Résumé

Project Architect and Construction Supervisor, Heins and LaFarge, Architects, New York, NY, c. 1905.

Partner, Somervell and Coté, Architects, Seattle, WA, 1906-1909. In 1908, Somervell and Coté had an office in Room #408 of the Denny Building in Seattle. (See R.L. Polk and Company's Seattle, Washington, City Directory, 1908, p. 1639.) Between 1910-1917, Somervell operated offices simultaneously in Seattle and Vancouver, BC, Canada.

Partner, Somervell and [John L.] Putnam, Architects, Vancouver, BC, Canada, 1907-1917. Somervell and Putnam were listed as a firm in Seattle's Polk City Directory between 1915-1917;

Principal, W. Marbury Somervell, Architect, Seattle, WA, 1910-1914. Between 1912-1915, Somervell worked in association with Harlan Thomas on at least three Seattle Public Libraries.

Officer, U.S. Army, Corps of Engineers and Chemical Warfare Service, France, 1917-1918; he was commissioned as a Major, U.S. Army, 1917, and served a tour of duty on France; Somervell was at one point elevated to the rank of colonel. A Los Angeles Times article referred to him as "Colonel Marbury Somervell" (06/12/1933); another newspaper report (Los Angeles Times, 10/21/1928) stated that "During the World War he achieved distinction as colonel in the A.E.F., stationed on the Italian front with the Third Division of Engineers."

Somervell remained in Europe helping to restore damaged monuments in France, 1918-c. 1920; he worked in New York, NY, in 1921, and had moved to Los Angeles, CA, c. 1924.

He practiced in Los Angeles with John L. Putnam, c. 1924-1930.

Professional Activities

Member, Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, Board of Architects,, Seattle, WA, c. 1908-1909;

Patron, Seattle Architectural Club, Seattle, WA, 1910.

Member, Seattle Architectural Club, Exhibition Committee, 1910.

Member, American Institute of Architects (AIA), Washington Chapter, 1908-1911.

Chair, Exhibitions Committee, AIA Washington Chapter, 1908. A committee chaired by Somervell undertook the first public exhibition of chapter work held in the state between 05/04/1908-05/18/1908.

Member, Architectural League of the Pacific Coast, c. 1913. Somervell attended the group's conference in Portland, OR, on 06/09/1913. As the conference was held in Portland, that city's architects predominated at the event, which focused issues of city planning and architectural education. Portland delegates registered were: W.G. Holford, F.S. Allyn, Russell E. Collins, Chester H. Freiche, Ellis F. Lawrence, Alfred H. Smith, Edgar M. Lazarus, Howard Everts Weed, E.F. Gilstrap, Ray S. Mason, A.E. Doyle, Folger Johnson, Frank Logan, John G. Wilson, Robert F. Tegan, Charles K. Greene, C.M. Rogers, Lloyd H. Dittrich, W.I. Turner, Morris H. Whitehouse, A.F. Curtiss, Charles C. Rich, Jamieson K. Parker, and H. Goodwin Beckwith. Others attending from outside of Portland included: Warren C. Perry of Berkeley; Carl F. Gould of Seattle; Fred Eustice of Vancouver, BC; F.B. Porter of Vancouver, BC; W. Marbury Somervell of Seattle; Clancey M. Lewis of Seattle; John Bakewell, Jr., of San Francisco; W.R.B. WIllcox of Seattle; C.H. Whitaker of Washington, DC; Harlan Thomas of Seattle; and Joseph S. Coté of Seattle. (See "League to Lead in City Planning," Oregon Daily Journal, 06/10/1913, p. 11.)

Somervell was awarded a Certificate to Practice Architecture in the State of California in 05/1924.

He exhibited a selection of his etchings with a group of 13 artists at Bullock's Department Store, Downtown Branch, in 06/12/1933-07/12/1933.

Relocation

Somervell worked as a Project Architect, Heins and LaFarge, Architects, New York, NY; Heins and LaFarge sent him to work on the Saint James Cathedral, First Hill, Seattle, WA, c. 1905. He worked in Seattle, WA, and Vancouver, BC, over the next two decades.

Somervell traveled frequently, and by c. 1920-1921, he lived in New York, NY, again. At this time, he worked with C.A. Fullerton and R. Rosenbluth on the design of a mammoth World War I memorial stretching from the 59th Street Plaza to Columbus Circle. (See "Colossal Composite of War Memorials," New York Times, 07/04/1920, p. 44).

In 1924, he relocated to Los Angeles, CA. In 1931, Somervell lived at 539 South Mariposa Street, Los Angeles.

Parents

Somervell's parents were Augustus and Mary Eliza Somervell Maccafferty. According to C.B. Bagley, in his "History of Seattle": 'The family name was changed by a ruling of the supreme court for the purpose of enabling them to inherit certain properties and in the fulfillment of a clause in the will of the maternal grandfather of Woodruff M. Somervell.' (See Clarence B. Bagley, History of Seattle, [Chicago: The S.J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1916], v.3, p. 832.)

Somervell's paternal grandfather, Robert Maccafferty, an Irishman who immigrated to the U.S. in 1814, was a noted civil engineer, who worked with the New York politician, DeWitt Clinton, on the building of the Erie Canal. Maccafferty also built the first light house in Cuba, where he died in 1868. His mother-in-law was living in her house in The Highlands, Seattle, WA, at the time of Somervell's death.

Spouse

He married and divorced Helen Hughes, who lived in San Diego, CA, at the time of Somervell's death.

Somervell married Hortense Koepfli, a woman twenty years younger, in 02/1931. She vacationed at the Deep Well Guest Ranch near Palm Springs in 1933.

Children

Somervell had one daughter, Jane, who lived abroad at the time of his death in 1938.

Biographical Notes

His first name has been noted variously as "Woodruf" and "Woodnut"; it was spelled "Woodruff." He often went by the name, "W. Marbury Somervell."

• Cannes, France (Architect's Death)
  Cannes, France

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