AMERICAN ARCHITECTS' BIOGRAPHIES:

Surnames beginning with letter L

LABOUISSE, SAMUEL S. (Photo)
F.A.I.A. - An architect, died in New Orleans, December 11, 1919. He was a nephew of the famous architect H. H. Richardson. He was made a member of the American Institute of Architects in 1909 and a Fellow in 1914. XVI - 1919.

LA FARGE, JOHN
N.A. - The noted painter and worker in stained glass, died in the Butler Hospital, Providence, Rhode Island, November 14, 1910. He was born in New York City, March 31, 1835. His father, Jean Frdric de la Farge, a Frenchman who took part in General Leclerc's expedition to Santo Domingo, established himself in the United States in 1806. His maternal grandfather was a miniaturist of some skill and his first teacher. After a classical and legal education in this country, he went to Europe in 1856 and studied art. He received a few criticisms in Couture's studio, but spent most of his time studying the drawings by old masters in the Louvre and in the galleries in Holland, Belgium, and England. After his return to America, he entered a lawyer's office, but soon gave it up. In 1859 he began to study the technique of painting under William Morris Hunt at Newport. At first he painted chiefly landscapes, then figures and still life, and in 1866, when recovering from a severe illness, made some imaginative drawings for the "Riverside Magazine." His first opportunity to do important decorative work came in 1876 when H. H. Richardson, the architect of Trinity Church, Boston, asked him to take entire charge of the interior of that church. This was the first real mural painting in America and marks an epoch in art. Other works of this type include his decorations of St. Thomas' Church, New York, begun in 1877, and which were destroyed by fire in 1905; the panels in the chancel of the Church of the Incarnation were painted in 1885; and also in 1885 he painted the end wall above the altar in the Church of the Ascension, New York, his masterpiece. Other mural decorations by him are in the Church of the Paulist Fathers, New York; the Court House, Baltimore; and the Minnesota Capitol at St. Paul. In the early seventies he became interested in the practical problems of glass making and gradually evolved the method of glass overlays (plating) and the use of opalescent glass, now generally known as American stained glass. He had designed the windows for Trinity Church, Boston, but that was before his experiments with the new method, which he used first in orders for private houses. One of his most important windows, undertaken in 1878, is the so- called Battle Window in Memorial Hall at Harvard University. Others are the Watson Memorial in Trinity Church, Buffalo and the Church of the Ascension, New York. Later came a series of jewel-like flower panels for private houses such as those for Cornelius Vanderbilt, Henry Marquand, and William C. Whitney. His last work of this type, "The Peacock," was purchased by the Worcester Art Museum. In all he made several thousand windows, some monumental and others only small notes in the decorative scheme. He traveled extensively in Europe, Japan, and the South Sea Islands, and his letters and journals have been published from time to time in the magazines. In 1892 he gave a course of lectures at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, which were later published under the title of "Considerations on Painting." The Scammon lectures on the Barbizon School, delivered by him at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1903, were published under the title of "The Higher Life in Art." At the time of his death he was engaged on an autobiography. One of his earliest honors was the award of the Legion of Honor in 1889, which was given him for the window exhibited at the French Exposition of that year. In 1901 he was awarded a gold medal at the Pan- American Exposition at Buffalo. At St. Louis in 1904 he was awarded a diploma and medal of honor for distinguished service in art. In 1909 he was the recipient of the first award of the Architectural League of New York's medal of honor. He was elected an Associate of the National Academy of Design in 1863 and a full Academician in 1869. He was for many years president of the Society of American Artists, was honorary president of the National Society of Mural Painters, an honorary member of the American Institute of Architects, and a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters, the American Academy of Arts, and the Century Association. IX - 1911.

LAMB, CHARLES ROLLINSON
An architect, died February 22, 1942, at his home in Cresskill, New Jersey, aged eighty-two. He was born in New York. He was a member of the New York firm of J. & R. Lamb, which specialized in stained glass and other forms of ecclesiastical and historical art. His specialty was religious, historical, and municipal art. WWAA IV - 1947.

