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Charles Henry Owsley

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Charles Henry Owsley FAIA (1846–1935) was an English-born American architect in practice in Youngstown, Ohio, from 1872 until 1912.

Charles Henry Owsley
Charles Henry Owsley, circa 1915
Born(1846-12-15)December 15, 1846
Blaston, Leicestershire, England
DiedApril 9, 1935(1935-04-09) (aged 88)
Youngstown, Ohio
NationalityAmerican
OccupationArchitect
The Buhl mansion in Sharon, completed in 1891.
The Potters Building and Savings Company Building in East Liverpool, completed in 1904.
The third Mahoning County Courthouse in Youngstown, completed in 1910.
The Mercer County Courthouse in Mercer, completed in 1911.

Life and career

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Charles Henry Owsley was born December 15, 1846, at Blaston Hall in Blaston, Leicestershire in England to William Poyntz Mason Owsley and Henrietta Jane (Farrer) Owsley. He was educated at Allesley Park College, a boys' school, in Coventry, and at the age of 16 intended to pursue a career in the Royal Navy. Owsley had difficulties on a trial voyage and deserted when the ship docked in a Welsh port. His father then arranged for Owsley, then aged 18, to be apprenticed to James Hoskins, an Abergavenny contractor and builder. Owsley later claimed to have worked on projects designed by Matthew Digby Wyatt and George Gilbert Scott during his apprenticeship. He completed his apprenticeship in January of 1868. Following his marriage and the death of his father in the same year, Owsley and two of his brothers immigrated to Canada, initially settling in Toronto. In 1869 he moved to Ohio, purchasing land in Weathersfield Township in Trumbull County near Youngstown, and opened an office as an architect in 1872. His first major work was the second Mahoning County Courthouse in Youngstown, completed in 1876, and over the next decade developed a successful regional practice.[1]

In 1887 he formed a partnership with Swiss-born architect Louis Boucherle, who had worked for Owsley for about three years. During the same period Owsley directed his son, Charles Frederick Owsley, towards an architectural career. After an education at the University of Pennsylvania and the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, the younger Owsley joined his father's office in 1905. In 1908 they began construction of the third Mahoning County Courthouse, replacing Owsley's courthouse of 1876. The new building reflected the younger Owsley's Beaux-Arts training, and he became a partner in the expanded firm of Owsley, Boucherle & Owsley in 1909. The new courthouse, completed in 1910, was Owsley's last major project as a principal architect.[1] Boucherle retired from the partnership in 1911,[2] followed by the elder Owsley in 1912. His son continued the office, but Owsley stayed active. He worked in his son's office, and when the firm was incorporated in 1920 as the Owsley Company, he became vice president. He retired fully c. 1926.[1]

Owsley joined the Western Association of Architects in 1884, and became a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects in 1889 when the two organizations merged.[3]

The majority of Owsley's work was in the Mahoning Valley area of Northeast Ohio and Western Pennsylvania, and several of his significant buildings remain in Youngstown, Ohio, Sharon, Pennsylvania, and Salem, Ohio.[4]

Personal life and death

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Owsley was married in 1868 in Abergavenny to Mary Jane Williams.[1] They had five children, including Charles Frederick Owsley (1880–1953). He was a parishioner of the First Presbyterian Church and a member of the Elks and the Masons. He died August 25, 1935, at home in Youngstown.[5]

Architectural works

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Works by Charles H. Owsley, before 1912

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Works by Charles F. Owsley, after 1912

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Notes

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  1. ^ a b c A contributing resource to the Wick Park Historic District, NRHP-listed in 1990 and expanded in 2001.
  2. ^ The tallest building in Youngstown from its completion in 1902 until the completion of the Wick Building in 1910.[1]
  3. ^ a b c A contributing resource to the Salem Downtown Historic District, NRHP-listed in 1995.

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f William Joseph Palmer (2000), To Raise the Standard of Architecture: The Work and Vision of Charles Henry and Charles Frederick Owsley in Youngstown, Ohio [Unpublished master’s thesis]. Youngstown State University.
  2. ^ Brickbuilder 20, no. 2 (February, 1911): 43.
  3. ^ Charles H. Owsley, AIA Historical Directory of American Architects, no date. Accessed January 30, 2023.
  4. ^ "Did You Know: Charles Henry Owsley and Charles Frederick Owsley" (PDF). Mahoning Valley Historical Society. August 18, 2020. Retrieved March 25, 2022.
  5. ^ "Charles H. Owsley, Architect, Dies at Youngstown Home" in Salem News, August 26, 1935, 1.
  6. ^ a b c d Lu Donnelly, H. David Brumble IV, and Franklin Toker, Buildings of Pennsylvania: Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2010)
  7. ^ Inland Architect and News Record 5, no. 6 (July, 1885): 98.
  8. ^ Inland Architect and News Record 5, no. 4 (May, 1885): 71.
  9. ^ Inland Architect and News Record 8, no. 1 (August, 1886): 14.
  10. ^ Inland Architect and News Record 10, no. 2 (August, 1887): 15.
  11. ^ Sanitary Engineer and Construction Record 15, no. 17 (March 26, 1887): iv.
  12. ^ Wick Park Historic District (Boundary Increase) NRHP Registration Form (2001)
  13. ^ Engineering and Building Record 20, no. 4 (June 22, 1889): 56.
  14. ^ Frank H. Buhl Mansion NRHP Registration Form (1977)
  15. ^ Charitable Institutions of Pennsylvania (Harrisburg: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 1898)
  16. ^ Engineering News 37, no. 12 (March 25, 1897): 109.
  17. ^ "G. A. R. Memorial Chapel, East Liverpool, O." in Park and Cemetery 7, no. 9 (November, 1897): 208–209.
  18. ^ a b Ohio Bulletin of Charities and Correction for the Quarter Ending June 30, 1897 3, no. 2 (1897)
  19. ^ Engineering News 39, no. 13 (March 31, 1898): 109.
  20. ^ Carnegie Public Library NRHP Registration Form (1977)
  21. ^ Electrical World and Engineer 37, no. 26 (June 29, 1901): 1149.
  22. ^ Engineering News 59, no. 12 (March 19, 1908): 92.
  23. ^ Brickbuilder 10, no. 9 (September, 1901): 197.
  24. ^ School Board Journal 23, no. 5 (November, 1901): 11.
  25. ^ "Other Ohio Reports". Ohio Architect and Builder. 3 (3): 50, 54. March 1903. Retrieved 7 May 2012.
  26. ^ a b Wick Park Historic District NRHP Registration Form (1996)
  27. ^ Mahoning County Courthouse NRHP Registration Form (1976)
  28. ^ Mercer County Court House NRHP Registration Form (1998)
  29. ^ Reuben McMillan Free Library NRHP Registration Form (1986)
  30. ^ Engineering–Contracting 32, no. 12 (September 22, 1909): 30.
  31. ^ a b c Salem Downtown Historic District NRHP Registration Form (1995)
  32. ^ McKelvey–Higbee Co. Buildings NRHP Registration Form (1986)
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