and the Chi Omega sorority house (1924) during this time. However, in

the “Cornerstone” letter of 1950, Whilldin indicates that he designed seven or eight

fraternity and sorority homes at the university. Considering that he was most active in

Tuscaloosa during the early 1920s and taking into account his personal architectural

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style, it may be possible to attribute the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity house (1925) to

Whilldin.22

Completed in 1920, the Phi Delta Theta house was perhaps one of the finest

chapter houses built at the University of Alabama. It had the appearance of a traditional

Dutch Colonial Revival estate house, with shuttered windows, dormers with casement

windows, and gambrel roof. Whilldin also employed an Adam inspired grand circular

portico, accessed by circular steps, with Corinthian columns based on the Tower of the

Winds in Athens. The entry door was framed by engaged columns carrying an

entablature, above which was a balconet with French windows. The entry door, just as

with the DKE and the Kappa Sigma house, was flanked by small windows. Along the

first floor of the main block were French windows with jack arches. On the interior, a

sweeping, circular staircase dominated the great entrance hall.

Although no plans and elevations of the house survive, a series of ten pencil on

paper undated sheets of various full size details of both interior and exterior elements, are

in the Birmingham Public Library. Curiously, on some sheets Whilldin spells Tuscaloosa

with the old original spelling of Tuskaloosa. Whilldin's attention to detail is especially

evident on the sheet with full size details of the portico columns, the capitals, and column

entasis. At the bottom of the sheet are extensive pencil calculations, notes to the

contractor and rough sketches clarifying the entasis.

In September 1920 Whilldin was engaged in two major projects: a new building

at Stillman Institute and a series of new buildings on the campus of the Alabama Insane

Hospital (Bryce). Completed in 1922, Winsborough Hall (Figure 25), with its colossal

unfluted Corinthian columns and pilasters, stone panels, and Palladian door surround, is

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one of the oldest and most architecturally sophisticated buildings on the campus of what

is now Stillman University. This three story building, erected at a cost of $60,000, had

classrooms and offices on the first floor, and the upper two floors served as a girl’s

dormitory. This building, and Snedecor Hall, were the first modern academic buildings

to be built on the new campus, located on the western side of Tuscaloosa.23

One of Whilldin’s more ambitious building programs was the “Home for the

Feeble Minded” and other associated buildings, to be located on the west, or men’s,

campus of the Alabama Insane Hospital, also known as Bryce. Known as the

Psychopathic Hospital, this large structure and associated dormitories and rehabilitation

buildings were part of a major building campaign of the hospital to alleviate overcrowded

conditions and obsolescence in the main building, originally built in 1853 by Samuel

Sloan and greatly enlarged over the years by subsequent additions. This campaign was

also a response to changes in treatment philosophies, for by the late nineteenth century

mental health experts believed that mental disorders had an underlying physiological

cause, rather than a moral deficiency. As such, these building represent the “biological”

era of clinical and pathological treatment of mental disorders.24

It was first announced in the 5 August 1920 Manufacturer’s Record that the

Alabama Insane Hospital planned to erect a new building. The next announcement in the

30 September issue noted Whilldin as architect. Initial plans called for the erection of

three buildings: the Psychopathic Hospital and two reception wards. Ultimate plans

called for between ten and twelve buildings to be constructed on the men’s campus.25

Built at a cost of $125,000 and able to accommodate 160 patients, the two story

Psychopathic Hospital was configured in the shape of a T. The central block of the

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building contained offices, waiting rooms, and visiting rooms. Corridors, with patient’s

rooms on either side, ran the entire length of the building. To the rear were more patient

rooms, medical rooms, and a central operating room.26

The central block had a portico of six colossal Corinthian columns and pilasters

based on the Tower of the Winds in Athens. Atop this pediment was the Great Seal of

Alabama, and below it was a modillion cornice and an entablature inscribed

“Psychopathic Building.” The frontispiece, with its single pane transom, was flanked by

engaged Corinthian columns. The entablature of the doorway, inscribed with “Entrance,”

was decorated by egg and dart molding. The outer first floor windows were arched, but,

as in many of Whilldin’s other buildings, they were infilled with stone, which contrasted

with the surrounding red brick. The inner first floor windows had a bricked, flat arch

with keystone. The main steps were flanked by a balustrade with stylized metal lamp

stands.27

The two reception wards, only one of which appears to have been built, were to

cost $75,000 each and to be configured in the shape of a T. Completed in 1922, the

Rehabilitation Building featured a cross-hipped roof, unlike the flat roof of the

Psychopathic Building. It is unknown to what extent, if any, Whilldin was involved with

planning the other buildings of the men’s campus. Since between ten and twelve

buildings were planned, it seems reasonable to assume that Whilldin at least took this

number into consideration, and designed a general plan for their placement. The

Psychopathic Building, however, was to have been the principal structure of this building

program, and so, in Beaux-Arts tradition, was placed on an axial arrangement with the

façade of the original Bryce hospital building.

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The new Druid City Hospital (Figure 26) was a much smaller hospital, but one

much more important to the community. In the planning stages since early 1920, the new

sixty bed hospital was completed in early 1923 on land donated by the University of

Alabama. Built at a cost of $100,000, the new three story building was described as

‘Colonial’ in design in the Manufacturer’s Record. Again configured in the shape of a T,

the hospital had offices, private rooms and wards, dining rooms, laboratories, an

operating wing, indirect lighting, and cork carpeting in the corridors and stairwells. The

building featured a raised portico of six colossal Tuscan Doric columns and a modillion

cornice. Demolished sometime during the 1960s, today Russell Hall occupies its site on

the University campus.28

In 1923 Whilldin designed, free of charge, the Nurses Home (see Figure 26), a

gift to the city from Mr. J. T. Horne. It was apparent soon after the opening of the

hospital that such a facility was greatly needed. This small building still stands on the

university campus today, and features several of Whilldin’s design traits, such as small,

detached sidelights flanking the entrance and infilled arches. The woodwork on the

sleeping porch, consisting of small pilasters, is superb, as is the detailing on the

attenuated and delicate front portico with its now removed wooden balustrade.29

The largest project Whilldin designed in Tuscaloosa was the ten story office

building for the Merchants Bank and Trust (later First National Bank), located at the

corner of Broad Street and Greensboro Avenue (Figure 27). William “Bull” Fitts was

Vice-President of the bank, which had been planning a new office building as early as

February 1920, and although Whilldin is not mentioned as architect until 1923, the

consistency of the specifications detailed in various entries found in the Manufacturer’s

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Record indicates that he was probably involved in the project from the very beginning.

The bank chose to build an office tower, reflecting a nationwide trend in the upward

thrust of the skyline of American cities. This was the first of four skyscrapers that

Whilldin would design.

The proliferation of skyscrapers during the first three decades of the twentieth

century can be attributed to a number of factors, including the rising demand for

increasingly valuable real estate, the advent of modern building techniques such as the

steel frame, and the desire to erect a building that would generate income with prime

rental space. All of these factors meant that more commercial space could be achieved

with a small parcel of property. However, there was also a mystique associated with the

skyscraper, and these tall buildings came to symbolize the city and gave it identity. Thus,

many smaller towns throughout the state and the nation erected smaller scaled

skyscrapers.30

Many of these skyscrapers were built in the Classical Revival style, which used

classical and Beaux-Arts elements while interpreting the building as three columnar

components: base, shaft, and capital, all based on the classical column. The Merchants

Bank and Trust Building is based on this architectural concept.

By late 1923 contracts were awarded for the foundation and the structural steel.

The drawings were finalized 5 January 1924, with revisions as late as April, and comprise

numerous sheets of plans, elevations, sections, and details, as well as sheets of

mechanical and structural specifications. Spiker and Lose of Atlanta were consulting

engineers for the structural steel. Construction continued throughout 1924, and on 24

November 1925 the new skyscraper was opened for business. This bank building

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represents Whilldin’s first skyscraper design, and the complexity of such a structure

certainly demanded a great deal of supervisory time from the architect.

The first two floors of the building, or base, are built of Indiana limestone. The

first floor, with its public lobbies and banking room, had a series of arcaded openings for

windows and entry doors. Above this is a continuous band of Greek key motifs and leafy

swags, separating the first and second floors. The shaft, floors three through eight, is an

unbroken wall of buff-colored, rough-textured brick topped by a stringcourse of terra

cotta. Within this stringcourse is a guilloche ornament. Floors nine and ten, also of

unbroken brick, have a repeating pattern of horizontal brick bands. Finally, the top of the

building (Figure 28), or capital, consists of an ornate display of stonework and a dentiled

cornice crowned with polychrome terra cotta acanthus leaves. Although the building is a

tower, Whilldin achieves subtle massing through the slight projection of the main façade.

This is especially evident on the southwest corner where the slight projection is most

apparent.

With a rectangular footprint 82.5 feet facing Broad Street and 123 feet facing

Greensboro Avenue, the floors are arranged with two elevators at the front of the building

with a longitudinal corridor, thus maximizing space for efficiency. Built at a cost of

$500,000, the elegant interior was described in a 23 October 1925 Tuscaloosa News

article:

Corridors and washrooms are tile and marble throughout . . . [There are] Two high speed elevators with bronze doors. . . Access to the elevator is from a marbled-paved lobby with ornamental plastered ceiling. The banking quarters, which take up all the ground floor . . . are among the most attractive in the South. They are finished in pink Tennessee marble and genuine mahogany and the architectural arrangement is such as to carry throughout the banking room the effect of the arched windows, which dignify the building’s exterior. . . The inside walls are of a “constone,” hard plaster cut into blocks, and the twenty-foot ceiling

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is ornamented in a single plaster design. The lobby itself, which is sixteen feet by sixty, is paved with marble and pink marble covers all columns. . . The director’s room, on the mezzanine at the rear of the banking room, is particularly attractive, being pannelled [sic] throughout with mahogany.31

In April 1923 it was announced that the Merchants Bank and Trust would also

erect a $100,000 theater building, to be located adjacent to their new office tower. The

Bama was a dazzling gem of eclectic architecture (see Figure 27). It featured smooth

ashlar at ground level. Above, an arched window over the marquee was flanked by

medallions from which projected two animals that held flagpoles, one appearing to be a

lion and the other an elephant. These medallions also appeared to have carved

inscriptions. Intricate brick diaperwork was the most dominant feature of the façade,

which was surmounted by an entablature containing triglyphs and metopes. The interior,

featuring a balcony and mezzanine level, was described as being of “beautiful simplicity”

with walls finished in “ocean stone,” relieved at the top by a “tinted frieze” in Egyptian

design. This Egyptian decorative scheme was carried out around the proscenium as well.

The theater was designed to seat 1,000 people and opened on 16 November 1924.32

Unfortunately, this ensemble of architectural design has been permanently marred

by tasteless modifications and demolition. In 1964 the arcaded windows of the bank

building were replaced by rectangular openings and the lobby interiors were remodeled.

The theatre was also demolished and replaced with a stylistically unrelated structure

which became part of the banking lobby. A huge scrolling marquee was erected on the

roof, further marring the building’s appearance, and in the late 1990s a cellular tower was

added.

With an office in Tuscaloosa, and involvement in many highly visible public

projects throughout the city, Whilldin received a great number of residential commissions

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there in the 1920s. These included the Tudor Craftsman home for James H. Fitts,

president of Fitts-Turner Lumber Company, at Fourth Street and Seventeenth Avenue,

the English vernacular styled home for Mrs. M. G. Kersh, wife of the city clerk, at 1703

University Boulevard, and the residence for William Beatty, the fire chief who hired

Whilldin to design Fire Station No. 1. Strong stylistic similarities indicate he may have

designed the Tudor Craftsman home at 1709 University Boulevard. The residence built

around 1922 at 1308 Greensboro Avenue for Thomas Ward, an attorney, represented one

of his finer Colonial Revival designs. This two story brick home features a one story

recessed columned entry porch, surmounted by a balcony, set within a slightly projecting

block with small flanking arched windows. To the left and right segmental arched

windows are arranged along the first floor, and dormers are located along its roof. The

house recalls some of the stately Colonial homes of New England and New York.

One of the most important homes Whilldin designed in Tuscaloosa, however, was

the Italian Renaissance Revival residence for J. L. Robertson. Distinctively set apart

from its Victorian and Craftsman neighbors on the corner of Queen City Avenue and

Alaca Place, this two story, stucco residence takes the form of a compact Italian villa. It

was during this period that Whilldin seems to have become particularly fond of

Mediterranean architecture, and though there are other examples of this style in his work

in Birmingham at that time, the Robertson residence is perhaps the architect’s earliest and

purest expression of the Italian Renaissance.

The Robertson residence appears to have been modified slightly during

construction, for the house, as built, differs somewhat from Whilldin’s elevation

rendering entitled “An Italian Design.” In plan the house has the shape of a shortened

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“L” which is expressed by what was essentially a one and two story front projection from

the main block. An arcaded loggia occupies the interior of the “L” and would have

extended beyond the edge of the house. However, during construction it was shortened

by two bays. The tile roofs are hipped. Italian decorative devices such as scrolls,

cartouches, a striped awning over one of the bedroom windows, and wood shutters with

wide iron bands complete the Italian composition, along with the evergreen plantings

Whilldin envisioned in his rendering. Other Italian devices are found inside. Within the

loggia are wood beams with carved brackets, identical to those found at his own personal

Birmingham office, only smaller. The living room features a distinctive black marble

fireplace with a carved rosette. One of his favorite decorative devices, many of these

rosettes are individually designed and can be quite distinctive.

Whilldin’s Birmingham Office

The most personal and highly original design of Whilldin’s career was for his

own offices in Birmingham, located at 513-517 Twenty-first Street North (Figure 29).33

Generally when an architect designs a home or office for himself, he is free to be as

creative, unorthodox, and erratic as he pleases, letting his ideas form themselves. He is

not subject to a client’s needs or whims, and is only limited by the amount of money he

had to spend and his imagination. The end product of Whilldin’s ideas was the

architectural gem now known as the Whilldin Building. Separated into two visual halves,

with the massing creating a disparate composition, are the two stylistic worlds that

Whilldin inhabited--the Romantic and the Classical.

Whilldin’s classical world is represented by the two story building on the south

side of the lot. He added a second story to the one story pre-existing building, and gave it

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a new front of smooth limestone. Relatively simple compared to his other classical

creations, the perfectly proportioned façade consists of four simple Tuscan pilasters on

the second story, which carry an entablature and unadorned cornice. The only

decorations are the panels framing garland swags above the two doorways.

Whilldin’s romantic Mediterranean world is represented by the northern, or left,

half of the building. Set back from the street, this boldly scaled building features a dark

clinker brick cladding, hammer finish wrought iron window grills, a wrought iron

lighting fixture, and stone and terra cotta detailing. A band of yellow terra cotta panels

caps the first floor, which end with upturned brackets. The second floor is set back yet

again and has a red mission tile roof. The effect is more sculptural than architectural.

The most remarkable aspect of the composition is the entrance. Drawings

indicate that Whilldin himself designed the arched hood, ringed with acanthus leaves,

over the entry vestibule (see Figure 29). Within the hood is a beribboned wreath that

frames a cartouche. Manufactured by the Atlanta Terra Cotta Company, it was featured

in an advertisement for that company in the 24 June 1926 Manufacturer’s Record:

In Mr. Whilldin’s building, interestingly combined with a clinker brick, the unusual ‘rugged and ragged’ surface finish of the Atlanta Terra Cotta has a body color of darkish yellow glaze with a fire flashed effect of light sienna. The ornament on the entrance brackets, lintel, lunette and hood is accentuated in three color polychrome.34 A band of yellow terra cotta continues across the façade from the lintel of the

door and above the small, grilled windows. Within this band are inscribed the letters “D.

O. WHILLDIN, ARCHITECT.”

The 1926 Manufacturer’s Record advertisement is important in several respects.

First it shows the original plants in the small garden, which seems to include the slender

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cypress trees so commonly associated with the Italian countryside. Adjacent to the stone

walkway was a large urn or jug, again reinforcing the building’s link to the romantic

world of the Mediterranean. Second, the advertisement is interesting for what it does not

show. It is clear there is no second floor, and the pre-existing building on the south half

of the lot had not yet been refaced with limestone. Its hipped metal roof is clearly visible

in the advertisement photograph.

Apparently, the one story pre-existing building was added to on its north side,

which is the first level of the building we see today. Later, a second floor was added over

both halves of the building, and the south half was refaced with limestone. An

incomplete set of drawings, full size details, and preliminary sketches at the Birmingham

Public Library Archives gives some insight, though fragmentary, into the development of

this design.

It appears that the drawings for the north half of the building were well underway

in the Spring of 1923. Sheet 102 is the full size terra cotta details for the entry hood. It is

dated 27 March 1923 and is captioned “Building for Mr. D. O. Whilldin.” Apparently

this sheet was one of several sent to the Atlanta Terra Cotta Company, which

manufactured the terra cotta building elements to Whilldin’s specifications. This sheet is

also interesting as it has the draftsman’s initials, heretofore unseen on any of Whilldin’s

drawings. The initials are E. J. D. Sheet 103 is the full size details of the terra cotta

panel over the main entrance. It is undated and unsigned.

Sheet 108, dated 30 March 1923, contains details of the window guards. It too

has draftsman’s initials: F. F. B. These initials refer to Frank F. Bedford, who worked for

Whilldin throughout the 1920s as a draftsman and later designer before establishing his

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own practice in the 1930s. Only two other sheets from this series are dated, March 29th

and 30th 1923, and both are initialed by F.F.B. One small unnumbered sheet, for the

consultation room toilet door jamb, has an interesting note: “copy of drawing handed

muse, F. F. B.” Was “muse” an office nickname for Whilldin among the draftsman?

The evolution of Whilldin’s design for his own offices carries over to the

following summer. One unnumbered sheet, rubber stamped with the date of 26 June

1924, contains the plans and profiles of the pilasters. Unfortunately, the sheet with the

elevation of the south half of the building, showing its current configuration, has no

written information on it, as do several other sheets that show the courtyard elevations

and the longitudinal section.

In light of the summer 1924 dates, however, a one hundred series sheet seems to

indicate the entire composition was conceived at one time and as a whole. Sheet 118,

executed in pencil and orange crayon, is a full size detail of the draped festoon. Though

undated, several other of these one hundred series sheets are dated March 1923. Sheet

118 is also interesting in that it gives some insight as to how the architect interfaced with

the various contractors. It is a full size detail, with half of the festoon rendered in pencil.

At various points a cross section has been drawn in crayon with the note “STONE

CONTRACTOR WILL NOTIFY ARCHITECT WHEN THIS LIMESTONE CARVING

IS SHAPED UP IN THE ROUGH AND READY FOR INSPECTION.”

Other intentions of the architect are just as unclear. Two untitled and unnumbered

sheets show the south half of the building with three stories, and Sheet 107, signed by F.

F. B., has a project title of “Office and Apt. Building—D.O. Whilldin, Architect and

Owner.” Did Whilldin intend to build a third floor of apartments? Why was this idea

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abandoned? For that matter he could have erected a ten story building if he so chose, as

the foundations were designed to carry that type of load. Perhaps the answer lies with the

unsatisfactory proportions the end product would have had, or the money that would have

been needed.

The interior of the building is an exquisite statement of Whilldin’s personal style.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the public rooms. Upon entering the reception

room from the entry vestibule, Whilldin’s clients would have encountered a patterned

Tennessee marble floor. The primary motif is that of a circle of light gray marble, set

within terrazzo and a rectangular band of dark gray marble. Surrounding this design the

floor is paved with the light gray marble. Above it, was a gilded, coffered ceiling of

rosette-filled octagons. Off to one side and through a reception window is a secretary’s

office.

The secretary would have ushered clients into the consultation room through a

gate adorned with medallions. It was here that clients met with Whilldin. The

consultation room is a large rectangular space with a beamed ceiling with purlins that rest

on large carved brackets. Other details include trowel finished plaster walls, a built in

credenza, paneled and decorated with bosses, rope molding around the doorways, and

hammered wrought iron wall sconces. Two of these sconces flank the focal point of the

room--the fireplace. The built in credenza was partially recessed into the wall opposite

the courtyard doors, and was amply lit by recessed lighting above. It was probably here

that Whilldin would have placed presentation renderings for his clients.

A preliminary drawing of four consultation room designs has survived in the

Whilldin Collection at the Birmingham Public Library Archives. In the upper left corner

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is a cursory sketch of the ceiling network of beams and purlins. In the upper right corner

is another of the fireplace largely in its present configuration, rather simple with a

chiseled granite hearth and an oak bolection molding surround. The placement of the

wall sconces and a large painting are indicated. Interestingly, directly below it is a

careful drawing of the elevation of the south side of the room, which depicts a completely

different configuration for the fireplace. Flanked by built-in bookcases, it features an

elaborate mantelpiece which appears to include cartouches. Above, the tapered section

that represents the flue into the chimney suggests the scale and complexity of a chateau.

Finally, the drawing in the lower left hand corner is an elevation of the east side of the

room, which consists of French doors that open onto the courtyard.

This courtyard, long since enclosed, was an interesting feature of Whilldin’s

office and reinforces the Mediterranean feel of the building. Surrounded on three sides

by rooms, a high wall on its south side separated it from the outside world. The French

doors that led into the consultation room had blind arch headers, as did the doors and

windows on the east side of the courtyard. No drawings survive that show the landscape

or planting scheme. However, an untitled and undated drawing shows the elevation of

the east and west sides. Shrubbery and vines have been drawn in, as are potted window

planters for the second floor. One can easily imagine a quiet oasis of roses, flowers, and

vines, perhaps a fountain, in the midst of downtown Birmingham.

In addition to the stylistic development of the elevations, the ground plan of the

building reflected Whilldin’s planning and the organization of his office staff. At the

entrance is the reception room and stenographer’s (secretary’s) office and space for

clerical work. Immediately behind this is a file room and a small office, presumably

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Whilldin’s. Directly across the passage from his office was the consultation room. The

drafting room took up much of the interior space. This long, rectangular room would

have been amply lit by natural light by banks of windows along the exterior wall and

those that looked out onto the courtyard. The first floor plan shows the general

arrangement of the drafting tables. Five tables are against the exterior wall, and, against

the wall to the courtyard, were two more drafting tables and one very long table. Two

ceiling fans circulated the air. At the back of the drafting room was the library and the

men’s toilet (the women’s toilet was up front near the secretary’s space). It was also lit

from the courtyard. The janitor’s room and a kitchen, as well as a storeroom and

blueprinting room, were located at the rear of the courtyard.

The entire second floor of the building was reserved for leasable office space,

accessed by stairs through the southernmost of the three entry doors to the building.

Another office for lease was on the first floor of the south half of the structure. However,

when Whilldin was designing the building and during its construction, he intended to

live, along with his family, on the second floor in a series of apartments as a true studio

artist. Apparently, though, he abandoned this idea.35

Unfortunately, few records have survived that show how Whilldin ran his office.

By all accounts he was a reasonable and easy going man, but one who demanded

excellence from his employees, down to the smallest detail. An office hierarchy is clear

in a one man practice. Whilldin was the designer and the creator, and his team of

draftsman produced the drawings which were continually checked by the architect.

The drawings that survive in the Whilldin Collection at the Birmingham Public

Library Archives provide some fragmentary insight into the evolution of his office. Prior

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to the early 1920s drawings had simple lettering, usually the title of the work, location,

and Whilldin’s name. Occasionally a sheet is dated, but these were usually for final

drawings. For final drawings a narrow tripartite block was employed that ran along the

entire bottom of the drawing, which would display, from left to right, the date, title of

work, and Whilldin’s name. Sheets were almost always unnumbered. Coated linen or

vellum was generally used for final drawings, tracing paper or trash paper for full-size

details.

By the early 1920s the increasing number of jobs, both large and small, appears to

have necessitated the implementation of the now standard block of information in the

lower right hand corner of the drawing. This block had space for dates, draftsman’s

initials, set numbers, and sheet numbers. Unfortunately this information was often left

blank. Another item that first appeared at this time was a black rubber stamped date.

This may indicate when Whilldin approved the drawing, as he rarely initialed any sheets.

Full size detail drawings begin to have sheet numbers. Finally, tack holes are found on

the four corners of every sheet in the archives. All of these things seem to point to an

increasingly complex office system of standardized internal controls, a response to the

increasing volume of projects.

The Major Birmingham Commissions, 1925-1928

Although Whilldin was primarily occupied with his Tuscaloosa clientele and his

school commissions during the early 1920s, some residential and commercial projects

were undertaken in Birmingham. Several of these are worthy of mention. In 1921 he

designed a one story commercial block for the Henley-Spurgeon Realty Company.

Located on the north side of Fifth Avenue North, adjacent to the Molton Hotel, this five

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bay retail block featured an exuberant display of cream and blue terra cotta depicting

mythical creatures and exotic foliage. Each bay repeated the same terra cotta pattern, and

had decorative brackets on each side, a tile roof overhang, and another frieze of terra

cotta above it. This architectural gem, now demolished, appears to have been the first

instance of Whilldin’s use of glazed polychrome terra cottas in such a highly decorative

manner, a material that would later become synonymous with some of his best work.36

Two interesting residential commissions, both on Argyle Road in the newly

opened Redmont Park area, reflect Whilldin’s increasing tendency to favor Romantic

architecture, or rather the architecture of the Mediterranean with both Italian and Spanish

influence. Situated on the crest of Red Mountain, Redmont Park was developed by the

Jemison Companies in the early to mid-1920s. Grand estates of the industrial barons

were built on prominent knolls overlooking the city, and Redmont and Argyle Roads

wound back from this crest to provide more private estate sites.37

The first home, designed for Edward L. Keiser of the Keiser-Geismer Engineering

Company in 1922, is located at 2829 Argyle. This simple one story stucco and tile roofed

home contained only seven rooms. The terrace, protected by an overhanging roof or

awning, had three paired French doors with arched headers. Flanking the terraced entry

were tall, narrow windows. Interestingly, the tiled roof has clipped gables, a feature more

associated with the Arts and Crafts style.

The residence for Roy W. Knight, president of Knight Electric Company, was

much larger than the Keiser home. Located at 2811 Argyle, this home stands two stories

and features an arcaded porch, hipped tile roof, small balconies, and an exterior stucco

finish, all of which presents a composition that can best be described as Mediterranean,

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though it lacks much of the finer detailing, such as cartouches and other motifs.

In 1922 Whilldin designed the Simpson Building on the campus of Birmingham-

Southern College, intended as a high school to give future educators practical classroom

experience, and in 1924 he designed Forest Court Apartments, located at 3121 Highland

Avenue, for the Lakeview Realty Company. In Ensley, the relatively simple one story

commercial block at 723 Nineteenth Street, also designed in 1924, featured prominent

cartouches on the building’s corners.

By the mid-1920s Whilldin was also designing a number of civic projects for the

City of Birmingham. The most public of these was the rebuilding of city hall after a

devastating fire in 1925. Largely reusing the lower exterior walls, he removed the fourth

floor and the central tower of the building.38 The following year he designed the City of

Birmingham Garage and Fire Station No. 2 combination building, located at Fourth

Avenue South and Nineteenth Street, repairs to the city’s Southside Jail, as well as

additions and alterations to the Municipal Auditorium and to the city market, the latter of

which featured extensive use of stone inlays and was quite a sophisticated design. In

1927 he also designed a new jail to replace the one on Third Alley North, behind the

courthouse.

In the space of three years, between 1926 and 1928, Whilldin designed at least 48

projects, seven short of the known total for the first five years of the decade. Many of

these were major commissions, and most of them were built. The year 1926 was perhaps

the most active of his entire career, with nineteen projects underway, including two

commercial buildings in Athens, an addition to the First Methodist Church in Decatur,

and in Birmingham: two theatres, two Masonic lodges, three projects for the city

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government, an apartment building on Clairmont Avenue, the Hotel Thomas Jefferson,

the Sims Building (Club Florentine), and the Henley Building (Adams Department

Store), the first of several department stores Whilldin would design in the fashionable

retail district of Birmingham. Only two residential jobs are known from that year:

additions and alterations to a house in Forest Park, and Whilldin’s personal residence in

Redmont Park. The lack of major residential commissions is interesting, and seems to

indicate that Whilldin’s office was preoccupied with the larger commercial projects.

By late 1925 Whilldin had secured the commission for a new Masonic temple to

be located on Tuscaloosa Avenue in West End. It was to be one of the largest such

buildings in the Birmingham area. Organized in 1912, the West End Masonic Lodge No.

753, A. F. and A. M., had grown to over 350 members by the mid-1920s. Construction

of the brick structure was underway by March 1926 with an estimated total cost of

$100,000, featuring limestone, white marble, granite, and terra cotta.39

A highly unusual and unconventional building, the West End Masonic Temple

featured Whilldin’s free approach to the adaptation of classical details, especially to a

combination civic and commercial structure (Figure 30). This is evident on the main

façade, where the first level of this three story building is clad with stone, creating a base.

Above this the wall surface is a yellow buff-colored brick. Recessed on either side of the

main façade are paired Doric columns that rest upon the stone of the first story.

These columns rise two stories to the entablature, which consists of a Doric frieze

of triglyphs and Masonic symbols on the metopes. Above the frieze are a narrow cornice

and low attic. A single row of windows marks the second floor, but, the central portion

of the façade on the third story is windowless, featuring only large metal letters that spell

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“West End Masonic Temple” and two panels of patterned grillwork. The unusual

treatment of the façade plays well with the interior arrangement of rooms and the meeting

hall itself.

Largely rectangular in plan, with a one story extension along Tuscaloosa Avenue,

the first floor was reserved for retail or commercial space, and the upper floors, in

keeping with tradition, were reserved for lodge business. A complete set of working

drawings, all ink on coated linen, and largely undated, gives insight into this lost

building. Sheet 2 indicates that the first floor was originally partitioned for seven stores,

two of which faced Poplar Street (now 14th Street). These stores had either single or

double leaf doors, transoms, and expansive shop windows. The central portion had

contained the largest stores, and thus had double entry doors and a larger, continuous

expanse of window space. Flanking this were two prominent arched entries, protected by

awnings, one of which led to an elevator lobby and stairwell.

The second floor contained offices around the building’s south and west sides,

with the remainder of the space devoted to a large dining hall behind which was a

kitchen. The lodge room or Mason’s Hall was located on the third floor, accessed by a

stair located at the rear of the building, which first led into a reception room, beyond

which was the Eastern Star Committee room. Other rooms associated with rites of the

Masons included a preparation room and paraphernalia storage rooms.

The Lodge Room takes up most of the third floor, on either side of which are four

rows of riser seats. The room is lit naturally by a large grill covered window, set at one

end of the room, and placed behind two large unfluted Doric columns. A small stage or

dais is placed beneath this window. Sheet 10, which shows the building in cross-section,

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illustrates the interior elevation of the lodge room, including the risers and dais profiles.

Apparently the entire east wall was finished in plaster to simulate ashlar masonry.

Another remarkable aspect of this room is the tiled floor, executed in black and white and

at the center of the room was a large white star set within a black circle. A mezzanine

level, located above the third floor reception rooms, includes a balcony and three rooms,

variously labeled Blue Lodge, the Commandry, and Chapter locker room.40

As early as Summer 1925 prominent Birmingham lawyer Henry Upson Sims had

been planning an eight to twelve story office building for the corner of Second Avenue

and Twenty-first Street. Sims was an old friend and neighbor of Whilldin’s. They lived

across the street from each other for many years on Twelfth Avenue South. He wrote a

number of law books and later became president of the American Bar Association.41

The Sims Building, designed in early 1926 and under construction by that

summer, was completed in 1927 as the most expensive building per square foot ever

erected in the city (Figure 31). The only part of the planned building that was actually

built were the first two floors, though the foundations were designed to carry an

additional ten to twelve stories.

The ground floor was reserved for retail space, and the second floor was

originally used as a cabaret and was called the Club Florentine. Although the interior has

been extensively modified, the second floor was described in Birmingham when the

Chamber of Commerce moved into and occupied the entire building in late 1929. It was

noted as being most ornate, with panels and mirrors along the walls. Two walls were

continuous banks of windows, and the vaulted ceilings and skylight provided adequate

lighting. Today one can only imagine what the cabaret was like, an elegant interior with

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circular recesses in the ceiling that probably once held chandeliers, dance floor, antique

furniture, marble finish, and off to one side an ornate fireplace. After 1929 it became

known as the Chamber of Commerce Building.42

Fortunately, however, the exterior is little changed from when it was first built.

Executed in the Venetian mode of the Italian Renaissance Revival style, the building

recalls the elaborate palazzi of Venice and features the lavish use of marble and glazed

polychrome terra cotta. Indeed, this structure ranks as Whilldin’s finest, and remains to

this day the most decorated building in the city and a downtown landmark.

Contemporary accounts of the building describe it as Florentine Renaissance architecture,

and even note that the only other building of that type in the country was the New York

Herald, built in 1895.43

The first floor façade of this remarkable building features alternating horizontal

bands of light and dark pink marble. All of the doors and windows are recessed, framed

by paired arches that are supported in their centers by dark green marble columns.

Between each pair of arches and on each corner of the building are Corinthian pilasters

decorated with polychrome terra cotta panels of relief garlandry of the grape and grain

pattern intertwined with acanthus growing from urns. The arch soffits are also decorated

in a similar fashion. A particularly wide band of terra cotta, placed at the level of the

arch spring and column capitals, runs around the two street facades. The intersection of

this band with the Corinthian pilasters is marked by a single rosette, which further unifies

the composition.

The second floor façade (see Figure 31) continues the pattern of the first with the

alternating horizontal bands of marble. An elaborate frieze, consisting of panels of

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reddish brown eagles, set against a blue background, enframed within laurel wreaths and

surrounded by more relief decoration, is located at the sill line of the second floor

windows and continues around the street facades. A continuous arcade composes the

second floor, with windows arranged in groups of five on the ends of the building and

groups of six on the interior portions. Separating these window groupings is a single

arch, five in all, with a solid panel, framed within more relief garlandry, urns, and small

putti, for the placement of a single light of amber glass and hammered iron, suspended

from a green garland within the arch header. The small Corinthian columns between

each window and forming the arcade are of a dark green marble, like those on the first

story.

Above the second floor arcade, and corresponding to the number of windows

below, are a series of alternating panels that feature polychrome glazed terra cotta

decorated in relief with shields flanked by cherubs, medallions, cameos, eagles, and

garlandry. The intricate detailing is astonishing. Reddish brown eagles framed within

laurel wreaths and set on a blue background correspond to the light sconces below as well

as the middle window of the two outermost window groupings. Flanking this and

corresponding to two windows below are a shield, flanked by small cherubs, atop which

is a large green and orange medallion, on either side of which are small blue cameos with

male and female relief busts.

Separated from the arcade by a single band of bead-and-reel molding is a

continuous frieze, composed of large cherubs and relief garlandry with grapes and

acanthus leaves, that caps the entire composition. At the corner of the building is a large

reddish brown eagle that looks out over the corner of Second Avenue and Twenty-first

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Street. Above this frieze is a band of egg-and-dart molding and a modillion cornice. The

roof is flat but has a faux roof along the parapet that is composed of regularly laid barrel

tiles.

Tradition holds that Sims built the Florentine to impress his art teacher, Miss

Hannah Elliot, a well-known artist in the Birmingham art world. He had become

infatuated with her during a grand tour of Europe, one that she was conducting when he

was a student. The story says that Sims wanted to marry her and built the Club

Florentine as a romantic gesture. However, this appears to be mostly local legend, as

there are no records to indicate Elliot ever conducted any European study tours. In

addition, at the time the Florentine was built Sims had already been married for many

years. Sims was, nevertheless, an aficionado of Italian architecture. A cultured man,

Sims probably had seen the palazzi of Venice and Florence on a European grand tour.44

The lavish use of glazed terra cotta and the influence of Italian architecture,

exemplified in the Sims Building, characterized much of Whilldin’s work during the late

1920s. Also under construction at the same time was the five story Adams Department

Store, developed by the Henley family, on Second Avenue North in the fashionable retail

district. Though not nearly as intricate or extravagant as the Sims Building, this

department store also featured terra cotta panels with shields and relief garlandry and an

elaborate frieze.

