Collections

Biographical Information

William Lee Stoddard (1868-1940) was an architect of New York City in the early 20th century. He spent his early life studying architecture at Columbia University an then took an apprenticeship with two Atlanta architects. Following this he worked for a New York building firm before starting his own practice. As an independent architect Stoddard was active throughout the eastern United States in the years prior to the Great Depression. Most of his projects are office buildings or large hotels, the later building type is Stoddard's most famous and recognized specialty in architecture. In the 1910's and 1920's he and his firm was involved in creating many grand Beaux Arts style hotels in both older urban centers like Baltimore, Atlanta, and Charleston and more recently prominent small cities such as Elizabeth City, Greensboro, Raleigh, and Asheville. An excellent local example of this is the Battery Park Hotel in downtown Asheville. Many of these new Hotels were keystone buildings in theses emerging cities and were monuments to prosperity and progress. Most of Stoddard's famous structures still stand and remain important local landmarks. Unfortunately like many architects of this period Stoddard's practice was severely compromised by the economic fallout from the 1929 Depression. He was the 39th officially registered architect in the North Carolina Board of Architecture registry book.

http://ncarchitects.lib.ncsu.edu/people/P000117

 

Related Oral Interviews

The Buildings

Battery Park Hotel (1923-1924)

Bon Marche (1923)

Concord National Bank and Hotel (1925)

George Vanderbilt Hotel (Ca. 1924)

Goldsboro Hotel (1924-1926)

Hotel Charlotte (1924)

Independence Building (1908-1909; 1927-1928 [addition])

Johnston Building (1924)

Nissen Building (1926)

O. Henry Hotel (1918-1919)

Robert E. Lee Hotel (1919; 1929)

Sheraton Hotel (1921)

Sir Walter Hotel (1922-1924)

Virginia Dare Hotel and Arcade (1927)

Inventory of Architecture

Selected Correspondence

Typological Motifs in Stoddard's Work

Bibliography

Catherine W. Bishir and Michael T. Southern, A Guide to the Historic Architecture of Eastern North Carolina (1996).

Catherine W. Bishir and Michael T. Southern, A Guide to the Historic Architecture of Piedmont North Carolina (2003).

Catherine W. Bishir, Michael T. Southern, and Jennifer F. Martin, A Guide to the Historic Architecture of Western North Carolina (1999).

Charlotte Vestal Brown Papers, Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, North Carolina.

North Carolina Board of Architecture, Record Book 1915-1992. Microfilmed by North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, North Carolina.

John E. Wells and Robert E. Dalton, The Virginia Architects, 1835-1955: A Biographical Dictionary (1997).

Henry F. Withey and Elsie Rathburn Withey, Biographical Dictionary of American Architects (Deceased) (1970).

http://ncarchitects.lib.ncsu.edu/people/P000117

 

About this site