Résumé

Partner, Dent and Aydelott, Architects, Memphis, TN, 1939-1946; Principal, A.L. Aydelott and Associates, Architects, Memphis, TN, 1946- . Aydelott had a prominent career as a Modern architect in Memphis. According to his obituary by Andy Meek in the Memphis Daily News(06/16/2008): "He was a fervent believer in the (modernist) movement and what it meant for contemporary America. And the world, for that matter. He was articulate, smart, could sell his work and could convince people of his vision. ...He was probably the most prominent modern architect--and you might say the most prominent architect – to practice in Memphis." (See Find A Grave.com, "Alfred Lewis Aydelott," accessed 09/24/2015.) By the mid-1950s, he was viewed as an expert in hospital design.

Teaching

Visiting Critic, Yale University, Department of Architecture, New Haven, CT, 1949; Visiting Critic, Carnegie Mellon University, Department of Architecture, Pittsburgh, PA, 1953-1954.

Professional Service

Aydelott joined the American Institute of Architects (AIA) in 1941.

Professional Awards

Recipient, Hospital of the Year Award, Modern Hospital Publishing Company, 1951; Grand Prize Winner for a Residence, Carrier Corporation Competition, 1952. Recipient, Progressive Architecture Design Awards, Central Apartments, 1954; 1st Honor Award for an Office Building, AIA, Gulf States Chapter, 1954; Fellow, American Institute of Architects, (FAIA), 1964.

College

B.Arch., University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, IL, 1933-1936.

Relocation

Born in Brasfield, AR, Aydelott, lived with his parents in a residence at 401 West 25th Street in Little Rock, AR, according to the US Census of 1920. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation: Year: 1920; Census Place: Little Rock Ward 1, Pulaski, Arkansas; Roll: T625_78; Page: 29B; Enumeration District: 115; Image: 842, Accessed 09/24/2015.) He attended the University of Illinois, in Champaign-Urbana, and spent much of his professional life in Memphis, TN, working in two firms, Dent and Aydelott (1939-1946) and A.L. Aydelott and Associates (organized in either 1946). According to the US Census of 1940, he resided at 641 Graham Street in Memphis, along with his wife, Daisy. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1940; Census Place: Memphis, Shelby, Tennessee; Roll: T627_3970; Page: 2A; Enumeration District: 98-290.) During World War II, he served in the US Marine Corps, stationed in Little Rock, AR, in 1944. He and Daisy lived at 900 West 14th Street, Apartment #3. (See Little Rock City Directory, 1944, p. 49.)

Aydelott and his second wife, Hope, a former society columnist for the Memphis Commerical Appeal, lived at 2080 Peabody Avenue in Memphis in 1952. They retired to a house on Orcas Island, in WA's San Juan Islands, where he resided before moving to Carmel Valley, CA, in the 1990s. (See Monterey County Herald, "Hope Galloway Aydelott," accessed 09/24/2015.) He died in Carmel, CA, at the age of 92.

Parents

His parents were Herbert R. Aydelott (1889-1945) and Louise Katherine Vaden Aydelott (1894-1980). Born in Prairie, AR, Herbert worked as a merchant c. 1918 in Brasfield, AR, and in the retail lumber trade by 1920 in Little Rock. According to the 1930 US Census, Herbert and Louise worked in a "cleaning plant," he as a cleaner and she as an office manager. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation: Year: 1930; Census Place: Little Rock, Pulaski, Arkansas; Roll: 91; Page: 17A; Enumeration District: 0009; Image: 165.0; FHL microfilm: 2339826,accessed 09/24/2015.)

Herbert was not working by 1942. (See Ancestry.com. U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005 and Ancestry.com. U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010., accessed 09/24/2015/) His parents had come from TN, Louise's from AR.

Spouse

He married Daisy Marie Nuckols (1915-2004) on 06/12/1937 in Crittenden County, AR. She was the daughter of John Martin (1871-1925) and Gertrude Brown Nuckols, and became the valedictorian of her Little Rock Central High School Class of 1933. She attended Barnard College and the University of AR on scholarship, and married Eydelott just after college. After her divorce from Alfred Aydelott c. 1950, she retuned to Little Rock, where she worked in the State Treasurer's Office, of which she retired as the chief administrator in 1980.

He remarried the Memphis-native Hope Galloway Aydelott (1920-2010) in 1952 in New York, NY. (After their marriage, they honeymooned in Europe. See Ancestry.com, Source Citation: Year: 1952; Arrival: New York, New York; Microfilm Serial: T715, 1897-1957; Microfilm Roll: Roll 8254; Line: 4; Page Number: 213.) She resided with him until his death, first in Memphis, then on Orcas Island and then in Carmel Valley, CA. She died in Monterey, CA, at the age of 89. Hope's parents were Robert E. Galloway and Mirian Mooney Galloway.

Children

Aydelott had at least two sons, Martin V. Aydelott of Minneapolis, MN, and Alfred L. Aydelott of Weston, MA.

Biographical Notes

There is some disagreement about the date of Aydelott's birth. THe American Institute of Architects Directories of 1956 and 1962 both indicated it to have been on 05/30/1912. His tombstone in Memphis read "1916." As his parents married on 07/27/1915, it is likely that Alfred was born in 1916.

• Brasfield, AR (Architect's Birth)
  Brasfield, AR

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