During the 1920s a number of vaudeville theaters and motion picture houses were

erected in downtown Birmingham and throughout the district. During this era of the

movie palace, the decoration of theatre buildings was often lavish and spectacular,

providing the patron a trip into a fantasy or foreign world. Architects throughout the

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country formulated complex buildings and innovations while providing a dazzling

architectural display. The most famous of these movie palaces built in Birmingham is, of

course, the Moorish inspired Alabama Theatre (Arthur G. Larsen, Graven & Myer,

Chicago, 1927). Three theatres completed in 1927 showcase Whilldin’s version of the

movie palace.45

The first of these was the Ensley Theatre, located at the corner of Avenue E and

Twentieth Street. It was developed by Erskine Ramsay and G. B. McCormack at a cost

variously listed between $50,000 and $100,000. Vintage photographs of this extant

building portray an exuberant display of Italian Renaissance Revival architecture.

Dominating the façade is the two story octagonal tower that rises from the corner block

of the building, portions of which contained the projection room. Above the storefronts

of the first story of the tower portion are Renaissance decorations which contain a shield.

The second story of the tower, which is octagonal, is pierced by both shouldered arched

windows and round arched doorways flanked by square Tuscan columns. Small

balconets supported by brackets, rope molding along the walls, diagonal scoring of the

walls, tile roofing, and a tall, narrow pinnacle complete the composition, which

transported patrons back to sixteenth-century Italy, if only through the eyes of a

twentieth-century architect.46

Although not as elaborate as the Ensley, the Famous Theatre, located on Fourth

Avenue North in the black entertainment district, is a simpler interpretation, almost Deco

in some respects, of Mediterranean architecture. Employing round arched windows with

balconets, oversized quoins contrasted against brick, a stucco finish, and tiled roof,

Whilldin achieves a basic, attractive, composition based largely on Italian Renaissance

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design. It was built by J. G. Whitfield and was originally called the Whitfield Theatre. 47

Second only to the Alabama Theatre in terms of lavishness of decoration, the

Pantages Vaudeville House (Figure 32) embodied the escapism and illusionism that

characterized movie palaces of the pre-crash 1920s. The Pantages was opulent,

excessive, romantic, colorful, even outlandish with its interior, and above all it was

eclectic, drawing on a myriad of architectural sources. The building was originally the

Bijou Theatre, but in early 1927 the Pan-Ala Amusement Company had it extensively

remodeled at a cost of $200,000 to become a part of the chain of vaudeville houses and

moving picture theatres started by Alexander Pantages. It was located on the northeast

corner of Seventeenth Street and Third Avenue North, along Birmingham’s “Broadway”

until it was demolished in 1950 for a parking lot.48

The façade of the Pantages consisted of a massive central block some three stories

high with a broad, mansard-like roof that rose to conceal the interior vault. At the base is

the main entrance, covered by a flat roofed canopy. Flanking the central block on either

side is a three story unit, with a storefront on the first floor. It should be remembered that

Whilldin was remodeling the building, and the underlying structural configuration of the

Bijou can clearly be seen if one compares photographs of the two.

The first floor cladding consisted of either white terra cotta or stucco walls, meant

to resemble ashlar masonry and set on a base of marble, with continuous horizontal

channels that, like the Famous Theatre, give a Deco-like appearance in its simplicity and

abstraction. This pattern was repeated on the second and third stories of the central block

as well, broken only by a broad expanse of unadorned, textured stucco. The second and

third floors of these outer units were clad in textured stucco. Three narrow windows

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covered with wrought iron grillwork presumably illuminated the large interior staircases

required to move a great volume of people, based on the intermediate level of these

windows with those on the side. The juxtaposition of these different surface textures

defined the façade into differing visual units.

Surface ornamentation was surprisingly restrained. A large cartouche was placed

above the three small windows. A wide frieze of glazed terra cotta, consisting of

garlandry and cherubs, capped the flanking units and gave the composition, like the first

floor channels, a horizontal effect that contrasted with the verticality of the central block,

which was further emphasized by the narrow marquee. The side of the building is

interesting as well. Though consisting largely of a broad expanse of textured, unadorned

stucco surface, a wide band of diamond patterns, presumably rendered in contrasting

colors in stucco, serves as a Deco-like cornice for the building. At the top of the side

marquee a small rectangular construction, decorated with quoins and a small cornice and

covered by a hip roof, protrudes from the roof.

An unusual and eclectic building, the Pantages drew its inspiration from so many

disparate sources that the building seems to defy categorization--the windows are vaguely

Spanish, the frieze is Italian, the roof is vaguely French, the wall patterns vaguely Art

Deco, and the cartouche is a standard decorative device from Beaux-Arts classicism. The

architect, though, stated that the building is Italian Renaissance, much like his other,

contemporaneous projects. Indeed, the frieze of garlands and cherubs is comparable to

the frieze along the upper zone of the Sims Building.49

The relative simplicity of the exterior of the Pantages belies the intricate detailing

and complexity of its interior (Figure 33). Luxurious appointments such as marble, tile-

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work, ornamental plaster, and other furnishings decorated the public spaces, including the

foyer, staircases, and the lounges. Opened to the public on 31 October 1927, with some

of the finest vaudeville acts and moving pictures in the country, the theatre was able to

seat 2,400 people on the main floor and two balconies. The interior decoration of the

auditorium, richly overwhelming with an array of painted designs, urns in niches,

grillwork, cartouches, textured surfaces, and fanciful capitals, coupled with the trompe

l’œil effect of the stage backdrop, was no doubt able to engage the patron on different

levels of emotions and of the senses. In effect, the interior itself became a part of the

show.50

By 1926 Whilldin had begun planning for his new personal residence. Earlier that

year he had acquired some property in Redmont Park. Developed by Robert Jemison, Jr.,

Redmont Park was located along the crest of Red Mountain, and it was here that the

city’s affluent built grand estates during the mid-to-late 1920s. By the end of the year

construction was underway on the Whilldin residence. The volume of building activity in

Redmont Park was featured in the November 1927 issue of the Jemison Magazine. In

addition to Whilldin’s residence, other homes under construction included those for J. S.

Reed, George Wofford, and Theodore Swann. It was further noted that this was but a

reflection of the general trend of the Birmingham district in regards to home building.

During the first six months of 1927 Birmingham led eighty other cities in residential

construction.51

Located at 3508 Redmont Road, the Whilldin residence reflects a highly personal

choice for the architect, one that reaches back to his Pennsylvania roots. The exterior is

simple--a stone clad Pennsylvania farm house (Figure 34). Situated on the brow of a hill

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between Redmont Road and Montclair Road, one climbs a set of stone steps up to a

small, manicured lawn. The house itself, clad in random course stone, is two stories, with

a slate gable roof and a small, shed roof porch at the entrance. To one side of the house is

a one story shed roof wing. The windows are shuttered, and are six over six double hung

sash; there are two on the first floor and four on the second floor.

The relatively modest appearance of this Mid-Atlantic or Pennsylvania farmhouse

belies its size. The home is configured in the shape of an “L” with a small stone walled

rear extension from the side wing. To the rear of the home is a terrace. From here a

flight of stone steps lead down to the motor court, paved in herringbone pattern brick, and

a three car garage in the basement. Also on this level were the servant’s quarters. The

driveway to the motor court is off of Country Club Road.

Although the exterior is a faithful interpretation of an historic style, the interior is

a showcase for Whilldin’s eclectic and detailed nature. There is no entrance hall--one

walks directly from the front door into the living room (Figure 35), which is paved with

white and black marble. The gilded ceiling, bordered by rope moulding and a guilloche

pattern, is coffered with rosettes placed within an octagon, set on angle within a square.

Fortunately a partial set of detail drawings for this building survives, providing insight

into the loving care with which Whilldin crafted his own house. Sheet 147 is a full size

detail of the living room ceiling. The rope molding and guilloche were to be gold

highlighted with red. The rosettes, as well as the octagonal and square borders, were to

be gold. The field within the octagon was to be blue, and the field within the square and

around the guilloche was to be blue. The fireplace was carved from stone and had

intricate floral consoles which supported a mantel, on either side of which was a shield

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placed within garlandry.

On either side of the living room fireplace is a doorway. The door to the left or

front of the house is a Dutch door, and leads to a small porch. The other door leads into

the study. Adjacent to the living room, and to the right of the front entrance, is the dining

room. The living room and dining room were once separated by an ornate metal gate,

now in the garden. Again the ceiling is a testament to Whilldin’s imagination.

Geometric patterns contain floral and Renaissance motifs, set against light colored fields

of blue, green, and red. Four circular panels contain paintings done on canvas, said to

represent the four seasons (see Figure 35).

To the rear of the living room is a stair hall, trimmed in rope molding and

guilloche (see Figure 34). The green marble staircase leads to a landing and then to an

upstairs hallway with vaulted ceilings, arched doorways, and has a rough plaster finish.

This staircase features wrought iron balusters and newel post and a handrail of black

walnut. Not evident at first glance, the newel post is an intricately detailed piece of

metalwork. Whilldin’s artistry is readily apparent on Sheet 192, a full size detail of the

newel post, in which rusty wrot [sic] iron is specified to create a climbing network of

leafy forms (see Figure 34). The wall sconces in the upstairs hallway follow a similar

pattern and are of the same material. The second floor contains four bedrooms.53

The theater, located at the rear of the house, is an interesting feature. Built for his

wife, who by all accounts was an excellent pianist, the room was the focal point of

concerts and parties that were often hosted by the Whilldins. The raised stage on one end

of the room had stage lights hidden beneath trap doors, hardware for hanging curtains

across it, and storage space underneath for one hundred folding chairs. At the rear of the

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room, French doors opened onto a terrace. The pecky cypress, which lines the walls of

the theater, was submerged in the ocean for ninety days. Rose marble from France, a

very rare red color that is no longer available today, trims the terrazzo floors.54

Particular details of the home, however, are best described by Whilldin himself,

who responded to the second owner’s request for information on the home’s design in a

letter dated 2 November 1949:

…the exterior is a Chester County (Pa.) farm house. All mouldings and details are copied from houses built in Colonial days with Pennsylvania artisans.

The interior contains an Italian living and dining room, the library strickly [sic] early American, studio has a somewhat Spanish feeling, one bedroom is Italian, one early American, and two French. All details in these rooms were copied from old European structures except, of course, the Colonial which again follows the Pennsylvania Dutch details.

The mantel in the living room is made of Tennessee limestone, that being the only place in the United States where limestone of this texture is quarried. The carving of this mantel was done on the site by an Italian carver who had quite a reputation in the East.

The ceiling in the dining room was hand painted from designs which I developed, the four rosettes done on canvas. The living room ceiling being of plaster hung from the concrete floor above.

The wooden pegs in the floor around the hearth in the library were made from a cane which in turn was made from a splinter taken from the oak beam on which the liberty bell in Independence Hall, Philadelphia, was hung.

The floors of the living and dining room is [sic] Missouri marble, the border and stair of Greek Tinus, the studio floor is of terrazzo bordered with rose marble from France. The walls are Pecky Cypress. The terrazzo contains about a bushel of green marble which came from Ireland.

The mantel in the French bedroom is French marble and is the only one of its kind in the world, as these mantels are built of hundreds of pieces cemented together and they are designed to fit the pieces, hence no two are ever alike. Characteristic of the marble being such that it cannot be quarried in slabs but comes out in broken pieces.

The slate roof and terrace floor are from Vermont. The exterior walls of local sandstone and the house is semi-fireproof.52 Yet even more information relating to the house is found in the tax appraisal file

of the Jefferson County Board of Equalization. Apparently the appraiser talked to

Whilldin first hand, who wrote down the following:

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This building has 10 rooms and theater in all. Nine rooms and theater have marble floors. Theater approximately 30’ x 30’ has cypress walls hand carved. Other walls are hand plastered and painted by Italian interior decorator. One room has individual plaster rosettes all joined together to form ceiling. Also one room has hand carved overhead. The work on th[ese] two rooms were done by the man who decorated the interior of the White House in Washington. Both baths have marble floors and walls. All doors are hand carved maple and cost in excess of $100.00 each. Stairways, etc., are hand wrought iron. The entire interior is treated so that it is 100 % fireproof. The owner said that the building alone, not including the plans nor the lot, were constructed at a cost of $250,000.55 By all accounts, Whilldin would often host parties at his Redmont home and

piano concerts, put on by his wife. Indeed, he seems to have moved freely within the

circles of Birmingham society and was probably one of the wealthiest architects in the

city. Later in 1928 he was caricatured in the book Club Men of Birmingham, where three

local cartoonists drew portraits of prominent members of the Birmingham Country Club.

Apparently he rarely played golf, and his hobby was collecting antiques. Two other

Birmingham architects, William Warren and Harry Wheelock, were also featured in the

book.

In addition to his personal residence and the three theatres, a number of other

projects, some major, were underway in 1927. These include the Tiger Theatre in

Auburn, modest except for its marquee, additions to the Druid City Hospital in

Tuscaloosa, a residence in Forest Park but whose location is unclear, a tiny store on

Second Avenue North adjacent to the Henley Building, Cliff Court, the Birmingham

Ensley Land Company office on Nineteenth Street in Ensley, a building for the Rushton

Corp., the new Coca-Cola Bottling Plant, additions to the Buffalo Rock Bottling Plant,

the new Municipal Stadium, and a proposal for a new Birmingham City Jail.

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Cliff Court, located off Cliff Road just above Highland Avenue, is a collection of

eight small stuccoed Tudor Revival cottages designed so as to simulate an English mews.

Simply appointed, Cliff Court is interesting in terms of small-scale community planning,

with four cottages arranged in a row and across a linear green space or common yard

from the other four. These small cottages are also a stark contrast from the architect’s

luxurious personal residence, under construction higher up on Red Mountain.

The new Coca-Cola Bottling Plant, built for Crawford Johnson at Eleventh

Avenue and Thirty-third Street and completed in 1929 at a cost of $150,000, was a

sophisticated design and was praised by Robert Jemison, Jr. as a “very attractive and

efficient addition to the industrial plants of Birmingham.”56 The building for Rushton

Corp., located on the corner of Fourth Avenue South and Twenty-first Street, is a largely

utilitarian building for an automobile service center but whose carved capitals atop the

square piers give it a Romanesque flair--a most unusual design for Whilldin. Also that

year Whilldin served as consulting architect and construction supervisor for Warren,

Knight, and Davis on the new Parisian Department Store.57

During the early and mid-1920s a number of civic projects, such as the Municipal

Auditorium, had been completed. However, the city was lacking an athletic stadium. By

the end of 1923 Mervyn H. Sterne of the Birmingham Junior Chamber of Commerce was

advancing the idea of erecting a 20,000 seat concrete stadium. Warren, Knight, and

Davis were to be the architects. However, it was not until January 1927 that the city

offered a ten acre site and $150,000 towards an athletic stadium, provided the Junior

Chamber of Commerce raised another $100,000. That same month, on 12 January, the

Birmingham Park and Recreation Board selected Whilldin as the architect for the new

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stadium. The following month Joseph H. Fox of Terra Haute, Indiana, was selected as

consulting engineer.58

During the early 1920s a new generation of stadia were being built in larger cities

across the country. These stadia were “new” in the sense that considerations beyond

utility, such as aesthetics and sophisticated engineering, were incorporated into the

overall design of these large scale structures. Several of these were featured in a series of

articles in the premier magazine read by architectural professionals in this country, The

American Architect.

The first of these, covered in several articles beginning in 1920, was the

competition for the new lakefront stadium in Chicago, known today as Soldier Field.

Other stadia featured were those at Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and finally, the Ohio

Stadium at Ohio State University. Whilldin would have certainly been familiar with

these articles.

The Ohio Stadium article ran in the 5 September 1926 issue of the American

Architect, only a few months before Whilldin began work on the Birmingham stadium.

The Ohio Stadium is significant in that it “corrects” the disadvantages of the open and

closed types of stadia, namely those of Harvard and Yale, respectively. An open stadium

allows for better air movement and an additional quarter mile track with 220 yard

straight-aways for dashes, though the straight sided seating gave poor visibility. The

closed stadium, with its curved seating, brings the spectators closer to the field and allows

for better vision, though at the expense of the additional track and ventilation.

The Ohio Stadium is of a “horseshoe type” which is both open on one end and has

curved side seating, allowing ideal vision for all spectators as well as bringing them

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closer to the field. It was noted that this type also made for greater compositional unity.

The Ohio Stadium featured an open deck, a triumphal entry at the base of the

“horseshoe,” an arcade along the exterior, and classically styled pavilions on each end.

Seating capacity was just over 62,000 and expandable to 80,000.59

In late January 1927 Whilldin, Crawford Johnson, who was president of the Park

Board at the time, and other members of the park board traveled across the country on a

fact finding trip to inspect stadiums. This trip was undoubtedly guided by the American

Architect articles. By March 1927 the designs and specifications were complete for the

Birmingham stadium and bids were to be let the following month for the erection of the

first unit, with a seating capacity of 21,050. Ultimate seating capacity was to be almost

100,000. Only a portion of the stadium was initially built--the west stands and part of the

east stands. It was to be named Legion Field, the name being selected in a public contest,

and the stadium was dedicated as a memorial to the veterans of the World War (WWI).

Construction progressed rapidly and the stadium was dedicated on 19 November 1927.

The year 1928 brought more improvements, including an electric scoreboard, donated by

The Birmingham News, stadium gates, an east side player’s room, and stadium lights.60

Today the original portions of the stadium are buried beneath a network of steel

and concrete from later additions. However, the graceful brick arches of the west stand

arcade can be clearly seen by visitors. Each arch had above it a large concrete festoon

panel. Above this was a great stringcourse that would have encircled the stadium, and

finally a large stone shield. At the north end the arcade terminates with a solid brick

pavilion, raised on a higher plinth than the arcade, and decorated only by brick quoins

and a wreathed and beribboned seal of the City of Birmingham. Inside the stadium, the

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original stands are marked by a brick wall paralleling the field as well as along the sides

of the old stands.

Although constructed in a piece-meal fashion over several decades, the vision of

how Legion Field was to look when completed survives in the form of a small rendering

(Figure 36). Although signed by Whilldin, the rendering appears to have been drawn by

Allan Greasby, whose name is printed below the architect’s. Greasby is first listed in the

city directory in 1927, as an architect with the landscape architectural firm of Pearse-

Robinson, located only three blocks down 21st Street from Whilldin’s office. By 1929 he

was working as a draftsman in the offices of Warren, Knight, and Davis.61

The rendering clearly shows Legion Field as a horseshoe shaped stadium, open on

one end to allow for ventilation and for additional track and with curved seating banks for

unobstructed vision. On the south end of the stadium, or at the base of the horseshoe,

was a monumental gateway that featured massive stone quoins, a flagpole above the

lintel, and “LEGION FIELD” inscribed at the top. On either side along the arms of the

horseshoe, was a twenty seven bay arcade, recalling the arcades of ancient Roman stadia,

and above each arch was a festoon panel cast in concrete and a shield. Twenty six

flagpoles ringed the top of the stadium, and on the west side was the small press box.

Thirty one portals, accessed by a series of ramps and concourses, aided in the circulation

of spectators.

An elevation of the monumental south entrance (Figure 37), which rises above the

level of the surrounding structure, shows deeply channeled brickwork or ashlar masonry

framing a massive Ionic distyle in antis portico, a correct entablature, and egg-and-dart

molding. Above is the inscription field with a large cartouche containing a lion’s head.

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At the north, open, end of the stadium was the flagpole and an elaborate electronic

scoreboard, also designed by Whilldin, that measured sixty eight feet by forty feet tall.62

Legion Field differed from the Ohio Stadium in several respects. First there was

no upper deck in the original design. Second, there were no massive pavilions on each

end of the horseshoe. At Ohio these pavilions held athletic offices and locker rooms for

the school, whereas at Legion Field team rooms were placed underneath the stands.

Third, the arcade is more unified in its monumentality than at Ohio, where the upper deck

necessitated a large, solid upper zone.

Also planned with the new stadium was a memorial entrance, to be erected by the

Birmingham Post #1 of the American Legion as a war memorial. Dedicated in 1929,

Whilldin’s artistry is evidenced by the memorial entrance, placed on the south side of the

stadium so as to be on axis with the monumental gateway. Two massive sleeping lions,

each ten feet long, carved in the round and each placed on a podium, flank the curving

stone wall (Figure 38). These sleeping lions, powerful symbols as a memorial to the

fallen of the Great War, have bold chiseled features. One of their front paws drops over

the face of each podium. Further in from the street is the granite staircase, flanked by

two large stone podiums with bronze tablets, surmounted by pylons with bronze eagles,

and the walkway beyond was to lead to the monumental entrance to the stadium.

The dedication of the Municipal Stadium at Legion Field was one of the great

civic events in the history of the city. Articles ran for several days in The Birmingham

News. Even a special section was printed, extolling the magnificence of Birmingham’s

new stadium and the stories of the men who made it happen. The tour of stadia

throughout the country by the architect and park board members is mentioned, as is the

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care the architect gave to studying sight lines and so concluded that the horseshoe design

of the Ohio Stadium was the best. This way Whilldin’s design insured an unobstructed

view of the game for each spectator. The glass enclosed press box, able to seat sixty

people, was noted as the most modern in the country, with heat, lights, water, writing

tables, radio station, and telephone and telegram facilities. In a departure from other

stadium designs, Whilldin placed the press box at the top of the stands, some 100 feet or

seven stories high, so as not to render some seats useless. Interesting notes can be found

in these articles about the construction details. For instance, eighteen miles of California

redwood was used for the seats, with the number of each seat burned into the wood and

each seat was separated by little brass markers. The steel structure was designed to carry

an upper deck, and the use of broad ramps for gaining access to the eight upper portals

was apparently an innovation in patron safety. The imminent installation of a megaphone

system would be one of the first in the country. Even the bricks were specially made and

colored as per Whilldin’s specifications; these were called Stadium Bricks. The first

game, played by Howard (now Samford) and Birmingham-Southern, was preceded by a

parade and elaborate ceremony attended by three governors, two senators, including

Hugo Black, and the head of the American Legion.63 It certainly must have been an

incredible day—

Long before time for the game, even hours before the dedication, ceremonies were to open, the stands were filled by the light-hearted crowd. The Red and Blue of Howard, the Gold and Black of Southern, and the national Red, White, and Blue provided a galaxy of color in the giant stadium. A slightly hazy sun beamed on the field, affording comfort with its warming rays, and yet the snappy, brisk November air was cool enough to key everybody’s spirits to the maximum. It was an ideal day for Birmingham’s grid classic.64

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Although a great many projects during this time were large, even grand in some

cases, Whilldin’s attention to detail was not lost on even the smallest of jobs. A sheet of

specifications for a tiny shop is all that survives of an architectural gem once located

between the Henley Building and the Louis Saks (Newberrys) Building on Second

Avenue North. This shop, which replaced an earlier one, was located where the common

internal staircase for the old nineteenth century buildings had once been. It measured

only six feet one inch wide, and had a depth of over forty feet.65

The façade of this diminutive building, largely finished in travertine, is evenly

divided between a plate glass display and a small entry vestibule, which continues the

plate glass display on one side and on the other has a travertine panel decorated with a

single swag. Above the shop display and vestibule is a transom, on either side of which

are decorative brackets. Within the upper zone of the façade is a travertine panel, flanked

by a single narrow, vertical panel of what appears to be acanthus or garlandry. Along the

parapet is a large central cartouche and small urns on either side. This tiny shop reflects

Whilldin’s attention to detail as well as his ability to give even the most modest building

a distinctive presence.

The years 1928 and 1929 brought fewer projects than in previous years, though

residential commissions were becoming increasingly more important and substantial.

Among these projects were two county jails, several projects in Gadsden, a commercial

block and a department store in Birmingham, remodeling of the three story building on

the corner of First Avenue North and Nineteenth Street for the Jemison Company, and

additions and alterations to a two story building at 1709 Second Avenue North. The

latter structure, long demolished, is another exceptional design whose blocked piers and

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central door surround faintly recall English Palladianism. Also that year Whilldin had

three major project proposals. The decrease in projects for these years was reflective of

what was going on in the Birmingham building market. Building permit valuations in the

city for 1928 were $4,200,000 less than the all-time high of 1927, considered the greatest

building year in the history of the city. In 1929, there was a significant decrease in the

total cost of building permits, totaling some $10,401,370, the lowest since 1922. At the

end of 1928 Whilldin was appointed by the City to serve on a committee, which he

chaired, to work out a new building code to replace the 1912 code. He was the only

architect to serve on this committee. The new code was adopted in December 1929.66

A major commission of 1928 was a department store for Robert Aland, owner of

the Ideal Millinery Cloak and Suit Company, to be built on Nineteenth Street in the retail

district. Construction began in February and was completed by the following autumn.

The ground floor unit was finished first, and store operations were transferred from the

old store. After this, construction began on the remainder of the building. The shop

windows were built larger than usual and feature wire reinforced glass and marble

floors.67

This slender, finely conceived, six story building, sheathed in gleaming white

terra cotta again typifies Whilldin’s attention to detail and his love of exquisite surface

decoration. A complete set of working drawings, all pencil on vellum, further reveal the

underlying complexity of what appears to be at first glance a relatively simple building

(Figure 39). Only one sheet is dated, a small sheet of tracing paper dated 4 April 1928,

and appears to be a late revision. Sheet 4 is the most interesting, for it details the

elaborate Nineteenth Street façade.

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The base of the building, terra cotta finished to resemble large masonry blocks, is

decorated with cartouches and scrollwork. A denticulated cornice with medallions is

above the storefront, providing a visual break from the rest of the building. Most

remarkable, however, are the slender columns, recalling rope molding, with classical

capitals that rise between the vertical banks of windows to merge into the complex upper

zone of the structure, embellished with a shield on each corner and a modillion cornice.

Two residential commissions from 1928 provide a dramatic contrast in styles.

The first of these is the Tudor Revival style residence of Dr. J. R. Garber, located at 1508

Milner Crescent. The house features a dominant asymmetrical front gable, which

incorporates the front-facing shouldered chimney. The second floor has faux half-

timbering with herringbone pattern brickwork panels. Along the side, the half-timbering

has herringbone pattern brick infill. It has a curious braced, gable stoop entry, rather than

being placed within an entry porch. This residence is rather angular and sharply linear

for a Tudor residence, and is one of Whilldin’s more unusual compositions. Especially

unusual is the incorporation of the chimney into the front gable projection, creating a

striking silhouette. Even the chimney stacks are flattened into a linear plane with little or

no depth. In a sense, it is as if Whilldin is stripping much of the ornamentation, reducing

the house to its geometric forms.

The other residence, however, certainly ranks as one of Whilldin’s finest. Indeed,

the home was noted in the Dixie Manufacturer’s review of 1929 as one of the highlights

of residential construction in Birmingham, second only to the Theodore Swann home,

designed by Warren, Knight, and Davis. After the completion of his downtown building,

H. U. Sims commissioned Whilldin to design his new home at 19 Ridge Drive in Rocky

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Ridge Park. Again using the Italian Renaissance Revival style--apparently Sims’

favorite--Whilldin designed a home recalling the villas and palazzi of northern Italy

(Figure 40). Situated on a large corner lot, Whilldin reverses the expected orientation of

the home so that the main entry is in the rear, expressed as a projecting semi-circular

extension from the center of the long and narrow house. This extension is balanced by a

square projection of the central block on its opposite side, which gives the home varied

massing and breaks up the linearity of the façade. Finished in stucco, the house has a hip

red tile roof with broad overhanging eaves, underneath which are rosette panels.68

The Sims residence is interesting for its unusual floor plan. The entire residence

is one room deep, with the great entrance hall at its center with a small room behind it.

These rooms are visually expressed on the exterior by the projection of this central block.

To one side is the palatial living room, finished with an elaborate molding of acanthus

leaves, which opens onto a small arcaded porch. On either side of the living room are

three sets of French doors directly across from the other, expressed on the exterior so as

to recall the bifora windows found in Renaissance palazzo of Florence and Venice. To

the other side of the entrance hall is the dining room, finished with a frieze of double

swags below the molding, which features a circular painted ceiling of blue sky and

clouds. Behind the dining room is the kitchen, which opens to the outside courtyard and

garage with its servant’s quarters.

The visual interior focal point, however, is the entrance hall (see Figure 40). Two

unnumbered sheets, both dated 14 January 1929, detail this beautiful space. Partially

formed by the semicircular projection of the central block, it is accessed by a double leaf

entry door from the circular driveway. On the exterior the door is framed by an

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intricately detailed terra cotta arch and equally detailed engaged columns, surrounded by

glazed terra cotta that simulates stonework. Inside, one passes under the intermediate

landing of the graceful semicircular staircase, expressed by three arcaded windows on the

exterior which flood the entrance hall with light. This staircase, with black marble steps,

gives access to an upstairs balcony and bedrooms. The hall is finished with brown and

gray marble details with terrazzo floors. Directly across the house from the entry door is

a similarly arched doorway beyond the entrance hall which gives access to a large slate

terrace with a balustrade. This terrace overlooks Ridge Drive and Rockdell Lane and two

gardens that bear resemblance to those designed by Birmingham landscape architect

William H. Kessler.

Whilldin’s career during the 1920s was marked by prominence in both

Birmingham and Tuscaloosa, bringing with that large commissions and commensurate

fees. The decade would be the high point of his career, and his architecture reflected the

exuberance and prosperity of that age. However, he was not without his disappointments.

Three projects are listed in the Manufacturers Record and Dixie Manufacturer

during 1928 that were either not built or another architect was hired instead. The first

project was for a seven story addition to the McLester Hotel in Tuscaloosa, after which

the current building was to have been demolished and replaced. The second project was

an eight story, one hundred room hotel in Tuscaloosa, to be built at the corner of Broad

Street and 21st Avenue, and backed by the Fitts family. As early as August 1928 C.

Morton Ayres of Tuscaloosa and William L. Welton of Birmingham were to be the

architects. By December they had been replaced by Whilldin, who was in turn replaced

by Charles McCauley, another Birmingham architect, in March 1929. The contract for

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the hotel was delayed due to changes to the plans, and after the arrival of the Great

Depression the project was indefinitely postponed.69

However, his greatest disappointment appears to have been the proposed Medical

Arts Building for Birmingham. Office towers housing medical offices were a common

building project around the country during this era, and these were usually located near

hospitals--in this case the Hillman Hospital. An entry in the 18 October 1828

Manufacturer’s Record states that Breen Real Estate and Insurance Company of

Birmingham was interested in erecting an eleven story Medical Arts Building, to be

located at Twentieth Street and Seventh Avenue South and cost $640,000. Whilldin was

listed as architect. An entry in the 25 October 1928 Dixie Manufacturer noted that

Birmingham investors were in negotiations to erect a new ten to fifteen story Medical

Arts Building, with Harry B. Wheelock as architect. A few months later, an entry in the

21 February 1929 Manufacturer’s Record states that interests from Houston, Texas, were

financing the erection of a sixteen to twenty story, $1,500,000 Medical Arts Building, to

be at the same location. Wheelock was again listed as architect. This particular structure

was never built, although news briefs in the Dixie Manufacturer indicate that site clearing

had begun during the summer of 1929, bids had been let, and entries as late as August

indicate that plans were still being revised. Again, as with the Fitts hotel project, the

arrival of the Great Depression indefinitely delayed construction. In 1934 Birmingham

finally got its medical professional building with the erection of the Kamran Grotto

Building (later called Medical Arts Building and now the Pickwick Hotel), designed by

Charles MacCauley.

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Whilldin’s rendering of the proposed Medical Arts Building survives in the form

of a Birmingham News photograph at the Birmingham Public Library Archives (Figure

41). It is an interesting building and unlike any other Whilldin had designed or would

design. The building is solid in its massing. Only the window divisions from the third

story through the eighth give any sense of verticality. For floors nine and ten the

windows multiply and the corner blocks, a monolithic mass on the lower stories, are

slightly inset. The entire eleventh story is set back and ‘supported’ by flying buttresses

that spring from the verticals of the façade, creating a skeletal network of stone directly

recalling the great Gothic cathedrals of France. Between each flying buttress a network

of what is presumably stone rises as an ogee arch to meet with what appears to be a

rounded or segmental dormer, adorned with some type of sculpture or vents. The

building is then capped with a pavilion roof with two spires.

Whilldin’s choice of Gothic for an office building was unusual. Although he

occasionally designed Tudor styled homes, the use of a purely Gothic style was a

complete departure from Whilldin’s repertoire. Gothic, with its emphasis on structural

lightness and verticality, would seem an appropriate stylistic choice for a skyscraper.

Outstanding examples of this application include the Woolworth Building in New York

(Cass Gilbert, 1911-1913) and the Chicago Tribune Tower in Chicago (Howells and

Hood, 1922-1925). However, Gothic never approached the popularity of the Classical

Revival style in regards to skyscrapers. Whilldin’s Gothic skyscraper is heavy and

weighty in its massing, so much so that the soaring buttresses of the eleventh story seem

diminished in scale. During the same year the Medical Arts rendering was produced,

another Gothic inspired skyscraper was rising in downtown Birmingham--the fourteen

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story Protective Life Building by Warren, Knight, and Davis. More attenuated than

Whilldin’s design, the verticals terminate with pinnacles and a pinnacled setback. Both

are twentieth-century interpretations of Gothic, Whilldin’s that of the High Gothic

Period, and Warren, Knight, and Davis’ of the lighter, and later, Perpendicular Gothic

Period.

The Hotel Thomas Jefferson

The single greatest project of Whilldin’s career, in terms of size, cost, and

complexity, was the design for the Thomas Jefferson Hotel. Standing nineteen stories

high at the corner of Second Avenue North and Seventeenth Street, the Thomas Jefferson

was the largest and grandest of the Birmingham hotels. It was also the last to be built

before the onset of the Great Depression, following such landmarks as the Tutwiler,

Redmont, and Bankhead hotels.

It is unclear exactly when the planning of the Thomas Jefferson began. By the

end of 1925 a holding company, the Union Realty Company, had been organized, with

Henry Cobb as president, for the erection of a $1,500,000, nineteen story, 350 room

hotel. Cobb was no newcomer to Birmingham development, having built the Phoenix

Building, located diagonally across the street from the proposed location of the new

hotel. In a letter dated 23 November 1925 from Henry Cobb to Robert Jemison, Jr., a

meeting was proposed to be held on the 25th of that month in the office of D. O. Whilldin

for the purpose of electing officers and directors for the proposed company. Apparently

Jemison was a major stockholder, and given the involvement of Whilldin at such an early

date, and considering his penchant for investing in stocks and real estate, he probably had

a financial stake in the new company.70

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By March 1926 the name for the new hotel, the Thomas Jefferson, had been

selected, and in May the contractors, the Foster-Creighton Company of Nashville, began

construction. In April 1927 work was suspended on the project when the principal

investor, the Adair Realty and Trust Company of Atlanta, failed and the property went

into receivership. For over a year the building shell, with its walls and roof completed,

stood empty with its interiors unfinished while negotiations by Thomas Jefferson

stockholders and other interested parties pressed to get work resumed. In July 1928 work

did resume after the property was bought in by the Thomas Jefferson Hotel Holding

Company, with Henry Cobb as president. Built at a cost of $2,500,000, the new Hotel

Thomas Jefferson opened to the public on 7 September 1929, ready to assume its position

as the grand dame of Birmingham hotels. A week of dinner dances, parties, and

banquets, complete with special entertainment such as an orchestra brought in from New

York, were the order of the day to celebrate the opening.71

At the time it was built the Thomas Jefferson was one of the tallest buildings in

the city (Figures 42 and 43). It was also built on the fringe of the central business district,

and well away from the Terminal Station. Again reflecting Whilldin’s attention to detail

and his love of surface ornamentation, the Thomas Jefferson features the skillful

interpretation and application of Italian Renaissance details to a twentieth century

phenomenon--the skyscraper.

The first four stories of the towering hotel, except for the lower portion of the

ground floor which is finished in marble, are sheathed entirely in glazed white terra cotta.

The second and third stories are adorned with a series of Corinthian pilasters, the outer

two of this series being paired, that separate and frame each vertical set of windows.

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These deeply fluted pilasters, which support an entablature and cornice, are entirely of

glazed terra cotta and formed an impressive façade to hotel guests using the terrace

garden for dining and dancing. The second floor windows, which illuminate the

ballroom and public areas, are arched. The fourth floor diverges from the human scaled

terrace garden façade below and establishes the pattern for the soaring tower above.

