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Male, US, born 1883-08-16, died 1946-11-16
Associated with the firms network
Marston and Maybury, Architects; Marston and Van Pelt, Architects; Marston, Sylvanus B., Architect; Marston, Van Pelt and Maybury, Architects
Résumé
Principal, Sylvanus B. Marston, Architect, Pasadena, CA, -1912. In 1912, Marston leased Room #602 of the Chamber of Commerce Building in Pasadena. Four other archtects had space in this office block at that time: C.F. Driscoll (Room #500), J. Constantine Hillman (Room #444), G. Corwin Keyes (Room #304) and Wagner and Gallagher (Room #641). (See Thurston's Pasadena, California, City Directory, 1912,p. 430.)
Partner, Marston and Van Pelt, Architects, Pasaderna, CA, 1913- . In 1918, Marston's office was located in the Chamber of Commerce Building in Pasadena. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Registration State: California; Registration County: Los Angeles Source Information Ancestry.com. U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005, accessed 02/21/2021.)
Partner, Marston, Van Pelt and Maybury, Architects, Pasadena, CA, 10/1922-1927.
Partner, Marston and Maybury, Architects, Pasadena, CA, 1927-c. 1942.
Professional Activities
Marston became a Registered Architect in the State of California in 01/1908. (See "Cornell Alumni Notes," Cornell Alumni News, 06/03/1908, p. 412.)
Member, American Institute of Architects (AIA), 1916.
President, AIA, Southern California Chapter, 1940-1942.
Chairman, Pasadena City Planning Association, Pasadena, CA.
Professional Awards
Marston and Van Pelt received AIA Southern California Chapter Honor Awards for the Arcade Building, Pasadena, CA, and the Garford House, Pasadena, CA, 04/1920.
Fellow, American Institute of Architects (FAIA), 1942.
High School and College
Graduate, Pasadena High School, Pasadena, CA, 1901.
Coursework, Pomona College, Claremont, CA, 1901-1903. (See Pomona College Catalogue Fourteenth College Year, Register 1901-1902, Announcement 1902-1903, [Claremont, CA: Pomona College, 1902], p. 18.)
B.Arch., Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 1907. At Cornell, Marston belonged to Masque and the Delta Phi Fraternity. (See "Delta Phi," Cornell University Yearbook, The Cornellian, 1907, p. 278.) In 1907, Marston was one of fifteen men graduating with a Bachelors of Architecture degree. (See "Bachelors of Architecture," Cornell University Thirty-Ninth Annual Commencement, p. 556.)
College Awards
Graduated with High Honors at Cornell University, 1907.
Relocation
Marston was born in Oakland, CA. His family relocated to Pasadena in the 1890s, where Sylvanus attended high school. In 1900, the Marston Family resided at 560 East California Street in Pasadena. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1900; Census Place: Pasadena Precinct 7, Los Angeles, California; Page: 11; Enumeration District: 0119; FHL microfilm: 1240092, accessed 02/22/2021.)
He and his wife Edith resided at 661 South El Mollino Avenue in Pasadena, CA, in 09/1918. This residential location stood about five blocks west of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) Campus. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Registration State: California; Registration County: Los Angeles Source Information Ancestry.com. U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005, accessed 02/21/2021.)
In 1943, Sylvanus and Edith Marston lived at a residence at 560 East California Boulevard in Pasadena. (See Pasadena, California, City Directory, 1943, p. 430.)
Sylvanus Marston died in Los Angeles County, CA at the age of 63. He was laid to rest in the Mountain View Cemetery and Mausoleum, Altadena, CA.
Parents
His father was Frank Augustine Marston (born 04/30/1845 in ME-d. 07/14/1931 in Pasadena, CA), his mother, Annie Mary Palmer (born 08/12/1847 in Bangor, ME-d. 01/24/1940 in Pasadena, CA). Frank worked as an orchardist in 1900.
Frank and Annie had three children: Abbie Louise Marston Day (born 06/24/1875 in Oakland, CA-d. 01/19/1906 in Palo Alto, CA), Alice M. Marston Hastings (born c. 1876 in CA) and Sylvanus. The 1900 US Census indicated that Abbie was an "artist-teacher" at that time. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1900; Census Place: Pasadena Precinct 7, Los Angeles, California; Page: 11; Enumeration District: 0119; FHL microfilm: 1240092, accessed 02/22/2021.) She married Roger Sherman Day on 12/27/1904 in Pasadena, but died about one year later in Palo Alto, CA. (See Ancestry.com, Source Information Ancestry.com. California, U.S., Select Marriages, 1850-1945 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc, 2014, accessed 02/22/2021.) Alice married a physician, Seman Wood Hastings (1877-1951), on 01/01/1913 in Los Angeles County, CA.
Frank Marston's family had deep roots in Maine, with his parents and all of his siblings having been born there.
His grandfather was the San Francisco architect and engineer Phineas Frost Marston, Sr., (born 02/10/1813 in Danville, ME-d. 03/21/1896 in Oakland, CA) Phineas married twice, first in 1840 to Susan Elizabeth Fisher (born 05/30/1815 in Georgetown, ME-d. 12/22/1864 in San Francisco, CA) and a second time to Sylvanus's step-grandmother Mary Frances Palmer (03/18/1820 in Camden, ME-d. 02/07/1904 in Pasadena, CA)). Mary Palmer first married John Pray on 12/02/1841 in Penobscot, ME, whom she divorced in 06/1850 in the same place. Mary and Phineas married in San Francisco on 11/16/1865.
According to a family genealogy published in 1888: "[Phineas] lived some time in Bangor and in Houlton, then in 1860, went to California and settled in San Francisco. He was an architect and builder, and was employed by the U. S. government in erecting barracks in Houlton, and lighthouses on the Pa- cific coast, as far up as Puget Sound." (See Nathan Washington Marston, The Marston Genealogy: in Two Parts, [Lubec, ME: Nathan W. Marston, 1888]), p. 199.)
Phineas and Susan Fisher had five children: Cordelia Marston (birn 04/22/1843), Frank A. Marston, Susan F. Marston (born 03/08/1847-d. 02/1854), Harriet E. Marston (born 04/27/1849) and Phineas Frost Marston, Jr., (born 06/08/1851). (See Nathan Washington Marston, The Marston Genealogy: in Two Parts, [Lubec, ME: Nathan W. Marston, 1888]), p. 199.)
Spouse
He married Edith Hatfield Marston, (b. 06/09/1882 in MO- d. 09/06/1975 in Los Angeles County, CA), in 1910.
Children
He and Edith had three sons, Keith Palmer Marston, Paul Hatfield Marston, and Bruce Truesdale Marston.
Biographical Notes
Marston's nicknames were "Van" or "Sy."
Marston's World War I draft registration card, written when he was 35, indicated that he was Caucasian, of medium height and build, with grey eyes and brown hair.
SSN: 561-22-1294.
PCAD id: 171
