New York
Chester Holmes Aldrich (1871-12/26/1940) New York, New York (F.A.I.A.)
For many years a partner with William A. Delano under the name of
Delano & Aldrich, a firm which designed many buildings of note, both public
and residential. Born and educated in Providence, Rhode Island, he prepared
for a career in architecture in study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
and in Paris at the Ecole des Beaux Arts. Awarded his diploma at the latter
school in 1900, he returned to New York, and three years later
began practice with Delano. After their first important
commission, Walters Art Gallery at Baltimore (1904), the partners enjoyed
an active and highly successful career, in which their best known works were:
Union Club, Park Avenue, New York; The Colony and Knickerbocker Clubs
of the U.S. at Paris, France; School of Music at Smith College, Northampton,
Massachusetts; Chapel and Dormitories, Hotchkiss School, Lakeville, Connecticut;
Riggs Foundation Building, Stockbridge, Massachusetts; Russell Sage Music Building at
Northfield, Massachusetts; Sterling Laboratories and Sage Hall, Yale University;
Willard Straight Hall at Cornell University; and their outstanding
achievement, the new Post Office Department Building at Washington, D.C.,
completed in 1933.
In domestic architecture, the firm won added distinction. The country estates and homes designed for many prominent persons were noteworthy for their good taste, dignity, and charm. Outstanding examples of these were the Estate of John D. Rockefeller at Pocantico hills, summer home of Otto Kahn at Cold Springs Harbor, Long Island, residence for Vincent Astor, Port Washington, Long Island, Mrs. Dwight Morrow's home at Englewood, New Jersey, and the residence for Osgood Field in Lenox, Massachusetts.
A distinguished member of the profession, Aldrich was admitted to the A.I.A. in 1907, and in 1916 became a Fellow. He was an active member of the New York Chapter, A.I.A., the Architectural League of New York, the Society of Beaux Arts Architects, the National Institute of Arts and Letters, the National Academy of Art, and many social organizations. He remained a bachelor all his life. He spent many years visiting Italy, a country for which he had deep affection, and his death occurred during a stay in Rome.