Visually, however, the fourth floor is the termination of the base of the building. Again

finished in white glazed terra cotta, narrow panels of garlandry separate the windows

while two larger panels featuring cornucopias of grapes and garlandry flank the outer

windows.

Set back from the street, especially from Second Avenue, rises the tower itself.

The shaft of the building consists of thirteen floors, finished in white brick on its outer

corners and tan brick for the narrow verticals that separate the main bank of windows.

These vertical elements terminate into a large acanthus leaf. Below each window is a

terra cotta panel which contains a shield. One of the remarkable design aspects of the

building is the architect’s use of a large rope molding to soften the corner edges. These

rope moldings terminate with a satyr, a Classical mythical figure, who holds a shield and

is himself framed within a large shield or cartouche.

The final two stories consists of a Corinthian arcade, placed behind a balustrade

adorned with shields (Figure 44). Flanking this arcade are large two story terra cotta

panels, the whole of which supports a modillion cornice and red tile roof overhang. For

the completion of this composition he juxtaposes the brown and white colors with those

of the shaft below. The arcade, placed at the center of the building, is finished in white

terra cotta which contrasts with the brown brick below it, and the large terra cotta panels

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are brown or cream colored, which contrasts with the white brick below it. One curious

side note of history is the metal tower, now removed except for the base, on the northeast

corner of the roof. This was once a dirigible mooring mast, never used.72

A partial set of plans fortunately has survived. They are unnumbered and

undated, but were drawn before the name of the hotel was selected, as the project is only

listed as “Hotel Building for the Union Realty Corporation.” The basement level was

largely given over to machinery, personnel, and support rooms, though a portion of it was

public, namely the barber shop and the billiard room.

The first floor covered the entire northeast quarter of the block and has two street

entrances, one on Second Avenue and the other on Seventeenth Street. The main lobby

entrance faces Second Avenue and is protected by a cantilevered metal canopy. A light

bulb was placed within each panel underneath this canopy for lighting. The entry,

consisting of a revolving door, trimmed and paved with marble, and flanked by single

leaf doors, was recessed slightly from the main block of the building and framed by a

frieze and pilasters of delicate terra cotta garlandry. A similar pattern is repeated along

the outer face of the canopy. On each side of this recess was a niche, which presumably

once held either statuary or plantings. Inside, the entrance corridor is paved and trimmed

with marble, and features an elaborate plaster ceiling of acanthus leaves and guilloche

patterning. Brackets frame the interior partitions of the ceiling. To one side is the

staircase to the basement, set within columned arches and beneath groin vaults.

There were six stores, all with exterior and interior doors, including one with a

recessed corner entrance. Both entrance corridors led into an expansive Italian

Renaissance Revival lobby (Figure 45) with octagonal marble columns with elaborate

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acanthus leaf capitals. Inside these columns are, of course, the steel of the structural

skeleton of the building. The lobby was paved and trimmed with marble. To one side

was the three passenger elevators and the marble staircase, with its elaborate newel and

balusters. The lobby ceiling is an extraordinary display of plaster craftsmanship, which is

a series of linear relief elements adorned with acanthus leaves along their sides and

grapevines along their lower faces, all of which form and define geometric recesses. This

ceiling was reportedly crafted by German immigrants. Behind the elevators and to the

right of the Second Avenue entrance corridor was a lounge, finished like the lobby.

Offices and clerical space was to the left of the Seventeenth Street entrance corridor and

behind the long counter. Opposite was the telegraph counter and taxicab office. A small

coffee shop, located in the southeast corner of the building, was accessible both from the

lobby and Seventeenth Street.73

The second floor contained the dining rooms, another lounge, and a vast ballroom

with a dais to one side. This ballroom also had octagonal marble columns with acanthus

capitals. The ceiling was partially vaulted, which was finished in rough textured plaster

with rope molding along wall edges and corners and shields in the room corners. The

flat, upper part of the ceiling again contains a series of liner elements adorned with

acanthus leaves and grapevines which form interlaced octagonal and star shaped recesses.

The vaulted portion of the ceiling creates a striking form at its intersection with the

numerous, narrow arched doors that once led to the exterior garden terraces where open

air dancing and dining was conducted.74

The third floor was reserved for offices for the hotel staff and support rooms for

personnel. Lodging rooms were located on floors four through twenty (there is no

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thirteenth floor). The original floorplans indicate nineteen guest rooms per floor, with

full baths on street side rooms and shower baths in the smaller, interior rooms. The

largest rooms faced Second Avenue, and had connecting doors. Each room was

furnished in various periods, ranging from “early American, Colonial, and Modernistic.”

Two passenger elevators, as well as a freight and a service elevator, served each floor.75

In February 1933 it was announced that $35,000 in improvements would be made

to the hotel. However, descriptions of these improvements do not exactly reflect what is

shown in the surviving plans. Apparently, portions of the first and second floors were

reconfigured, probably after the hotel’s primary investor had failed and the property

changed hands. It appears that the coffee shop in its finished form was much larger than

originally planned, thus changing the layout of the office and counter space. The coffee

shop space is an unusual blending of arched and vaulted forms with a continuous Art

Deco frieze which encircles the room. Above the shop’s door into the lobby is a Deco

panel of foliate forms, and the light fixtures and air diffusers (early air conditioning) are

also Art Deco. The improvements made to the hotel consisted of converting the three

stores that face Second Avenue into a Georgian style lobby, complete with an open

fireplace with electric logs, thus effectively doubling the first floor lobby. On the second

floor the dining room was also doubled in size and finished in a “Georgian blending to

Italian” style. A new banquet room, able to accommodate 800 people, was built on the

second floor terrace. To keep the open air effect skylights and extensive banks of arched

windows were used to illuminate the room. By May of that year the improvements were

complete, at a total cost of $40,000. They were not to be the last, however. Over the

decades the hotel underwent various remodelings and alterations.76

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A remarkable composition, the Thomas Jefferson Hotel stands as one of the most

ornate and distinctive buildings in the city center. Sadly, however, the arrival of the

Great Depression just over a month after the hotel opened kept it from reaching its full

potential as Birmingham’s showplace though it was somewhat successful. Management

and ownership changed often, and by the 1970s it was renamed the Cabana, though by

then it was considered a low rent flophouse. Largely closed since 1983, the building

stands empty and deteriorated.77

As the Twenties came to a close Whilldin had established himself as one of the

premier architects in the state. Well over a hundred buildings had been designed during

that decade, and many of them were major projects, ranging from several high-rises,

department stores, school buildings, estate houses, and a stadium. During that decade he

transformed the cities of Tuscaloosa and Birmingham through his designs. Change, and

radical change at that, was fast approaching, bringing with it a new architectural

vocabulary, and a new decade of masterpieces.

CHAPTER THREE

THE THIRTIES: THE GREAT ESTATES, PUBLIC HOUSING, AND

NEW ARCHITECTURAL STYLES

The 1920s was Birmingham’s greatest period of growth and prosperity. On the

eve of the Great Depression, the Birmingham district was producing sixteen million tons

of coal, over three million tons of coke, over two million tons of iron, and over a million

tons of steel, as well as 2,256 different products. Commercial and residential

construction had reached an all time high, with development spilling over the homes of

the industrial barons on Red Mountain into Shades Valley. City leaders were optimistic

for an even more promising future. All of that changed after the Stock Market crash in

October 1929. By the end of that year many companies, including architectural firms,

were facing disaster. The financial crisis and resulting Depression hit Birmingham

especially hard. As a result there was little capital investment. Blast furnaces and mines

operated on a periodic basis, and the mills, though they never closed, operated far below

capacity. In addition, consumer spending and construction was severely curtailed. In all,

over 123,000 people lost their jobs.1

In 1929 Whilldin was firmly established as one of the state’s most prominent

architects, with projects underway not only in Birmingham but in Tuscaloosa, Gadsden,

and even as far south as Greenville. He operated an office on Twenty-first Street with a

small team of draftsmen. Among them were future Birmingham architects Lawrence S.

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Whitten, Charles Snook, and Fred Renneker, Jr.2 He owned several buildings throughout

the city for rental income, and was also active in the real estate business as president of

the Rockwood Land Company. He was wealthy, especially in comparison with other

Birmingham architects, and had a fine new home on Redmont Road.

Although the Depression severely affected the economy and social structure of

the city, not every business closed nor did every affluent individual lose his or her

fortune. The Depression no doubt hit Whilldin hard, since he invested heavily in the

stock market and had extensive real estate holdings. However, he was able to retain his

home on Redmont Road throughout the Depression, though unfortunately by October

1930 he had to convey his office building, so lovingly crafted in 1923, to the Steiner

Brothers, and by 1933 he had removed his offices to the sixteenth floor of the Empire

Building.

The number of commissions that Whilldin received did not drastically decline

after 1929, unlike other architectural firms in the city. Indeed, Whilldin seems to have

avoided complete disaster during the early days of the Depression. He had at least eight

projects in 1929, seven in 1930, and at least eight in 1931. By 1932 there were only three

new projects, and in what are considered the darkest days of the Depression, three

projects in 1933 and only one in 1934. It is ironic, though, that some of the finest homes

and estates that Whilldin designed were built during this period. Although at least two

were begun in 1929, it is clear that these clients retained enough personal wealth to

initiate and carry these projects to completion. At least nine of these homes were to be

located in Robert Jemison’s new residential development in Shades Valley--Mountain

Brook.

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Mountain Brook Estates

In 1926 Robert Jemison, Jr., began planning an affluent residential development

just over Red Mountain in Shades Valley. By 1929 Mountain Brook Estates was being

heavily promoted as an estate community far from the industrial encroachments of the

city. Largely designed by Boston landscape architect Warren H. Manning, generous

sized lots were platted along winding roads that conformed to the hilly topography. The

natural setting was emphasized, with the forested hills being left intact as far as possible.

Mountain Brook Parkway, the main thoroughfare, followed the course of Shades Creek.

Intended to capture the charm of the English countryside, a number of parks, gardens,

arched stone bridges, bridle trails from the specially built riding academy, two country

clubs, a Tudor style shopping village, and even a reconstructed old mill were built to lure

prospective buyers to the gracious life that the Jemison Companies was advertising.

Though partially frustrated by the onset of the Depression, Mountain Brook Estates was

nevertheless the culminating achievement of Robert Jemison, Jr. and the Jemison

Companies.3

One of the first homes that Whilldin designed in Mountain Brook was a model

home for the Mountain Brook Land Company (Figure 46). An undated multi-page

prospectus about the house was published by the Jemison Companies, complete with the

architect’s rendering of the home, floor plans, a map of Mountain Brook Estates, and

information on sales and mortgage arrangements. It is unclear if the house was ever

built, but language in the prospectus, varying between present and future tense, seems to

indicate that it was. The home is described in nostalgic terms:

The house . . . is one of those pleasing colonial homes with a distinct German character. These houses are always attractive and interesting because of the

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straight-forward simplicity and frankness of design. The house, while it is similar to those built by the early settlers of our country, is thoroughly modern in every respect. For the prospective owner it will make a home in which you will enjoy living and will have the satisfaction of knowing that while your surroundings are modern they possess that refined character and gentle manner of the homes of our forefathers.4

Once again Whilldin recalled the colonial homes of his native Pennsylvania, as he

did in his own residence, and this work represented a marked departure from many of his

earlier residential designs. The home model is further described as

of the early American Colonial type which is so often seen in and around Germantown and other localities in Pennsylvania and New York. With its white stone walls and lean-to roofs, it presents a charming appearance . . . The materials of the building have been carefully selected. The Exterior [sic] walls are of Shades Mountain Sandstone laid in rubble random fashion. The roof is of a blue gray slate.5

The interior arrangement of the home, though not nearly as open as his earlier

designs, reflects Whilldin’s emphasis on expansive space. The main entrance is tucked

away to one side of the house behind a flagstone porch and away from the driveway.

Upon entering the home from the vestibule,

first you see the spacious Reception Hall with its wide stair which bespeaks hospitality and welcome. On the right is the Living Room which is typical of the style. It is quite spacious and with its quaint bay windows and open fireplace . . . presents a golden opportunity to get a comfortable room.6

A corridor with steps rises from the Reception Hall to the level of the dining

room, which also has a fireplace. Further away from the public rooms are the breakfast

room, service rooms, and kitchen. At the rear of the home is a two car garage. On the

second floor are four bedrooms with servant’s quarters located above the garage.

The most substantial commissions in Mountain Brook were for the Rushton

family. Three of their homes, built on adjacent lots on a hill overlooking Balmoral Road,

were built during a four year period beginning in 1929. One of the most prominent

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names in Birmingham, the Rushton family owned and operated the Rushton Corporation,

the City Ice Company, and had a major financial interest in the Protective Life Insurance

Company. By all accounts Whilldin and the Rushtons were good friends and, in addition

to designing their houses, he also designed some commercial buildings and ice plants for

them as well.

Whilldin designed the first home, Estate 133, for Colonel William J. Rushton,

Vice-President of the Rushton Corporation and later President of Protective Life, at 2848

Balmoral. Colonel Rushton, upon the death of his father, J. Frank Rushton, Sr., a leading

Birmingham businessman and philanthropist, in 1927, became the patriarch of the family.

Plans for this home were developed in the spring and summer of 1929, with construction

starting sometime in the fall of that year. This two story slate roofed Tudor Revival

structure, with its complex cross-gables and roof lines, ranks as one of Whilldin’s finest

residential designs (Figure 47). Although the house has undergone some recent, and

fortunately sensitive, alterations, the original design survives in the form of a set of black

and white blueprint copies. The set is undated and consists of fourteen numbered sheets

of plans and elevations of the main house and the garage. The detail drawings, though,

appear not to have not survived.

Sheet No. 6 is the elevation drawing of the main façade (Figure 48). The main

block of the two story brick house has a side gabled roof framed on each end by massive

brick chimneys, whose monolithic form breaks and tapers into two octagonal, corbelled

shafts. Two more chimneys, one along the front gable and a smaller one in the rear, taper

and break into smaller, angled shafts which, in plan, give the appearance of squares set on

angle with the rectangular base. Each chimney shaft and stack is unique.

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A full height gabled wing with brick diaperwork extends forward from the main

block, as does a smaller, less pronounced, gabled projection. Here a massive wooden bay

window with multiple lights, which illuminates the living room inside, was roofed with

copper. Between these two projections was the entry porch, since removed, and also

roofed in copper, supported by adze finished wooden posts. To one side of the porch is a

chimney and a large niche in the chimney base; access into the house was through wood

paneled double doors, also removed. Above the porch, stucco and adze finished half

timbering complete the Tudor composition. To one side of the main block of the house is

a porch with two-centered Gothic arches along its front and wood posts along its rear.

Particularly interesting are the slate inserts around the arches, giving the effect of

voussoirs and breaking the surrounding brick courses. Indeed, the entire composition can

be read as a series of diagonals, from the gable roofs, the brick diaperwork, to the slate

voussoirs of the arcade. It is a remarkable design.

Sheet No. 7 illustrates the right and left side elevations. Here one can get a sense

of some of the massing of the house, with its myriad gables. The monolithic mass of the

chimney bases, and the complexity of the chimney shafts are also clear from these

drawings. The rear elevation, shown on Sheet No. 8, has a wide, slightly projecting block

composed of two interlaced gables. One of them, decorated with stucco and half

timbering, is cantilevered. Also on the rear elevation the below grade basement door,

accessed through semicircular stone steps, as well as the latticed porch for the kitchen,

can be seen.

The interior of the home, illustrated on Sheets 3 and 4, is less open than most of

Whilldin’s other residential designs (Figure 49). The entrance hall, though not small, is a

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modest space nonetheless. Ahead, through two arched wooden doors, is the study. An

intimate room with a marble and carved maple fireplace, the study has an arched niche

for shelves. Indeed, one entire wall is devoted to shelving and cabinet space. These

elevations, at ¼” scale, are shown on Sheet No. 3. To the right of the entrance hall, down

three steps, is the living room, the largest interior space in the house. Along its front is

the great bay window, and along its side, two doors that exit to the arched porch. The

most striking feature of the living room is the Jacobean ceiling, composed of linear

elements, with circles at their intersections, which enclose multifoils. To the left of the

entrance hall is the dining room; beyond, the breakfast room, kitchen, and a large vault.

At the rear of the hall, behind the dining room, is the broad, heavy wooden staircase with

Tudor newels (see Figure 47). Upstairs are four bedrooms.

Behind the house is the circular motor court and a two car garage. Roofed with

slate, it is L-shaped and contained two bedrooms and a bath for servants. Each of these

bedrooms had a fireplace. On one end of the building is a conical, tower-like structure,

which had the laundry on its first floor. On its second floor, which was open and

accessed by an exterior circular staircase, was a slate porch with a fireplace. According

to the plans and elevations shown on Sheets 11, 12, and 13, this conical porch was

referred to as the gazebo. Sheet No. 1 is the site plan with the contour lines, which

clearly shows the siting of the house on the brow of a hill, with a significant drop in

elevation to the rear. Two brick walls divide the rear of the home into public and private

yards, the latter being immediately behind the kitchen and adjoining the garage. The

public yard, of course, is around the motor court, gazebo, and the arched side porch of the

house.

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The design of this home, a fully fledged Tudor Revival with some Jacobean

elements, is unique in Whilldin’s oeuvre. The approval of the design, ultimately, was

that of the clients. Unfortunately, preliminary sketches, files, and correspondence

relating to the development of the house between architect and client have been lost. It is

known that Colonel Rushton and Whilldin were friends, and the architect’s

granddaughter related stories about the Colonel and the architect going “round and

round” and “back and forth” about the design of the house. Apparently the Colonel

would want something done one way and it was up to the architect to steer him another

way. This continued and at one point Whilldin even suggested he find another architect.

All in all, the discussions between these two friends, both of whom no doubt had a strong

will and clear ideas of what should and needed to be done, resulted in this fine

composition.7

Later that same year Whilldin designed the home of Colonel Rushton’s sister,

Charlotte Louise, who had married Richard J. Stockham, secretary of Stockham Pipe and

Fittings Company. This home, located at 2864 Balmoral, is quite different from her

brother’s home next door. Completed in 1930, the Stockham residence is a brick (once

painted white), two story Colonial Revival home that is best described as modified

Georgian (Figure 50). The house is asymmetrical, with an off-center front wall gable

which contains the small entry porch, since enlarged. Above this porch is a balconet and

a Venetian window with arched top enclosed with a solid wooden fan. The slate roof is

hipped, as were the now removed dormers. Along the first floor of the main block are

triple hung sash windows with jack arches and a keystone. To one side of this main

block was a one story porch with an open terrace above, but this has since been modified.

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On the opposite side, separated from the house by a covered porch, was the garage and

servant’s quarters. This area has also been modified and enclosed. This one and a half

story building had a simple gable roof with a single wall dormer. The interior is simple

and straightforward. There is a proper Georgian entrance hall with staircase, its landing

illuminated by a Venetian window. To the left is the living room, open to the outside on

both the front and rear, and beyond was the screened porch; To the other side of the

entrance hall is the dining room.

The third Rushton home, located at 2832 Balmoral, was commissioned in 1930 by

Mrs. J. Frank Rushton, the Colonel’s mother, and was constructed in yet another style

(Figure 51). Construction began in early 1931 and was probably completed the following

year. Both classical and Tudor Gothic in its design, this house recalls the architecture of

the English Renaissance under James I, the Jacobean period. The stone house consists of

a main block with one-and two-story wings and projections. In plan the home is

configured in an L-shape with a detached stone four car garage. An expansive terrace,

reached by a broad flight of steps, gives access to the central entrance, which has been

placed within an off-center gabled projection. It consists of a single leaf wooden door

surmounted by a segmental broken pediment from within which an urn rises into a floral

ornament, a Classical device, and is flanked by two small windows with label moldings, a

Tudor Gothic device.

Another dominant aspect of the composition is the large one story stone bay

window with a parapet above it. Windows along the first floor have label moldings. On

either end of the slate roof are chimneys with decorative brickwork and terra cotta pots.

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Along one end of the main block is a one and a half story wing with second floor

windows placed within wall dormers; on the other, a one story wing.

In 1931 Whilldin received another major Mountain Brook project. Located at

2832 Southwood Road, Estate #86 was commissioned by Mrs. Goerge H. Stubbs. Dr.

George Stubbs, like H. U. Sims, had once been Whilldin’s neighbor in the 1800 block of

Twelfth Avenue South and they were old friends. Here Whilldin designed what is best

described as a modified Tudor Revival (Figure 52). This home features the extensive use

of gables and wall dormers. The dominant element of the façade is the front facing gable,

containing a balcony, whose form is echoed by the smaller gable to one side of the main

block of the home. The shed porch is supported by Y-shaped posts, set in place with

large dowels, invoking an image of vernacular craftsmanship. This image is carried

further with the large dowels that appear to anchor the window lintels. The main

entrance porch, also covered by a shed roof, has a shallow carved wooden lintel. Both of

these shed porches are unusual, and seem more Colonial than Tudor. Along the second

floor, wall dormers correspond to the interior bedrooms. The roof is slate. Along the

rear, stepped windows mark the interior staircase, and bird houses are located within the

gables. One of the more remarkable aspects of the house is the brickwork, which has

been laid in an unusual, undulating fashion. Both these warped bricks and the Y-shaped

posts and dowels evoke a sort of self-conscious, craftsmanly neo-medievalism.

Several drawings for this estate survive in the Birmingham Public Library

Archives, though they are largely full size details. One of these sheets, dated 21

September 1931 contains details for a “secret” cupboard in the kitchen. Another, Sheet

107, dated 29 July 1931, is a full size drawing of the lintel over the main entrance.

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Finally, the care taken in situating homes to the topography and natural woodlands of

Mountain Brook is evident in a contour map of the entire lot, with every tree plotted and

labeled by name.

Whilldin designed other homes in Mountain Brook. In 1933 Joseph P. Mudd, an

attorney, commissioned him to build his new home at 2749 Southwood Road. This

stately two story stone Colonial Revival home, with a slate roof, featured a Federal style

doorway with sidelights and an elliptical fanlight. Its pleasing proportions, like so many

of Whilldin’s other designs, lie in the massing of smaller wings around the main block of

the house.

Two modest homes, built in the Thirties, are both a reflection of the economic

realities of that era and are examples of the smaller homes being built on the periphery of

Mountain Brook Estates. The first, built around 1935, was probably a collaborative effort

between Whilldin and his son-in-law, Joseph Fox, for the latter’s new home at 8

Clarendon Road. Fox had come to Birmingham in 1927 from Terre Haute, Indiana, as

consulting engineer to Whilldin for the design of the Municipal Stadium at Legion Field.

He stayed on and worked on occasion as an engineer in Whilldin’s office, and in 1930, he

married the architect’s daughter, Virginia. After their marriage they lived with Whilldin

on Redmont Road, no doubt out of economic necessity, given the period. By the mid-

1930s the Foxes had purchased a lot in the new Colonial Hills subdivision of Mountain

Brook, where they built a simple, wood frame, two story Colonial Revival home

reminiscent of early New England with its overhanging jetty and pendants. During the

1940s and 1950s Fox worked as an engineer and operated three companies: the Fox Steel

Company, Fox Sales Company, and Joseph H. Fox and Co.

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The second of these smaller homes was for Morton L. Connors at 2919 Surrey

Road. Connors was the son of a wealthy man and married the daughter of a Birmingham

builder. The fathers of the newlyweds built this house for them as a wedding present.

The house is a simple and straightforward “Colonial” design. It stands two stories, has a

side gable roof, a chimney to one side, and a central entrance with a small latticed porch

which led to a small entrance hall and a semi-enclosed staircase. The drawings are dated

1937 and reflect the increasing use of stock materials during an economically depressed

time. For instance, the fireplace mantels in the living room and master bedroom were

manufactured by the Columbia Mantel Company with such stock names as “Wood

Mantel # 688” for the living room and “Wood Mantel # 689” for the bedroom.

In 1937 Whilldin designed another home for a member of the Rushton family,

though much simpler than the three on Balmoral. Mary Rushton only a few years earlier

had married William Yancey, a local attorney. Their new home was to be Estate 37,

located at 2616 Mountain Brook Parkway, just down from the Old Mill. The design is

unusual. Described by Whilldin as “sort of New Orleans” the home indeed recalls

French Creole houses of Louisiana (Figure 53). Situated on an elevated lot, the house is

long and narrow, measuring just over 24 feet at its widest point by 82 feet. According to

a surviving set of drawings, dated March 1937, the design was approved and signed by a

representative of the Jemison Company on 12 April 1937. The contract, however, would

not be put out to bid until December of that year.8

Standing two stories with a low hipped roof, composed of a special U.S. Steel

made roofing product, the Yancey residence is a simple brick house with a cantilevered

balcony that extends for much of the length of the home. It has lacy cast iron railings and

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columns. The main entrance is underneath this balcony. Once inside, the room

configuration directly reflects the exterior design. On the first floor, the kitchen,

breakfast room, and dining room are located in the widest part of the building. To the

east the building narrows to only sixteen feet wide. This wing contains the entrance hall

and living room; beyond, in a one story extension, is the open porch. As with many of

his residential designs, the entrance hall and living room are open to both the front and

rear of the home. On the second floor the master bedroom occupies this narrow wing and

opens onto the balcony.

The entrance hall is the most interesting interior room. It is here, in a relatively

small space, that Whilldin designed a flared three part staircase juxtaposed with curving

corners and ceilings (see Figure 53). Upon entering, one is standing in a small vestibule

with a curved ceiling; ahead are three steps to the main level. Plaster ornaments adorn

the front door molding and the space just above it. From here, one ascends from the

flared base of the staircase to a curved landing with a niche. The staircase then turns and

rises above the main door to a second landing. Two steps up take you to the upper hall,

whose rail curves back and above the space below. The railing itself is uniquely French,

consisting of twisted bars with stylized brass Deco rosettes with hooks for tassels and

stringers. There are other Art Deco touches as well throughout the house. Vent grilles

have a Deco motif, the door moldings are continuous reeds, the dining room ceiling has

three bands near the walls, in part to present the ceiling as higher than it actually is, and

the mantle above the marble fireplace has a continuous series of flutes punctuated by a

panel of reeds. It appears, based on the plans and the exterior, that the house was

designed so that a rear addition could be built, thus giving the house the form of an “L.”

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There are certainly more homes in Mountain Brook, and indeed throughout

Birmingham, that were designed by Whilldin but are undocumented. He had such a

distinctive style that a casual glance around the city’s neighborhoods reveals homes that

he probably designed. For instance, there is one undocumented home in Mountain Brook

that bears so many Whilldin traits that it must have been designed by him. Located at

3028 Overhill Road, close to where it changes into Balmoral, this well proportioned, two

story Colonial home features in the central block narrow windows flanking the entry, a

trait seen repeatedly in Whilldin’s compositions, and above, on the second floor, a tall

window with a circular header, another trait found repeatedly in his residential designs

from the 1930s. Records indicate the house was built sometime around 1939 or 1940 for

the Mountain Brook real estate company and sold sometime thereafter.

Expansion into Gadsden

Although Whilldin had been designing buildings in Gadsden as far back as 1909,

it was only towards the end of the 1920s that a series of high-profile commissions

solidified his position as a major architect in that city. Located in northeast Alabama on

the banks of the Coosa River, Gadsden was a town with a heavy manufacturing and

industrial base that that had been growing rapidly since the 1890s. The most important of

these industries were the Dwight Manufacturing Company, the Southern Steel Company,

and the Goodyear tire plant.9

The largest commission Whilldin built in Gadsden was a ten story hotel for his

old friend, Adolph P. Reich, one of Gadsden’s most prominent citizens. He had been in

the hotel business for a number of years and had commissioned Whilldin on several

occasions for additions and remodeling jobs on the Hotel Printup as far back as 1913.

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Reich had also been instrumental in getting Whilldin the commission for the Gadsden

Country Club in 1919.

The Hotel Reich, though in the planning stages for several years, was erected in

1929 and opened to the public in February 1930. Located at the corner of Broad and

Seventh, this ten story building was, and still is, the tallest building in Gadsden (Figure

54). Built at a cost of $500,000 by the A.P. Reich Hotel Company and its 250 investors

(one of whom may have been Whilldin), this 150 room hotel, considered one of the most

modern in the southeast, was to be “conducted with a view to interchange of guests and

service with Hotel Printup, owned and operated by the same interests.”10 Finished in

brick with stone trim, it was described as being of the “Georgian type.”11 At the rear of

the building was a 150 car parking garage, a very contemporary concept.

Though it might be viewed as one of Whilldin’s less successful aesthetic efforts,

the Hotel Reich is nonetheless important as a harbinger of a new architectural vocabulary.

Built in what was called a simplified Georgian style, although it vaguely recalls a

Renaissance palace more so than anything Georgian, the Hotel Reich represented a

stylistic departure for Whilldin and forms a transition between the revival styles of the

1920s and the clean lines and simplicity of the modern period. Its severe design of

restrained surfaces and sparse ornament is in marked contrast to the exuberant Hotel

Thomas Jefferson in Birmingham, completed only a few months earlier. The building is

a simple rectangular slab that is expressive of its structural frame. Only simple stone belt

courses define the first and second floors and the tenth floor termination of the tower;

there is no cornice. A postcard that probably depicts the architect’s rendering shows the

brick of the first two stories, or base of the slab, as lighter in color. Perhaps this was to

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suggest stone, though the final configuration is a consistent red brick. The only

ornamentation consists of a broken pediment over the second floor windows that are

directly above the main entrance, some swag panels along the second floor, and drafted

brickwork on the first story. Corner windows on the second and tenth stories are arched

and pedimented, respectively, to offset the severity of the composition.

In contrast to the exterior, the interior was quite luxurious with terrazzo floors,

marble clad counters and columns and fine woodwork. Especially noteworthy was the

clock above the key rack, which was finely carved according to Whilldin’s specifications

in Drawing No. 145, dated 16 July 1929. Unfortunately, like the Thomas Jefferson, the

Depression prevented the Reich from attaining its full potential. In operation as a hotel

for fifty years, it survives today as housing for the elderly.

In February 1929, while construction on the Reich was just getting underway, a

fire gutted the Printup. Gadsden’s other hotel had been built in the 1880s in a Queen

Anne style but it had been remodeled over the years and was largely stripped of its

original exterior ornament. After the fire Reich immediately set about rebuilding it, and

commissioned Whilldin to design a one hundred room hotel building, using the old walls

of the burned out structure and removing the fourth floor. The result was a most

unattractive building. Its only merit consists of a handsome and expressive dining room,

though old fashioned for the date by Whilldin’s own standards. This great room, with its

paneled festoons on one end, has beaded vertical elements or stiles, between which are

great panels with faux keystones. These stiles correspond to the boxed beams of the

ceiling. The dado is finished in a dark stain, contrasting with the stark white plaster of

the frieze and field of the walls.

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In addition to the Reich and the Printup, Adolph P. Reich also commissioned

Whilldin to design his home on Argyle Circle, a newly opened residential section in

Gadsden that would soon become the city’s most prestigious address. A rather modest

home in comparison with his other residential designs of the period, this Dutch Colonial

consists of a two story central block with flanking one story wings (Figure 55). The first

floor is treated with random coursed masonry, a series of engaged Tuscan columns, and

an entry door with sidelights and an elliptical fanlight. The second floor, finished in slate

of varying shades, has a series of shed roof dormers. The slate and the color of the

masonry give the home an almost polychromatic effect. The rear garage is finished in a

similar treatment, with a Dutch gambrel slate roof. In plan the home is configured in the

shape of a T, with a sleeping porch atop the rear extension. The interior features colonial

detailing, including a staircase lit by a Venetian window, arched openings, and an

elaborate fireplace.

Further down Argyle Circle from the Reich residence is a two story stucco

residence, probably commissioned in late 1928 or early 1929, by Mrs. John Paden, sister

of Adolph Reich. Executed in the Italian Renaissance Revival style, it consists of a

central two story block with flanking one story wings (Figure 56). The central entry,

accessed through an arched vestibule and framed by a hood and balconet supported by

Ionic columns, is flanked by tall arched windows. One of the flanking wings contained

the porch, lit by expansive triple rectangular windows. This porch extends the full depth

of the house, and has two Ionic columns on each end of the space. The other wing, since

modified, held the solarium. This small room had a recessed porch with distyle in antis

Ionic columns on both its front and rear. A belt course beneath the sill of the second

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floor windows encircles the house, thus uniting the composition, the whole of which is

capped by a green tiled hip roof with wide overhanging eaves.

The interior room arrangement is similar to many of Whilldin’s other residential

designs. Indeed, it is strikingly similar to the Fitts residence (1914) in Tuscaloosa, only

smaller. The central entrance hall, trimmed in marble, was flanked by the large living

room, with its finely carved fireplace of Italian marble, and the dining room. Beyond was

the stair hall, whose staircase was lit by a great arched window above the landing. At the

rear of the home, in addition to the stair hall, were the breakfast room, kitchen, a second

staircase, and a rear porch, all expressed on the exterior by the two wings that project

from the main block. The second floor had three bedrooms and a rear sleeping porch.

A complete set of blueprints, undated, survive for this home. Sheet 5, the north

elevation drawing, clearly shows the symmetrical clarity of the façade and the elegance

of Whilldin’s design. One oversized blueprint drawing, dated 10 April 1929, attests to

Whilldin’s capabilities as a landscape architect. Interestingly, he signs this sheet as an

architect of both Birmingham and Gadsden. Situated on an irregular lot with a small

amount of road frontage in the curve of Argyle Circle, the landscaping is divided between

formal and informal spaces. A front walk, with an entrance landing and semicircular

steps, leads to a small circular terrace in front of the porch entrance. This paved walk

continues along the front of the house, terminating in another circular terrace in front of

the solarium, on the opposite side of the residence. This axis continues, however, to

garden statuary at the property line. A formal rose garden, which in plan looks

remarkably like a Venetian window, extends from the solarium. Behind the rose garden

are pink dogwood trees and oleanders, behind which is the perennial garden and lawn,

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and a reflecting and lily pool. An arbor of briars and wisteria forms the border with the

informal kitchen garden.

The driveway from Argyle Circle parallels the property line, demarcated by apple

and cherry trees, and leads to the rear garage. It then curves in a semicircle to the service

areas of the residence. Within this arc is the south lawn, shielded by a continuous arbor

of grapes, with an octagonal summer house and birdbath set on axis with the residence.

Plantings of evergreens, reinforcing the Mediterranean style, are clumped against the

house on all sides. Much of the area behind the garage and to its side was for a laundry

drying yard and a large kitchen garden. Though much of the landscaping plan was

unrealized, it is clear from this rare surviving drawing that Whilldin understood the

principles of landscape design and plant types.

One final project in Gadsden is worthy of mention for it represents the end of a

particular architectural mode, one for which Whilldin was justly famous--the exuberant

terra cotta façade. In January 1930 it was announced that Whilldin was designing a new

two story commercial building to be located at 309-11 Broad Street. It was to be the new

home of the Pizitz Department Store. Sheathed in gleaming white terra cotta, the second

floor has five window bays separated by fluted pilasters. Above these windows are bas-

relief panels with a central shield and flanking swags and cornucopias. A band of

acanthus leaves serves as the cornice. Elsewhere, the terra cotta is finished so as to

resemble blocks of ashlar masonry. A remarkable composition, this is the last of

Whilldin’s terra cotta facades, a vestige of 1920s exuberance.

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Changes in Style: The Influence of American and European Modernism

The 1920s had been a period of optimism and prosperity. In architecture the

Academic Eclecticism of Beaux-Arts, and the historicist styles or revivals were the

standard and expected, building vocabulary of the period. However, by the late 1920s,

and on into the post-World War II era, progressive trends were emerging, some more

traditional, others ahistoric. All were modern. Four distinct styles can be identified as

part of this progressive period, but combinations or hybrids of them were common, a

result of differing interpretations and reactions to current trends by local architects.