LAMB, HUGH (Photo)
An architect, born in Scotland, died at his home in East Orange, New Jersey, April 3, 1903, aged fifty-four. His work included the Barnard College building and the German-American Building at Liberty and Nassau Streets, New York. IV - 1903.

LAMB, THOMAS WHITE
An architect, died February 25, 1942, in New York City, aged seventy-one. He was born in Dundee, Scotland and came to New York City as a boy. He studied architecture at Cooper Union. He was the head of the New York firm which designed Madison Square Garden, the Pythian Temple, and many theaters throughout the world. WWAA IV - 1947.

LAMPERT, LEON H.
An architect, died at his home in Pasadena, California, January 14, 1934, aged sixty-six. He was the originator of the "bowled auditorium" type of theater after which most modern show buildings are patterned. He was the designer of many theaters in New York, Buffalo, and other cities. WWAA I - 1936-37.

LANGLEY, FREDERICK W.
An architect, died September 20, 1935, in Toronto, Canada, aged sixty-four. For forty-five years he was active in New York, Chicago, Cleveland, and Detroit. WWAA I - 1936-37.

LARNED, CHARLES WILLIAM
Colonel in the United States Army and Dean of the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he was professor of drawing, died at Dansville, New York, June 18, 1911. He was born in New York City, March 9, 1850. He was graduated from West Point in 1870 and in July of the following year was appointed a professor at the Military Academy. He studied art with Robert Weir. In 1892 he was elected a member of the Architectural League of New York. He was a frequent contributor to magazines on educational subjects, particularly those dealing with drawing and design. It was as an educator that Yale desired to honor him by the degree of Doctor of Laws at the 1911 Commencement, an honor that he did not live to see. He did more than any other man for the refinement of the students and for the beautification of the buildings at West Point, his particular pride being the Military Chapel and its stained glass window. IX - 1911.

LAVALLE, JOHN
A.I.A. - An architect, died in Boston, Massachusetts, June 13, 1916. He was elected an Associate of the American Institute of Architects in 1901 and was a member of the Boston Chapter. XIV - 1917.

LaVELLE, PAUL B.
A.I.A. - An architect, died May 4, 1942, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, aged sixty-three. His home was in White Plains, New York. He designed hospitals and other public projects. He was the president of the Westchester County Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. WWAA IV - 1947.

LAWRENCE, ELLIS F. (Photo)
F.A.I.A. - An architect and educator, died February 27, 1946, on the college campus at Eugene, Oregon, aged sixty-six. He was the Dean of the School of Architecture and Allied Arts at the University of Oregon. He was the vice- president of the American Institute of Architects. WWAA IV - 1947.

LEAVITT, CHARLES WELLFORD
A landscape engineer, died April 22, 1928, at his home in Hartsdale, New York. He was born at Riverton, New Jersey in 1871. He began his professional career as a civil engineer, later turning to landscape architecture. Among the more ambitious projects which he designed and supervised in construction were the Saratoga, Sheepshead Bay, Belmont, Toronto, and Empire City race tracks; several country clubs; University of Georgia, Lehigh University, and University of South Carolina. He helped to plan Garden City, Long Island; West Palm Beach and Lakeland, Florida; Mt. Vernon, New York; and other centers. He was a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, American Society of Landscape Artists, Architectural League of New York, and National Conference of City Planning. XXV - 1928.

LE BRUN, MICHEL MORACIN 
A.I.A. - An architect, died at Montclair, New Jersey, September 27, 1913. He had retired from the firm of Napoleon Le Brun and Son after completing the Metropolitan Life Tower in New York City, for which the Medal of Honor of the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects was awarded to the firm. In 1912 he provided a fund of $12,500 to establish an architectural traveling scholarship. He was a member of the Architectural League of New York. XI - 1914.

