Allen & Collens

Allen & Collens was an architectural partnership between Francis Richmond Allen and Charles Collens that was active from 1904 to 1931.^[1]: 5 Allen had previously worked in the Boston-based partnerships Allen & Kenway (1878–91) and Allen & Vance (1896–98),^[2] which executed Lathrop House (1901) and Davison House (1902) at Vassar College. The firm was known for its Gothic Revival design work.

Francis R. Allen died in November 1931. Charles Collens continued to practice under the name Collens, Willis and Beckonert. Collens died in September 1956.^[3][4]

Notable works

Building	Image	Location	Year Built	Notes	Ref
Sonnenberg		Canandaigua, New York	1885–1887	For Frederick Ferris and Mary Clark Thompson	[1]
Twin Oaks		Washington, D.C.	1888	For Gardiner Greene Hubbard
Marlborough City Hall		Marlborough, Massachusetts	1905	Designed by Allen, Collens & Berry
Thompson Memorial Chapel		Williamstown, Massachusetts	1905	For Williams College
Thompson Memorial Library		Poughkeepsie, New York	1905	For Vassar College
Union Theological Seminary		New York City	1908–1910	W. 120th Street and Broadway	[5]
United States Post Office		Canandaigua, New York	1910	28 N. Main Street	[5]
William Oxley Thompson Memorial Library		Columbus, Ohio	1910–1912	For Ohio State University	[6]
Andover Hall		Cambridge, Massachusetts	1911	Now Swartz Hall at Harvard Divinity School
Knox United Church		Calgary, Alberta	1912–1913	Designed in association with Calgary architects Lawson & Fordyce.	[7]
Second Church in Newton		Newton, Massachusetts	1914–1916		[8]
Reformed Dutch Church of Poughkeepsie		Poughkeepsie, New York	1921	70 Hooker Avenue	[5]
Central Presbyterian Church		New York City	1922	593 Park Avenue	[9]
Hartford Seminary		Hartford, Connecticut	1923–1929	55 Elizabeth Street and 72–120 Sherman Street. Now the University of Connecticut School of Law	[5]
Leslie Lindsey Memorial Chapel		Back Bay, Boston	1924	Designed for the Emmanuel Episcopal Church	[10]
Trinity United Methodist Church		Springfield, Massachusetts	1924	361 Sumner Avenue
United Congregational Church		Bridgeport, Connecticut	1924–1926	877 Park Avenue	[5] [11]
Stillington Hall		Gloucester, Massachusetts	1925	For Leslie Buswell	[12]
Hammond Castle		Gloucester, Massachusetts	1926–1929	For John Hays Hammond Jr.
Cushing House		Poughkeepsie, New York	1927	Dormitory for Vassar College
Riverside Church		Morningside Heights, New York City	1930	Designed with Henry C. Pelton
Universalist National Memorial Church		Washington, D.C.	1930	1810 16th Street, Northwest
Newton City Hall and War Memorial		Newton, Massachusetts	1931	1000 Commonwealth Avenue	[5]
First Parish Church		Waltham, Massachusetts	1932–1933	87 School Street	[5]
The Cloisters		Fort Tyron Park, New York City	1934–1938	Designed by Charles Collens	[13] [14]

References

1. Larry E. Gobrecht (December 1986). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Canandaigua Post Office". New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Retrieved 2009-06-14. See also: "Accompanying 14 photos".
2. Marquis, ed.Who's Who in New England 1915.
3. "F. R. Allen Dead; Boston Architect". New York Times. November 8, 1931.
4. "Charles Collens Dies; Designed Buildings Here". Hartford Courant. September 20, 1956. p. 5. Archived from the original on January 31, 2013.
5. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.^{[dead link]}
6. "William Oxley Thompson Memorial Library". Austin E. Knowlton School of Architecture Digital Library. The Ohio State University. Retrieved October 6, 2016.
7. "Allen, Francis Richmond," dictionaryofarchitectsincanada.org, Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada, 1800–1950, n. d. Accessed May 12, 2021.
8. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
9. "Central Presbyterian Church". nycago.org. Archived from the original on 2015-12-29.
10. "Architects & Craftsmen of Lindsey Chapel, Emmanuel Church, Boston". Emmanuel Church. Archived from the original on 2012-03-08. Retrieved 2012-06-30.
11. Kate Ohno and John Herzan (May 1983). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: United Congregational Church". National Park Service. and Accompanying 5 photos, from 1983
12. "Ron Hazelton House Tour". Good Morning America. January 6, 2006. Retrieved March 16, 2015.
13. "Cloisters Opened on Tryon Heights". The New York Times. May 11, 1938.
14. "Architects File Plans For the New Cloisters". The New York Times. April 6, 1935.("Plans of the Cloisters Building ... were filed yesterday by Allen, Collens & Williams, the architects.")

External links

Allen & Collens works. Held by the Department of Drawings & Archives, Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University.