The first of these modern styles was what we now call Art Deco, a European

decorative style popularized by the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et

Industriels Modernes held in Paris. In essence, Art Deco is the geometric interpretation

and abstraction of forms derived from the earlier Art Nouveau, also a European

decorative style. But, unlike the delicacy of Art Nouveau, Art Deco emphasized hard-

edged and strong geometric patterns, often with bold colors, that were either sharply

angular or curvilinear. When animal and plant forms were used they were greatly

stylized, forming flat linear patterns. Art Deco, a decorative art, found in jewelry,

furniture, and in architecture, was essentially ornamental and cosmetic. This modern

style was viewed by 1920s America as chic and progressive, yet traditional in some

aspects. The jazzy patterns and colors of Art Deco made it a populist style, one that

appealed to the eye and the emotions. It was modernism for the people. Later, as the

1930s wore on, more machined and mechanistic patterns, defined by light and shadow,

replaced the bright colors and stylized designs of earlier Art Deco. The most famous

example of this style is the William Van Alen’s 1930 Chrysler Building in New York, so

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that the new style is often associated with skyscraper design. The term “Art Deco” was

not coined until the 1960s, and architects of the period used the terms “modernistic,”

“moderne,” “jazz-modern,” or “zig-zag.” Regardless of the many names, they all shared

the theme of modernity.12

During the 1930s streamlining was becoming prevalent throughout American

society. Industrial designers such as Norman Bel Geddes and Raymond Loewy

established expressions of dynamic movement that were applied to everything from

locomotives, automobiles, ocean liners, and airplanes to household appliances and

decorative arts. More often than not these expressions were manifested in chrome and

stainless steel. This “machine aesthetic” was transferred to buildings, emphasizing

smooth, rounded surfaces, horizontal ribbon windows, chrome and stainless steel finishes

and details, occasionally dramatic colors, glass blocks, and bold massing with continuous

spaces and volumetric abstractions. Tubular steel and neon were also utilized. This style

of architecture is called Moderne or Streamline Moderne and was popular throughout the

1930s and 1940s.13

American architecture often combined Deco and Moderne to create a hybrid.

Retail stores such as Kress and Sears, as well as theatres, helped to propagate the

American Deco idiom, which consisted of ziggurat type massing, fluting, stylized

decorative fretwork, and faceted surfaces. By the 1930s this American Deco idiom began

to incorporate Streamline Moderne, and many American buildings reflect this Moderne

Art Deco or Deco Moderne look.14

Not all architects embraced the abstractions of modern architecture. Some

employed Stripped Classicism or Modern Classic which was a traditional, yet modern,

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style. One of the earliest and highly influential examples of this style was an entry by the

Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen for the 1922 Chicago Tribune competition. This

skyscraper design brought together bold geometry with progressive setbacks with only

the barest of traditional decorative devices. Other designs that were equally influential

include Bertram Goodhue’s Nebraska State Capitol and the work of Philadelphia

architect Paul Phillipe Cret. Stripped Classicism became especially popular in the 1930s,

when the realities of the Depression meant that architectural decoration typical of the

previous decade was now considered superfluous and too costly. The result was

architecture that employed traditional massing and proportion, associated with Beaux-

Arts classicism, but without traditional ornamental devices, such as window hoods,

cartouches and shields, or elaborate entablatures. It was a “modern” style which

architects could employ who were not quite willing to embrace the socialism and anti-

traditionalism of European Modernism. Stripped Classicism was especially popular for

public buildings (many of which were sponsored by the government), since a Classical

design would have been used anyway in those situations. In the end, Stripped Classicism

is best described as the coming together of traditional and modern aesthetics with

constraints of a period of economic depression. It is often called “Depression Modern”

and some authors use the term “PWA Moderne.”15

Finally, mention should be made of European Modernism, which developed

principally at the Bauhaus under Walter Gropius during the 1920s and was paralleled by

the work of Le Corbusier in France. This “International Style” of European Modernism

represents the final abstraction of structure. Minimalist in concept, rejecting all

nonessential decorative elements, stressing functionalism, and devoid of any regional

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characteristics, it is characterized by simple geometric, rectilinear forms finished with

unadorned, smooth surfaces of steel, glass, or white painted stucco, flat roofs, and a

complete absence of decoration of any kind. It became more accepted in America

following the Museum of Modern Art’s influential exhibition on modern architecture in

1932. This was chosen and designed by Henry-Russell Hitchcock and Philip Johnson,

who presented modernism as a new visual language emphasizing volume rather than

mass and an expression of the structural frame rather than the allure of elaborate facades.

This exhibition also divorced European modernism from its original socialist agenda, in

effect making it more palatable for American architects and their clients. However, it

was only after World War II that the Bauhaus aesthetic became widely used and accepted

in the United States. International Modernism as found in the United States was a style

that emphasized the shape, form, and massing of a building, as opposed to decoration.

However, more often than not traditional building materials, such as brick, were used.

Subtle decoration, that is, brickwork in soldier and rowlock courses, did find its way into

Modern architecture.16

The Depression Years

The early years of the Depression, though by no means as fruitful as the years of

the preceding decade, were not as disastrous for Whilldin as they were for many firms

across the country. Nonetheless he was probably working with a reduced staff, and by

1933 had moved his offices to the top floor of the Empire Building, no longer being able

to continue in the building he had designed in 1923. Seven projects are known from

1930 and include a creamery in Montgomery, the Pizitz department store in Gadsden, the

high school in Athens, additional units to the Bessemer High School, a clothing store in

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Tuscaloosa, and a Coca-Cola bottling plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The two retail

establishments are especially interesting for their marked contrast of style. The first was

the Pizitz department store in Gadsden, discussed earlier, which represents the last of

Whilldin’s exuberant terra cotta facades that typified his designs in the 1920s. The

second was the Charles Black Clothing Company in Tuscaloosa, Whilldin’s first

experiment with Art Deco.

In the late summer of 1930 the Charles Black Clothing Company, a men’s

clothing store, acquired the two story commercial building next to their current location

on Tuscaloosa’s Broad Street (now University Boulevard) and commissioned Whilldin to

remodel the store and “update” its appearance. When the company opened for business

in December of that same year this modernized store with its stark white façade was, no

doubt, the talk of Tuscaloosa (Figure 57). Indeed, it was stated in The Tuscaloosa News

that the new store was “said to be one of the most beautiful of its kind in the South.”17

The article further notes:

Representing advanced conceptions of design and workmanship, “modern without being modernistic,” the structure was recently remodeled at a cost of more than $10,000 and is reported to compare favorably in beauty and distinction with buildings of this type in metropolitan centers. Outward appearance of the store has caused considerable comment, while architects and builders state that interior effects are even more remarkable.18

This “considerable comment” was over the Art Deco treatment of the façade.

Finished in stark white cast concrete with marble along the base, the store has a central

segmental arched entrance within which a Deco light fixture, now removed, was

suspended. Flanking this entry were shop windows, now removed. Above, impressions

in the cast concrete give the appearance of large voussoirs. To either side is an irregular

octagonal panel which features a circular motif entwined with stylized vegetal and floral

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forms in low relief. Along the second floor are three windows. Above them are square

panels, again featuring stylized foliate forms in low relief. To each side of these panels

the concrete is grooved so as to present a ribbed appearance. Capping the composition is

a uniquely Art Deco cornice with reeded forms, dentils, and small floral medallions

pressed into the concrete.

Harshly geometric, the Charles Black Clothing Company design reflects

Whilldin’s embrace of the new architectural vocabulary. This ability to work in a variety

of styles and modes, and his grasp of modernism, was certainly one of Whilldin’s

strengths as an architect. Indeed, his interest in color juxtaposition, surface texture, and

general abstraction can be traced as far back as the 1912 Hagedorn & Echols commercial

building in Gadsden and the 1914 Hotel DeSoto in Birmingham, where a nascent

modernism is apparent in the clean lines and geometric abstraction of that building.

At the same time Whilldin designed the Charles Black Clothing Company in

Tuscaloosa, he was also designing the facades of one of the greatest public works

projects the city of Birmingham had ever undertaken--the railroad grade elimination

program. The increasing popularity of the automobile during the 1920s clogged urban

streets. Accidents and fatalities were steadily increasing, especially at railroad crossings.

This problem was especially evident in downtown Birmingham, a city founded at the

intersection of two major rail lines.

Under discussion for a number of years, the city and the railroads finally came to

an agreement in 1928 for a grade separation program through which major traffic arteries

could avoid the railroad reservation, which bisected the city into north and south sides, by

a series of underpasses and viaducts. Anticipated to cost $4,000,000, these new

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constructions would join the Rainbow Viaduct (Twenty-first Street), built in 1919, and

the Twenty-fourth Street Viaduct, built in 1925. In September 1929 the first phase of the

grade separation program, the Twenty-second Street Viaduct, was opened to traffic. Now

attention turned to the complex task of constructing the Fourteenth, Eighteenth, and

Twentieth Street underpasses, which was done through a combination of gradual track

elevation, street depression, and a series of retaining walls.19

The Fourteenth Street underpass was built first, opening to traffic in October

1930. After its completion, attention turned to the construction of the slightly larger

Eighteenth and Twentieth Street underpasses. The Twentieth Street underpass opened

with great ceremony on 28 November 1931. The Eighteenth Street underpass opened a

month later. All three underpasses had a tunnel lighting system and sidewalks. An

interior arcade separated the sidewalks and individual traffic lanes, and the exterior

embellishments were to be designed by Whilldin.20

The most important, and subsequently the most visible, was the façade of the

Twentieth Street underpass, which served as a gateway to downtown (Figure 58).

Twentieth Street has always been the backbone of the city, not only for vehicular traffic

but for streetcars as well, connecting the downtown city center with Five Points South.

The Art Deco facades of all three underpasses are identical. The sidewalk openings are

framed by a ribbed, rectilinear design, above which is an inscribed panel with the year

1931. The corners of the street openings have fluted quarter columns, as do the outside

corners against the plain retaining wall. The date panel is flanked by two eagles rendered

in a low relief, abstracted geometric form, behind which are stylized foliate motifs. An

octagonal panel of abstracted foliate motifs in low relief, is located above the date panel.

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These panels are similar to those found on the contemporaneous Charles Black storefront

in Tuscaloosa. The series of horizontal bands of the superstructure, which tie the entire

composition of the underpass together, are treated with alternate surface finishes. This is

clear from an undated elevation of the Fourteenth Street Underpass in the Whilldin

Collection. The lower wall around the sidewalk opening featured a bush-hammered

finish, as did the expansive wall surface around the octagonal panels. The upper and

lower moldings, which have a smooth, sand-rubbed finish, frame the octagonal panels as

well as the reeded parapet of the superstructure. The overall effect is more sculptural in

some ways, with an interplay of contrasting texture and color highlights that belie what

appears at first glance a starkly simple concrete underpass.

An undated sketch in the Whilldin Collection shows what may have been

Whilldin’s original conception of the underpass design (Figure 59). An outline of the

sidewalk opening shows an elongated arch with a cartouche or similar adornment just

above it. However, on the same sheet Whilldin then abandoned that idea and sketched

the full underpass as a Beaux-Arts classical design. Here the sidewalk openings would

have been flanked by pilasters, above, the superstructure of the underpass is treated as

one horizontal unit with a series of decorations. The vertical elements are here, albeit on

a much smaller scale. Consoles would have been placed in the upper corners of the

sidewalk and roadway openings, and a large cartouche would have been placed at the

center of the underpass and, like the stylized octagonal urns above the sidewalks, would

rise above the level of the superstructure parapet. Why this scheme was abandoned in

favor of the new Art Deco style will perhaps never be known. It could have been a

question of cost, but it was probably partly a matter of being stylish, a case of keeping up

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to date with the new cosmetic trend of Art Deco. The medium—concrete--would

certainly have lent itself more to the contemporary than the traditional.

In addition to the underpasses being built in downtown Birmingham, other

projects in 1931 included the Stubbs residence and Mrs. J. Frank Rushton residence in

Mountain Brook, an estate in Montevallo, a swimming pool and bathhouse for North

Birmingham Park, the Dr. Pepper Syrup Plant, additions and alterations to the residence

of Allen Rushton, lobby alterations to the Molton Hotel, and the remodeling of the

Perfection Laundry Company building, located on the corner of Second Avenue South

and Twenty-third Street, into a crisp white edifice.

The Dr. Pepper Syrup Plant was one of the most important projects for 1931, both

in terms of architectural styling and industrial development (Figure 60). Located

adjacent to its new bottling plant, the Dr. Pepper syrup plant represented a major

development in the history of this famous Dallas-based company. It was also important

to the city of Birmingham as well, being built at a time when the Birmingham Industrial

Board was recruiting companies to locate operations in the city so as to diversify the local

economy. In May 1931 Whilldin was selected as the architect, and in September the

plant opened for business.

The architecture of the Dr. Pepper syrup plant is important because it represents

the stylistic transition from the academic eclecticism of the 1920s to the modernism of

the 1930s and beyond. Thoroughly modern in every sense of the word, the rectilinear

plant building reflects the skillful blending of traditional materials with the severity of

International Modernism. Much of the exterior of the three story building is composed of

banks of multi-pane metal windows. It is clad in brick except for smooth, white panels

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that frame the first floor windows and doorways. Patterned brickwork is present in the

soldier course above the windows and the alternating rowlock courses between the

second and third floor windows. The continuous run of these soldier and rowlock

courses contributes to the linear appearance of the building. Interesting details are the Dr.

Pepper clock dials located in the white panel facings, on either side of the company name

(in modernistic letter type) which show the three numerals found in the company’s

advertising slogan “Drink a bite to eat at 10, 2, and 4.”21

The architect’s perspective rendering of the plant building clearly shows the

influence of Modernism (see Figure 60). The exterior cladding has been reduced to

largely a glass membrane, seen in the continuous banks of windows, framed by narrow

bands of brick cladding. There is no extraneous decoration, save for the trademark clock

faces. Severely rectilinear and utilitarian, the building resembled a Bauhaus design more

than any other building in the city at that time. Clearly Whilldin kept up with current

architectural trends.22

The interior of the Dr. Pepper syrup plant is also interesting from an engineering

perspective. The building is of concrete post-and-beam construction, with concrete

floors, poured-in-place, supported by concrete bell columns. These were an engineering

innovation in that they could distribute weight effectively while reducing their physical

size and subsequently the volume of concrete needed. These bell columns give the

interior a sense of openness and lightness, reflecting the Bauhaus aesthetic which

emphasized volume rather than massing by reducing structural elements to their most

basic.23

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Not all of Whilldin’s jobs reflected the new architectural language of modernism.

In 1931 Judge William S. Mudd commissioned him to design a new home outside of

Montevallo. He specifically wanted the house to resemble Arlington, a Greek Revival

plantation house located just to the west of Birmingham, because his ancestors had built

it in the 1830s. Mudd got what he wanted. This red and white brick two story home had

a series of colossal columns (since replaced) that once supported a flat roofed portico.

This portico, in turn, sheltered an unusually large front porch and balcony. In the rear, a

shed roof porch extends the full length of the home. Although it does resemble

Arlington, it is not a strict copy. Indeed, elements of Whilldin’s personal style are

evident in the arched window of the second floor, the wall dormers of the garage, and the

bricks which recall those of the Stubbs residence in Mountain Brook. This estate also

included a gatehouse, an external kitchen, and a building called the “gentleman’s

study.”24

One of the more unusual compositions of Whilldin’s career was for the North

Birmingham Swimming Pool and Bathhouse. In early 1931 the Birmingham Park and

Recreation Board embarked on a park improvement program, and selected Whilldin and

E. B. Van Keuren as associate architects for the pool at North Birmingham Park. Other

improvements for North Birmingham Park, in addition to the pool, were an athletic field,

a rock garden, and a miniature Japanese garden. Built at an estimated cost of $35,000,

the swimming pool was considered the finest in the city and was noted in the newspapers

as being “of rather unusual design.”25 North Birmingham Park was dedicated in August

1931 at a celebration attended by 4,000 people. The speaker for the event was Senator

Hugo Black.26

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The “rather unusual design” of the North Birmingham Pool and Bathhouse is

difficult to categorize, but is perhaps best described as vaguely Tudor or perhaps even

French provincial. Three items relating to the design of this now demolished building

have survived: an elevation rendering, a photograph, and two blueprint sheets. The

elevation rendering, published in a newspaper, presumably represents an early design. It

shows a sprawling two story building with one story wings configured in the shape of a

shallow “U.” The wings terminate in gables. However, the most distinctive aspect of the

building was its steeply pitched hip roof.

The two story main block of the building contained the entrance lobby and office

on the first floor, and above, open to the pool, is a series of bleachers. The roof over this

open space was supported by Y-shaped posts (recall the posts from the Stubbs residence).

On either end of the main block, shown in the rendering, is a gabled projection.

However, based on the photograph, these projections were instead given a hip roof and

the corners with contrasting, irregular quoins. The sprawling one story wings contained

the locker rooms. On their exterior they framed additional bleachers, all of which

overlooked the sixty by one hundred foot pool.

In the “Cornerstone Letter” of 1950 Whilldin claims to have been the designer of

the North Birmingham swimming pool. However, the surviving blueprints seem to

indicate that the drawings were produced in the office of E. B. Van Keuren, who also

claims to have been the designer. The block of information in the lower right hand

corner of Sheet 4 is unlike those Whilldin was using at the time. Dated April 1931, this

sheet has Commission No. 470 included in the block. Initials indicate the sheet was both

drawn and checked by Van Keuren.

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By 1932 the effects of the Depression were beginning to affect Whilldin’s career.

Although he was supervising on-going projects, only three new jobs are noted for that

year. All were in Tuscaloosa. The first of these was for the remodeling and addition of a

second story to the F. W. Woolworth store on Broad Street. This yellow-buff brick store

has an arcade on the second story with a deep cove cornice roofed with red tile. Brick

pilasters support this arcade except for two paired Tuscan columns flanking the third bay

from each end. The arched portions above the windows appear to have once been

decorated with tilework. It is a handsome building--historicist but not routine. The

second project was a Colonial styled or modified Georgian home for Miss Mary Parr,

located on Seventh Street. The massing of this home, a series of gable front setbacks, is

unusual, a result of its narrow lot. The large central window has a semi-circular header,

similar to that found on other homes he designed during this period, a device Whilldin

apparently favored.

Perhaps one of the largest homes built in Tuscaloosa during the Depression years

was in the Central Highlands subdivision. Located on several lots at the corner of Central

Highland and University Boulevard, this home was commissioned by Frederick M.

Dickinson, Vice President of Gulf States Paper Corp. Central Highlands, platted in 1928,

was adjacent to The Highlands, an upscale neighborhood developed on the eastern fringe

of the city on the Tuscaloosa-Birmingham Highway. Dickinson purchased the lots in

March 1932, and by the following month Whilldin was drawing plans for his new home.

This two story, white brick residence, like the Rushton Stockham residence in Mountain

Brook, is best described as a modified Georgian (Figure 61). On either end of the main

block, its corners marked by brick quoins, is a single, large chimney. To one side, off the

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dining room, is a one story wing, which held the kitchen area, which connects with a one

and a half story garage and servant’s quarters. An off-center front facing gable contains

the entry, a large single leaf door with sidelights, which is flanked by small windows.

Above is a small balcony, with decorative brackets, which sheds the entrance, and a

French window with a semi-circular header that appears as a solid fanlight.

Inside one enters into a small trapezoidal vestibule, paved in white marble with

black marble trim. It is located below the landing of the staircase. Beyond and up two

broad curving steps is the entrance hall (see Figure 61). The elegant curving staircase

gracefully rises to an intermediate landing, illuminated by the French window above the

entrance. Although not as grand as that of the Sims residence, the space is nonetheless

sophisticated To the rear of this entrance hall was once a study but has since been

converted into additional open space. To the left is the living room, illuminated on three

sides by large casement windows and French doors. In several of Whilldin’s larger

residential designs he would often have a large living room which essentially occupied

one entire side of the home so that windows on three sides of the room would not only

illuminate it but also provided cross-ventilation. To the right of the entrance hall is the

dining room and beyond, the butler’s pantry and kitchen. To the rear was once a

screened porch. Clearly the client was able to afford such luxury at a time when the

fullest depths of the Depression were yet to be realized.

The years 1933 and 1934 were the darkest days of the Depression. Only three

jobs are known from 1933: the Joseph P. Mudd residence in Mountain Brook, a residence

for Dr. Stuart Greene in Tuscaloosa, and additions and alterations to the Hotel Thomas

Jefferson, which involved some interior remodeling and the construction of a ballroom on

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the second floor open-air terrace. By the following year this number had dwindled to

only one, when it appears that Whilldin built additional units to the Tuscaloosa High

School as a Public Works Administration (PWA) project. By the mid-1930s the severity

of the Depression was beginning to ease somewhat. Industrial sites began to increase

production. Consumer spending and residential construction slowly began to increase as

well. By 1935 Whilldin was designing additions to county schools in Tuscaloosa for the

PWA, and, in a sign of economic recovery, he designed a series of industrial buildings

and offices for the Hill and Griffith Corporation, a foundry supply company based in

Cincinnati, Ohio. Other jobs came in the form of federal housing projects. Although

none of these projects were necessarily architecturally distinctive, they did nonetheless

give Whilldin much needed income.

Another sign of economic recovery was the erection of a home in a newly opened

section of Woodlawn Highlands in Birmingham. Completed in 1935, it was

commissioned by Oliver H. Rogers of the Rogers Electrical Company. Located on a

double lot at the corner of Eighth Avenue South and Fifty-fourth Street, it remains to this

day one of the largest homes in the Crestwood area. This brick L-shaped residence was

finished in what is best described as Colonial Revival, with such details as the Y-shaped

wooden porch supports (again recall those of the Stubbs residence), wall dormers,

overlapping roof edges (as seen around the wall dormers), and a Colonial Revival

(specifically Federal) doorway with sidelights and an elliptical overdoor. Its

configuration is interesting for the main entrance and the garage are set at right angles

and in sight of each other, a nod to the increasing popularity of the automobile.27

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The construction of this home, as well as the two other homes near it, is reflective

of the building revival in Birmingham and the nation as a whole in the mid-1930s.

Indeed, it was noted with great enthusiasm that in 1935 thirty frame residences and

twenty-one brick veneer residences were constructed in the city, one of which was the

Rogers House. The total expenditure for new construction was double that of 1934, and

with an overall housing shortage, optimism for the construction industry and building

trades for the following years was high.28

After the inauguration of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933 the federal government

took on the role of employer to thousands of out-of-work people across the nation. This

avenue of last resort was a means of getting the United States on the road to economic

recovery. Under Roosevelt’s New Deal program a number of government agencies were

created, such as the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), the Works Progress

Administration (WPA), the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), the Federal Housing

Authority (FHA), and the Public Works Administration (PWA).29

The PWA was the agency that built the great public works of the period, such as

courthouses, city halls, dams, housing projects, hospitals, educational buildings, libraries,

and the like. Often confused with the WPA, the PWA not only put a large number of

unemployed laborers back to work, it also employed the best architects and engineers,

most of whom, like Whilldin, were feeling the economic pressures of the Depression.

One of the most successful of the New Deal agencies, the PWA by 1939 had funded over

34,500 projects nationwide, totaling some seven billion dollars in construction costs.

Visible results of this effort, still seen today, are the substantial public buildings found in

communities, both large and small, across the nation.30

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One of the largest PWA projects in Birmingham, in both size and cost, was the

Smithfield Court Housing Project (Figure 62). In 1935 the Emergency Housing

Corporation of the PWA31 began a slum clearance project of seven square blocks in the

traditionally African-American neighborhood of Smithfield, located to the west of

downtown, largely fronting Eighth Avenue and adjacent to the Industrial High School

(Parker). In its place was to be a series of one and two story brick row houses, containing

some 540 units that range in size from two to five rooms. These row houses are arranged

around open, grassy courtyards, which were common areas. Approximately twenty-

seven percent of the total land area contains the housing units. The remainder of the land

was given over to open spaces of grass, shrub, and flower plantings.

Designed by a group of associated Birmingham architects, with Whilldin as Chief

Architect, Smithfield Court was the first demonstration in Birmingham of the federal

government’s low-cost housing and slum clearance program in the larger cities. One of

the lead designers was George Turner, another Birmingham architect, whom Whilldin is

said to have held in high esteem. Smithfield Court was built at a cost of $2,500,000. The

start of construction was marked by a formal ceremony involving numerous city and

federal dignitaries. It also included a talk by Whilldin about the design of Smithfield

Court. Although the row houses are simple and generally utilitarian, it is the overall

planning of the units that is interesting. The idea of housing blocks can be traced to Le

Corbusier, but the openness of the plan of the buildings, grouped around green areas, can

be linked to the City Beautiful Movement. A series of blueprints in the Whilldin

Collection indicate that three story apartment buildings were planned as part of the

original scheme, but these were eliminated. Whether to keep the overall scale human, or

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for reasons of cost, or if these were eliminated at the local or federal level (all plans had

to be approved by the PWA Housing Division), will probably never be known.

Construction was complete in early 1938, and the first tenants moved into the community

in February of that year.32

The focal point of Smithfield Court is the Community Building. Facing Eighth

Avenue and located at the center of the community, it was the only structure in

Smithfield Court to receive any form of architectural embellishment. Configured in the

form of a T, with office and meeting rooms on either side of the entrance lobby and an

auditorium at the rear, the Community Building is accessed by three series of double

doors surmounted by classic Georgian fanlights. To either side brick quoins and stone

panels complete the composition of the main block. Side doors are treated differently.

These have a Gibbs surround, a device Whilldin rarely used.

The Elyton Village Housing Project was begun in 1936. It was the first

undertaking by the newly created Birmingham Housing Authority, a local agency created

by the PWA and the federal government.33 Whilldin was again selected as architect of

yet another social experiment involving the clearance of white slums. The housing

project, facing Graymont Avenue, built for low-income white families, was completed in

1940 at a cost of some $4,250,000. Much larger in scale than Smithfield Court, Elyton

Village contained 174 units in four three story apartment buildings and 686 units in 110

one and two story row houses. Although some of the buildings were grouped around

open common areas, the overall density was much greater. Whilldin’s Smithfield Court

and Elyton Village were the first housing projects to be built in the Birmingham area.

Others were to follow, such as Central City for whites and Southtown for African-

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Americans. Unfortunately, the design of these communities precipitated a myriad of

maintenance and socio-economic problems in the post-World War II era. In Smithfield

Court and Elyton Village, the isolated courtyard was the major design flaw. The reality

of the inner-city replaced the idealistic philosophies of social reform and community that

these courtyards were meant to foster, and as a result crime and negative public

perception increased.34

Whilldin also undertook other projects for the PWA. He probably designed an

additional unit for the Tuscaloosa High School in 1934, and he is noted as the architect

for additions and remodeling of six Tuscaloosa County schools. In late 1936 he designed

the new City Hall and Bama Theatre building in Tuscaloosa, also for the PWA, which

was to become one of his greatest designs.

By the summer of 1936 the City of Tuscaloosa had outgrown its city hall facility,

built in 1886 by Bruce and Morgan of Atlanta. It was announced in the 27 July 1936

Industrial Register that a new city hall, to cost $200,000, was to be built pending the

outcome of a bond election. In August $110,000 in bonds was approved by the voters of

the city, and in the 30 November issue of the Industrial Register it was announced that

the city would receive $90,000 in PWA funds. One week later this same magazine noted

that D. O. Whilldin of Birmingham was working on the plans for the new city hall and

separate jail building. The jail was to cost $35,000, and the city hall building plans,

calling for a three story brick building with a motion picture theater on the ground floor,

would not be ready until January 1937. These plans were revised in April, and that same

month the bids were let for construction. The jail, a simple two story brick building

located on Seventh Street, was finished by the end of the year.35

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The Tuscaloosa City Hall and Bama Theatre complex is a remarkable piece of

architectural design (Figure 63). It is both modern and traditional, and represents an early

concept of “civic center” planning and design. In style, the building incorporates

elements of Art Deco, Streamline Moderne, and Stripped Classicism with its underlying

Beaux-Arts principles. The joining of these three modern styles is categorized as a style

termed PWA Moderne. Regardless of the terminology, the new City Hall complex, a

composition of almost abstract simplicity, was modernistic above all else and hailed as a

sign of progress for the city of Tuscaloosa.

Remarkably, a complete set of 24 sheets of plans, elevations, and sections, plus 66

detail drawings, have survived. The technical drawings of the theatre rigging, equipment,

and lighting are extensive, and illustrate the complexity of the structure. The primary set

of drawings is largely dated January 1937, although three sheets were drawn in February

and one sheet in March. All but two of these sheets have a revised date of 15 April 1937

and one new sheet, Sheet 15A, was added on that date as well. All of the structural

drawings are pencil on vellum, and above the information block is “P.W.A. Docket #

1176-D.” The longitudinal sections (Sheets 15 and 15A) of the theatre interior are

particularly interesting for they show the entire decorative composition (Figure 64).

Sheet 13 outlines the Greensboro Avenue façade and a marquee that differs from the one

built.

The building is situated on the corner of Greensboro Avenue and Sixth Avenue.

Finished with a limestone and brick veneer, it stands three stories tall. The City Hall

portion of the building fronts Greensboro Avenue (Figure 65). A recessed central

doorway, framed by an wide door surround is surmounted with the words “CITY HALL”

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carved in modernistic lettering and a series of abstract shields along its top. Above the

door is a stylized eagle, wings outstretched with head in profile, that certainly ranks as

one of Whilldin’s finest and most striking sculptural designs (see Figure 63). Storefronts

were located on the ground level. Above, the second and third floor windows with dark

green granite panels separating them, are treated as a single vertical unit. Between these

vertical units of windows the limestone is fluted, appearing as pilasters although lacking

the typical base and capital. In the upper zone, a series of abstracted festoon panels in

low relief corresponds to the window units below. The cornice, which consists of a series

of horizontal channels, emphasizing the low profile or “streamlining” of the building,

unifies the composition.

The sidewalk, shown on Sheet 115, was finished in a zig-zag Deco motif which

emphasized the entrances. The City Hall entrance led to a foyer walled with marble and

paved with terrazzo in a Deco pattern. The air grates have a Deco pattern, and the

staircase has a tubular steel handrail. Originally, the first floor contained three stores and

offices for the city clerk. The second floor contained the city commission offices, a 100

seat auditorium, and offices for the city engineer, city attorney, and Chamber of

Commerce. The city-county health department was located on the third floor. The city

government met in the auditorium, a room ringed with fluted pilasters executed in a

simplified Deco/Moderne style. Its ceiling consisted of acoustical tile arranged in a

geometric Deco pattern.

The entrance to the new Bama Theatre was expressed on the façade by the

striking rounded corner of the building. This great semicircular wall of limestone,

decorated by vertical folds of drapery, also rendered in stone, rises above the marquee,

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box office, and lobby entrance to a greater height than the Greensboro Avenue or Sixth

Avenue elevations. Its simple cornice connects to the surrounding, lower cornices by a

series of ornamented setbacks. The Sixth Avenue façade is finished in brick, and is

largely unadorned except for a circular panel and three festoon panels in low relief. At

street level three pairs of double doors open to one of the theatre lobbies.

The marquee is streamlined, with curved corners and stainless steel bands in red,

white, and blue, outlined with twinkling lights. The main entrance lobby is paved with

tile in a geometric Deco pattern. In addition, the ceiling pattern of the lobby and

hallways is also executed in a Deco pattern. Even the signage reflected the modernistic

Deco lettering of the period. But it is here that the modern stops and the traditional

begins. The lobbies in and behind the theatre were furnished with luxurious rugs,

tapestries, and European paintings and antique furniture. These decorative effects are

taken directly from the Davanzati Palace in Florence, a Trecento palace but substantially

enlarged during the Quattrocento by the Davizzi family. This Old World feeling was but

a preview of what awaited the movie patron inside the auditorium of the theatre itself.36

The theatre, capable of seating 1200 on both the main floor and balcony, features

an atmospheric interior complete with three dimensional architectural elements. The

ceiling, painted sky blue, contains randomly spaced lights that are set on a timer, which

creates the effect of “twinkling stars.” Clouds are generated by a projector located on one

of the side balconies. It is connected to a motor which slowly moves the clouds across

the “sky” of the ceiling.

The architectural elements located along the sides of the theatre and to either side

of the proscenium recall a city street somewhere in the Mediterranean world. Here again

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Whilldin’s fascination with the romantic comes into play. The architecture is eclectic for

it is neither wholly Italian or Spanish. To the left is the façade of a two story, stuccoed

building with a faux second floor doorway surmounted by a cartouche placed within its

blind arch. Opposite the auditorium is another two story, stuccoed building facade with

an arched double doorway on the first floor (Figure 66). Two large medallions with

cherubs flank the faux second floor doorway. The proscenium itself is framed by “ashlar

masonry” to either side and above by a modillion cornice. Additional architectural

elements, although on a smaller scale, are located along the side of the auditorium.

Among these are arches within which are paintings of Italian garden scenes. The lights

under the balcony have a stenciled Deco design around them. The paintings and other

interior decorations were done by Navino Nataloni, an artist known “in the field of

decorative work in theatres, huge ocean liners, yacht clubs and other enterprises calling

for unusual imagination and artistic skill.”37

The opening of the new Bama Theatre on Tuesday 12 April 1938 was a gala affair

in Tuscaloosa. A parade from the University of Alabama down University Boulevard

and then Greensboro Avenue included the Million Dollar Band, city officials, PWA

officials, the Pershing Rifles, the University R.O.T.C., and various civic organizations.

After the parade arrived at the new theatre the keys were officially handed over from the

PWA to the President of the City Commission. The doors were then opened to the

general public for a Donald Duck cartoon and the feature film Bringing Up Baby with

Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn. Outside, Disney characters were on hand to greet the

children.38

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The year 1936 certainly seems to have been one of the bright spots of the 1930s,

with more, and larger, jobs coming in to Whilldin’s office. In addition to the Tuscaloosa

City Hall project and Elyton Village, at least six more projects are known. These include

an addition to Riverside High School in Decatur, a building in Ensley for City Ice, a

substantial addition and new façade to the Standard Casket Manufacturing Company at

2412 Second Avenue North, an expansion to the Municipal Stadium at Legion Field, a

new building for the Brown Service Company, and Whilldin may have designed the

Bessemer Board of Education Administration Building.

One of the more significant private commissions of 1936 was the new building

for the Brown Service Company, located on Twentieth Street South between Eighth and

Ninth Avenues (Figure 67). This elegant Modern Classic, or Stripped Classic, building

was configured in the shape of an elongated cross and measured thirty eight feet across

and one hundred fifty four feet back from the street. It was to be the company’s home

office, a company only organized ten years earlier and which experienced phenomenal

growth through its specialty--selling funeral insurance. It was said to have been designed

with the latest trends in office arrangement and equipment, and that “Alabama limestone

and other materials obtained in Alabama are being used in its construction, and when

completed it will be unique in architecture and a show place.”39

The Brown Service building, with its humanist scale, classical proportions and

devices, and degree of monumentality, is an outstanding example of the Modern Classic

stylistic phase of the Deco-to-Modern era (Figure 68). On the Twentieth Street façade,

the building has a central block that projects both horizontally and vertically from the

main block of the structure. Rising above the flanking roofline, its hip roof, terminating

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in a large urn, joins the plane of the hip roof of the whole of the building. In turn, the

crest of the roof extends to the rear of the building, interrupted only by the solid, stepped

intersecting block, decorated only by a fluted course, which forms the cross aspect of the

building, in a sense a “transept.” The projecting central block has stylized acroteria and

urns along its upper termination with a continuous series of festoons signifying its

cornice line. Copper gutters run the entire circuit of the building.

The structure’s central entrance, set within a slightly projecting surround

decorated with fretwork and stylized cresting, is flanked on either side by an urn in the

form of a stylized volute set atop a hexagonal pedestal. The steps and entry walk form a

series of triangular patterns that are juxtaposed with the angular patterns Whilldin

designed for the sidewalk, forming an interesting interplay of geometric forms.

Along the south side of the building a second public entrance is marked by the

slightly projecting block of the transverse portion of the building. This side doorway,

again flanked by urns in the form of a stylized volute atop a hexagonal pedestal, led down

three steps to a courtyard (now largely altered), paved with red sandstone and trimmed

with limestone, that featured a large and striking diamond motif. On the opposite side of

this courtyard were several steps that led up to a motor court. This courtyard, all

designed by Whilldin, is evidence of the degree of detail the architect employed in every

aspect of design. At the rear of the motor court was once a series of garages, presumably

for funeral hearses. Three large stone panels, featuring stylized garlandry and drapery,

adorn the south façade. The skillful conception and carving of these panels are evident in

the softly rendered folds and rumples of the drapery and the flowers of the garlands. The

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remaining two sides of the building contained service entrances not intended for the

public, consequently these sides were finished in brick rather than limestone.