LE BRUN, NAPOLEON EUGENE HENRY CHARLES (Photo)
F.A.I.A. - An architect, born in Philadelphia, January 2, 1821, died at his home in New York on July 9, 1901. At the age of fifteen he entered the office of Thomas U. Walter, architect of the United States Capitol. He practiced his profession in Philadelphia from 1842 until 1865, when he removed to New York. Among the prominent buildings designed by him in Philadelphia are the Cathedral, the Academy of Music, and the Girard Estate Building. The buildings designed by him in New York were the Masonic Temple, the New York Foundling Asylum, the Metropolitan Insurance Building in Madison Square, and the Board of Education Building. He joined the American Institute of Architects in 1868 and was twice elected president of the New York Chapter. He also served as president of the Willard Architectural Commission, organized to form a collection of architectural models and casts for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. IV - 1903.

LE BRUN, PIERRE L.
F.A.I.A. - An architect, died in New York City, February 14, 1924. His father and brother were both architects, and in partnership with them he contributed many notable buildings to the growth of New York City. The completion of the Metropolitan Life Tower in 1910 became the occasion of the award of the New York Chapter Medal of Honor to the brothers Pierre and Michel. He formed the Willard Collection of Architectural Casts in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and later gave to the Museum the Pierre L. Le Brun Library. A similar gift to the Montclair Art Association established an art library in its museum. In 1910 he established through the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, the Le Brun Traveling Scholarship, which gives $1,000 for six months of travel in Europe to any architect or draughtsman, a citizen of the United States not under twenty-three nor over thirty years old, recommended by a member, and successful in the competition. He was elected an associate member of the American Institute of Architects in 1883 and was made a Fellow in 1889. XXI - 1924.

LEE, CHESTER B.
A.I.A. -An architect, died in Toledo, Ohio, May 14, 1933. He was born in 1876. He completed the course in architecture at the University of Pennsylvania in 1906 and became associated with George S. Mills. Later he formed a partnership with Mills, Rhines, Bellman & Nordhoff. He served as president of the Toledo Chapter of the American Institute of Architects from 1928 to 1930. XXX - 1933.

LEE, JAMES STEARNS
An architect, died June 8, 1937, in Boston, Massachusetts, aged sixty-seven. He was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts. He designed many private homes and planned a number of large summer estates on Cape Cod. WWAA II - 1938-39.

LEEMING, WOODRUFF
An architect, died at his home at New Canaan, Connecticut, November 20, 1919. He was born in Quincy, Illinois in 1871 and was educated at the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He worked for a time on the plans of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and later studied in Paris. After that he returned to the United States and opened his own office. He served as a major in World War I and entered the Army Reserve Corps with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. XVII - 1920.

LEHMANN, FRANCIS SCOTT
An architect, died at Mount Vernon, New York, May 23, 1935, aged forty-eight. Mr. Lehmann was born in Tyro, Ohio and was graduated in architecture from Cornell University in 1910. He had been chief estimator for Todd & Brown, builders of Rockefeller projects, in connection with the restoration of Williamsburg, Virginia and Rockefeller Center, New York. WWAA I - 1936-37.

LENYGON, FRANCIS HENRY
Interior decorator, died June 12, 1943, aged sixty-six. Born in Lincoln, England, he studied in London. He was associated with the firm of Lenygon & Morant and worked for royalty. He came to New York in 1910. He decorated many important houses and lectured at New York University. His writings included "Decoration and Furniture of English Mansions." He was president of the American Institute of Decorators and the Art and Antique Dealers League of America. WWAA IV - 1947.

LEO, RICHARD LEOPOLD
An architect, died at Belle Harbor, Long Island, New York, September 26, 1911, aged thirty-nine. He was a graduate of the School of Architecture, Columbia University in 1895 and had practiced his profession since 1898 under the firm name of Janes & Leo. He was a member of the Architectural League of New York. IX - 1911.

LESLIE, ALEXANDER F. W.
An architect, died January 11, 1914, at his home in Brooklyn, New York, aged fifty-eight. He was born in Milton, Massachusetts and studied architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He came to New York and took up newspaper work. For the last six years of his life, he had been in business as an architect in Brooklyn, where he was associated with Clarence R. Van Buskirk. XI - 1914.

