Mifflin E. Bell

Mifflin Emlen Bell
Born(1847-10-20)October 20, 1847
East Bradford Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania
DiedMay 31, 1904(1904-05-31) (aged 56)
Chicago, Illinois
OccupationArchitect
BuildingsSeveral US Post Offices, Courthouses, and Customhouses
U.S. Post Office and Courthouse (Keokuk, Iowa)

Mifflin Emlen Bell (October 20, 1847 – May 31, 1904), often known as M.E. Bell, was an American architect who served from 1883 to 1886 as Supervising Architect of the US Treasury Department. Bell delegated design responsibilities to staff members, which resulted in a large variety of building styles, including Second Empire, Châteauesque, Queen Anne and Richardsonian Romanesque.

Life and career

Bell was born on a farm in East Bradford Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania to Chalhly Bell & Mary Emlen. He married Addie Vanhoff on June 7, 1871, and by 1876 he was living in Springfield, Illinois with his wife and two children, working as Assistant Superintendent of the statehouse. Bell's tenure as Supervising Architect for the US Treasury began on November 1, 1883, with an annual salary of $4,500 (equivalent to $155,491 today). He was member of the Joint Commission to Complete the Washington Monument, and his name is engraved on the north face of the monument's capstone. Bell submitted his resignation from the position by mid-1887 and moved to Chicago. In Chicago, Bell was appointed as superintendent of repairs for the city's federal buildings, and was in charge of federal buildings at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. He died in Chicago of pneumonia in 1904.

Many of his works survive and a number of these are listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).

Works

References

  1. 1 2 John Carroll Power; Sarah A. Power; Old Settlers' Society of Sangamon County (Ill.) (1876). History of the early settlers of Sangamon County, Illinois. Edwin A. Wilson & Co. p. 740. Retrieved December 19, 2011.
  2. ↑ "Illinois, Cook County Deaths, 1878-1922". FamilySearch. Retrieved September 20, 2013.
  3. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 17, 2011. Retrieved June 21, 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) HCRS nomination form
  4. ↑ "United States Census, 1850". FamilySearch. Retrieved September 20, 2013.
  5. ↑ Spofford, Ainsworth Rand (1887). American Almanac and Treasury of Facts, Statistical, Financial, and Political. Archived from the original on September 21, 2013. Retrieved May 24, 2016. American almanac and treasury of facts, 1887
  6. ↑ Lee, Antoinette J. (April 20, 2000). Architects to the Nation: The Rise and Decline of the Supervising Architect's Office. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195351866. Archived from the original on July 4, 2014. Retrieved May 24, 2016. Architects to the nation By Antoinette Josephine Lee
  7. ↑ "M.E. Bell, Architect, Dead". Chicago Daily Tribune. June 2, 1904. p. 9. Archived from the original on August 11, 2014. Retrieved August 6, 2014 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  8. ↑ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "The American Architect and Building News". XX (560). September 18, 1886: 134. Archived from the original on February 5, 2015. Retrieved March 9, 2015. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  10. ↑ https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/78b6fe6a-cb96-43fd-88e9-29fbd72a4627 [dead link]
  11. ↑ Maine Historic Preservation Commission (January 11, 1974). "National Register of Historic Places Registration Form" (PDF). NPS.gov. National Park Service. Retrieved February 8, 2015.
  12. ↑ NRHP nom with accompanying photos
  13. ↑ "Monroe County Courthouse". Wisconsin Historical Society. January 2012. Archived from the original on February 16, 2015. Retrieved February 15, 2015.
  14. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on February 10, 2018. Retrieved July 12, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)