James Stephens (?-9/29/1938) Seattle, Washington (A.I.A.)

Pioneer architect in the city, active before the great fire on 1889, and in continuous practice through the years until he retired in 1920. Mr. Stephens was a charter member of the Washington State Chapter, A.I.A. in 1894, and served a term as President.

He was a native of Woodstock, Ontario, and the son of an immigrant Scottish cabinetmaker who had earned his ocean passage working as a carpenter on the "Balmoral Castle." The Stephen family migrated to the United States, eventually settling in Detroit and then Chicago, where as a young man James Stephen would have witnessed the reconstruction of Chicago after the fire of 1871. He was a trained cabinetmaker and a professional organ maker who apparently received his architectural training through a course of study with the International Correspondence School of Chicago and began his practice in Hyde Park, Illinois.

James Stephen arrived in Seattle from Pasadena, California, in June 1889, very shortly after the Great Fire, and became immediately involved in the reconstruction program. In 1891 he entered into partnership with Timotheus Josenhans, an Engineer/Architect who was experienced in the design of educational facilities. Stephen and Josenhans' most distinctive projects were the commissions for the design of the Administration Building (1895) and Stevens Hall (1896) on the Washington State University campus. These two structures, as well as James Stephen's Summit School in Seattle. Due to the effects of the economic depression, James Stephen left this partnership and worked for a short while building pre-fabricated ships in Dutch Harbor, Alaska, for the Yukon River trade during the Alaskan Gold Rush.

During the following twenty years of his career, he continued, in partnership with his son Frederick, and also William Brust, to design residences, public, commercial, and school buildings throughout the State of Washington. These projects included schools in the communities of Edmonds, Meadowdale, Mt. Vernon, Olympia, Wenatchee, Woodinville, Leavenworth, Ellensburg, and Hoquiam. He was active in the formation of the Washington State Chapter of the AIA in 1894 and remained active throughout his life. In addition to many professional and civic activities, James Stephen was a devoted family man, an avid outdoorsman, skilled photographer and an accomplished furniture maker.