The interior of the building contained a central passage that ran for much of its

length, providing access to the offices located on either side of the building. It also

included an elegantly appointed entrance lobby, featuring a wide vestibule flanked by

fluted alcoves with marble pedestals ringed with acanthus leaves. Large service and

display rooms were located on both the first and second floors. Particularly interesting

are the interior and exterior aluminum ornamental grilles, as well as some interior

features, such as stair railings (altered), the gate from the reception room to the hallway

(removed), and ornamental grilles in the elevator, all of which Whilldin designed in a

floral Deco style.

A complete set of plans for this building survive. Sheets 1-14, all pencil on

vellum and initialed by draftsman, are dated April 1936 and depict floorplans and

elevations. Detail drawings, dating from August to November 1936 and ranging from the

Deco designs to the marble details to the landscaping of the courtyard, have also

survived. Apparently, Whilldin’s office was relatively small, for draftsman used only

single initials. For instance, sheets are initialed “K,” “M,” “E,” or “S” in the “Drawn By”

box. The “S” must refer to Harrison R. Steeves, Jr., who began working for Whilldin in

September 1936. On Sheet 5 (Front, Rear, Left, and Right Elevations), “Snook” is listed

in the “Drawn By” box.

By the end of the decade Brown Service had merged with Ridout’s Funeral

Service into Ridout’s Brown Service Mortuary. In 1939 Whilldin designed some

alterations to the building for the Brown Service Insurance Company, now affiliated with

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Ridout’s Brown Service Mortuary. Next door, a new Ridout’s Brown Service Funeral

Home, built in a Colonial Revival style, reminiscent of Mt. Vernon, by Warren, Knight,

and Davis, was completed in 1942. Today, the Brown Service building has survived the

changes that have characterized the UAB Medical Center area. The motor court and

garage are gone, as is the 1942 Warren, Knight, and Davis structure, all replaced by a

motel, whose back wall crowds against the edge of the building’s courtyard. This

building now houses the offices of the UAB Medical Alumni Society.40

The two draftsman noted in association with the Brown Service plans are

important. Charles J. Snook, Jr. was one of Whilldin’s long time employees, working

with him between 1928 and 1942, through both good times and bad. He graduated from

Alabama Polytechnic Institute in 1927 and worked briefly in the offices of Miller and

Martin before joining Whilldin. Snook’s name is mentioned prominently on drawings

from the period, and it is reasonable to believe that he was the lead draftsman in

Whilldin’s office. After his employment with Whilldin he joined Charles McCauley and

Associates. Family accounts indicate that Snook was a sort of “stuffed-shirt” with little

personality, and Whilldin would often laugh at Snook’s vests and uptight appearance.

Harrison R. Steeves, Jr., was also a longtime employee. Born in New York City,

Steeves graduated from Harvard in 1933. He then earned a degree in architecture from

Columbia University in 1936. Immediately following graduation Steeves moved to

Birmingham and began his career in Whilldin’s office, working his way up from

draftsman to architect. In the early 1940s he briefly worked as a draftsman for the

Stephenson Brick Company, then returned to Whilldin’s office where he remained as an

associate until 1954. He then worked as a draftsman (but probably a designer at that

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stage in his career) in the office of Lawrence Whitten and later in the office of Charles

McCauley. Although it does not appear that Steeves was ever a partner with Whilldin, he

is listed as associate architect on one version of the design for Trinity Episcopal Church

in Bessemer in 1953. Family accounts indicate that Whilldin thought very highly of him,

and considered him a very good architect.

The remaining years of the decade brought fewer projects than those of the mid-

1930s. Only one new project, a residence for Mrs. Mary Rushton Yancey in Mountain

Brook, has been identified for 1937. This number increased to four the following year,

consisting of a new building for the White Dairy Company, a new funeral home for

Brown Service Company, the Rainbow Room for the Redmont Hotel, and a building for

the Eighth Avenue Theatre Company. Only three projects are documented for 1939: the

new store for F. W. Woolworth in downtown Birmingham, alterations to the Aland

Building, and alterations to the Brown Service Company offices, the last two of which

were Whilldin’s previous designs. During that year he may also have designed a house at

3028 Overhill Road in Mountain Brook. It is evident from some of these late-1930s

designs that Whilldin, as often in the architecture of the period, created Deco-Moderne-

Modern hybrid forms and anticipated the arrival of international modernism in the post-

World War II era.

The design for a new plant and office building for the White Dairy Company,

once located at 621 Twenty-seventh Street South, was Deco-Modern (Figure 69). The

detailing of this building, though simple, gave what would have been an ordinary

structure an artistic finish. The horizontal emphasis of this largely one story building was

accentuated by the linear bands at the cornice line and the banding between the windows

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of glass block. The windows themselves were framed above and at the sill line by wide,

simple bands. The entrance was located within a two story, asymmetrically placed block,

with the door itself placed within a slightly recessed porch flanked by quarter columns

and narrow, slit-like windows of glass block with aluminum bars. Above, a reeded panel

and stepped vertical elements framed a Deco style aluminum and glass lantern and

accented the entrance. Above, the windowless second story block contained large

aluminum lettering that spelled “WHITE DAIRY COMPANY.” All of the corners and

edges were slightly chamfered or rounded, preserving the rectilinear appearance in what

is essentially the massing of cubes or blocks. Judging from a surviving partial set of

plans and detail drawings, the design of this building apparently underwent a number of

revisions. The basic set of plans, consisting of Sheets 1 through 5, is dated February

1938, with later revisions variously date from April through October.

In the spring of 1938 the Brown Service Funeral Company again commissioned

Whilldin, this time for two new funeral homes, one in Birmingham and one in Bessemer.

These funeral homes were to be the most modern and up-to-date, as Mr. and Mrs. Frank

Ridout toured cities around the country for new and innovative ideas. The Birmingham

funeral home, located in Norwood at the corner of Twelfth Avenue North and Twenty-

fifth Street, was built at a cost of $200,000. It was to be the largest and finest funeral

home in the Birmingham area for a number of decades. Indeed, the structure is a palatial

building of large scale. Clad in brick, it was originally painted white so as to present a

“chaste” appearance. Divided into a five part plan with a low set-back hip roof, the

central entrance block contained shuttered French doors set within segmental arched

frames. Above, four rooftop urns, now removed, once stood along the edge of the roof.

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Small festoon panels, flanking a large plaque with a broken pediment, brick quoins, and

two simple stone beltcourses adorn the central block. Elsewhere, French windows are

used on the first floor. Other aspects of the building are described in a Birmingham

News-Age Herald article:

The building will be two stories high, front 153 feet on the avenue . . . ;of modified form of Georgian architecture which lends dignity and simplicity to the structure. The main façade of the building will be on Twelfth Avenue, with a double flight of steps leading to the terrace from which entrance may be made to the foyer or either of the two chapels . . . Each chapel will seat 150 persons. . . An abundance of light for the chapels comes from the exterior and also from courts of grasses and shrubbery. An imposing stairway leads from a hall just off the entrance foyer upstairs to a general lounge, four reposing rooms, three casket display rooms, several arrangement rooms, together with a light and airy dormitory for the use of attendants. The interior has been designed by the architect, D. O. Whilldin, to give a feeling of restfulness, quietness, and sympathetic understanding for the purpose of the building. On the porte cocheres cast iron of the oak leaf design is used, tying in harmoniously to the mass of the building, incorporating and blending with the building to give a feeling of sumptuousness and graciousness of the Greek Revival period of the Old South. Drives, courts, and terraces are of the colorful Oneonta stone.41

This article is interesting for its architectural descriptions. Clearly the style of the

building is eclectic, ranging from a modified Georgian to lacy cast iron elements found in

Greek Revival buildings. However, the building comes across as French more than it

does any sort of Georgian or Colonial Revival, from the French doors and segmental

arches, the French windows, the lacy cast iron which can also be associated with Colonial

French architecture, and the iron fleur-de-lis which are located within the oculi of the end

bays. In addition to this eclectic blending of styles, it should also be noted that the

restrained detailing is also a reminder that the building was a product of the Depression

era.

The Brown Service Funeral Home in Bessemer, located on Fourth Avenue, was

much smaller in size. Built at a cost of $ 75,000, it too was clad in white painted brick,

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featured an “artistically” treated foyer and a chapel for seating 150 people, complete with

a fireplace, and was executed in a “modified Georgian” style that consisted of a two story

block with a hip and cross gabled roof with a central spire, a great arched window for the

chapel, and a Georgian door surround with elliptical fanlight.42

By the late 1930s Adolph P. Reich, a Gadsden hotelier and a close friend of

Whilldin, took over as Managing Director of the Hotel Redmont. Built in 1925 and

located at the corner of Fifth Avenue North and Twenty-first Street, it was one of

Birmingham’s major hotels. In an effort to remain fashionable, the hotel management

did what every other hotel in the country was doing--it updated the interior in the jazzy

Deco style. The Redmont’s new Rainbow Room was featured in the May 1938 issue of

the Manufacturer’s Record, where it was noted as one of Alabama’s smartest coffee

shops. The effort was a collaboration between Whilldin and local interior designers

Hawkins & Israel. Although relatively simple in comparison with other Deco interiors,

the sleek new Rainbow Room featured bold geometry in the octagonal light fixture, the

narrow horizontal bands that encircle the room, and the geometric patterned floor. The

designers employed indirect lighting, and the dining tables, lacquered and trimmed in

metal, completed the modernist composition. The black and white photograph does not

convey the luxurious materials and Art Deco colors.43

Whilldin’s conception of a theatre building for the Eighth Avenue Theatre

Company is a most unusual design in his oeuvre. It survives only as a complete set of

plans located in the Whilldin Collection at the Birmingham Public Library (Figure 70).

Although this particular design was apparently unexecuted, an Eighth Avenue Theatre

did exist across the street from Smithfield Court, which was finished in a simple Deco-

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Moderne style. The project may have been scaled back out of economic necessity, or the

client may have simply not liked Whilldin’s concept. Nevertheless, this fanciful design is

interesting as showing Whilldin’s experimentation with modernist expressionism.

The theatre itself is small and simple and reflected the needs of a neighborhood

theatre company rather than a large movie house. Two stores and a small ticket booth

flanked the open lobby, which led to a vestibule and the standee, or interior lobby. From

the standee, two aisles separated the seating and led from the rear doorways of the

auditorium to those that flank the proscenium. Interestingly, these doors, placed within

a two story angled construction that recalls those at the Bama Theatre in Tuscaloosa, led

to a corridor and exited the building. The backstage area consisted of only two dressing

rooms, accessed from the stage or a rear exit door. The interior design of the theatre was

moderne, with horizontal bands extending the length of the auditorium, and rounded

forms that softened the corners.

What is so distinctive about this theatre building is its exterior, mainly the Eighth

Avenue façade. It is here that Whilldin created a whimsical Deco façade through the

juxtaposition of structural forms and recessed spaces. Boldly asymmetrical, the façade

consists of three blocks that rise, overlap, and recede against the backdrop of the main

auditorium block. The unifying elements are the horizontal marquee, which ties the three

together, and the narrow tower that marks the ticket booth. This square tower, fastened to

the highest of the three blocks by a stylized stone bracket, rises beyond the second story

where it becomes octagonal in form. Here it is adorned with stucco reeding and then

setback, culminating with two stylized blossoms and a spire. The façade, if built, would

have been finished in stucco, with stone coping and linear horizontal bands adding a

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decorative finish to the composition. For reasons unknown the client did not approve this

design. Perhaps it was too flashy, too “different,” or perhaps a bit too avant-garde for the

Smithfield community. The client opted instead for a simpler, more conservative Deco

façade consisting of a stepped vertical block with a series of zig-zag lines. To either side

were two groups of three horizontal bands above the Deco marquee. Below were

horizontal bands of contrasting color. The theatre as built was attractive, but it is obvious

that architectural conservatism won out in this particular project.

One of Whilldin’s largest commissions of the late 1930s was for the new F. W.

Woolworth department store, located on the corner of Nineteenth Street and Third

Avenue North in downtown Birmingham (Figure 71). Not to be outdone by the recently

built Loveman’s and Kress department stores, both finished in the fashionable

modernistic styles, the F. W. Woolworth Company decided to consolidate three smaller

downtown stores into one “flagship” store. The new Woolworth department store, built

at the staggering cost of $500,000, was an elegant addition to the downtown Birmingham

shopping district.

The three story store resting on a basement was finished in rich brown terra cotta

for the first floor with cream colored terra cotta above. Much of the first floor exterior

was given over to large display windows. Large aluminum letters once spelled out

“F. W. Woolworth Co.” on both the Nineteenth Street and Third Avenue facades. The

corner of the building is set on angle and faces the intersection of the streets, a classic

Beaux-Arts device that emphasizes monumentality. The façade, above the ground floor

shop windows, consists essentially of vertical banks of windows separated by reeding

that terminates with a geometric ornament and two deep vertical grooves. Two

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horizontal relief bands with a geometric pattern encircle the building along its lower

level. The uppermost zone of the building is set-back, and is adorned with another

horizontal band. In addition to the geometric abstraction of the decorative elements, with

its vertical and horizontal linear patterns, Whilldin was also concerned with color pattern.

The interior of the building was equally elegant, with various marbles employed

throughout the store and as trim for display cases. A perspective drawing shows

Whilldin’s concept of the store interior, with geometric patterns in the terrazzo floors,

curved walls, and Moderne style light fixtures. It also shows the lunch counter, the site

of Civil Rights sit-ins during the early 1960s. The Woolworth building is a fine example

of Deco and Moderne mixing with modernism. Here we can begin to see Whilldin’s

increasing abstraction which is associated with his work in the late 1930s and post-war

period. Above all, it anticipates his later use of full-blown modernism.

CHAPTER FOUR

THE POST-WAR BUILDING BOOM AND INTERNATIONAL MODERNISM

The lean character of modernism and stripped classicism, precipitated by the

economic collapse of the Depression, generated an aesthetic of efficiency and

minimalism. By the late 1930s the threat of a new world war was looming in Europe,

and many German architects, such as Walter Gropius and Mies van der Rohe, immigrated

to the United States after Hitler closed the Bauhaus. Consequently, some of the leading

proponents of modernism began teaching in American universities. By 1940 production

of war material was increasing, part of the lend-lease program for European allies, and

the need for additional worker housing sharply increased. Following the entry of the

United States into World War II, civilian construction virtually ceased. Goods and

commodities were shifted to the war effort. Architects were put to work designing war-

industry housing, base facilities, and the like. However, the scarcity of building material

and urgency of the situation forced architects to eliminate ornament, and to maximize

efficiency as well as available materials. Modernism, with its lean efficiency, was

especially suited for the task.1

At home in Birmingham, local architects were doing their part for the war effort.

In 1943 Whilldin designed a major expansion to the old American Radiator Plant in

North Birmingham for the Rheem Manufacturing Company, which converted the vacant

plant with expansions into an industrial defense training program and other war contracts.

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Following the war the plant converted to manufacturing household appliances. He also

designed several housing communities during the war, including one at the Ordinance

Plant in Anniston. In 1944 Whilldin designed Sayre Village, a community of simple,

wood shingle duplex houses built by the government as a result of increased mining

activity in the west Jefferson County town of Sayre.2

In November 1943, Nellie English, Whilldin’s wife of thirty-nine years, died from

pneumonia. Not wishing to remain in the house they had built together on Redmont

Road, he abruptly sold it and constructed a small cottage in the backyard of the home of

his daughter and son-in-law, Joseph Fox, on Clarendon Avenue in Mountain Brook.

Both he and his wife had attended Independent Presbyterian Church, a magnificent

English Perpendicular Gothic building located on Highland Avenue. Only recently the

church had begun a stained glass window program for the sanctuary, devised by the

D’Ascenzo Studios of Philadelphia. Questions of subject and sequence of the windows,

most of which were paid for by donors, were guided by the D’Ascenzo plan and were

dealt with on an individual basis.3

In 1946 Whilldin donated one of the earliest memorial windows in the church in

memory of his wife. Correspondence in the archives of Independent Presbyterian

Church, now housed at the Birmingham Public Library, chronicles the events

surrounding the Whilldin window. By December 1945 Whilldin had chosen the theme

“Mary anointing the feet of Jesus.” By April of the following year the D’Ascenzo

Studios suggested that the best passage to illustrate this theme would be John 12:1-9.

However, in a letter dated 1 May 1946 Nicola D’Ascenzo informed Whilldin:

I am pleased to tell you that color design #7591 for your window is being forwarded under separate cover via insured post, and I hope that this will arrive in

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good condition. I hope that you will find the design pleasing and in accordance with your wishes.

The subject was worked out in accordance with the scriptural verses of St.

John, 12th chapter, verses 3 to 11. For the predella subjects we have chosen first Samuel, 16th verse, ie., the

Annointing of David. In the tracery are the symbols of the Brazen Serpent, reference to which

will be found in St. John, chapter 3, verses 14 and 15. In the opposite tracery section the bursting Pomegranate is symbolic of the Resurrection. Angels symbolic of the Heavenly Host as well as the Cross, crown the window as a whole.

We do not as yet have the memorial inscription which will be placed at the

base of the window, ie., in the predellas. I personally believe that this window will be magnificent in glass . . . 4

Further correspondence indicates that Whilldin chose French glass, which yielded

the finest colors. The inscription and its lettering were done by Whilldin himself, while

the rest of the window was executed by the D’Ascenzo Studios. By late July the working

drawings had been approved by the window committee. Whilldin, vacationing on the

New Jersey coast with his family, visited the D’Ascenzo Studios in Philadelphia to view

progress on the window. Titled The Alabaster Box (Love’s Extravagance), it was

dedicated 17 November 1946 “To the Glory of God and in memory of Cornelia English

Whilldin.” It was placed so that the sun’s rays would be broken and diffused over the

pew where Mrs. Whilldin always sat. Because Mrs. Whilldin’s reserved and quiet

dignity was paralleled by Mary’s generosity, humility, and loving heart, the theme of the

window was an appropriate memorial.5

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Twilight of a Career, 1946-1961

The end of World War II signaled a new building boom in the United States after

a decade of economic depression followed by a period of no civilian construction. The

United States emerged as the leading world power, manufacturer, and consumer, and as

the middle class became increasingly affluent more and more people moved to the

suburbs. It was a period marked by inner city deterioration, urban renewal, the

automobile, the Eisenhower Interstate system, and staid societal conformity. Traditional

historic styles for residential architecture remained popular, alongside newer housing

types such as the Ranch and the Split Level. Such houses were built by the tens of

millions in American suburbia. By the late 1940s, however, International Modernism

was beginning to enter mainstream American commercial and non-residential

architecture. Nevertheless, a number of architects, and clients for that matter, were still

unwilling to fully embrace the Bauhaus aesthetic. This resulted in a number of hybrid

designs during the post-war era, with the more conservative 1930s styles mixing with

Modernism. Regional and local architects outside of urban centers such as New York

and Chicago interpreted and developed their own versions of International Modernism,

suiting it to the needs of their clients and reflecting, in many cases, the conservatism of

the latter.6

An example of this conservatism can be found in the design of a small

commercial building that Whilldin built for himself right after the war. The lots on which

the Alabama Book Store, located on University Boulevard in Tuscaloosa, now stands

were purchased in 1938. This simple, elegant late Deco retail building, clad in limestone,

has fluted door surrounds with stylized vertical keystones. Two stringcourses of linear

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banding, the upper one of which intersects with a soldier course of brick along the sides

of the building, decorate the lower zone of the facade. At the top of the parapet is a

stylized crest, very similar to that of the Brown Service Building in Birmingham. A

Deco style aluminum wall sconce is located above the side by side entrance doors. This

building has housed a college bookstore for decades, and still belongs to Whilldin’s

family.

In direct opposition to the conservative design for his own Tuscaloosa building,

Whilldin designed the St. Francis Catholic Mission in a decidedly utilitarian Modern

style in 1946 (Figure 72). Located near the old Pullman Plant in Bessemer, it consists of

the St. Francis Catholic Church and the Sisters of Mercy Convent and School. Probably

out of economic necessity on the part of his client, Whilldin striped away all ornament,

creating rectilinear, utilitarian brick buildings, the most interesting of which is the chapel.

Minimalist in its detailing, the architect reduced the chapel to a series of massed cubes. It

is a structure with pleasing proportions, yet it is reduced to its almost elemental forms

that are unified by the continuous American bond brickwork and the double soldier

course located along the cornice. The exterior walls of the chapel are slightly battered,

reducing the severity of the rectilinear forms and increasing its aesthetic appeal. In

contrast to these modern forms, the front entry doors are quite traditional and decorative

with paneled rosettes and medallions. For the date, this is a remarkable and radical

design.

There were other projects as well during the late 1940s, including an addition to

Vance Elementary School in Bessemer, a complete remodeling of Temple Emanu-el in

Birmingham, the studio building and transmitting tower for WSGN and WAFM, a series

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of freely assembled reductionist cubes, to be located in the newly created Radio Park on

the summit of Red Mountain (NBC Studios), a store building for W. K. Weaver and

L. W. Ragsdale in Birmingham, and a community building, consisting of a gymnasium,

auditorium, and offices, for Elyton Village Housing Project. In addition, Whilldin

designed a major expansion of Legion Field, consisting of the completion of the east

stands to their full height and the erection of stands in the south end zone, or horseshoe,

of the stadium. In all at least 20,000 new seats were added.7 Later, in 1949, he designed

the new stadium light towers. In 1949 he served as associate and supervisory architect

for Stevens and Wilkinson of Atlanta on the Town House Apartments. This latter

building, still located at Eighth Avenue South and Twentieth Street, is a nine story

International Style building defined by its horizontal bands of windows below concrete

fins.8

However, during this period much of Whilldin’s work shifted away from

Birmingham to Gadsden. It was there, throughout the late 1940s and during the early to

mid-1950s that the architect designed a number of works that define his post-war Modern

style. Some of these buildings include the Pitman Theatre, a clinic for Dr. E. A Isbell, an

apartment building for B. S. Hersberg, a commercial building for R. B. Kyle, the CIO

URW union hall in East Gadsden, an addition to the American National Bank building,

and a number of schools. He also designed an addition to the home of Dr. H. W. Frank in

1951, who had purchased the Paden residence (1929) on Argyle Circle back in the mid-

1930s. Whilldin also sporadically operated an office in Gadsden where he worked a few

days each week. Some tales relate that Whilldin would arrive by train and then make his

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way to the Reich Hotel where he would lounge in the hotel’s lobby meeting with clients

or spending time with his old friend Adolph Reich.9

One of the most public commissions in Gadsden during this period was the

Pitman Theatre (Figure 73). Built for Dr. H. W. Frank, a prominent local physician, it

was operated by C. S. Pitman, head of Alga Theatres, Inc., an independent theatre

company. Executed in a Deco-Modern Classic-Modern hybrid, the Pitman Theatre is a

limestone and brick building with an off-center central block with flanking units. The

façade at ground level is finished in marble. Above, the central block, rising above the

streamlined triangular marquee, is decorated only with an aluminum grill of geometric

designs and alternate panels of vertical bands along the cornice. In a sense, these

alternating panels can be read as metopes and triglyphs, though abstracted to a point that

they are barely recognizable as such. The verticality of the central block is emphasized

by the reeding on the flanking units. Another marquee, similar to the other one, is

streamlined and composed of green and white stainless steel bands with red accents and

neon lighting.

A complete set of blueprints for the Pitman, dated 2 March 1946, has survived in

the Frank family. As was typical with many of his projects, Whilldin designed a

decorative scheme for the sidewalk. For the Pitman, a geometric Deco motif with brass

dividers was used. The interior of the theatre is simple, and, in a sense, more radical than

the exterior. The bank of glass entrance doors recesses at an angle, thus leaving the ticket

booth window exposed to the exterior. The lobby, standee space, and restrooms are on

the first floor. Beyond, in the auditorium, the seating area is divided by two aisles.

Horizontal bands emphasize the length of the auditorium. A lounge and offices were

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located on the second floor, and the balcony has rounded, or streamlined, accents along

its railing. Built at an investment of over $250,000, the 1,100 seat theatre opened 26

September 1947 to a packed house to see Slave Girl with Yvonne DeCarlo and George

Brent. Gadsden’s most modern theatre, it featured air conditioning, the largest screen in

town, and push-back chairs.10

The Elks Lodge, built in 1949, is a gem of transitional Deco-Modern Classic-

Modern architecture (Figure 74). Elegant in its simplicity, it consists of one main level

set upon a podium, which is accessed by a dual staircase with a common landing that

leads to a terrace. The iron railing is strikingly Moderne, with its curving newels that

extend forward with the three broad, rounded steps to the sidewalk. The façade, dressed

in cut limestone, consists of a slightly projecting central block with smaller, flanking

units. This central block contains three bays, divided by chamfered columns and marked

by horizontal banding or reeding. The middle bay contains the entrance, the other two

have windows. The corner edges of the central block are rounded. All other corners

remain crisply geometric.

A renovation of a one story building and the erection of a two story commercial

building, both for R. B. Kyle and located at 612 and 618 Broad Street, reflects the

hybridization of Deco-Moderne with Modern. Both projects were completed in 1951.

Utilizing traditional building materials for the new two story building, including brick

and limestone, Whilldin draws attention to the shop entrance by a central limestone clad

block, which is emphasized and defined by the vertical banding. Between these bands, a

single vertical groove continues the fenestration pattern that is found in the flanking units.

Wide, horizontal bands of limestone extend from the central block to enframe the

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windows. At the very top along the parapet is a relief band of geometric indentations.

Next door, the renovated one story building, converted into two stores, was faced with

limestone with bas relief blocks on one side.

A small medical clinic for Dr. Euclid A. Isbell, built in 1950 at a cost of $40,000,

perhaps best represents Whilldin’s work within International Modern architecture (Figure

75). A modest commission, this doctor’s office is a small rectangular brick block capped

by shallow stone coping. An off-center entry bay of fixed pane windows and square cut

random ashlar, protected by a shallow cantilevered flat roof, is recessed on an angle from

the façade. Elsewhere, the windows, either of glass brick or aluminum, have simple

stone sills and lintels, and a corner window that clearly identifies this building with

International Modernism.

The commission for the CIO United Rubber Workers union hall in East Gadsden

is also a good example of Whilldin’s interpretation of International Modernism.

Completed in 1952, when the architect was seventy years old, this brick multi-functional

building consists of a series of massed and overlapping forms that culminate in the block

of the rear auditorium, all set atop a podium of square cut random ashlar which anchors

the entire composition to one horizontal plane. A rowlock course encircles the lower

blocks at the level of the window lintel. A series of three double rowlock courses

encircle the auditorium block. Entry to the building was under a somewhat awkward flat

roof porch supported by small, simple columns. It is a reflection of modern austerity and

abstraction in that it lacks the Bauhaus aesthetic of ribbon windows, continuous fins, and

machine imagery. The building achieves its quality from massing and proportion.

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By 1955 it appears that Whilldin had fully embraced the Bauhaus aesthetic. The

American National Bank commissioned him for an addition to their four story Beaux-

Arts style building, designed by Whilldin some 45 years earlier in 1910. This addition

consisted of one level of banking offices located above the drive-through car lanes and

teller windows. Clad in brick and trimmed in stone, this simple box featured only a long

ribbon window along its façade. The addition of a drive-through service building was a

reflection of changes the banking industry was undergoing nationwide. Drive-up or

drive-through branches were now seen as an essential part of the services offered by

banks. Consequently, modern additions which offered teller islands and pneumatic tube

systems with car lanes were added to the earlier, more traditional bank buildings. The

stylistic differences are striking, and make clear how far Whilldin has come with the

architectural changes of the last fifty years (Figure 76).11

In 1947 the Gadsden Board of Education began a long term building program that

resulted in the construction of a number of new schools and substantial additions to

preexisting buildings. The architectural work was divided between Whilldin and

Gadsden architect Paul Hofferbert. Between 1947 and 1952 Whilldin designed the

Mitchell School, the C. A. Donehoo School, the J. L. Cain School, the west stands of the

high school stadium, the Jessie Dean Smith School, the South Gadsden School, and

additions to Elliot, Oak Park, and Donehoo Schools. In 1955 he designed an addition to

the Walnut Park School; in 1956 Litchfield Junior High School; and in 1958, the last

known project of his career, an addition to Central Elementary School. All were built of

brick and they were usually only one story tall. Any sort of architectural elaboration was

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given to the front entrance. All of these buildings were simple and functional; they were

modern but none were remarkable.12

The R. A. Mitchell School, located across from Nocallula Falls Park, is the most

interesting of the group (Figure 77). Situated on a sloped site, this one story brick school

has a low profile and is configured in the shape of a “Y.” Horizontality is emphasized by

the two stone beltcourses: the first is just above the random ashlar foundation, probably

of local stone, and at the sill line of the windows, while the second is located immediately

above the windows. The main entrance, located within the interior of the “Y,” is

emphasized by rectilinear stone piers and the additional height of the rear auditorium

wing. Completed in 1948 at a cost of $235,000, the Mitchell School contains eight

classrooms, an auditorium, a lunchroom, and six offices. In 1950 its design was selected

as one of America’s outstanding elementary schools.13

The Mitchell School, while still modern, retained vestiges of earlier building

practices in terms of mass, building materials, and simple detailing; that is to say--

classical. Similar treatment can be found in his designs for the Jessie Dean Smith and the

J. L. Cain Schools. However, by the mid-1950s (and even as early as the 1950 C. A.

Donehoo School), an increasing abstraction of structural form reflected the increasingly

widespread adoption of International Modernism. Lean utility typified educational

buildings of this period, for better or worse.

Whilldin’s last major project, the Litchfield Junior High School, built in East

Gadsden and completed in 1957 at a cost of over $650,000, stands as one of his last

contributions to the Modern architecture of the 1950s and 1960s. This sprawling school

building was a departure from the other designs. Access from the circular drive is under

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a concrete and steel columned and cantilevered shed. Behind is the main lobby of the

school, clad largely in glass. To the south is the gymnasium, illuminated by expansive

windows. Concrete panels clad the upper part of the gymnasium above the entrance and

forms the signage for the school. Beyond the main lobby is a one story brick and glass

block, and beyond is a two story block of classrooms, again largely clad in glass. This

block is essentially a rectangular glass cube with brick corner pylons. When it opened in

1957 it was hailed by education leaders as the most modern school in the state, and

contained fourteen classrooms, a library, two science labs, an industrial arts room, a

gymnasium, cafeteria, and offices. The following year the name of the school was

changed from East Gadsden to Litchfield, in honor of the chairman of the Goodyear

Corporation who donated $15,000 for equipment.14

In addition to Gadsden and Birmingham projects, several other commissions were

underway during this period. In 1949 Whilldin designed a complete remodeling of the

Albertville National Bank in Albertville; in 1950 a remodeling of the First National Bank

in Alexander City and a new building for the Farmers and Merchants Bank in Centre; and

in 1952 he designed a new building for the Huntsville Times. This last building was

delayed and the contract went instead to the Birmingham firm of Warren, Knight, and

Davis in 1955. Finally, around 1954 or 1955 he probably designed what is now known as

the Merrimac Arms Apartments in Tuscaloosa, built on land he purchased in 1944 and

still had in his possession at his death in 1970.

The Farmers and Merchants Bank in Centre, located in northeastern Alabama in

Cherokee County, is an example of continued popularity of the temple front form for

banking houses, especially in small provincial locales. Finished in Indiana limestone and

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green marble, this small but prominent bank building is located along the main

commercial street. Its temple front form sets it apart from the adjoining commercial

buildings, just like its turn of the century precedents (compare with the bank buildings

Whilldin designed between 1912 and 1915). However, the traditional temple façade has

been treated in a reductive manner and modernized in a stripped classical mode, its

former decorative accoutrements removed. Indeed, Modern Classic was a style suited for

the more conservative clientele, as it was beginning to fade from fashion even in the late

Forties, still unwilling to embrace the glass curtain walls of the International Style.

The façade of the Farmers and Merchants Bank of Centre consists of four large

piers with square capitals that frame the central entrance and the plate glass windows

with their decorative grills. Above the piers is the plain entablature, adorned only by the

lettering and two wrought iron grills. The interior of the bank, consisting of the main

floor and a mezzanine level, was finished in terrazzo, white marble, and walnut. The

long banking lobby had a large repeating chevron motif on the floor, and to either side of

the lobby were the teller windows. It was described as being one of the most modern

banks in the state, designed for efficiency and beauty.15

Only a handful of projects are known in the Birmingham area from the 1950s.

Most were utilitarian jobs, such as additions to Birmingham Ice and Coal Storage in 1952

and an addition to the Southern Flooring Company in 1953. The largest of these

industrial jobs, however, was for the new Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company office and

warehouse. First announced in the spring of 1950, the new PPG complex, still located at

Ninth Avenue North and Eighteenth Street near the Civic Center, is a sprawling $450,000

building. In 1952 he designed a sprawling ranch house in the newly developed

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residential area of Crestwood for William L. Gantt. In 1954 he designed an expansion to

the WABT Channel 13 studios atop Red Mountain, the centerpiece of which was a

revolving stage.

In direct contrast to these modern buildings, Whilldin designed the new Trinity

Episcopal Church in Bessemer in 1953. He also made alterations to the parish house.

Unlike the St. Francis mission, Trinity was a highly traditional ecclesiastical design,

though modernized in some respects. Established in 1886, the present Trinity replaced

the white wood frame church building, built in 1889, that stood on a site donated by the

Bessemer Land and Improvement Company. The church is located on Berkley Avenue

and Twentieth Street near downtown Bessemer.

Built in a simplified Tudor Revival style, Trinity is dominated by the solid tower

that stands along the south side of the nave (Figure 78). The church has red brick walls,

inside and out, laid in American bond, with stone trim. The tower, buttressed on its

corners, is set back near its top and terminates with a low pyramidal roof. The church has

a relatively low profile, with buttresses along its side which in turn correspond to the

interior wood trusses. The massing reflects the interior arrangement of narthex/baptistry,

nave, and chancel, which in turn break the gable roof into varying parts. The fenestration

pattern also repeats the interior arrangement, with larger Tudor arched windows

illuminating the nave and smaller windows in the chancel and baptistery.

On the east end of the church a parapet rises above the roof line. At its peak is a

stone cross which overlooks Berkley Avenue. Entry to the church, in keeping with

Christian tradition, was from the west but at the side--an English tradition. The paneled

double main doors, set within stone jambs and a Tudor arch, are located on the south side

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of the baptistery and beside the tower. The north façade contains a shed and gable roofed

projection for the choir and other rooms, finished in stucco and wood half timbering, with

a small gable roofed porch with wood brackets.

The interior arrangement progresses in the traditional fashion. At the rear is the

narthex/baptistery, which opens to the nave through double doors. The nave is almost

fifty feet long, roofed with a massive timber frame, and can seat 180 people (see Figure

78). Large wood beams and trusses span the twenty-four foot space. To the south, in the

base of the tower, is the vestry. On the north side of the nave, immediately before the

chancel, is the choir with its three risers. At the head of the nave is the chancel, beyond,

the sanctuary and altar. The simply appointed interior is finished with exposed brick,

except for portions of the chancel which have Tudor arched wood panels. The stained

glass memorial windows, which depict the life of Christ from birth through Resurrection,

were designed and made by Charles Connick Associates of Boston.

Two complete sets of drawings of Trinity Church survive in the Whilldin

Collection at the BPL Archives. They represent different versions--one is largely an

Early English Gothic design while the other is Tudor. One set is dated 20 April 1953

and, in addition to Whilldin’s name, has H. R. Steeves listed as Associate Architect. The

second set, undated, no longer lists Steeves on most of the sheets, and it is apparent his

name was erased. It was during that time, in late 1953 or early 1954, that Steeves had left

Whilldin’s office to work with Birmingham architect Lawrence Whitten.