LEVENBAUM, FREDERICK CHARLES
An architect, died in Chicago, December 17, 1918. He was born in San Francisco in 1882 and studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and in Paris. He assisted in designing and building the New Orleans Municipal Art Museum, the industrial town of Langeloth, Pennsylvania, the St. Louis-San Francisco Railroad Station at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and many buildings in Chicago. XVI - 1919.

LEVERING, ALBERT 
An illustrator, died in New York, April 12, 1929. He was born in Hope, Indiana in 1869. He studied in Munich and practiced architecture in San Antonio, Texas for several years, abandoning the work to become a newspaper artist. He had been connected with the Minneapolis Times, Chicago Tribune, and New York American. He also worked on the staffs of "Puck," "Life," and "Harper's Weekly" and did illustrating for "Collier's" and the "Cosmopolitan." He was a member of the Society of Illustrators and the Dutch Treat Club. XXVI - 1929.

LEVITAN, BENJAMIN W.
An architect, died July 22, 1941, in New York City, aged sixty- three. He was born in New York City and worked with Warren & Wetmore. He established his own office in 1907 and designed apartments, banks, and theaters. He was a member of the New York Society of Architects. WWAA IV - 1947.

LEWIS, MARY A.
A decorator, died February 6, 1937, in New York, New York. She was one of the first American women to enter the field of interior decorating, with a studio in New York. She had clients in many of the large cities of the United States. One of her important contracts was for the interior decoration of the Connecticut State Building at the St. Louis Exposition in 1904. She was a charter member of the Pen and Brush Club of New York. WWAA II - 1938-39.

LIENAU, J. AUGUST
A.I.A. - An architect, died at his home in New York, May 6, 1906. His specialty was the designing of private houses. He was a member of the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. VI - 1907.

LIGHT, WILLIAM U.
An architect and member of the firm of Forman & Light of New York, died May 4, 1916 at his home in Riveredge, New Jersey. He was a member of the Architectural League of New York and designed many residences in Riveredge. XIII - 1916.

LIND, EDMUND GEORGE
F.A.I.A. - An architect, died at Wilmington, Delaware, July 14, 1909. He was born in London, England, June 18, 1829 and studied at the Government School of Design at Somerset House. He practiced in London from 1852 until 1855, when he went to Baltimore. His most important works were the Peabody Institute, Masonic Temple, Franklin Square Church, and Johns Memorial Church in Baltimore; the Louise Home and the Arlington Hotel in Washington; and many notable buildings in Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia. During President Grant's administration, he was made assistant supervising architect and built the United States Custom House and Post Office at Mobile, Alabama. He was elected an Associate of the American Institute of Architects in 1857 and a Fellow in 1870. He served as its vice-president in 1871-72 and again in 1876-77. He was a charter member of the Baltimore Chapter of the Institute and at one time was its president. VII - 1910.

LINDENMEYR, LUDWIG
An architect, died December 7, 1916, at his home in New York City, aged thirty- eight. XIV - 1917.

LINDSEY, EDWARD DELANO
An architect, died at his home in Flushing, Long Island, April 30, 1915. He was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, March 30, 1841 and was graduated from Harvard in 1862. Later he entered the School of Fine Arts in Paris, where he remained until 1865, when he returned to Boston. Two years later he began his career as an architect in New York and in 1868 designed the French Theater and the Drexel Building, among the first fireproof buildings in New York. His work on the renovation and redecoration of the Equitable Life Insurance Building in Manhattan attracted the attention of some of the officers of the insurance company, who were also trustees of Princeton University. The following autumn he was appointed to the newly created Chair of Applied Art at Princeton. He resigned the professorship in 1880 and returned to the practice of architecture in New York. He designed large mercantile buildings, including the Consolidated Exchange and the American Lithograph Building. XII - 1915.

LINK, THEODORE C.
F.A.I.A. - An architect, died in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, November 11, 1923. He was born in Wimpfen, Germany in 1850 and was made a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects in 1889. He was the designer of the Union Station and the Washington University Medical Building at St. Louis. He was a member of the commission of architects for the World's Exposition at St. Louis in 1904 and the designer of the Mississippi State Building and the Metallurgy Building. XXI - 1924.

