Ellis Fuller Lawrence (November 13, 1879 – February 27, 1946) was an American architect who worked primarily in the U.S. state of Oregon. In 1914, he became the co-founder and first dean of the University of Oregon's School of Architecture and Allied Arts, a position he held until his death.
Lawrence concurrently served as campus architect for the University of Oregon and designed many campus buildings, including Knight Library and the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art. Lawrence Hall on the university campus (which replaced his Architecture and Art Building of 1923) was named in his honor in 1956. His body of over 500 projects includes churches, residences, commercial and industrial buildings, funerary buildings, multi-family residences, and public buildings.
In 1988, the private residence he designed for Thomas A. Livesley, a prominent Salem, Oregon businessman and civic leader, was purchased through private donations and donated to the state and now serves as the Governor's official residence (Mahonia Hall).
Biography
Ellis F. Lawrence was born in Malden, Massachusetts and received his secondary education at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts graduating in 1897. He received both his bachelor's and master's degrees at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the first school of architecture in the United States. After graduation in 1902, Lawrence worked for the Boston architectural firms Peabody & Stearns and Andrews, Jaques & Rantoul as well as for architects John Calvin Stevens and Constant-Désiré Despradelle before he left to travel in Europe. He was employed by the Boston architectural firm Codman & Despradelle in 1905.
In 1906, Codman & Despradelle (Boston), sent Lawrence to San Francisco to commence work there, but the 1906 San Francisco earthquake convinced him to stay in Portland, Oregon where he had stopped on the way. He lived in Portland the rest of his life and commuted to his work as dean and campus architect in Eugene.
He was associated with several Oregon-based architecture firms: MacNaughton, Raymond & Lawrence (1906–1910); Lawrence & Holford (1913–1928); Lawrence, Holford, Allyn & Bean (1928–1933); and Lawrence, Holford, & Allyn (1933–1941). Lawrence's final partnership, Lawrence & Lawrence (1944–1946), was with his son, Henry Abbott Lawrence.
Buildings designed by Lawrence
On the National Register of Historic Places
Eugene, Oregon
Alpha Phi Sorority House, University of Oregon
Chambers House
Knight Library, University of Oregon
Hope Abbey Mausoleum
Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, University of Oregon
Women's Memorial Quadrangle (includes Gerlinger Hall, Susan Campbell Hall, and Hendricks Hall), University of Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Belle Court Apartments
Cumberland Apartments
Henry B. Dickson House
Lewis T. Gilliland House
Albert, Oscar, and Linda Heintz House
Dr. Harry M. Hendershott House
James Hickey House
Irvington Tennis Club
William H. Lewis Model House
Alexander D. McDougall House
Natt and Christena McDougall House
Henry B. Miller House
Paul C. Murphy House
Isaac Neuberger House
Harry T. Nicolai House
John V. G. Posey House
O. L. Price House
Samuel G. Reed House
Maurice Seitz House
Blaine Smith House
Stanley C.E. Smith House
Arthur Champlin Spencer and Margaret Fenton Spencer House
John A. Sprouse Jr. House
Alice Henderson Strong House
Fred E. Taylor House
Troy Laundry Building
Wells-Guthrie House
James E. Wheeler House
The Earl Bronaugh House
Other Oregon NRHP structures
Old Kappa Alpha Theta Sorority House, Corvallis
James M. and Paul R. Kelty House, Lafayette
Leaburg Powerhouse, part of the Leaburg Hydroelectric Project Historic District, Leaburg Hall–Chaney House, Milwaukie Elsinore Theater, Salem Mahonia Hall, (Oregon Governor's mansion), Salem
Other buildings
Baker Middle School, Baker City
Cooley House, Lewis and Clark College, Portland
Franklin Building, Salem, contributing structure to the Salem Downtown Historic District Martin House, Eugene McArthur Court, University of Oregon, Eugene Mount Crest Abbey Mausoleum, Salem Ocean View Abbey Mausoleum, Astoria Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity house, Eugene Donald R. Newberry House, Medford, Oregon John Hughes house, Salem Oregon Prentiss Hall, Whitman College, Walla Walla, Washington Hunter Conservatory, Whitman College, Walla Walla, Washington