The elevation drawings of the Gothic structure are dated 20 April 1953. The

vertical emphasis of this design is especially evident on Sheet 5 which shows the 20th

Street or right side elevation (Figure 79). The steep pitch of the gable, the tall Gothic

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windows, and an arched doorway with stone jambs make clear this is a Gothic

composition. Irregular stone was to have been the exterior cladding with dressed

limestone door and window surrounds and quoins, watertable, tower stringcourses, and

buttress caps. The overall length of the building would have been shorter than it is today,

and there would have been no exterior buttressing of the nave or windows in the chancel.

The tower was to have a single Gothic arched window in each of its three exterior walls,

correspondingly at its top were to be two small, louvered vertical openings for air

circulation. On the opposite side of the building, shown on Sheet 6, Rear Elevation, and

Sheet 7, Left Side Elevation, the choir was to be within a half timbered gable, the sacristy

within a half timbered shed roof projection. Access was to be up stone steps rather than

the small gabled porch that became part of the Tudor design.

One of the most striking aspects of the Gothic design was the interior, shown on

Sheet 8, which illustrates the various longitudinal sections and cross-sections of the

structure (Figure 80). The narthex/baptistery was to have been paved with stone, and a

great Gothic arched doorway led into the nave. A second arched doorway led from the

nave into the tower. The natural stonework of the exterior was to have been carried over

to the interior as well, as was the limestone door and window trim and window quoins.

Massive oak trusses with corbels, carved along their faces with oak leaves, carried the

framing of the nave and the wood beams, and near the apex of the space were cross

beams with braces. This system, however, was non-structural and acted only as an inner

shell. Above the wood trusses were steel trusses which carried the roof and strengthened

the interior by holding the wood vaulting in place.

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The chancel was two stone steps up from the nave, and the trusses, though

somewhat smaller in scale, continued from the nave. A rood beam, with an elaborate

cross mounted atop it, would have spanned the open space to form a visual separation of

the chancel from the nave. The chancel itself largely had a wood finish, with trefoil

panels and above, in the plain upper zone, were carved square panels. This arrangement

carried to the rear of the chancel and the sanctuary, behind which was an elaborate

reredos with trefoil panels and pinnacles. The upper portion of the chancel, that is to say

that which was in the gable, was to have been finished in stone.

It is clear from the drawings and the present structure that the Gothic, stone clad

design was an earlier, and much more expensive, version of Trinity. It may have been

that two different medieval designs were offered concurrently to the building committee,

since these styles, especially Gothic, were more appropriate to Episcopalians whose

liturgical and architectural heritage embraced these styles. However, church files

indicate that the building committee was constrained by costs, with a limit of $60,000.

Instead, the plans were reworked into a scaled back brick Tudor design. Construction

was underway for most of 1954, and the first services were held in time for Christmas of

that year. Newspaper accounts of the new church, variously calling the style “semi-

Gothic” or “English village style,” state that the church cost $75,000 to build.

Correspondence in the church files, dated to February 1955, between Whilldin and the

building committee indicate a dispute in the architect’s charges, probably due to the cost

overruns. Although it is unknown if, or how, this dispute was settled, the following year

the Birmingham firm of Shaw and Renneker was commissioned to design the new

education building.16

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Final Years

During the immediate post-war period Whilldin was in his sixties. In 1951 he

was seventy, but continued to keep an active work schedule. However, as the 1950s drew

to a close, so did Whilldin’s career. He suffered a heart attack in 1956 while visiting his

son in Florida. Consequently, he lightened his work load, taking on fewer and fewer

projects. Semi-retired, he maintained an office on the thirteenth floor of the Empire

Building. In 1961 he officially retired after fifty-seven years of practice in Birmingham.

During these years he maintained his social and civic roles. It is said that

throughout his career and after his retirement he gave more volunteer service to the city

than any other person. He had served as chairman of the Birmingham Building Code

Board of Adjustments and Appeals for some forty-one years. In 1967 he was elevated to

Chairman Emeritus. He continued to attend these meetings until the end of his life. His

contributions to the city were recognized by Birmingham mayor George Seibels and City

Council President Ed Wiggins, who presented him a plaque commemorating his

accomplishments and in appreciation of his work for the city. In 1959 he donated to the

new Birmingham Museum of Art his collection of Thomas Ustick Walter’s drawings of

the wings and dome of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. Walter’s grandson had

come to Birmingham in the late 1890s to practice architecture. At some point when

Walter needed money he borrowed some from Whilldin, pledging his prized possession,

his grandfather’s original drawings, as collateral. Later when it appeared that Walter

could not repay the loan, he told Whilldin to keep the drawings. After having kept them

for many years, he gave them to the new museum.17

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In his nearly six decades of practice and construction of over four hundred

projects, there were no doubt triumphs and disappointments. The “Cornerstone Letter” of

1950 is perhaps a good reflection of what Whilldin himself considered his greatest

projects. Although he listed Legion Field, family accounts indicate that later changes

made to its design by other architects caused it to be one of his greatest disappointments.

During the 1960s the stadium underwent a number of changes, including the addition of

the east upper deck in 1962, the enclosure of the north end zone in 1964, and followed

shortly by a new, larger press box and the demolition and rebuilding of the south end

zone, converting the horseshoe into a bowl. He personally considered the upper deck to

be of poor, inferior design, and he was particularly annoyed at the enclosure of the

horseshoe, saying that it would cut off air flow into and out of the stadium. He was

especially horrified when the Park and Recreation Board painted all of the brickwork an

unflattering green color. More changes were to come during the next three decades, so

much so that the Legion Field of today differs markedly from Whilldin’s vision of a great

arcaded horseshoe stadium. Whilldin’s conception rendering remains just that--a

conception.18

In 1966 Whilldin was honored at the 50th anniversary meeting and convention of

the Alabama Chapter (later Council) of the American Institute of Architects, held at the

Tutwiler in Birmingham. The meeting was to honor the ten charter members of the

Council, and Whilldin was one of the two last living charter members. The principal

speaker at the convention was John Portman of Atlanta.19

One of Whilldin’s strengths was his ability to adapt and embrace new styles and

new theories concerning architecture and planning. Still mentally and physically sharp,

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he granted an interview to the Birmingham Post-Herald in October 1969. Entitled

“Breakfast with a Pacesetter,” Whilldin discussed a number of problems facing the city

and immediate needs to foster progress. He viewed the modernization of downtown

buildings as essential, not only for the owners, but also to stave off deterioration of the

city center. Of special concern was the need for more retail establishments downtown to

offset the suburban migration to shopping centers. Indeed, when Eastwood Mall was

completed he commented to his granddaughter that one day enclosed shopping malls

would be “everywhere.” He was enthusiastic about the planned new civic center,

indicating new hotels must be built so that Birmingham could handle larger conventions.

Two new thirty story skyscrapers were rising in the city center at the time, and though he

said they would glut the market in the short-term, the risk was justified and he considered

them a sign of progress. He further commented that expressways and increased transit

systems were badly needed in the downtown area so as to ease traffic congestion.

However, Whilldin favored “less digging big slices out of mountains and putting more of

them in tunnels” clearly referring to the recent massive cut of Red Mountain for the Red

Mountain Expressway.20

Just over three months after the Birmingham Post-Herald interview, Whilldin died

on 18 January 1970 at the age of 89. Though he called Birmingham home for nearly

seven decades, he was buried in his hometown of Philadelphia. In a final act of

creativity, Whilldin designed the funerary monument that was to adorn his grave at

Arlington Cemetery in Drexel, Pennsylvania. This monument, which is identical to the

one erected at the Fox family plot in Elmwood Cemetery, is a marble slab that rises in

small setbacks and recessions, culminating with a pedimental form. A simple, elongated

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cross, has been cut into the slab. The monument has a distinct Art Deco aspect to it and

it’s pedimental form demonstrates for one last time Whilldin’s mastery of classical form.

CONCLUSION

D. O. Whilldin’s career, spanning some six decades, was a remarkable episode in

the history of Alabama architecture. He transformed the built environment of Tuscaloosa

and Gadsden, and designed some of the most recognizable buildings and landmarks in

Birmingham, all the while playing an integral role in the evolution and development of

architecture in the state. Whilldin’s legacy, however, is not only in the quantity of

projects, but also the quality and attention to detail that he brought to each of them.

A northerner, educated in northern schools, and transplanted into the New South

world of Birmingham, his Pennsylvania heritage played a major role in his work. The

built environment of Philadelphia no doubt had some influence on the young Whilldin

who must have been impressed by its rich architectural diversity. Frank Furness’s

innovative use of rich terra cotta ornamentation and color patterning in his commercial

buildings and also at his alma mater--the University of Pennsylvania--may have

influenced Whilldin’s aesthetic which was also probably shaped by other campus

structures including the especially noteworthy Men’s Dormitories, completed in 1901, the

year before his graduation. These buildings were the work of the Philadelphia firm of

Cope and Stewardson, whose work freely mixed Jacobean and Gothic styles into what is

now popularly known as Collegiate Gothic. In addition to the University of Pennsylvania

work, they also designed campus buildings at Bryn Mawr, Princeton, and Washington

University.

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There were two major and pervasive influences on Whilldin’s development of a

personal architectural style. The first of these was the influence of the colonial

architecture of his native Philadelphia. In addition to the great colonial buildings of that

city, he loved the architecture of the Pennsylvania countryside, which included enclaves

of Dutch and German immigrants. Nowhere is this love of the Pennsylvania architectural

heritage more apparent than in the design of his own house, which he himself said was a

Chester County farmhouse, and the design of a model home for the Mountain Brook

Land Company, based on those farmhouses of the area around Germantown.

The second important influence on his development was that of the academic

Beaux-Arts classicism impressed upon him by his teachers at the University of

Pennsylvania. This rebirth of neoclassicism during the “American Renaissance”

emphasized rational order, symmetry, geometric clarity, axiality, and composition, and

was rooted in Italian and French Renaissance and Baroque architecture.

When Whilldin arrived in Birmingham in 1902, the “Magic City” had established

itself as the industrial center of the South. Ringed with blast furnaces and mining

operations, the city’s built environment was quickly growing, with a rising skyline and

commercial district with suburban streetcar neighborhoods extending south up Red

Mountain. Whilldin quickly realized the economic opportunity that the bustling city

afforded for a young architect, and remained there until his death in 1970.

Other architects recognized this opportunity as well. Charles Wheelock and his

son Harry, along with S. Scott Joy, were already practicing architecture when Whilldin

arrived in the city. In 1900 Miller and Martin established their practice, and in 1902 they

designed the acknowledged introduction of the Arts and Crafts style to the city--the

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Birmingham Country Club. In 1907 the firm of Warren and Welton was formed. Later,

these firms evolved to become Miller, Martin, and Lewis, and Warren, Knight, and

Davis. Welton continued his practice as well. Other architects arrived and later became

major figures in the city during the 1920s, such as George Turner and Charles McCauley.

Whilldin, however, was of a new breed of professional architects--a product of the new

American schools of architecture. Perhaps the most important of these highly skilled

architects were William T. Warren, Hugh Martin, and D. O. Whilldin. These three men

were shapers of the architectural profession in Alabama. Their work stands apart and

above the others.

During Whilldin’s long and successful career he designed buildings not only in

Birmingham but throughout Alabama. His effect was statewide, except for the Mobile

area, and ranged from Decatur and Athens in the north, Anniston in the east, and to

Montgomery and Greenville in the south. His work even extended into surrounding

states as well, and his influence can be seen in the wide range of architectural genres he

produced. In Tuscaloosa and Gadsden, his impact on the built environment was even

greater than it was in Birmingham. In Tuscaloosa he was the major architect for a

number of years, designing most of its important commercial, educational, residential,

and civic structures. His transformation of the Tuscaloosa cityscape cannot be

overstated.

In these other cities, as well as in Birmingham, Whilldin’s work stands out for it

is quite distinctive. His work is the school, the skyscraper, the hotel, the civic building,

and one or two of the few truly great houses of the city. In Gadsden and probably in

Tuscaloosa it was also the country clubs. It is these buildings that constitute some of his

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most acclaimed designs. Whilldin’s Birmingham is Phillips High School, Tudor palatial

magnificence for an urban educational building; the towering Thomas Jefferson Hotel

with its exuberant Renaissance motifs rendered in terra cotta; the Venetian Renaissance

fantasy that is the Sims Building (Club Florentine); the great arcaded horseshoe stadium

of Legion Field with its monumental memorial entrance; the glass expanse of the Dr.

Pepper Syrup Plant, enclosing the concrete structural frame and spreading bell columns;

the austere classicism of the Brown Service Building; the creatively imaginative Aland

Building and West End Masonic Temple; the elegantly appointed Italian Renaissance

villa that is the residence of H. U. Sims; the Tudor Revival Rushton residence, with its

striking interplay of diagonals; the Classical Revival Sessions residence, with its Flemish

bond brickwork, jack arches, and Ionic portico; the modernized Renaissance palace of

Ensley High School; and the Tudor Arts and Crafts Thompson residence in Anderson

Place.

Tuscaloosa, a town that Whilldin came to love, was also transformed by his

creative mind. At times operating an office there, he designed its skyscraper, the

Merchants Bank and Trust which still towers ten stories above the urban landscape. The

Tuscaloosa High School, an elegant Jacobean composition; the PWA Deco-Moderne City

Hall and Bama Theatre, with its Mediterranean atmospheric auditorium; the Classical

Revival Druid City Hospital, Psychopathic Ward at Bryce, and Winsborough Hall at

Stillman College; the great houses of fraternity row at the University of Alabama; the

creative eclecticism and magnificence of the Fitts residence in Pinehurst; and the stately

Georgian residence for Gulf States executive Frederick M. Dickinson, are also his work.

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In Gadsden, Whilldin’s work is the Deco-Moderne Pitman Theatre, with its

striking modern auditorium; the ten story Reich Hotel, which continues to dominate the

city; the Beaux-Arts style American National Bank, which, prior to the erection of the

Reich, was the major structure in the city; the Tudor Craftsman Gadsden Country Club,

with its myriad clipped gables; the International Style Litchfield School; the Modern

Classic Mitchell School; the Italian Renaissance Paden residence; and the Dutch Colonial

Reich residence.

All of these major buildings, as well as the hundreds of others that Whilldin

designed throughout his career, were the product of a creative, and powerful, imagination

of great originality. He was a consummate professional of the new architectural kind,

trained as an engineer at Drexel and as an architectural designer at the University of

Pennsylvania. He was well versed in historic styles, and receptive to new ones. By all

accounts, he was a brilliant man, disciplined and methodical in his planning. He headed

up a moderate sized office of draftsman and trained a succeeding generation of

Birmingham architects. But, unlike other firms in the city, he was his only designer and

thus, in complete control. Or, as his draftsmen said, he was the “muse.” Therefore,

Whilldin’s buildings are products of the creative imagination of one man rather than

collaborative efforts involving a design team.

Above all else Whilldin was theatrical in his architecture. It is apparent that he

gave great thought to the scenery of architectural settings. This is manifest in his own

office, almost sculptural in its effect; his own house, an historicist colonial farmhouse

with different stylistic treatments for the interior rooms as well as a theatre; many of his

client’s houses; the drama and theatricality of his many movie theatres; and even the

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street theatre of the Sims Building (Florentine), which engages and draws passers by into

the polychromatic and opulent world of the Venetian Renaissance. Whilldin gave many

of his buildings a “jazzy,” even flamboyant, edge to them. He was interested in color

patterning and surface textures, and often experimented with these devices. As early as

1912, in a remarkable little building in Gadsden, he almost anticipated Art Deco with

angular decoration and color contrasts.

Whilldin’s carefully constituted architectural settings, an extension of his

theatrical personality, continued to interior spaces as well. From surviving

correspondence and newspaper articles, one can surmise that he liked to discuss interiors

and furnishings. This probably stemmed from his passion for collecting antiques. This is

especially apparent in his description of his own house which remains a testament, not

only to his own extravagance, but to his varied and often wild imagination. His interiors

ranged from restrained elegance, such as the lobby of the Brown Service Building and

many of his banks, to the eclectic treatment of the public rooms of the Thomas Jefferson

Hotel, and to the flamboyant interior of the Pantages Vaudeville House. For the City

Hall and Bama Theatre building in Tuscaloosa, he specifically recalls the Davanzati

Palace in Florence for the lounges and their furnishings. However, they also have Deco

ceilings and floors, which lead to the Mediterranean decoration of the atmospheric

auditorium, with its twinkling lights and cloud making machines.

Some of the most dramatic interior settings that Whilldin created were staircases,

which he used for creative, sculptural expression. Beyond their functional aspects,

staircases can serve as powerful design elements by presenting strong vertical line,

rhythm and pattern, and graceful forms. The focal point for many of the larger homes he

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designed, his staircases tend to fall within one of three categories. The first type is found

at the Fitts residence in Tuscaloosa, and the Paden and Reich residences in Gadsden,

where the stair is located to the rear of the entrance hall, with a series of ninety degree

turns and an intermediate landing illuminated by a variety of window types, such as

arched or Venetian windows. The second type was more dramatic than the first, where

one passes through a small entry vestibule beneath the stair landing which then opens into

a larger interior space--the entrance hall. Perhaps the grandest of all was the great

circular staircase of the Sims residence, placed along the curving outer wall of the

entrance hall and lit with arched windows. Two equally dramatic staircases, yet smaller

in scale, were those of the Dickinson residence in Tuscaloosa and the Rushton Yancey

residence in Mountain Brook. Both feature a complex interplay of curvilinear forms in

the staircase itself, the walls, balcony, and ceiling above. Especially remarkable is the

very small scale of the entrance hall of the Rushton Yancey residence, with its two

intermediate landings and two ninety degree turns. The third type of staircase is found in

several of the fraternity houses on the University of Alabama campus, notably the Delta

Kappa Epsilon and Kappa Sigma houses. Here there are two lower stairs which rise to a

common landing, located immediately above the entry vestibule. From this landing the

staircase rises in one flight to the second level.

Although Whilldin was a theatrical maker of architectural scenes and

environments as a whole, he was also a master of detail. Larger firms often had a

designer and a detail man, which could potentially lead to design changes. With

Whilldin, these gifts were combined in one master--he was both his own designer and

detailer. Surviving drawings attest to his talent. Rosettes, decorative floral panels, and

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architectural statuary were often individually designed in many projects, although, in

others, stock designs were sometimes incorporated. For instance, the rosettes of the

coffered ceiling in his own office and house were developed from his own sketches and

ideas. Striking statuary, such as the eagle over the door of the Tuscaloosa City Hall and

the stylized eagles over the sidewalk portals of the downtown Birmingham railroad

underpasses, attest to his artistic abilities. Indeed, Whilldin was an artist in his own right

as evidenced by his watercolors. Though not necessarily a sculptor, he nevertheless

created the specifications for the great recumbent lions for the memorial entrance to

Legion Field. In addition to his powerful imagination he possessed artistic vision as well.

In his office, he was, of course, in control of the design of his projects, and that

control extended down to the smallest of details--the ornate clock case above the key rack

for the Reich Hotel, the Masonic symbols in the metopes of the West End Masonic

Temple, the brickwork and stone inlay of the Fitts residence, the Deco details of the

Brown Service building, the cornice and upper zone of the Merchants Bank office

building in Tuscaloosa, the upper zone of the Thomas Jefferson Hotel, and the rope

columns of the Aland Building. There is also evidence that he designed landscapes. A

surviving sheet of the Paden residence drawings record in detail the plantings and layout

of the estate, including a rose garden in the configuration of a Venetian window.

So who was D. O. Whilldin? As an architect, he was an outstanding designer, a

master of architectural setting, detail, and proportion. He possessed a powerful and

creative imagination, and gave many of his buildings a theatrical edge. Although he was

not an originating force in American architecture, he was one of the major shapers, in his

day, of what architecture was perceived to be in Alabama. His distinctive designs can be

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found throughout the state, and these show the breadth and depth of his patronage. He

was a man ahead of his time, open to new styles, learned in past ones, and he was also

trained in engineering as well as design.

This thesis is the first attempt to compile a record of the life and career of D. O.

Whilldin. Prior to this little has been published, other than brief remarks in secondary

sources, and much of that information is incorrect. Through extensive archival research,

onsite study and personal interviews with Whilldin’s family and current owners of his

buildings, I have compiled a nearly complete list of projects, written a biography of his

life, and interwoven this with the history of Birmingham and Alabama, as well as the

history of twentieth century architecture. There remains, however, more research to be

done, more avenues of inquiry to explore, and questions that need to be answered. This

thesis, therefore, is only the first step towards that goal.

NOTES

Introduction

1. Phillip A. Morris and Marjorie Longenecker White, Designs on Birmingham: A Landscape History of a Southern City and its Suburbs (Birmingham: Birmingham Historical Society, 1989), 6, 8; Marjorie Longenecker White, The Birmingham District: An Industrial History and Guide (Birmingham: Birmingham Historical Society, 1980), 44.

2. Ibid.

3. Morris and White, Designs on Birmingham, 8; White, Birmingham District, 33-37, 46-49.

4. Morris and White, Designs on Birmingham, 8-9; Leah Rawls Atkins, The Valley and the Hills: An Illustrated History of Birmingham and Jefferson County (Woodland Hills, CA: Windsor Publishing Company, 1981), 70-71.

5. White, Birmingham District, 62-63.

6. Marjorie Longenecker White, Downtown Birmingham: Architectural and Historical Walking Tour Guide (Birmingham: Birmingham Historical Society, 1980).

7. John M. Schnorrenberg, Remembered Past, Discovered Future : the Alabama architecture of Warren, Knight & Davis, 1906-1961 : Catalogue of exhibitions at Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham Public Library, University of Alabama at Birmingham Visual Arts Gallery (Birmingham: Birmingham Museum of Art, 1999).

8. Julie Morris, Railroad Terminals by Philip Thornton Marye, New South

Architect, M.A. Thesis, The University of Alabama, 1999.

9. Shirley K. Osband, Health, Wealth, and Power: Emerging Art Deco Architecture and the Celebration of Modernity, M.A. Thesis, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 1998.

10. Stella Rainey, A Survey of the Architectural Styles and Building Materials used in the Construction of Commercial Banks erected between 1887-1925 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. M.A. Thesis, The University of Alabama, 1984.

212

213

11. Sketches of Citizens of Birmingham, Entry for D. O. Whilldin, 1937 and 1943, Citizens Historical Association 1965, Indianapolis; Alabama Blue Book and Social Register (Birmingham: Blue Book Publishing Company, 1929), 208; Obituary, “David O. Whilldin, civic leader, dies,” Birmingham News, 19 January 1970.

12. A mechanic’s lien was a legal device by which an unpaid architect or contractor could attempt to gain payment for services rendered to a delinquent client. Ann McCorquodale Burkhardt, House Detective: A Guide to Researching Birmingham Buildings, ed. Alice Meriwether Bowsher (Birmingham: Birmingham Historical Society, 1988), 13.

Chapter One

1. Citizens Historical Association, Biographical Sketches of Citizens of

Birmingham and Jefferson County, Alabama, Entry for D. O. Whilldin, 1937 and 1943 (Indianapolis: Citizens Historical Association, 1965); Application for Registration as Practicing Architect, Alabama State Board of Registration of Architects, Application # 42/Certification # 35, microfilm on file at Board offices in Montgomery.

2. MIT was the first in 1868, followed by Illinois (1870), Cornell (1871), and Syracuse (1873). Leland M. Roth, American Architecture: A History (Boulder: Westview Press, 2000), 211-12.

3. Walling Keith, “He came to city for few months, stayed on lifetime,” The Birmingham News, 22 November 1964.

4. The events that followed his graduation from the University of Pennsylvania and his arrival in Birmingham, Alabama, are somewhat unclear due to conflicting, and largely incorrect, accounts in the secondary literature that continue to be perpetuated. In fact, most books that do have biographical summaries about Whilldin have incorrect information. Most of these inaccuracies concern the dates of his arrival in Birmingham and the start of his practice, with dates ranging from 1902, 1904, 1905, and 1907 being reported in books, reports, and NRHP nomination forms on Birmingham buildings. However, these discrepancies are easily resolved by two primary sources of information: an affidavit dated 27 October 1931 given to the Alabama State Board of Registration of Architects (Alabama did not require the registration of architects until 1931) (Application for Registration as Practicing Architect, Alabama State Board of Registration of Architects, Application # 42 and Certification # 35, microfilm on file at Board offices in Montgomery.), and an application for membership (actually reinstatement) to The American Institute of Architects dated 28 July 1944 (Application for Membership [reinstatement] to the American Institute of Architects, 28 July 1944, on file in the Alabama Council, AIA, Records collections, Accession # 478, Folder 132, Box 6, held at Auburn University Library Special Collections.). The information found in these sources is the basis of what I report in this thesis. Personal accounts of his early days in the city were related to me by his granddaughter, Ms. Cornelia Fox Crumbaugh, in an interview on July 16, 2005. Additional accounts, such as the baptism story, were related to me by

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Mr. Myron Sasser on 28 December 2005.

5. Alvin W. Hudson and Harold E. Cox, Street Railways of Birmingham (Forty Fort, PA: Privately published by Harold Cox, 1976), 40; Ford, Bacon, and Davis was formed in 1894, and still exists today based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana (www.fbd.com).

6. Ibid, 45-46

7. John R. Hornady, The Book of Birmingham (New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1921), 185.

8. Elsie H. Dillon, A Brief History of the Birmingham Public Schools, Centennial Edition 1874-1972 (Birmingham: Privately published by the author, 1972), 3-4.

9. This was to be the firm’s second largest commission of 1905, built at a cost of $100,000 according to the 16 March 1905 Manufacturer's Record. A private college operated by the Presbyterian Synod, it was founded in 1905 and the main building, a three story neoclassical gray brick and stone building surmounted by a rather small dome, was dedicated on 15 November 1906. Continually plagued with financial problems, the Alabama Presbyterian College became Anniston University School in 1922, and in 1925 it became the Alabama Military Institute until the early 1930s, when it was closed and later demolished for a junior high school. Kimberly O'Dell, Calhoun County (Charleston: Arcadia, 2000), 86; Tee Morgan, Annie's town : a picture history of Anniston, Alabama, 1880-1940 (Anniston: Public Library of Anniston-Calhoun County, 1990), 150.

10. Pen and Sunlight Sketches of Greater Birmingham : The Most Progressive Metropolis of the South, comp. American Illustrating Company (Birmingham: American Illustrating Company, [1912]), 164; “Breeding,” Biographical files on Birmingham architects, folder 886.1.7, Archives Department, Birmingham Public Library; Obituary, “Birmingham Architect Struck by Automobile Succumbs at Hospital,” Birmingham News, 11 March 1941.

11. Citizens Historical Association, Biographical Sketches of Citizens of Birmingham and Jefferson County, Alabama, Entry for D. O. Whilldin, 1937 and 1943 (Indianapolis: Citizens Historical Association, 1965); Alabama Blue Book and Social Register (Birmingham: Blue Book Publishing Company, 1929), 208.

12. Untitled sheet with heading "D. O. Whilldin" and list of seven buildings, Biographical Files on Birmingham Architects, folder #886.1.107, Archives Department, Birmingham Public Library. The date of the Manufacturer's Record entry is interesting if Pilgrim Congregational Hall is solely of Whilldin authorship for it is early, and the handwritten list does not indicate Breeding and Whilldin as architects. It surely would have been noted, for further down on the list is a building noted with Warren, Knight, and Davis as associated architects. Also, the design for Pilgrim Congregational Hall is more sophisticated than Breeding’s work. This could indicate that the Breeding and Whilldin

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partnership was dissolved in the late summer of 1906.

13. Atkins, The Valley and the Hills, 97.

14. Notes dated 20 May 1981 on correspondence between Birmingham Historical Society members and Joseph Fox, Birmingham Historical Society Five Points South Collection, folder BHS 343.1.8.2.5, Archives Department, Birmingham Public Library; Schnorrenberg, Remembered Past, Discovered Future, 26-27.

15. Manufacturer’s Record 54, no. 1 (16 July 1908), 59.

16. Manufacturer’s Record 54, no. 6 (20 August 1908), 62.

17. Cyril M. Harris, American Architecture: An Illustrated Encyclopedia (New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1998), 81; Ellen Cooper Erdreich, “Birmingham Craftsman: An Introduction” Journal of the Birmingham Historical Society 8, no. 1 (December 1983); Robert Gamble, Historic Architecture in Alabama: A Guide to Styles and Types, 1810-1930 (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1990), 146.

18. Manufacturer’s Record 53, no. 14 (16 May 1908), 63.

19. Ann McCorquodale Burkhardt and Alice Meriwether Bowsher, Town within a City: The Five Points South Neighborhood 1880-1930. Special Issue of the Journal of the Birmingham Historical Society 7, nos. 3 and 4 (November 1982), 33.

20. These homes are all on 15th Avenue South: 1601,1604, 1605, 1609, 1631, and 1703. Three more homes on the same avenue may also be Whilldin’s work. These are at 1608, 1621, and 1711.

21. Manufacturer’s Record 54, no. 21 (3 December 1908), 76.

22. Both of these residences are incorrectly attributed to William Leslie Welton and Miller and Martin, respectively, in the Hanover Place National Register of Historic Places nomination form (Jeff Mansell 2003) on file with the Alabama Historical Commission.

23. Theodore Jones, Carnegie Libraries across America: A Public Legacy (New York: Preservation Press and John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1997), 127, 131; George S. Bobinski, Carnegie libraries: Their History and Impact on American Public Library Development (Chicago: American Library Association, 1969), 240.

24. Jones, Carnegie Libraries across America, Chapters 3 and 4, passim.

25. Ibid., Chapter 5, passim.

26. Although the Carnegie grant was $10,000, the 1 April 1909 Manufacturer’s

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Record states that “plans have been adopted by Whilldin for a $15,000 Carnegie free library and a $5,000 city hall and firestation, both buildings to be of pressed brick and ornamental stone, and harmonious in design. Specifications were to be prepared at once.” In this same issue it was also announced that West End will erect a $25,000 school building, probably referring to Hemphill, but no architect is mentioned. It appears that the city hall/fire station building went over budget, for in the 2 December 1909 Manufacturer’s Record it was announced that the city of West End voted for the issuance of $ 6,000 in bonds for the completion of city hall.

27. Fairview and Baker Schools represent a more compact design for school buildings of the sort generally used for elementary schools. In plan, both resemble a T, with a central entry hall flanked by a classroom on either side. Fairview is particularly interesting for its large central window with four small lights, all of which illuminate the central hall and stairwell, its elaborate jambs, architraves, and gable of the main entrance, and presents a more visually interesting façade in contrast to the somewhat rigid and clean lines of Baker.

28. This structure partially burned in 1918 and was rebuilt with a new addition, designed by Whilldin. Although it is difficult to tell how much of the school was rebuilt, the simple double door entry, surmounted by an arched transom and surrounded by brick corbelling, was probably original as was much of the central block. Recalling the design of the Robinson School, the flanking wings of the building were embellished with a panel of patterned brickwork of contrasting color, though this aspect of the design may date to a later period.

29. American Architect 96, no. 1766 (27 October 1909), 6; American Architect 96, no. 1768 (10 November 1909), 6.

30. By 1908 it had become clear that Birmingham lacked the population and tax base it needed to provide improved city services and attract more industry. The “Greater Birmingham” movement to annex surrounding cities was approved in the Alabama legislature, where Birmingham was well represented in both the legislative and executive branches of state government. On 1 January 1910, Birmingham annexed a number of surrounding cities, including Ensley, Pratt City, Elyton, Wylam, West End, Avondale, Woodlawn, East Lake, and North Birmingham, giving Birmingham a 245% size increase and putting the city in the echelon of “over 100,000” metropolitan areas. Atkins, The Valley and the Hills, 102-3.

31. See Price’s Application for Registration to Practice Architecture, Alabama State Board of Registration of Architects, Application # 2, microfilm on file at Board offices in Montgomery. The firm is listed in the 1910 city directory as Whilldin and Price, 711-714 Title Guaranty Building. In the 1911 city directory there is an entry for D. O. Whilldin, 711 Title Guaranty Building, and an entry for Whilldin and Price, 711-714 Title Guaranty Building. Following this trend of separate entities, announcements in the Manufacturer’s Record did not always use the name of the new practice, appearing as if the two operated independently of each other.

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32. This school burned in 1916 and was replaced by a structure designed by

William L. Welton.

33. Manufacturer’s Record 57, no. 7 (24 February 1910), 70.

34. Manufacturer’s Record 59, no. 22 (8 June 1911), 68; Handbook of Young Women’s Christian Association [Announcement on Formal Opening of New Building] (Birmingham: Dispatch Print Company, 1912), 12.

35. Dixie Manufacturer 28(12), 1/25/11, p.6.

36. Jemison Magazine II, no. 20 (May 1914), 6, Jemison Magazine collection,

folder 896.1.18, Archives Department, Birmingham Public Library.

37. Deed book 605: 490, Jefferson County Courthouse.

38. Pen and Sunlight Sketches of Greater Birmingham, 177.

39. Ibid.

40. Following graduation Smith worked as a draftsman in the New York firm of Cross and Cross for a year, and in May of 1919 returned to Birmingham to work as a draftsman in Whilldin’s office. In January 1922 he was hired by the prestigious Chicago firm of Holabird and Roche. Smith managed the Birmingham office of what was by then Holabird and Root from 1929-1932, opened largely to have draftsman and supervisors on hand for the construction of the Jefferson County Courthouse, completed in 1931. In 1932 Smith established his own practice in Birmingham and went on to design such buildings as the Swann Chemical Company (1935), residence for Crawford Johnson (in association with Holabird and Root, 1932), a number of Mountain Brook residences, the Mountain Brook Civic Center (1950), the Alpha Phi house at the University of Alabama (1932), and the Flintridge Building (in association with Holabird and Root and Burgee, 1950). Application for Registration to Practice Architecture, Alabama State Board of Registration of Architects, Application # 57 and 57-A, microfilm on file at Board offices in Montgomery; Archives Department, Birmingham Public Library, Hill Ferguson Collection 56.2, folder 2.10.

41. Deed Book 629: 124, Jefferson County Courthouse; Deed Book 706: 86, Jefferson County Courthouse.

42. Manufacturer’s Record 61, no. 11 (21 March 1912), 68.

43. Burkhardt and Bowsher, Town within a City, 46.

44. Manufacturer’s Record 61, no. 2 (18 January 1912), 65.

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45. Manufacturer’s Record 62, no. 25 (26 December 1912), 66.

46. Jemison Magazine II, no. 20 (May 1912), 6, Jemison Magazine Collection, folder 896.1.18, Archives Department, Birmingham Public Library; Jemison Magazine III, no. 26 (January 1914), 6, Jemison Magazine Collection, folder 896.1.24, Archives Department, Birmingham Public Library.

47. Alice M. Bowsher, ”National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination Form for Rhodes Park,” 1980, p. 8.3, Birmingham Historical Society NRHP inventory nomination forms Collection, 1066 (89-54), folder 1.10, Archives Department, Birmingham Public Library.

48. Sadly, this home has been neglected for decades. The windows have been bricked up and the house appeared to have been abandoned for a long time. Fortunately, someone has begun to renovate this fine home.

49. This development can be traced as far back as Benjamin Latrobe’s Bank of Pennsylvania (1800) and William Strickland’s Second Bank of the United States (1824). These men took their cues from English architect John Soane’s designs for the Bank Stock Office (1791-1792) and the Rotunda (1794-1795) of the Bank of England in London. For an interesting and detailed discussion of the evolution of bank architecture in America see Charles Belfoure, Monuments to Money: The Architecture of American Banks (Jefferson, N.C: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2005).

50. Alabama Immigration and Markets Bureau, Alabama land book; a detailed description of the agricultural and business conditions in those counties of Alabama that have joined together in an earnest and well planned movement to stimulate, direct and maintain the growth of the state in a manner proportionate to her resources, opportunities and advantages, comp. and ed. by Lowry W. Statler, (Montgomery: Brown Printing Company, 1916), 140.

51. Harris, American Architecture, 27-28. 52. This account was related to me by Kenneth Fowler, the current owner of the

house. It had been told to him by Dr. Frank Morris, a member of the Fitts family.