LITTLE, HARRY BRITTON
A.I.A. - An architect, died April 4, 1944, at his home in Concord, New Hampshire, aged sixty-one. He was associated with the firm of Frohman, Robb & Little and designed the Episcopal Cathedral in Baltimore. He was a member of the Boston Society of Architects. WWAA IV - 1947.

LIZIUS, JAMES B.
F.A.I.A. - An architect, died April 23, 1911. He was born in Frankfort-on-the- Main, Germany in 1851. After receiving his education in Germany, he came to this country and in 1875 opened an office in Indianapolis, where he practiced until his death. He designed many of the best public and private buildings in Indianapolis. Mr. Lizius was elected an Associate of the American Institute of Architects in 1887 and was made a Fellow in 1889. IX - 1911.

LONGFELLOW, ALEXANDER WADSWORTH (Photo)
F.A.I.A. - An architect, died February 16, 1934, in Portland, Maine, where he was born August 18, 1854. He was graduated from Harvard University in 1876 and later studied architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. His professional affiliations were in Boston, Massachusetts. The firm of Longfellow, Alden & Harlow designed the Carnegie Library in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and the Cambridge, Massachusetts City Hall. Later in association with his brother, he designed many New England structures, including Phillips Brooks House, Semitic Museum, and chemical laboratories at Harvard University as well as dormitories at Radcliffe College. He was founder and former president of the Marine Museum, a trustee of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and the Boston Athenaeum, and a member of the Boston Art Commission. He was for many years an officer of the Boston Society of Arts and Crafts. WWAA I - 1936-37.

LONGFELLOW, WILLIAM PITT PREBLE (Photo)
An architect and writer, died at Gloucester, Massachusetts, August 3, 1913. He was born in Portland, Maine in 1836, studied at the Lawrence Scientific School of Harvard University, and in 1859 entered the office of Edward Cabot of Boston. For a year he was director of architecture in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, then director of the School of Drawing and Painting connected with the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. In 1869-69 he was secretary of the Boston Society of Architecture and was chairman of the Jury of Fine Arts at the World's Fair in Chicago in 1893. He was the first editor of the "American Architect." His most important books were "A Cyclopedia of Works of Architecture of Italy, Greece and the Levant," and historical essays entitled "The Column and the Arch." XI - 1914.

LORD, AUSTIN WILLARD (Photo) 
A painter and architect, died at Silvermine, Connecticut, January 19, 1922. He was born in Rolling Stone, Minnesota in 1860. He studied architecture in Minneapolis and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he received the Rotch Scholarship in 1888. He was director of the American School at Rome from 1894 to 1896 and was architect to the Isthmian Canal Commission in 1912. From 1912 to 1915 he was professor of architecture and director of the School of Architecture at Columbia University. He was a member of the Salmagundi Club. XIX - 1922.

LORD, JAMES BROWN
An architect, born in New York, April 26, 1859, died at his home in that city on June 1, 1902. He was a graduate of Princeton University and then studied architecture with William A. Potter. He designed many of New York's best known structures, among them being the two Delmonico buildings, the Hospital for Babies, the Appellate Court building. The latter was probably the principal structure erected from his designs and was said to be the first ever constructed in America in which the architect had the entire control of the sculpture and mural decorations as well as the construction of the building. IV - 1903.

LOWELL, GUY (Photo)
F.A.I.A. - An architect, died in Madeira, February 4, 1927. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1870 and was a graduate of Harvard University. He also studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston and the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He became a member of the American Institute of Architects in 1905 and was made a Fellow in 1915. Among the buildings which he designed were the New York Court House, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and the residences of C. K. G. Billings, Paul D. Cravath, Clarence H. Mackay, and Harry Payne Whitney. He also designed gardens for the elder J. Pierpont Morgan, Andrew Carnegie, and the Piping Rock Club. XXIV - 1927.