PCAD Display Options
PCAD Display Options
Select theme to display preview image.
Male, UK/US, born 1856-08-05, died 1927-05-16
Associated with the firms network
Houghton, E.W., and Son, Architects; Houghton, Edwin W., Architect; Saunders and Houghton, Architects
Résumé
Apprentice, uncle's architectural office, England, c. 1872. The biographical text, Sketches of Washingtonians, said of his work experience: "He acquired his professional education in the office of this uncle and later was in the employ of his brother, Thomas M. Houghton." (See Sketches of Washingtonians, Containing Brief Histories of Men of the State of Washington Engaged in Professional and Political Life, in Manufacture, Commerce, Finance and Religion, Wellington Wolfe, ed., [Seattle: Wellington Wolfe and Company, 1906], p. 201.)
Apprentice, Thomas M. Houghton, Architect and Surveyor, Chelsea, London, UK, c. 1875. (Thomas M.Houghton [born c. 1846 in Hartley Wintney, Hampshire, England] was Edwin's older brother). The 1881 English Census indicated that Thomas worked as an architect in the Battersea section of London. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation: Class: RG11; Piece: 642; Folio: 96; Page: 4; GSU roll: 1341148, Source Information: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 1881 England Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004, accessed 02/26/2020.)
Joiner, Shaw-cum-Donnington, England, 1881.
Farmer, El Paso, TX, 1884. Like his father, Edwin Houghton tried his hand at farming, as well.
Principal, Edwin Walker Houghton, Architect, Pasadena, CA, c. 1885-1889. Architect Charles Willard Saunders (1857-1935) also worked in Pasadena at this time. The two met there, although Saunders was actually practicing with his wife during this period. In 1888, Houghton maintained his own office in Room #11 of the Hopkins Building in Pasadena, while Saunders and Saunders had an office in Room #14 of the Fish Building. (See "Business Directory ofPasadena," Los Angeles, California, City Directory, 1888, p. 1019.)
Partner, Saunders and Houghton, Architects, Seattle, WA, 09/1889-1891.
Principal, E.W. Houghton, Architect, Seattle, 1889, 1892-1912. Houghton had an office in Room #25 of the Squire-Latimer Building in 1895. (See R.L. Polk's Seattle City Directory, 1895, p. 405.) By 1900 and 1901, Houghton leased office space in Room #411 of the Collins Building in Seattle. (See Polk's Seattle Directory Company's Seattle City Directory, 1900, p. 536 and R.L. Polk and Company's Seattle, Washington, City Directory, 1901, p. 614.)
Edwin Houghton opened an office in Vancouver, BC, Canada, during the time he designed the Leigh-Spencer Building there. As noted by architectural historian Donald Luxton, this office operated in Vancouver between 1910 and 1913. The firm produced designs for several realized and unrealized projects in BC, including the Dean and Barrett Theatre Project, New Westminster, (unbuilt, 1907), Kinemacolor Theatre in the Van Horne Building, Vancouver, (1912-1913), and the Vancouver Opera House Project, Vancouver (unbuilt, 1913). (See Donald Luxton, "Houghton, Edwin Walker, 1856-1927," in Building the West The Early Architects of British Columbia, Donald Luxton, ed., [Vancouver, BC: Talonbooks, 2003], p. 468.)
Partner, E.W. Houghton and Son, Architects, Seattle, WA, 1913-1920. In 1914, Edwin Houghton practiced with son Gordon in an office in Room #414 of the Collins Building in Seattle. (See R.L. Polk and Company's Seattle City Directory, 1914, p. 926.) As per Donald Luxton, Edwin Houghton and his son, Gordon, continued the operation of the Vancouver, BC, office: "By 1912 Houghton was in partnership with his son, Gordon, and E.W. Houghton & Son maintained an office in Vancouver until 1913." (See Donald Luxton, "Houghton, Edwin Walker, 1856-1927," in Building the West The Early Architects of British Columbia, Donald Luxton, ed., [Vancouver, BC: Talonbooks, 2003], p. 468.)