53. President John Abercrombie succeeded in getting the Board of Trustees to agree to campus fraternities. However, there was an extensive list of conditions, including one that stipulated that no house was to exceed $3,000 and that they were not to be used as dormitories. In protest of these conditions, Sigma Alpha Epsilon built a house adjacent to campus at the corner of 12th Avenue and University Avenue. Designed by Frank Lockwood, architect of several university buildings, the house was Tudor Revival. President George Denny, appointed in 1912, was instrumental in persuading the University Trustees to agree to allow letting these organizations build on campus. Denny strongly believed that by having these groups on campus, rather than scattered throughout the town, would promote healthier living by incorporating them into the greater academic

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community. The trustees finally agreed, but with some restrictions. Some of these included university approval of all designs and the right of at-will inspections. Additionally the university would lend each organization up to 3/5 of the total cost of construction of the chapter house and charge the organization a ground rent of ten dollars a year. Robert O. Mellown, The University of Alabama: A Guide to the Campus (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1988), 76; James B. Sellers, History of the University of Alabama, rev. and edited by W. Stanley Hoole (Unpublished manuscript, 1975), 486-487, W.S. Hoole Special Collections Library, University of Alabama; “New Frat Houses Nearing Completion” Crimson White 21 September 1926.

54. Letter dated 13 July 1916 addressed to Mr. Burt L. Fenner, AIA, from D. O. Whilldin, Alabama Council, AIA, Records, Accession 478, Box 7, Special Collections and Archives Department, Auburn University Libraries, Auburn University; Hugh Martin "A History of the Alabama Chapter of the American Institute of Architects" in A History of the Practice of Architecture in the State of Alabama in General and of The Alabama Chapter of The American Institute of Architects in Particular (Birmingham: Published by order of the Chapter to Commemorate the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of its Founding, 1941), 6-10; Annual Chapter report for year ending 31 January 1921, Minutes Book 1916 to 11 May 1945, Alabama Chapter, AIA, Records, Accession 478, Box 7, Special Collections and Archives Department, Auburn University Libraries, Auburn University.

55. Schnorrenberg, Remembered Past, Discovered Future, 60; “William B. Ittner Resigns,” American Architect 109, no. 2107 (10 May 1916), 611.

56. American Architect 115, no.4227 (25 June 1919), 892.

57. Jefferson County Board of Education, Elementary and Secondary Public Education in Jefferson County, Alabama: A History of the Jefferson County Board of Education (Birmingham: Jefferson County Board of Education, 1976), 46.

58. Manufacturer’s Record 71, no. 12 (22 March 1917), np.

59. For more information on Shades-Cahaba and Edgewood Schools see Sheryl Spradling Summe, Homewood: The Life of a City (Homewood: Friends of the Homewood Public Library, 2001).

60. This was the large antebellum mansion on 20th Street South which later

became Southern Research Institute.

61. Manufacturer’s Record 75, no. 19 (18 May 1919), 121.

62. Bob Scarboro and Mike Goodson, Etowah County (Charleston: Arcadia, 1998), 49; Manufacturer’s Record 76, no. 16 (16 October 1919), 130.

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Chapter Two

1. Atkins, The Valley and the Hills, 129; White, The Birmingham District, 63; Archives Department, Birmingham Public Library, Birmingham Realty Company Scrapbook, Box 514 84-129.

2. American Architect 116, no. 2279 (27 August 1919), 14; Manufacturer’s

Record 76, no. 10 (28 August 1919), 120. 3. This station was demolished around 1970 for a proposed new convention hotel

which never materialized. Park Place Tower currently occupies the site. 4. Hill Ferguson, “Frank Rushton and Birmingham’s Auditorium.” Hill Ferguson

Collection 56.6, folder 9.77, Archives Department, Birmingham Public Library; Morris and White, Designs on Birmingham, 56-57.

5. Manufacturer’s Record 79, no. 18 (5/5/21), 152; Ferguson “Frank Rushton and

Birmingham’s Auditorium”; Manufacturer’s Record 81, no. 16 (4/20/22), 86. 6. Ferguson “Frank Rushton and Birmingham’s Auditorium.” 7. Ibid; An untitled and undated leaflet in the clipping file on Birmingham

buildings at the Birmingham Public Library that appears to relate to the dedication of the new auditorium states that it was designed under the guidance of the Alabama Chapter of the AIA.

8. Manufacturer’s Record 84, no. 4 (7/26/23), 105; Untitled, undated leaflet

[Municipal Auditorium dedication?], clipping files on Birmingham Buildings, Birmingham Public Library, Tutwiler Collection of Southern History and Literature; Ibid.

9. Schnorrenberg, Remembered Past, Discovered Future, 62; Marjorie White,

personal communication, 8/2/05. 10. The Tudor style represents the architecture of the Tudor monarchy in England

during the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries (e.g., Henry VII, Henry VIII, Edward VI, and Mary I), and is associated with late Perpendicular Gothic. Characteristic traits of the style include flat, four-centered arches, square-headed mullioned windows, hood moldings and label stops, oriel windows, brick diaperwork, and elaborate chimneys. Elizabethan architecture is that of the reign of Elizabeth I, which is the last phase of the Tudor style mixed with elements of the European Renaissance. England was slow to receive Renaissance developments on the continent due to isolation, religious schism, and questions of royal legitimacy. Jacobean architecture refers to the style under King James I and VI, which consists of a mix of Flemish, French, and Italian Renaissance influences, though with traces of Tudor Gothic elements. All three of these styles experienced revivals, and in the twentieth century the term Jacobethan is used by some authors to refer to a revival style that freely mixed elements of the Jacobean and Elizabethan

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periods. It is characterized by elaborate brickwork contrasted with stone trim in and around banks of rectangular windows, the style also featured multistory bay windows, arched entries with elaborate woodwork, towers or turrets, quoins, and occasionally crenellated building features.

The design for Phillips High School can be traced back to Tudor precedents, buildings that would have been illustrated in books that Whilldin would have owned or have been familiar with, including the Holbein Gateway at Whitehall in London, Burghley House in Cambridgeshire, Layer Marney Hall in Essex, and Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire. However, above all, the massing and scale of Phillips is related to Longleat, Wiltshire, a major prodigy house of the Elizabethan period, but the main entrance is related to Henry VIII’s great Hampton Court palace.

James Stevens Curl, A Dictionary of Architecture (London: Oxford University Press, 1999), 224-25, 341-42, 686; Harris, American Architecture, 190; White, Downtown Birmingham, 95.

11. Annual Report of the Public Schools of Birmingham, Various years (1920-

1931), passim. William B. Ittner of St. Louis was a nationally recognized expert on efficient school planning, and he was a consulting architect for many school boards. Clearly Whilldin was the principal, if not the sole, designer of Phillips High School. A review of Ittner’s schools in St. Louis reveals a much busier and more opulent designer than Whilldin was, perhaps due in part to financial reasons, but there are few similarities. For a sampling of Ittner’s school buildings see http://www.builtstlouis.net/schools/ittner00.html.

12. Birmingham Board of Education, Dedication-John Herbert Phillips High

School (Birmingham: Birmingham Board of Education, 1923), passim. 13. Ibid. 14. Ibid. 15. Ibid. 16. Most of the information regarding county schools were compiled and

compared from Manufacturer’s Record entries and information published in the Annual Report of the County Superintendent of Schools of Jefferson County, Alabama. This information is by no means exhaustive and school designs have probably been inadvertently omitted, as there were many new projects, remodeling jobs, and additions to buildings that were being undertaken at this time. However, I feel that this covers the major projects and establishes the extent of the county building program. For more information see the Annual Report of the County Superintendent of Schools of Jefferson County, Alabama for the years 1917 through 1924.

17. Manufacturer’s Record 80, no. 4 (7/28/21) 89; Manufacturer’s Record 80,

no. 6 (8/11/21) 90.

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18. The last reference to Whilldin regarding Jefferson County Schools was in the 30 July 1925 Manufacturer’s Record, in which it was noted that plans were received for schools at Boyles (Tarrant City), West Jefferson, and Edgewood. In the 20 August 1925 Manufacturer’s Record it was announced that the Board of Education had received tentative plans for the Fairfield Highlands School from Denham, Van Keuren, and Denham, and Bem Price.

19. Whilldin is only mentioned in reference to Holt High School. However, in

his 1950 Cornerstone letter he states that he designed eight or nine schools for the county. The other schools mentioned here were taken from entries in the Manufacturer’s Record between 1921 and 1924, a time period in which Whilldin had an extensive number of projects underway in Tuscaloosa. The Tuscaloosa County Board of Education has little information that has survived, other than a series of photographs. Some of these buildings do exhibit some traits of Whilldin’s style. By 1926, based on Manufacturer’s Record entries, the county was using standardized school designs from A. F. Dittmar, the State Architect, and the State Board of Education.

20. Manufacturer’s Record 84, no. 1 (7/5/23) 116b; Susie Mae Smith, “History

of Tuscaloosa City Schools” unpublished manuscript in the archive room of the Tuscaloosa City Board of Education, 5 March 1968; Shirley Lollar, personal communication, October 2004.

21. Wayne Flynt, William Warren Rogers, Robert David Ward, and Leah Rawls

Atkins, Alabama: The History of a Deep South State (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1994), Chapter 25 passim.

22. This house is not on the job list of Miller, Martin, and Lewis, the architects of

many University of Alabama buildings and Greek chapter houses. Archives Department, Birmingham Public Library, Hill Ferguson Collection 56.6, folder 16.11.

23. William Marion Sikes, The Historical Development of Stillman Institute (The

University of Alabama, M.A. Thesis, 1930). 24. Gene Ford, “Historic American Building Survey-Psychopathic Men’s

Receiving and Male Attendant’s Dormitory-Rehabilitation Buildings-Bryce Hospital” (Unpublished report submitted to the National Park Service by the University of Alabama Museum’s Office of Archaeological Research, 2002), 7.

25. Manufacturer’s Record 78, no. 15 (10/7/20), 192. 26. Ibid; Ford, “Historic American Building Survey-Psychopathic Men’s

Receiving and Male Attendant’s Dormitory-Rehabilitation Buildings-Bryce Hospital” 11, 14.

27. Ford, “Historic American Building Survey-Psychopathic Men’s Receiving

and Male Attendant’s Dormitory-Rehabilitation Buildings-Bryce Hospital” 10-11.

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28. Manufacturer’s Record 81, no. 5 (2/22/22), 101. 29. Tuscaloosa News and Times Gazette, “First Plans for New Nurses Home at

Hospital Here” May 8, 1923. 30. Gamble, Historic Architecture in Alabama, 155-159; The American

Architect-Golden Anniversary Number 129, no. 2488 (5 January 1926), 89; Stella Rainey, A Survey of the Architectural Styles and Building Materials used in the Construction of Commercial Banks, 72.

31. The Tuscaloosa News, “Merchants Bank Has Open House For Inspection” 23

October 1925. 32. Manufacturer’s Record 84, no. 3 (7/19/23), 119; “New Theatre Has Feature

Opening” The Crimson White 6 November 1924. 33. In February 1923 Whilldin purchased a lot with forty-five feet of frontage on

the east side of 21st Street, between 5th and 6th Avenues North. Whether he intended to locate his practice there is unclear, as he bought and sold property on a regular basis. Nevertheless, he immediately set about planning an apartment and office building, based on an entry in the 22 February 1923 Manufacturer’s Record. Apparently, based on extant drawings, a one story commercial structure already stood on the south side of the lot. Manufacturer’s Record 83, no. 8 (2/22/23), 95; Deed Book 1182, page 184, Jefferson County Courthouse. At the same time he purchased a lot at the corner of 4th Avenue North and 17th Street, where he built a series of storefronts for rental income. A major part of this building became The Cotton Club, located in the black entertainment district. Although later modified into the Carver Theatre, portions of this building can still be seen today along the 17th Street side of the Carver.

34. Manufacturer’s Record 89, no. 25 (6/24/26), 30. 35. Myron J. Sasser, personal communication, 28 December, 2005. 36. White, Downtown Birmingham, 124. 37. Morris and White, Designs on Birmingham, 23-24. 38. This building again burned in 1944, and city hall was moved to its current

location in 1950. 39. Manufacturer’s Record 89, no. 6, (2/11/26), 97; Manufacturer’s Record 89,

no. 7 (2/18/26), 120; Linda Nelson, “National Register of Historic Places Registration Form-West End Masonic Temple,” 1987.

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40. Linda Nelson, “National Register of Historic Places Registration Form-West End Masonic Temple,” 1987.

41. Manufacturer’s Record 88, no. 2, (7/9/25), 116. 42. White, Downtown Birmingham, 76; Manufacturer’s Record 89, no. 18,

(5/6/26), 131; “Chamber of Commerce Moves to Handsome New Quarters” Birmingham: Official Organ of the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce 5, no. 9 (September 1929), 6.

43. “Chamber of Commerce Moves to Handsome New Quarters” Birmingham:

Official Organ of the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce 5, no. 9 (September 1929), 6. 44. Vicki Leigh Ingham, Art of the New South: Women Artists of Birmingham,

1895-1950 (Birmingham: Birmingham Historical Society, 2004), 171-172, n7, 194; Marjorie L. White, Downtown Discovery Tour with History Hunts (Birmingham: Birmingham Historical Society, 2001), 34.

45. White, Downtown Birmingham, 53-54; see David Naylor, Great American

Movie Theatres (New York: The Preservation Press, 1987). 46. Manufacturer’s Record 91, no. 11, (3/17/27), 124. 47. Dixie Manufacturer 15, no. 6 (9/25/26), 19; Dixie Manufacturer 16, no. 2

(1/25/27), 100; 48. Manufacturer’s Record 91, no. 19, (5/12/27), 102. The Pan-Ala Amusement

Company had only recently incorporated, bringing together a number of theatre companies into one corporation. The Board of Directors of the new company, according to newspaper articles, consisted of leading businessmen of the city and included Henry H. Cobb, Leo K. Steiner, Sr., D. O. Whilldin, and A. Page Sloss. Many suburban theatres were bought and others were planned to be built. The most important acquisition of the new company was a lease on the old Bijou, which they planned to remodel, promising the new Pantages franchise was to be one of the most beautiful in the South. “Million Dollar Theater Merger is Assured City” article found in the clipping files located in the Birmingham Public Library, Tutwiler Collection of Southern History and Literature.

49. “New Pantages Theater Will Be Open With Vaudeville and Pictures Oct. 31”

The Birmingham News 23 October 1927. Here it is presumed that Whilldin told the newspaper reporter the style was Italian Renaissance, as further down statements regarding the design, modernity of fixtures, and patron safety are directly attributed to him.

50. Ibid. 51. Jemison Magazine, November 1927, Jemison Magazine Collection, Archives

Department, Birmingham Public Library, folder 896.1.34, p. 7.

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52. Letter dated 2 November 1949 from D. O. Whilldin to Mr. Clifford Emond,

courtesy of Richard and Barclay Darden. 53. Richard Darden, personal communication, 25 June 2005. 54. Ibid. 55. Archives Department, Birmingham Public Library, Jefferson County Board

of Equalization, Tax Appraisal File 28-5-2-3-13. 56. Undated and unsigned letter from Robert Jemison, Jr. to Crawford Johnson,

Archives Department, Birmingham Public Library, Jemison Papers; An article in the 20 December 1927 Birmingham News stated that the new Coca-Cola bottling plant was to be the most modern in the country. Whilldin, Crawford Johnson, and the bottling department superintendent toured recently constructed bottling plants in Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida for ideas. Capacity of the plant was to be 300,000 bottles daily. In addition to building an efficient plant, the building was also meant to be of high architectural merit and the grounds were to be professionally landscaped.

57. Manufacturer’s Record 91, no. 20, (5/19/27), 109. 58. Manufacturer’s Record 84, no. 20, (11/15/23), 112; Manufacturer’s Record

91, no. 1, (1/6/27), 138; Manufacturer’s Record 91, no. 3, (1/20/27), 116; Manufacturer’s Record 91, no. 5, (2/3/27), 131; Various articles in the Birmingham News on the new stadium, 18 November to 20 November, 1927.

59. Charles St. J. Chubb, “The Ohio Stadium, Ohio State University, Columbus,

Ohio” American Architect 130, no. 2504, (September 5, 1926), 203-212. 60. “Stadium Inspection Trip” Dixie Manufacturer 16, no. 3 (2/10/27), 22;

Manufacturer’s Record 91, no. 12, (3/24/27), 95; Park and Recreation Board Architects, 1924-present, on file with Walter Garret of the Birmingham Park and Recreation Board; Various articles in the Birmingham News on the new stadium, 18 November to 20 November, 1927.

61. In Remembered Past, Discovered Future Schnorrenberg reports that Greasby

worked as a draftsman for Warren, Knight, and Davis from 1926 to 1943. His source of information is the Application for Registration to Practice Architecture in the State of Alabama. My source of information is the city directories.

62. Birmingham Public Library, Tutwiler Collection of Southern History and

Literature, clipping files, Birmingham-Stadiums; The south entrance elevation was published on the front page of The Birmingham News 28 September 1927 as part of an article on the Memorial Entrance.

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63. Various articles in the Birmingham News on the new stadium, 18 November to 20 November, 1927; The information about Stadium Brick was related to me by Mr. Myron J. Sasser on 28 December 2005.

64. “Morning Parades Usher In Dawn Of Football Classic” Birmingham News 19

November 1927. 65. White, Downtown Birmingham, 48. 66. Dixie Manufacturer 20, no. 2 (1/25/29), 30; Dixie Manufacturer 22, no.

1/25/30), 66; The then-current building code had been adopted in 1912 and revised slightly in 1916. In addition to Whilldin, the committee was composed of J. E. Spencer, city building inspector, Joseph G. Day, of Day & Sachs, contractors, Richard Hawkins, city engineer, R. B. Grahl, of Truscon Steel Co., J. H. Eddy, general manager of the Kaul Lumber Co., J. G. Allen, of Allen and Sons, contractors, and J. A. Lewis, engineer with Miller and Martin, architects. Dixie Manufacturer 19, no. 11 (12/10/28), 20; Dixie Manufacturer 21, no. 12 (12/10/29), 20.

67. “Ideal Millinery Company Will Build New Quarters” The Birmingham News

5 January 1928. 68. Dixie Manufacturer 22, no. 2 (1/25/30), 86. 69. Manufacturer’s Record 94, no. 18, (11/1/28), 101; Manufacturer’s Record

94, no. 26, (12/27/28), 70; Manufacturer’s Record 95, no. 13, (3/28/29), 85; Dixie Manufacturer 19, no. 4 (8/25/28, 22; Dixie Manufacturer 27, no. 12 (6/25/29).

70. Manufacturer’s Record 88, no. 24, (12/10/25), 112; Letter dated 23

November 1925 from Henry H. Cobb to Robert Jemison, Jr., Archives Department, Birmingham Public Library, Jemison Papers, folder 6.1.18.3.

71. Birmingham Public Library, Tutwiler Collection of Southern History and

Literature, clipping files, “Negotiations for Completing Work on Hotel Started” no date; “Thomas Jefferson Hotel is Formally Opened” Birmingham: Official Organ of the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce 5, no. 10 (October 1929), 11.

72. The information about the mooring mast was related to me by Mr. Myron J.

Sasser on 28 December 2005, who, in turn, was told this by Whilldin himself. This mast was probably a very late addition to the hotel, and the owners and architect may have been inspired to add it following the successful global tour of the great airship Graf Zeppelin in August 1929.

73. Chip Watts, personal communication, 24 January 2006. 74. Birmingham News, ”Birmingham’s New Hotel Among Finest in Nation”

August 23, 1929; Birmingham Public Library, Tutwiler Collection of Southern History

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and Literature, clipping file “Birmingham Has New Hostelry” no date; Archives Department, Birmingham Public Library, Jefferson County Board of Equalization Tax Appraisal File 22-36-3-27-1.

75. Birmingham News, ”Birmingham’s New Hotel Among Finest in Nation”

August 23, 1929. 76. “Thomas Jefferson Plans Improvements” Birmingham News 19 February

1933; “Thomas Jefferson Opens Dining Room” Birmingham Post Herald 11 May 1933. Both articles are in the Thomas Jefferson Hotel clipping file at the Birmingham Public Library, Tutwiler Collection of Southern History and Literature.

77. Michael B. Barnes, “The Thomas Jefferson Hotel: An Art Historical Review”

in Papers on Some Buildings of Birmingham by Students in ARH 490, Summer 1994, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, unpublished manuscript in the Birmingham Public Library, Tutwiler Collection of Southern History and Literature.

Chapter Three

1. White, Birmingham District, 65; Atkins, Valley and the Hills, 142-44.

2. Whitten graduated from Alabama Polytechnic Institute in 1928. He was employed for nearly a year by Miller and Martin. In May 1929 he was hired by Whilldin to work as a designer and draftsman in his office, where he stayed until January 1931. Later that year he began his own practice. Snook graduated from Alabama Polytechnic Institute in 1927, after which he briefly worked for Miller and Martin before being hired by Whilldin in December 1928. He continued to work in Whilldin’s office in design and drafting until 1942, after which he became a partner with Charles McCauley and Associates. Renneker, a native of Charleston, South Carolina, graduated from Alabama Polytechnic Institute in 1931. Upon graduation he worked in Whilldin’s office for several months before joining Miller, Martin, and Lewis. See Application for Registration to Practice Architecture for Whitten, Snook, and Renneker.

3. Morris and White, Designs on Birmingham, 25-27.

4. Early American Colonial House offered by the Jemison Companies, Archives Department, Birmingham Public Library, Mountain Brook Land Company Collection, folder 6.5.5.1.77.

5. Ibid.

6. Ibid.

7. Virginia Fox Cord, personal communication, April 2005.

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8. Elberta Reid and Kitty Yancey Avant, personal communication, 20 November 2005.

9. Mike Goodson, Gadsden: City of Champions Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing (2002), Chapters 5, 6, and 7 passim.

10. “$500,000 Gadsden Hotel Opened” Manufacturer’s Record 97, no. 20 (5/15/30), 57; Goodson, Gadsden: City of Champions, 87.

11. Manufacturer’s Record 94, no. 13 (9/27/28), 81.

12. Roth, American Architecture, 374; Robert Craig, Atlanta Architecture: Art Deco to Modern Classic, 1929-1959 (Gretna, LA: Pelican Publishing Company, 1995), 18-19, 34; Bevis Hillier and Stephen Escrit, Art Deco Style (London: Phaidon Press, 1997), Chapter 2 passim.

13. Roth, American Architecture, 374-376; Craig, Atlanta Architecture, 20-21.

14. See Hillier and Escrit, Art Deco Style, Chapter 2 for more information regarding American Art Deco.

15. Gelernter, American Architecture, 239-242; Craig, Atlanta Architecture, 19-

20, 97; Harris, American Architecture, 263.

16. Gelernter, American Architecture, 250; Harris, American Architecture, 182-183; Craig, Atlanta Architecture, 21-22.

17. “Chas. Black Co. To Open New Store Monday Night” The Tuscaloosa News 7 December 1930.

18. Ibid.

19. See The Heritage of Jefferson County, Alabama (Clanton, AL: Heritage Publishing Consultants, 1998) for a detailed narrative of these events; see also Jack C. York “Birmingham Solves Crossing Problem” in The Manufacturers Record 10 September 1931, pp. 30-31.

20. Ibid.

21. Linda Nelson, “Dr. Pepper Syrup Plant,” National Register of Historic Places- nomination form, 1990, on file with the Alabama Historical Commission, Montgomery, Alabama.

22. One other source of inspiration for this building may be found in the architecture of Albert Kahn. Less than a year before the Dr. Pepper plant was designed, Kahn designed a new building for the Chevrolet Motor Company in Birmingham.

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Located at 907 N. 26th Street. This building was once located where the junction of Interstate 20/59 with the Red Mountain Expressway is today. A surviving photograph of it shows a massed series of brick clad blocks with expansive banks of windows. Kahn was a noted designer of industrial buildings (as well as academic eclectic ones). He was based in Detroit and designed a number of buildings for the Chevrolet Motor Company. Could Kahn’s design or work have influenced Whilldin? See Roth, pp. 367-368 for more information regarding the architecture of Albert Kahn.

23. Nelson, “Dr. Pepper Syrup Plant.”

24. The current owners of the home stated that they were told by the realtor that it was built in 1918 by Judge Mudd, who wanted it to resemble Arlington as his ancestors had built it. The 19 February 1931 Manufacturer’s Record stated that W. S. Mudd was to erect a $10,000 frame residence, 2 stories, composition roof, and T. P. English was the contractor. Although frame construction is stated, it should be noted that information in The Manufacturer’s Record can vary from entry to entry. Records in the Shelby County Courthouse indicate that W. S. Mudd bought 345 acres that included all of the South ½ of Section 15 T22, R3W lying east of Shoal Creek and all of the NE ¼ of Section 22, T22, R3W. This deed was recorded on 9 September 1930 in Deed Book 89, page 188. There is no mention of a house existing on these lands (appurtenances, etc.).

25. Undated and untitled newspaper article in clippings file on North Birmingham Park, Birmingham Public Library, Tutwiler Collection of Southern History and Literature.

26. Various newspaper articles in clippings file on North Birmingham Park, Birmingham Public Library, Tutwiler Collection of Southern History and Literature.

27. Jefferson County Historical Commission, File 117.

28. “Birmingham shares in the Building Revival” Birmingham News 6 January 1936, in Birmingham Board of Realtors Scrapbook, Box 810.1.1.1.1, Archives Department, Birmingham Public Library.

29. Roth, American Architecture, 403-404.

30. For more information about the PWA see C. W. Short and R. Stanley Brown, Public Buildings: Architecture under the Public Works Administration, 1933-1939, Volume 1. Unabridged reprint of the first half (through page 343) of Public Buildings: A Survey of Architecture of Projects Constructed by Federal and Other Governmental Bodies between the years 1933 and 1939 with the assistance of the Public Works Administration. Originally published in Washington, D.C. in 1939 (New York: Da Capo Press, 1986), with new introduction by Richard Guy Wilson.

31. The Housing Division of the PWA initially sought to produce low-cost housing through private and/or local initiatives, the overall emphasis of which was

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reducing unemployment. However, this approach was unsuccessful and in 1935 the PWA established the Emergency Housing Corporation. This entity became directly involved in condemning land and establishing a set of housing standards, such as size, room plans, materials, etc, all of which led to a predetermined low-cost character. Wilson, Introduction to the Da Capo Edition, p. ix-x.

32. Series of newspaper articles about Smithfield Court in the Birmingham Board of Realtors Scrapbook, Archives Department, Birmingham Public Library, Box 810.1.1.1.1; C. W. Short and R. Stanley Brown, Public Buildings: A Survey of Architecture of Projects Constructed by Federal and Other Governmental Bodies between the years 1933 and 1939 with the assistance of the Public Works Administration (Washington, D.C., 1939), 664; The information about Turner was found in the clipping files on Birmingham architects located in the Birmingham Public Library, Tutwiler Collection of Southern History and Literature. In a conversation with Whilldin’s granddaughter, Cornelia Fox Crumbaugh, in July 2005, Turner, along with Warren, Knight, and Davis, were local architects of whom Whilldin thought very highly.

33. In 1935 the federal courts determined that federal agencies, such as the PWA, did not have the right to condemn land for public housing. However, state and local agencies could. Thus, local housing offices were created and much of the decision-making powers were transferred to them. Gwendolyn Wright, Building the Dream: A Social History of Housing in America (New York: Pantheon Books, 1981), 225.

34. Birmingham Real Estate Board, 1940 Yearbook, Birmingham: Birmingham Real Estate Board (1940), 57; see Wright, Building the Dream, Chapter 12 for an engaging discussion of the history and development of federal housing from the Depression years through the 1960s; see also Gelernter, A History of American Architecture, 253-254, 265-266, for a discussion of these design problems; see also Richard Guy Wilson, Introduction to the Da Capo edition, ix-x, for a discussion of the PWA and housing.

35. Industrial Register 73, no. 23 (12/7/36), 5; “City Hall and Theatre Make Bow to Public” The Tuscaloosa News 11 April 1938.

36. The information about the Davanzati Palace is taken from the Formal Dedication booklet and a newspaper article about the theatre opening. This information is so site specific it must have come from Whilldin himself, who would have been intimately familiar with Old World sources.

37. “Visit to New Bama Like Trip Into Spanish Garden” Tuscaloosa News 11 April 1938. The differing accounts from the period as to whether the theatre is “Spanish” or “Italian” are interesting. In the Tuscaloosa News article, the title states “Spanish Garden” yet in the text about the Italian artist, the reporter discusses how one is transported back to an Italian garden. In the Formal Dedication booklet, it is stated that the furnishings of the lounges and foyers, taken from the Davanzati Palace, an Italian landmark, are in keeping with the Spanish “motif” of the auditorium. This may simply

231

reflect that during the period there was not a clear, popular perception of what was Spanish and what was Italian. Whilldin, however, did know the difference, and he used both Spanish and Italian architectural and decorative devices throughout the theatre.

38. “Formal Opening-Bama Theatre, April 12th, 1938, Tuscaloosa, Alabama.” Original program at the Heritage Commission of Tuscaloosa County; Film clip from opening day festivities, copy with Tuscaloosa Park and Recreation Board.

39. “Brown-Service Funeral Firm Builds Home” Birmingham Age-Herald 28 June 1936, newspaper article found in Birmingham Public Library, Tutwiler Collection of Southern History and Literature, clipping files on Birmingham funeral homes.

40. This sequence of corporate mergers and other information is based upon a special insert into the Birmingham Age-Herald on 26 May 1942, which announced the formal opening of the new Ridout’s Brown Service Funeral Home. This information was also compared to dates of drawings found in the Whilldin Collection at the Archives Department, Birmingham Public Library, as well as other articles found in the clipping files on funeral homes in the Birmingham Public Library, Tutwiler Collection of Southern History and Literature.

41. “Architect’s Idea Of Funeral Home Front” Birmingham News-Age Herald 8 May 1938.

42. “Funeral Homes To Be Open To Public: Brown Service New Bessemer And Norwood Parlors Credit To South” Birmingham News 4 December 1938, in clipping files on funeral homes in Birmingham Public Library, Tutwiler Collection of Southern History and Literature.

43. See Patricia Bayer, Art Deco Interiors: Decoration and Design Classics of the 1920s and 1930s (London: Thames and Hudson, 1990), Chapter 5 for more information on Art Deco in public spaces. Chapter Four

1. Roth, American Architecture, 405, 411-412.

2. White, The Birmingham District, 275; Depew Meredith, “Rheem’s Industrial Garden,”Manufacturer’s Record January 1947, p. 83, 149.

3. Marvin Y. Whiting, The Bearing Day is Not Gone: The Seventy-fifth Anniversary History of Independent Presbyterian Church of Birmingham, Alabama, 1915-1990 (Birmingham: Independent Presbyterian Church, 1990), 52-53.

4. Archives Department, Birmingham Public Library, Independent Presbyterian Church Collection, folder 377.4.1.16.38.

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5. Carol Lukens Hall, The Sanctuary Stained Glass Windows of Independent Presbyterian Church (Birmingham: Independent Presbyterian Church, 1996), 25; Archives Department, Birmingham Public Library, Independent Presbyterian Church Collection, folders 377.4.1.16.38 and 377.4.1.16.33.

6. Gelernter, History of American Architecture, 260-264.

7. “City Authorities Okeh Enlarging Legion Stadium” The Birmingham News 23 January 1946.

8. The Town House Apartments is an advanced work for the date. Though Stevens and Wilkinson of Atlanta are the designers, it is interesting that they asked Whilldin to associate. Or, it may have been the case where the client asked for Whilldin to be associated.

9. Virginia Fox Cord, personal communication, April 2005.

10. “New Pitman Theatre Here Will Open Doors Tonight” Gadsden Times

September 26, 1947; Gadsden: City of Champions, p.112.

11. Belfoure, Monuments to Money, 261-65.

12. Clyde A. Donehoo, The Public Schools, 1895-1951: 56 Years of Progress (Gadsden: Gadsden Board of Education, 1951), np.

13. Ibid. It is unclear exactly if the award was for the design of the school or for scholastic success. This information was noted in a Gadsden Board of Education publication under the discussion of the building program. I assume the award refers to design as the school had only been open for a year at that date, much too soon for it to be awarded such a high scholastic rank.

14. “Opening Announced For Banking Building in Centre” The Dixie Contractor, 26, no. 22 (11/21/51), p. 51; Cherokee County Herald 17 October 1951.

15. Various newspaper clippings in the vertical files of the Gadsden Public Library.

16. Various files, newspaper clippings, and correspondence in the church files.

17. Myron J. Sasser, personal communication, 28 December 2005; Catherine

Greene Browne, The History of Forest Park (Birmingham: Cather Publishing Company, 1992), p.63.

18. In 1962 when the upper deck was built by Greer, Holmquist, and Chambers, along with an engineering firm, he thought it was of poor design. Indeed, the upper deck was closed for a year due to excessive swaying and had to be modified for safety reasons.

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A family story relates that he offered the Legion Field plans to the new architects and the Park Board, who promptly refused them, saying they were not needed. Shortly thereafter, realizing they did in fact need some specifications, they asked for the drawings. Whilldin refused, telling them that he would not even sell them, for any amount of money. The enclosure of the north end zone and the new press box were designed by Warren, Knight, and Davis. In 1991 an extensive addition to the west stands now obscures the great arches of the original stands, though they can still be seen by patrons. Cornelia Fox Crumbaugh, personal communication, July 2005; Various articles in the Legion Field clipping file, Birmingham Public Library, Tutwiler Collection of Southern History and Literature.

19. “AIA Chapter Opens Convention Tomorrow” Birmingham News 30 November 1966.

20. Leonard Chamblee, “Breakfast with a Pacesetter: Building Renovation, Replacement Need Cited” Birmingham Post-Herald 6 October 1969.

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Gadsden Times. Various. Industrial Register. Various issues available at the University of Alabama Library,

Volumes 1-10 (1933-1938). Journal of the Birmingham Historical Society. Various years. Manufacturer’s Record. 1904-1962. Tuscaloosa News. Various. IV. Sources for Architectural Terminology. Note: The following is a list of encyclopedias, dictionaries, and other references that

were used for the architectural terms found throughout this thesis. Some are older treatises and are helpful in determining older terms that were probably used by architects of the period. Others are more recent and comprehensive. Unfortunately, technical terms are not often used consistently and definitions vary among different authorities. For example, brackets differ from consoles, but the terms ancon and scroll-shaped bracket can be used as a substitute for the term console. In this work a console is a bracket that whose height is at least twice as great as its projection. Similar problems with terminology exist with band, belt-course, and stringcourse. For this thesis I have attempted to be as consistent as possible, and all terms used have a source in at least one of these works.

Blumenson, John J.-G. Identifying American Architecture: A Pictorial Guide to Styles

and Terms, 1600-1945. Nashville: American Association for State and Local History, 1977.

243

Briggs, Martin S. Everyman’s Concise Encyclopaedia of Architecture. London: J.M. Dent & Sons, Ltd.; New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1959, rpt. 1974.

Burden, Ernest. Illustrated Dictionary of Architecture. No place: McGraw-Hill, 1998. Calloway, Stephen, and Elizabeth Cromley, eds. The Elements of Style: An Practical

Encyclopedia of Interior Architectural Details from 1485 to the Present. Revised edition. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996.

Carley, Rachel. The Visual Dictionary of American Domestic Architecture. New York:

Henry Holt and Company, 1994. Cole, Emily, ed. The Grammar of Architecture. New York: Bullfinch Press, 2002. Curl, James Steven. A Dictionary of Architecture. Oxford: Oxford University Press,

2000. Fleming, John, Hugh Honour, and Nikolaus Pevsner. The Penguin Dictionary of

Architecture and Landscape Architecture. 5th ed. London and New York: Penguin, 1999.

Foster, Gerald. American Houses: A Field Guide to the Architecture of the Home. New

York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. Gamble, Robert. Historic Architecture in Alabama: A Guide to Styles and Types, 1810-

1930. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1990. Harris, Cyril M. American Architecture: An Illustrated Encyclopedia. New York: W.W.

Norton and Company, 1998. Harris, John, and Jill Lever. Illustrated Glossary of Architecture, 850-1830. New York:

Clarkson N. Potter, Inc., 1966. Longstreth, Richard. The Buildings of Main Street: A Guide to American Commercial

Architecture. Updated ed. Walnut Creek: AltaMira Press, division of Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2000.

