Maine
John Calvin Stevens (1855-1/25/1940) Portland, Maine (F.A.I.A.)
A leading architect in Maine, Mr. Stevens maintained an office in Portland from 1883 until his death in 1940. In 1923 he took into partnership a son, John Howard Stevens, and after 1944 when the latter's son, John Calvin Stevens the second, entered the firm, three generations of the family practiced together.
Mr. Stevens was born in Boston, Massachusetts, his parents were originally from Maine. At the age of eighteen he graduated at the Portland High School, and soon after entered the office of Francis H. Fassett (a pioneer architect in the city) for professional training. In 1883 he was taken into partnership, but withdrew the next year to practice jointly with Albert W. Cobb, and until 1891 carried on work under the name of Stevens & Cobb. In addition to the practice, the partners prepared material for a book, "Examples of American Domestic Architecture", which was published with illustrations in 1888.
Through the following years, he won wide recognition in designing both public and private buildings. Among his major achievements was the Eastern Maine Insane Hospital in Bangor, built in 1888; the Portland Athletic Club (no longer standing); the three-story mansion in Portland which is now the Sweat Memorial Art Museum (1909); the new Surgery and Medical School at the State Memorial Hospital; City Hall in Portland (1911) designed together with the New York firm of Carrere & Hastings; the State Sanitarium in Hebron, Maine; and the City Hall in Biddeford. Earlier in his career, he established a reputation in designing fine homes in the state, among them the residence of the former Governor, John J. Hill in Augusta, dating from 1900, and the John B. Byrd house in Bath. In that field of work, Mr. Stevens was noted for his skillfully executed pen and ink drawings of country houses.
During the period that his son was associated with him, together they planned many and varied types of buildings on which the senior architect's advice was followed. Noted examples of their work were Power Stations for the Maine Central Power Company, 1920-1925, alterations and Annex to the North Portland School, 1922; the Pine and Kelsey Street Schools in South Portland, 1922-1923; Portland Boy's Club, 1930; Wyman Dam and Power Stations at Bingham, 1931; U.S. Post Office in Portland, 1934, and in Eastport, temporary residences and officers' permanent quarters at the Passamaquoddy Tidal Project, 1931. In his latter years, 1936-1936, he was identified with the design of a Dormitory at the State Hospital in Augusta; Field House at Bowdoin College, and additions to the Fryeburg Academy, completed in 1939.
During his long career, Mr. Stevens maintained membership in a number of professional and cultural societies. Elected to the American Institute of Architects in 1881, and advanced to Fellowship in 1889, he was first affiliated with the Boston Society of Architects. After being transferred to the Maine Chapter in 1934, the year it was organized, he was chosen the first President. He was also a member of the Architectural League of New York, the Maine Society of Civil Engineers, the Portland Society of Art (and after 1920 its president for several years), and the American Federation of Art.
While still active professionally, Mr. Stevens passed away in 1940 at the age of 85.