Norris Garshom Starkweather (1818-1885) was an American architect.[1]
Early life
editHe was born in 1818 in Windham County, Vermont, the son of Garsholm Starkweather, a farmer-carpenter and grist-and-saw mill owner, and Sally Starkweather.[1][2] He was the youngest of six children.[2] From around 1824 to 1834 the family lived in Canaan, Vermont.[2]
He was apprenticed to a builder in 1830 and by 1845 had become a contractor in Massachusetts.[1]
Career
editHe had established an architectural practise by the mid-1840s and he moved to Philadelphia in the mid-1850s, specialising in church designs.[1][2] According to the records of the Court of common pleas Starkweather started work with Joseph C. Hoxie in November 1852 and became a full partner in 1854.[2] The partnership with Hoxie broke down and was dissolved by July 1854.[2] The Common Pleas case was to divide the assets of the office but this took until 1858.[2] He appeared in Philadelphia city directories as an architect in 1854.[2]
The First Presbyterian Church, Baltimore was probably why he moved to Baltimore.[1] He also designed Italianate villas in Maryland and Virginia.[1]
In 1860 he opened an office in Washington, D.C.[1] After the Civil War became the partner of Thomas M. Plowman in the architectural and engineering firm of Starkweather & Plowman (1868–1871).[1] Little is known of his career following the Panic of 1873 though he was listed in Washington directories until 1881.[1] George A. Frederick commented that after an erratic career Starkweather had moved to New York.[1]
In the middle of 1880 he moved to New York and became a partner of Robert Napier Anderson in the firm Starkweather and Anderson at 106 Broadway.[1] From 1881 to about 1884 he was the partner of Charles E. Gibbs, with whom he designed the Potter Building, the Second Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church (since demolished) and .[1] In 1881 their offices were in the World Building owned by Orlando B. Potter.[1]
From 1882 until his death he was an associate of the American Institute of Architects.[2]
Death
editHe died in December 1885 before the Potter building was completed.[1] He was buried in Bridgeport, Connecticut.[1]