Partner, E.W. Houghton and Sons, Architects, Seattle, WA, 1920-1927. In 1926, E.W. Houghton and Sons had its office in Room #522 of the Railway Building in Seattle. (See Seattle, Washington, City Directory, 1926, p. 768.)
Professional activities
Member, American Institute of Architects (AIA), Washingotn Chapter, 1902-1927. Houghton was one of the founding members in 1894 of the group that would develop into the Washington Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.
Member, Commercial Club, Seattle, WA.
Member, Seattle Chamber of Commerce, Seattle, WA.
High School/College
Houghton received his secondary education in public and private schools in Birmingham, England.
B.S., King Edward's College, Birmingham, England.
Relocation
Born in Hartley Wintney, a town in the northeast of Hampshire, England. Edwin Walker Houghton's family lived on Hartley Row Street in 1861, the year of an English Census. Two servants and a boarder also lived with them at this time. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation: Class: RG 9; Piece: 707; Folio: 4; Page: 1; GSU roll: 542688, Source Information: 1861 England Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005, accessed 02/26/2020.)
Edwin continued to live with his family who resided in Crondall, Hampshire, England, according to the 1871 English Census. His father farmed 14 acres here. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation: The National Archives; Kew, London, England; 1871 England Census; Class: RG10; Piece: 1230; Folio: 73; Page: 13; GSU roll: 827830, Source Information: 1871 England Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004, accessed 02/26/2020.)
In 1881, Edwin lived with his brother Albert H. Houghton, his wife and son on Shaw Lane in the city of Shaw-cum-Donnington, West Berkshire, Berkshire, England. He and his brother were reported to have been working as joiners. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation: Class: RG11; Piece: 1272; Folio: 100; Page: 30; GSU roll: 1341310, Source Information: 1881 England Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004, accessed 02/26/2020.)
Houghton immigrated to the US in 1884; he worked as a farmer in El Paso, TX for about four years before relocating to Pasadena, CA. He styled himself an architect in Pasadena for a brief time before he moved agian to the Washington Territory (soon to become a state) c. 1888.
He arrived in Port Townsend, WA, a promising town in Jefferson County, in early 1889, and to Seattle soon thereafter, drawn to the city after the Great Fire of that year.
R.L. Polk's Seattle City Directory, 1895, (p. 405), indicated that he lived in the Brighton Beach neighborhood of southeast Seattle on Lake Washington.
Margaret and Edwin Houghton lived in the Occidental Hotel, in the center of Seattle's Pioneer Square, in 1900 and 1901. (See Polk's Seattle Directory Company's Seattle City Directory, 1900, p. 536 and R.L. Polk and Company's Seattle, Washington, City Directory, 1901, p. 614.)
Between 1914 and 1926, at least, Houghton resided with his wife at 802 17th Avenue in Seattle. (SeeR.L. Polk and Company's Seattle, Washington, City Directory, 1914, p. 961 and Seattle, Washington, City Directory, 1926, p. 768.)
Houghton, aged 70, died of a heart attack at his office in Seattle. The Seattle Post-Intelligencersaid of him: "Stricken suddenly late yesterday afternoon, Edwin W. Houghton, pioneer Seattle resident and one of the most prominent architects in the United States, was found dead at this desk in his offices in the Railway Exchange Building when his wife instituted [a] search for him after he failed to return home for dinner. Houghton's death was due to an attack of heart disease following an illness of influenza, which he recently suffered, in the opinion of Dr. W.J. Jones, county coroner." (See "E.W. Houghton, Architect, Dies at Desk Here," Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 05/17/1927, p. HH2.)
