Résumé

Partner, Thompson-Starrett and Company, New York, NY, c. 1910. Thompson-Starrett and Company designed major skyscrapers across the US between 1901-1940. These included the Woolworth Building (New York, NY, 1913), Palmer House Hotel (Chicago, IL, 1927) and the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, (New York, NY, 1931).

Relocation

Born in KS, Starrett spent much of his youth in Chicago, IL, a hotbed of skyscraper construction, where he could learn the basic techniques of new steel-frame construction. He worked on projects across the US, but resettled in New York, NY, after 1900, and lived there until his death.

Parents

Although his father was a preacher in KS, Starrett four brothers all became either building contractors or architects. His brother, Major William A. Starrett, served during World War I as the Chairman of the Committee on Building Construction of the Council of National Defense, a post overseeing the construction of Army bases on US soil. Later, he served as the President of the American General Contractors Association in 1932. Another brother, Paul Starrett, in 1917, was the President of the important contracting firm, The George A. Fuller Company, in New York, NY, and later went on to found with his brother William and Andrew J. Eken (in 1922) , the important skyscraper construction firm, Starrett Brothers and Eken, building contractors for the Empire State Building (1930-1931) in New York, NY. Goldwin Starrett another sibling, worked as a partner in the New York architecture firm of Starrett and Van Vleck. Still another brother, Ralph Starrett was a partner in the construction company, Starrett and Goss, founded in part by his brother, Paul.

Spouse

Theodore Starrett's first wife was Belle Ostrander, whom he married in 1889; he divorced her in Reno, NV, (known for its "quickie" divorces) in 1910 and remarried Elsie Ayres, a stenographer in the New York Office of Thompson-Starrett and Company.

Children

He had two sons: Robert O. Starrett, who lived in Nevada City, NV, in 10/1917 and Theodore Starrett, Jr., in 1917 a sergeant in the US Army, stationed at Fort Shelby, MS.