Lounsbury, Carl R., ed. An Illustrated Glossary of Early Southern Architecture and

Landscape. Charlottesville and London: University Press of Virginia, 1994. McAlester, Virginia and Lee. A Field Guide to American Houses. New York: Alfred A.

Knopf, 2000. Poppeliers, John S. What Style Is It? Washington, D.C., The Preservation Press, 2000.

244

Sturgis, Russell. A Dictionary of Architecture and Building-Biographical, Historical, and Descriptive. 3 vols. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1901. There is also a modern reprint available.

Sturgis, Russell, et al. Sturgis’ Illustrated Dictionary of Architecture and Building- An

Unabridged Reprint of the 1901-2 Edition. 3 vols. New York: Dover Publications, 1989.

Summerson, John. The Classical Language of Architecture. Cambridge: The M.I.T.

Press, 1963. White, Marjorie Longenecker. A Guide to Architectural Styles featuring Birmingham

Homes. Birmingham: Birmingham Historical Society, 2003.

APPENDIX ONE

THE “CORNERSTONE LETTER”

245

APPENDIX TWO

CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF KNOWN PROJECTS

247

248

Building City

Breeding and Whilldin (1904-1906)

Birmingham High School Birmingham Burger Dry Goods Birmingham Alabama Presbyterian College Anniston J. Blach and Sons Birmingham Merchant's Bank Tuscumbia Ensley Carnegie Library Ensley Residence for George W. Yancey Glen Iris

Park addition to Bush School Ensley

D. O. Whilldin 1907 Pilgrim Congregational Hall Birmingham 1908 competition rendering for Empire Bldg Birmingham Residence for Nathaniel Walpole Birmingham Flats for T. G. Brabston Ensley Residence for Dr. J. W. Kleinbohl Birmingham 3 residences for F. W. Bromberg Birmingham Residence for W. Mason Birmingham Residence for C. D. Goldthwaite Birmingham Elyton School Elyton Residence for E. J. Herzog Birmingham Avondale Masonic Lodge Avondale Flats for W. W. Coghill Birmingham 10 residences in Anderson Place Birmingham Residence for J. R. Roberson Cropwell

(near Pell City)

Residence for Preston Blake Birmingham Residence for J. Cary Thompson Birmingham Flats for A. F. McNeal Birmingham Residence for Mary P. McNeal Birmingham 1909 Residence for Birmingham Realty Co. Birmingham Residence for Mr. Sawyer Birmingham Residence for Charles Mathison Birmingham Residence for W. L. Sessions Birmingham Residence for Birmingham Realty Co. Birmingham Residence for F. T. Frierson Birmingham Residence for T. G. Brabston Birmingham Residence for W. L. Sessions Birmingham Residence for Birmingham Realty Co. Birmingham

249

Residence for Mrs. Sue Markell Birmingham Residence for James Mackin Birmingham West End Carnegie Library and City Hall complex West End additions and alterations to Hemphill School West End Residence for Augustus Benners Birmingham Residence for W. L. Sessions Birmingham Residence for W. L. Sessions Birmingham Residence for A. O. Lindsey Birmingham Robinson School Birmingham Baker School Ensley Ensley High School Ensley Fairview School Birmingham Greensboro Jail Greensboro Pratt City School Pratt City Freight Depot for B. R. L.and P. Co. Bessemer J. H. Berry and Co. (attributed) Birmingham Etowah Trust and Savings Bank Gadsden

Whilldin and Price (1910-1911) Walker County High School Jasper addition to Wilmar Avenue School Anniston Quintard Avenue School Anniston Residence for W. P. Johnson Gadsden

D. O. Whilldin 1910 J. B. Cunningham School Birmingham Store Building (Averty's Pharmacy) Ensley proposed hotel and store building Birmingham Residence for R. T. Pittman Birmingham Pratt City Masonic Lodge Pratt City 1911 Sanitarium/Hospital Wylam additions and alterations to YWCA Birmingham 1912 Commercial building for M. J. Dillard Birmingham Commercial building Ensley Seventh District Agricultural School Albertville bungalow for T. L. Anglin Birmingham bungalow for T. L. Anglin Birmingham Richmond Apartments Birmingham Commercial building Gadsden Springville School Springville Commercial building for D. O. Whilldin Ensley Residence at 2912 Juniper (10th Avenue South) Birmingham Residence for Keystone Realty Birmingham

250

Fairmont Apartments Birmingham First National Bank Pell City Winfield Jail Winfield 1913 Residence for W. L. Sessions Birmingham 2 story residence in Fairview Birmingham 1 story frame residence Gadsden Wylam Mercantile Co. Wylam Brick duplex and 2 one story dwellings Gadsden remodel of Hotel Printup Gadsden 3 two story dwellings Birmingham 2 story frame residence Birmingham frame church building Birmingham Wood-Chamberlain-Sulzby House (attributed) Roebuck

Springs 2 story frame residence Cropwell First National Bank Attalla addition to Terrace Court Apartments (San Jose Apts) Birmingham Store and apartment building Wylam 1914 Hotel Granada Birmingham Residence for William Fitts Tuscaloosa Education Building for Lutheran Church Birmingham Residence for W. M. Leary Birmingham Central Park School Birmingham Cotton warehouse Lincoln Store for Mrs. M. V. Perkins Tuscaloosa Winfield State Bank Winfield Parish house, St. John's Episcopal Church Ensley additions and alterations to residence of Dr. Jas E. Seay Birmingham Residence for Dr. J. A. Moore Birmingham Residence for O. K. Park Tuscaloosa First National Bank Lincoln 1915 additions and alterations to The Birmingham Hotel Birmingham Residence for John J. Laumer Birmingham Hotel DeSoto Birmingham Residence for J. D. McQueen Tuscaloosa Coosa River Clubhouse alterations to apartment house Birmingham remodeling of Pell City School, addition of an auditorium Pell City City National Bank Selma 2 story and 1 story commercial bldg (Watson and Love?) Lincoln Gate City School Birmingham 1916 Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity Tuscaloosa

251

Sigma Nu fraternity Tuscaloosa Kappa Sigma fraternity Tuscaloosa Savoy theater Birmingham additions and alterations to Merchants Bank and Trust Tuscaloosa additions and alterations to residence of Wm. D. Nesbitt Birmingham additions and alterations to Hotel Printup Gadsden 1917 proposed Administration Building for Birmingham Board of Education

Birmingham

2 apartment buildings for Martin and Rountree Wylam Wylam School Wylam Convert Victorianized 1840s home into Colonial Revival Tuscaloosa 1918 alterations to storefronts for the Ensley Company Ensley additions and alterations to Pratt City School Pratt City 1919 conversion of John M. Cartwright residence to apartments Birmingham F. W. Woolworth Ensley Gadsden Country Club Gadsden Vance Elementary School Bessemer additional units to Tuscaloosa High School Tuscaloosa Ragland School Ragland, St.

Clair County 1920 Phi Delta Theta fraternity Tuscaloosa Birmingham Fire Station No. 1 Birmingham Birmingham Board of Education Warehouse Birmingham John Herbert Phillips High School Birmingham Residence for D. O. Parker Tuscaloosa Winsborough Hall Tuscaloosa Elementary School (Central??) Tuscaloosa Psychopathic Hospital at Bryce Tuscaloosa remodel McLester Hotel Tuscaloosa 1921 Druid City Hospital Tuscaloosa retail block for Henley-Spurgeon Realty Co. Birmingham additions to Athens Elementary School (Fairview) Athens additional units to Central Park Elementary School Birmingham Glen Iris Elementary School Birmingham Bessemer High School Bessemer additions and alterations to Vance Elementary School Bessemer Jonesboro Elementary School Bessemer School at Windham Springs Tuscaloosa

County Holt High School Tuscaloosa

County

252

1922 Residence for Thomas Ward Tuscaloosa Simpson Building Birmingham Tuscaloosa Fire Station No. 1 Tuscaloosa Residence for Edward L. Keiser Birmingham Merchant's Bank and Trust office building Tuscaloosa Brownlie Realty Company office Birmingham remodel what is now University Club Tuscaloosa additional units to Ensley High School Ensley additions and alterations to Stafford School Tuscaloosa additions and alterations to West End School Tuscaloosa Decatur High School (Riverside) Decatur Carver School Decatur Cherry Avenue School Decatur School at Northport Tuscaloosa

County School at Vance Tuscaloosa

County School at Coker Tuscaloosa

County School at Duncanville Tuscaloosa

County School at Cedar Tree Tuscaloosa

County School at Piney Grove Tuscaloosa

County School at Echola Tuscaloosa

County 1923 Whilldin Building Birmingham Municipal Auditorium (Boutwell) (Associated Architects of Birmingham)

Birmingham

Store building for D. O. Whilldin Birmingham Nurses Home at Druid City Hospital Tuscaloosa Druid Theater (originally the Bama Theater) Tuscaloosa additions and alterations to the Printup Hotel Gadsden Belvedere Theater Tuscaloosa Residence for Mrs. M. G. Kersh Tuscaloosa Residence for William Beatty Tuscaloosa Residence at 1709 University Boulevard Tuscaloosa Residence for J. H. Fitts Tuscaloosa A. H. Parker High School Birmingham Bush School Ensley Dunbar High School Bessemer Tuscaloosa High School Tuscaloosa Tuscaloosa Country Club Tuscaloosa

253

1924 L.L. Brother's Furniture Store (J.H. Perkins) Ensley Forest Court Apartments Birmingham Apts for D. O. Whilldin Birmingham Business Block for Mrs. C. C. Vezdoon Birmingham Residence for R. W. Knight Birmingham Residence for J. L. Robertson Tuscaloosa Chi Omega Sorority Tuscaloosa Sigma Chi Fraternity Tuscaloosa additional units to Phillips High School Birmingham Verner Elementary School Tuscaloosa 1925 additions and alterations to Birmingham Board of Education Administration Building

Birmingham

Printup Hotel (rebuilding after fire) Gadsden Birmingham City Hall Birmingham Thomas Jefferson Hotel Birmingham Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity Tuscaloosa additional units to Fairview School Birmingham additional units to Elyton School Birmingham additions and alterations to old Tuscaloosa H. S. for Junior H. S. Tuscaloosa 1926 Ensley Theatre (Ramsay-McCormick) Ensley Commercial building Athens Limestone Democrat Offices Athens additions and alterations to First Methodist Church Decatur Personal Residence of D. O. Whilldin Birmingham West End Masonic Lodge West End Clairmont Apartments Birmingham remodel Birmingham Athletic Club for YMCA Birmingham Store building for Nick Harduval Ensley additions and alterations to the Ensley National Bank Ensley Birmingham City Market Birmingham additions and alterations to Municipal Auditorium Birmingham Famous Theatre Birmingham Henley Building (Adams Department Store) Birmingham Avondale Masonic Lodge Birmingham Birmingham City Garage and Fire Station No. 2 Birmingham Sims Building (also called Club Florentine) Birmingham additions and alterations to residence of Dr. A. B. Harris Birmingham repairs to Southside Jail for City of Birmingham Birmingham Reese's Art Cleaning and Dyeing Birmingham 1927 Cliff Court Birmingham Tiger Theatre Auburn Birmingham-Ensley Land Co. Office Ensley

254

Parisian (Consulting architect for Warren, Knight, and Davis) Birmingham Residence for Mrs. Lewis Johnson Birmingham Pantages Theatre Birmingham proposed Birmingham City Jail Birmingham Municipal Stadium at Legion Field Birmingham Coca-Cola Bottling Plant (Crawford Johnson) Birmingham additions to Druid City Hospital Tuscaloosa 2nd Avenue Store, between Henley Bldg and Louis Saks Birmingham additions to Buffalo Rock Bottling Plant Birmingham 2 story building for Rushton Corp. Birmingham 1928 Residence for Henry Upson Sims Birmingham Residence for Dr. J. R. Garber Birmingham remodel 3 story bldg for Jemison and Co., agents Birmingham Electric Scoreboard at Legion Field Birmingham East Restrooms at Legion Field Birmingham Stadium lights for Legion Field Birmingham Memorial Entrance to Legion Field Birmingham roof modifications to Highland Golf Course Building Birmingham Aland Building (Ideal Department Store) Birmingham 7 story addition to McLester Hotel Tuscaloosa Reich Hotel Gadsden additions and alterations to building for Lehigh Investment Co. Birmingham Lamar County Jail Vernon Simonetti Grocery Store (attributed) Birmingham proposed Medical Arts Building Birmingham proposed 8 story hotel for Fitts family Tuscaloosa 1929 Residence for William J. Rushton Mtn. Brook Residence for Mrs. Richard J. Stockham (Rushton) Mtn. Brook Residence for Adolph P. Reich Gadsden Residence for Mrs. John Paden Gadsden Rebuild Hotel Printup for the Reich Estate Gadsden Butler County Jail Greenville East Players Room at Legion Field Birmingham West Side Gates at Legion Field Birmingham Residence for Mtn. Brook Land Company Mtn. Brook 1930 Athens High School Athens Fourteenth Street Underpass Birmingham Pizitz Department Store Gadsden additional units to Bessemer High School Bessemer Coca-Cola Bottling Plant (assoc. William Crutchfield) Chattanooga,

TN 1 story creamery (L.C. Young Ice Cream Co.?) Montgomery Charles Black Clothing Company Tuscaloosa

255

1931 Twentieth Street Underpass Birmingham Eighteenth Street Underpass Birmingham L & N R.R. Service Bldg and rail yard office Birmingham Residence for Mrs. George H. Stubbs Mtn. Brook Residence for Mrs. J. Frank Rushton Birmingham Residence for W.S. Mudd Montevallo North Birmingham Swimming Pool and Bathhouse (assoc. E.B. Van Keuren)

Birmingham

Dr. Pepper Syrup Plant Birmingham additions and alterations to residence of Allen Rushton Mtn. Brook lobby alterations to Molton Hotel Birmingham additions and alterations to Perfection Laundry Company Birmingham 1932 F.W. Woolworth Tuscaloosa Residence for Frederick M. Dickinson Tuscaloosa Residence for Miss Mary E. Parr Tuscaloosa 1933 additions and alterations to Thomas Jefferson Hotel Birmingham Residence for Joseph P. Mudd Mtn. Brook Residence for Dr. Stuart Greene Tuscaloosa 1934 additional units to Tuscaloosa High School (PWA) Tuscaloosa 1935 Smithfield Court Housing Project (PWA) Birmingham Residence for Oliver H. Rogers Birmingham Office and Industrial Buildings for Hill and Griffith Corp. Birmingham additions and alterations to 6 county schools (PWA) Tuscaloosa

County 1936 Tuscaloosa City Hall and Bama Theatre Complex (PWA) Tuscaloosa Bessemer Board of Education Administration Building Bessemer Brown Service Company Birmingham additions and alterations to Standard Casket Mfg. Co. Birmingham City Ice Delivery Co. Ensley Legion Field expansion Birmingham Elyton Village Housing Project Birmingham addition to Riverside High School Decatur 1937 Residence for Mrs. Mary Rushton Yancey Mtn. Brook Residence for Morton L. Connors Mtn. Brook 1938 White Dairy Company Birmingham Brown Service Funeral Home (Norwood) Birmingham Brown Service Funeral Home (Bessemer) Bessemer Rainbow Room of the Redmont Hotel Birmingham

256

Theatre for the Eight Avenue Theatre Company Birmingham 1939 F.W. Woolworth Store Birmingham alterations to Brown Service Company Birmingham Residence at 3028 Overhill Road Mtn. Brook additions and alterations to Aland Building Birmingham 1940 addition to Try-Me Bottling Company Birmingham 1940-1945 additions to Rheem Manufacturing Company Birmingham Sayre Housing Project Sayre,

Jefferson County

3 Housing Projects in Sheffield and Tuscumbia? Shoals area Housing Project at Ordinance Plant in Anniston? Anniston 1946 additions and alterations to Temple Emanu-el Birmingham St. Francis Catholic Mission (church, school, convent) Bessemer Legion Field expansion, east side Birmingham Pitman Theatre Gadsden 1947 Commercial Building for D. O. Whilldin (Alabama Book Store) Tuscaloosa Mitchell School Gadsden 1948 Radio Station and Tower (WSGN and WAFM) Birmingham additions and alterations to Vance Elementary School Bessemer 1949 additions and alterations to Elliot School Gadsden Community Building for Elyton Village Birmingham Medical Clinic for Dr. E. A. Isbell Gadsden Apartment Building for B. S. Hersberg Gadsden Store Building for W. K. Weaver and Lora W. Ragsdale Birmingham remodel Albertville National Bank Albertville Town House Apartments (assoc. Stevens and Wilkinson, Atlanta)

Birmingham

1950 Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co. warehouse and office Birmingham Stadium Light towers for Legion Field Birmingham Farmers and Merchants Bank Centre remodel First National Bank of Alexander City Alexander

City CIO Rubber Workers Union Hall East GadsdenElk's Club Gadsden C. A Donehoo School Gadsden additions to Oak Park School Gadsden J. L. Cain School Gadsden

257

West stands for Murphree Stadium Gadsden 1951 addition to H.W. Frank residence (Paden residence) Gadsden Commercial Building and remodel adjacent building Gadsden Jessie Dean Smith School (S. 11th Street School ??) Gadsden 1952 proposed Huntsville Times building Huntsville additions and alterations to Birmingham Ice and Coal Storage Birmingham Residence for William L. Gantt Crestwood,

Birmingham

additions to C. A. Donehoo School Gadsden South Gadsden School Gadsden 1953 additions and alterations to Southern Flooring Company Birmingham Trinity Episcopal Church (assoc. H.R. Steeves ) Bessemer additions and alterations to Parish house of Trinity Episcopal Church

Bessemer

1954 additions and alterations to American National Bank Gadsden additions to the WABT Television Studios (NBC) Birmingham Merrimac Arms Apartments Tuscaloosa 1955 additions and alterations to Walnut Park School Gadsden 1956 East Gadsden Junior High (Litchfield) Gadsden 1958 addition to Central Elementary School Gadsden

Undated/Unidentified/Other Projects additions and alterations to J.S. Reed Store Mtn. Brook additions and alterations to Ridout Funeral Home Birmingham Shook residence Birmingham? Industrial High School (now Central Elem.) Tuscaloosa Sudduth Realty Company Panama City,

FL

E.H. Sheldon Company Muskegon, Michigan

Projects in Mississippi

Jefferson County Schools* Date of Design Lewisburg 1917 Bradford 1917 Majestic 1917 Sayre 1917 Cottage Hill 1917 Jefferson County High School 1917 additions and alterations to Boyles 1917

258

additions and alterations to Trafford 1917 additions and alterations to Argo 1917 additions and alterations to Alliance 1917 additions and alterations to Bethel 1917 additions and alterations to Riley 1917 additions and alterations to Roosevelt 1917 Sardis 1918 Maxine 1918 Center Point-Chalkville 1918 North Pratt 1918 Shades-Cahaba 1918 Labuco Mines 1918 Powhaten Mines 1918 Roper 1918 Cottage Hill 1919 Mt. Olive 1919 additional units to Jefferson County High School 1919 High School for District 6-A (Palos, Bessie, Porter, and Flat Top) 1919 school for 14-A (Dolomite, Hueytown, Concord) [Concord] 1919 Mineral Springs 1919 H.S. for District 11-A (Mulga, McDonald Chapel, Docena) [Minor] 1919 Graysville 1919 Gardendale 1919 addition to H.S. at Palos and Bessie Mines 1919 Powderly High School and Elementary 1920 addition to H.S. at Oak Grove 1920 Hueytown High School 1920 McAdory 1920 Huffman 1920 Raimund 1920 Gardendale 1920 Pleasant Hill 1920 New Castle 1920 Adamsville 1920 addition to Leeds 1920 addition to Oak Grove 1920 elementary school at Boyles/Tarrant City 1920 Graysville 1920 Labuco 1920 Mt. Calvary 1920 Early 1920 Leeds 1920

259

addition to Brookside 1920 Bessie 1921 Gardendale Junior High School 1921 consolidated schools at Upper and Lower Coalburg and Clift 1921 Littleton 1921 Palos 1921 fieldstone school at Pinson 1921 High School near McDonald's Chapel 1921 Corner High School 1921 Old Jonesboro 1921 New Hope 1922 Bessie 1922 Lipscomb 1922 Garden Heights 1922 Providence 1922 addition to Newcastle 1922 addition to Tarrant City 1922 Corner 1922 addition to Patton Chapel 1922 Irondale 1922 McDonald's Chapel 1922 Trussville 1922 Wilkes 1923 Johns High School 1923 Victor 1923 New Merkel 1923 West Highland 1923 5 schools in Shades Valley and Shades Mtn. 1923 third unit of Tarrant City 1923 West Jefferson 1924 Center Point 1924 Shades Valley negro school 1924 Lynn's Crossing 1924 Sandusky 1924 Bluff Park 1924 Brighton 1924 grammer school at Boyles 1925 Edgewood 1925 * as listed in Manufacturer's Record and compared with Annual Reports of the Jefferson County Board of Education

FIGURES

Note: Dates given reflect the date of design. Completion dates are given where known.

260

261

Figure 1. Color tinted photograph of D. O. Whilldin taken sometime in the 1920s (Collection of Cornelia Fox Crumbaugh).

262

Figure 2. Breeding and Whilldin, Architects; Birmingham High School; 1904-1906. Color-tinted postcard (Archives Department, Birmingham Public Library, Postcard Collection, 1081.3.153). Destroyed by fire in 1918.

Figure 3. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; Pilgrim Congregational Hall; 1906-1907. Photograph (Archives Department, Birmingham Public Library, Hill Ferguson Collection, folder 56.6.14.29). Razed.

263

Figure 4. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; Elyton School; 1908. Photograph (Archives Department, Birmingham Public Library, General Photograph Collection, folder 915.60) and detail of entrance (Photograph by the author).

264

Figure 5. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; Residence for J. Cary Thompson; 1908-1910. Photographs (Top-Birmingham De Luxe, Bottom-Archives Department, Birmingham Public Library, Jefferson County Board of Equalization, Tax Appraisal file 29-1-4-10-1). Extant.

265

Figure 6. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; Residence for T. G. Brabston; 1909. Photograph (Archives Department, Birmingham Public Library, Jefferson County Board of Equalization, Tax Appraisal file 23-31-4-21-18) and contemporary view (Photograph by the author).

266

Figure 7. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; West End Carnegie Library; 1909. Photograph (Archives Department, Birmingham Public Library, General Photograph Collection # 31.59). Razed.

267

Figure 8. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; Ensley High School; 1909-1911. Top-Architect’s presentation rendering (Archives Department, Birmingham Public Library, Postcard Collection, 1081.3.157), Bottom-view of entrance (Photograph by the author).

268

Figure 9. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; Architect’s presentation rendering of the proposed addition to the Young Women’s Christian Association; 1911-1912. Published image (Handbook of the Young Women’s Christian Association [Announcement on Formal Opening of New Building], May 1912, p. 2). Razed.

269

Figure 10. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; The Richmond; 1912. Top-Published Image (Art Work of Birmingham, Chicago: The Gravure Illustrating Company, 1923), Bottom-view of main entrance and stair lobby (Photographs by the author).

270

Figure 11. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; Commercial building for Hagedorn and Echols Real Estate, Gadsden, Alabama, 1912 (Photograph by the author).

271

Figure 12. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; Residence for Walter L. Sessions; 1913 (Photograph by the author).

Figure 13. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; The First National Bank of Lincoln, 1915 (Photograph by the author).

272

Figure 14. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; Residence for William “Bull” Fitts, Tuscaloosa, Alabama; View of front façade (Top photograph courtesy of the Heritage Commission of Tuscaloosa County).

273

Figure 15. Fitts residence, view of staircase and entry hall from foyer (Photograph by the author).

274

Figure 16. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; Chapter house for Delta Kappa Epsilon Fraternity; 1916. Published image (1917 Corolla Yearbook, The W.S. Hoole Special Collections Library, The University of Alabama). Extant.

275

Figure 17. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; Chapter house for Delta Kappa Epsilon Fraternity; Front elevation; June 1916. Blueprint (The W.S. Hoole Special Collections Library, The University of Alabama).

276

Figure 18. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; William B. Ittner, Consulting Architect; Proposed Administration Building for the Birmingham Board of Education; Front elevation; September 1917. Ink on vellum (Archives Department, Birmingham Public Library, Whilldin Collection). Unexecuted.

277

Figure 19. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; Lewisburg School; completed February 1918. Published image (Annual Report of the County Superintendent of Schools of Jefferson County, Alabama October 1917 – October 1918). Status unknown, probably razed.

Figure 20. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; Birmingham Fire Station Number 1; 1920. Photograph (Archives Department, Birmingham Public Library, Jefferson County Board of Equalization, Tax Appraisal File 22-36-2-22-1). Razed.

278

Figure 21. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; William B. Ittner, Consulting Architect; John Herbert Phillips High School; 1920-1923, second unit completed 1925. Top-Architect’s presentation rendering (Annual Report of the Public Schools of Birmingham, for the year ending April 31, 1920), Bottom-main entrance to the school (Photograph by the author).

279

Figure 22. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; William B. Ittner, Consulting Architect; John Herbert Phillips Memorial Library (Collection of the Birmingham Board of Education Archives) and detail of fireplace (Photograph by the author).

280

Figure 23. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; School at Mt. Pinson, 1921-1922. Photograph (BPL Archives, General Photograph Collection 39.58). Extant.

281

Figure 24. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; Main entrance to Tuscaloosa High School, 1923-25 (Photograph by the author).

Figure 25. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; Winsborough Hall, Stillman College campus; 1920-1921 (Photograph by the author).

282

Figure 26. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; Druid City Hospital; 1921-1923 (Archives Department, Birmingham Public Library, Postcard Collection 1081.6.298A), and Nurse’s Home; 1923 (Photograph by the author). Hospital razed for Russell Hall, The University of Alabama campus.

283

Figure 27: D. O. Whilldin, Architect; Office building for the Merchants Bank and Trust (1922-1925) and Bama Theatre (1923-1924). Photograph (BPL Archives, O.V. Hunt Photograph Collection, OVH 1173). Office building extant, theatre razed.

284

Figure 28. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; Bank and Office Building for the Merchants Bank and Trust; Sheet 11 [cornice details]; January 5, 1924. Blueprint (Courtesy of Canoe Creek Corp.).

285

Figure 29: D. O. Whilldin, Architect; Personal office building for D. O. Whilldin, 1923-1924. Top-Photograph (BPL Archives, Jefferson County Board of Equalization, Tax Appraisal File 22-36-2-5-4), Bottom-Detail of north half of building (Photograph by the author). Extant.

286

Figure 30. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; West End Masonic Temple; 1926-1927. Photograph (BPL Archives, Jefferson County Board of Equalization, Tax Appraisal File 29-4-4-31-10). Razed.

287

Figure 31. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; Sims Building (Club Florentine); 1926-1927. Top-Photograph (BPL Archives, Dobbs Birmingham View Collection), Bottom-detail of second floor arcade (Photograph by the author).

288

Figure 32. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; Pantages Vaudeville House; 1927. Photograph (BPL Archives, O.V. Hunt Photographic Collection # 79). Razed.

289

Figure 33. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; Pantages Vaudeville House, interior side view; 1927. Photograph (BPL Archives, Alvin Hudson Photographic Collection, 35.43). Razed.

290

Figure 34. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; Personal residence for D. O. Whilldin; 1926-1928. Top-front façade, Bottom-detail of stair and newel (Both photographs by the author).

291

Figure 35. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; Personal residence for D. O. Whilldin. Top-Living Room, note fireplace, coffered ceiling, and handcarved maple doors, Bottom-general view of Dining Room ceiling (Photographs by the author).

292

Figure 36. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; Architect’s rendering of proposed Municipal Stadium at Legion Field; 1927-1928. Pencil on tracing paper (Courtesy of the Birmingham Park and Recreation Board). Extant.

293

Figure 37. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; Elevation drawing of Memorial Entrance (extant) and South Entrance (unexecuted) to Stadium. Published image (Birmingham News 28 September 1927).

Figure 38. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; Memorial Entrance to Municipal Stadium at Legion Field, detail of sleeping lion, west side (Photograph by the author).

294

Figure 39. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; Aland Building (Ideal Department Store); Main Elevation; 1928. Ink on vellum (BPL Archives, Whilldin Collection). Extant.

295

Figure 40. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; Residence for Henry Upson Sims; 1928-1929. Top-photograph (BPL Archives, Jefferson County Board of Equalization, Tax Appraisal File 28-5-1-6-1), Bottom-view of entrance hall and circular staircase (Photograph by the author).

296

Figure 41. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; Architect’s rendering of the proposed Medical Arts Building; 1928. Photograph (BPL Archives, Birmingham News Photograph Collection, BN 276). Unexecuted.

296

297

Figure 42. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; The Hotel Thomas Jefferson; 1925-1929. Photograph (BPL Archives, Birmingham News Photograph Collection, BN 513). Extant.

297

298

Figure 43. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; The Hotel Thomas Jefferson, general view of upper floors of building, 17th Street façade (Photograph by the author).

Figure 44. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; The Hotel Thomas Jefferson, lobby ceiling (Photograph by the author).

298

299

Figure 45. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; The Hotel Thomas Jefferson, elevation and detail drawing; nd. Electronic image file from microfilm (Courtesy of Chip Watts of Watts Realty).

299

300

Figure 46. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; Residence for the Mountain Brook Land Company; Perspective rendering and floor plans; c. 1929. Promotional Brochure (BPL Archives, Mountain Brook Land Company Papers, folder 6.5.5.1.22). Status unknown.

300

301

Figure 47. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; Residence for William J. Rushton; 1929. Top-front, Bottom-detail of staircase (Both photographs by the author).

301

302

Figure 48. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; Residence for William J. Rushton, Esq.; Sheet 6 Main elevation. Reprographic (Collection of Mary Catherine Crowe).

302

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Figure 49. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; Residence for William J. Rushton, Esq.; Sheet 3 First Floor Plan. Reprographic (Collection of Mary Catherine Crowe).

303

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Figure 50. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; Residence for Mr. Richard J. Stockham (Charlotte Louis Rushton); 1930. Photograph (BPL Archives, Jefferson County Board of Equalization, Tax Appraisal File 28-8-1-7-30). Extant.

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Figure 51. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; Residence for Mrs. J. Frank Rushton; 1931. Photograph (BPL Archives, Jefferson County Board of Equalization, Tax Appraisal File 28-8-1-7-28). Extant.

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Figure 52. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; Residence for Mrs. George H. Stubbs; 1931. Top-ca. 1938 photograph (BPL Archives, Jefferson County Board of Equalization, Tax Appraisal File 28-8-1-13-1), Bottom-detail view of façade (Photograph by the author).

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Figure 53. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; Residence for Mary Rushton Yancey; 1937. Top-ca. 1938 photograph (BPL Archives, Jefferson County Board of Equalization, Tax Appraisal File 28-8-4-8-12), Bottom-Entrance Hall (Photograph by the author).

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Figure 54. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; Hotel Reich, Gadsden; 1928-1930. Postcard (BPL Archives, Postcard Collection 1081.4.297). Extant.

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Figure 55. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; Residence for Adolph P. Reich; 1929. Photograph (Archives Department, Birmingham Public Library, General Photograph Collection 28.19 and by the author).

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Figure 56. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; Residence for Mrs. John S. Paden; 1929. Top-color tinted photograph (Collection of Mrs. Dean Frank Walburn), Bottom-as it stands today (Photograph by the author). The addition was designed by Whilldin in 1953-54.

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Figure 57. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; additions and alterations to a store building for Charles Black Clothing Company, Tuscaloosa; 1930. Top-elevation rendering (The Tuscaloosa News, 7 December 1930), Bottom-detail of upper part of façade (Photograph by the author).

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Figure 58. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; Twentieth Street Underpass; detail of sidewalk portal; 1931 (Photograph by the author).

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Figure 59. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; sketch of underpass elevation; nd. Pencil on tracing paper (BPL Archives, Whilldin Collection).

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Figure 60. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; Dr. Pepper Syrup Plant; 1931. Top-perspective rendering (The Birmingham News, 17 May 1931), Bottom-detail (Photograph by the author).

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Figure 61. D. O. Whilldin, Architect, Residence for Frederick M. Dickinson, Tuscaloosa; 1933. Top-general view of facade, Bottom-staircase and entrance hall from second floor balcony (Both photographs by the author).

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Figure 62. Associated Architects of Birmingham; D. O. Whilldin, Chief Architect; Smithfield Court Housing Project; 1935-1938. Published Image (C.W. Short and R. Stanley-Brown, Public buildings: a survey of architecture of projects constructed by federal and other governmental bodies between the years 1933 and 1939 with the assistance of the Public Works Administration, Washington, D.C: U.S. Government Printing Office (1939), p. 664). Extant.

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Figure 63. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; Tuscaloosa City Hall and Bama Theatre, 1936-38, as it stands today (Photographs by the author).

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Figure 64. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; Tuscaloosa City Hall and Bama Theatre; Sheet 13, Greensboro Avenue Elevation; January 1936, revised 15 April 1936. Pencil on vellum (Courtesy of the Tuscaloosa County Park and Recreation Authority-PARA).

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Figure 65. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; Tuscaloosa City Hall and Bama Theatre; Sheet 15, Longitudinal Section; January 1936, revised 15 April 1936. Pencil on vellum (Courtesy of the Tuscaloosa County Park and Recreation Authority-PARA).

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Figure 66. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; Tuscaloosa City Hall and Bama Theatre; 1936-38, general view of right side of theatre from balcony (Courtesy of the Tuscaloosa Heritage Commission).

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Figure 67. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; Building for the Brown Service Company; Perspective rendering; 1936. Published image (BPL, Tutwiler Collection of Southern History and Literature, clipping files). Extant.

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Figure 68. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; Building for the Brown Service Company; Sheet 5, elevations, April 1936. Ink on vellum (Archives Department, Birmingham Public Library, Whilldin Collection).

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Figure 69. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; White Dairy Company; 1938. Photograph (Archives Department, Birmingham Public Library, Birmingham News Photograph Collection, BN 182). Razed.

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Figure 70. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; Theatre for the Eighth Avenue Theatre Company; Sheet 5, sections and elevations; 1938. Pencil on vellum (Archives Department, Birmingham Public Library, Whilldin Collection). Unexecuted.

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Figure 71. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; F. W. Woolworth Store; 1939. Photograph (Archives Department, Birmingham Public Library, Birmingham News Photograph Collection, BN 288) and detail (Photograph by the author).

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Figure 72. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; St. Francis Catholic Church, Bessemer; 1946-47 (Photograph by the author).

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Figure 73. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; Pitman Theatre, Gadsden; 1946 (Photograph by the author).

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Figure 74. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; Elk’s Lodge, Gadsden; c. 1950 (Photograph by the author).

Figure 75. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; Medical Clinic for Dr. E. A. Isbell; 1949 (Photograph by the author).

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Figure 76. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; addition to the American National Bank, Gadsden; 1954. Photograph (Courtesy of the Bob Scarboro Photographic Archives). Razed.

Figure 77. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; Mitchell School, Gadsden; 1947. Published image (Clyde A. Donehoo, The Public Schools, 1895-1951: 56 Years of Progress, Gadsden: Gadsden Board of Education, 1951). Extant.

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Figure 78. D. O. Whilldin, Architect; Trinity Episcopal Church, Bessemer; 1953-1954. Top-Photograph (Archives Department, Birmingham Public Library, Jefferson County Board of Equalization, Tax Appraisal File 38-10-2-23-8), Bottom-interior view (Photograph by the author). Extant.

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Figure 79. D. O. Whilldin, Architect, H. R. Steeves, Associate Architect; Trinity Episcopal Church, Bessemer; Sheet 7, Left Side Elevation, 20 April 1953. Pencil on vellum (Archives Department, Birmingham Public Library, Whilldin Collection). Unexecuted.

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Figure 80. D.O. Whilldin, Architect, H.R. Steeves, Associate Architect; Trinity Episcopal Church, Bessemer; Sheet 8, interior elevations and sections, 20 April 1953. Pencil on vellum (Archives Department, Birmingham Public Library, Whilldin Collection). Unexecuted.

From BeauxArts to Modernism: The Alabama Architecture of D.O. Whilldin, 1881-1970

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Transcript of From BeauxArts to Modernism: The Alabama Architecture of D.O. Whilldin, 1881-1970