He was buried at the Evergreen-Washelli Memorial Park, Seattle, WA. The well-known Anglican cleric, Herbert H. Gowen(1864-1960), father of the architect Lancelot Gowen(1894-1958) conducted the funeral service. (See "E.W. Houghton Funeral Today, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 05/18/1927, p. 5.)
Parents
His father was Thomas Houghton (born c. 1818 in Edgbaston, Warwickshire, England), who juggled multiple businesses during his working life. He worked as a carpenter in Harley Wintney, England in 1841. (See Ancestry.com, Source Information: Ancestry.com. 1841 England Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc, 2010, Original data: Census Returns of England and Wales, 1841. Kew, Surrey, England: The National Archives of the UK (TNA): Public Record Office (PRO), 1841, accessed 02/26/2020.) Ten years later, the 1851 English Census recorded Thomas's occupation as a "builder and grocer employing 7 men." By 1861, he worked as a grocer in the town of Hartley Wintney. The census also recorded that he was a coal merchant and a farmer, employing three men and two boys. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation: Class: RG 9; Piece: 707; Folio: 4; Page: 1; GSU roll: 542688, Source Information: 1861 England Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005, accessed 02/26/2020.)
His mother was Eliza Augusta Brown Houghton (born c. 1824 in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England).
In 1861, the Houghton household included seven children and four other people. Children were: Thomas Marcus (born c. 1846 in Hartley Wintney, England), Eliza Augusta (born c. 1848 in Hartley Wintney, England), Catherine (born c. 1851 in Hartley Wintney, England), Albert (born c. 1853 in Hartley Wintney, England), Arthur Henry (born c. 1858 in Hartley Wintney, England) and Miriam Sarah (born c. 1860 in Hartley Wintney, England). All of the Houghton children were born in the Hartley Row Neighborhood of Hartley Wintney, Hampshire, England. Thomas Marcus Houghton worked as a grocer's shopman in 1861, while the rest of the children attended school. The 1861 English Census also noted the presence of two servants, Elizabeth Carter (born c. 1840 in Newnham, Hampshire, England) and Sarah Ann Tocock (born c. 1848 in Brentford, Middlesex, England), and two boarders, Fanny Caroline Lacey (born c. 1842 in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England) and presumably her brother, Thomas Samuel Lacey (born c. 1851 in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England).
Thomas Marcus, Edwin, Arthur, and Miriam lived in with their parents in the Crookham Common district of Crondall, Hampshire in 1871. Thomas worked as a farmer on 14 acres of his own land, while Eliza operated a "ladies school." Thomas Marcus Houghton was recorded as being an unemployed joiner.
Spouse
Houghton married Margaret Ann Crudge in 1884.
Children
Edwin W. Houghton practiced architecture with his son between 1913-1927. In 1900, the Houghtons had had two children, only one of whom, Gordon (born c. 1892 in TX), was alive, according to the sometimes accurate US Census of that year.
Gordon Houghton, who also became an architect, married Caroline Kelly (born c. 1896 in NY) on 06/14/1917 in Seattle, WA. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Washington State Archives; Olympia, Washington; Washington Marriage Records, 1854-2013; Reference Number: kingcoarchmr_21870, accessed 02/26/2020.) In 1927, Gordon T.A. Houghton worked for the Western Union Telegraph Company in Portland, OR.
Biographical Notes
A City of Seattle web site on the Maud Building, (see Web Sites), indicated that Houghton and Saunders may have met each other in California before incorporating together in Seattle, WA. In his obituary of 1927, the writer for the Washington State Chapter American Institute of Architects Monthly Bulletin, stated: "During his active career many of the older buildings on Seattle were designed by Mr. Houghton and he was particularly distinguished as a designer of theatres. A genial personality and never failing optimism, were characteristic of the man and it seemed fitting that this should continue to the end, which came suddenly while at his office desk." (See "Edwin Walker Houghton," Washington State Chapter American Institute of Architects Monthly Bulletin, vol VII no 5, May 1927, n.p.)
PCAD id: 1561
