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Male, born 1894-12-16, died 1958-02-10
Associated with the firm network
Résumé
Officer, U.S. Army Infantry, 1917-1919.
Architectural Assistant, John Galen Howard, Architect, San Francisco, CA, 1922.
Principal, Lance E. Gowen, Architect, Seattle, WA, 1926-c. 1950.
Major, U.S. Army, Coast Artillery Officer, 1943-1946.
Teaching
Instructor, University of Washington, Seattle (UW), Department of Architecture, Seattle, WA, 1924-1925.
Assistant Professor, University of Washington, Seattle (UW), Department of Architecture, Seattle, WA, 1925-1929.
Associate Professor, University of Washington, Seattle (UW), Department of Architecture, Seattle, WA, 1929-1937.
Professor, University of Washington, Seattle (UW), Department of Architecture, Seattle, WA, 1937-1958. Dean A.P. Herrman eulogized Gowen in the Yearbook of the University of Washington, College of Architecture, 1957-1958: "The College, the profession, and the students who had contact with Professor Gowen will long remember him as a dedicated, devoted teacher. He had the ability to inspire his students to do their best work. He was known as an imaginative and sensitive designer, and although his practice was limited he has left behind a most refined and sensitive performance wherever he was asked to build. He had a quiet, gentle manner, was kind and considerate of others and always the perfect gentleman. His life will long remain a source of inspiration to all who knew him." (See "Professor Lance E. Gowen,"Yearbook of the University of Washington, College of Architecture, 1957-1958, n.p.)
Professional Activities
Member, American Institute of Architects, Washington State Chapter.
Secretary, American Institute of Architects (AIA), Washington State Chapter, c. 1935;
President, AIA, Washington State Chapter, 1936-1937 and 1937-1938.
College
B.Arch., University of California, Berkeley (UCB), Berkeley, CA, 1916; Gowen was the President of the Architecture Association at UCB during the spring term of 1920.
M.Arch., University of California, Berkeley (UCB), Berkeley, CA, 1921; He was at UCB at the same time as Lionel Pries (1897-1968) who also became a long-time faculty member at the University of Washington. Gowen and Pries were also there at the same time as the noted San Francisco architect William Wilson Wurster (1895-1973). Coursework, Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, France, 1922-1924; Gowen also studied at the University of Poitiers, France, c. 1922.
College Awards
American Field Service Fellow, Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, France, 1922-1924.
Member, Tau Sigma Delta Honorary Architetural Society.
Relocation
Born in Westminster, BC, Canada, Gowen's home address was at 5005 22nd Avenue NE, Seattle, WA, on 05/28/1917. At this time, he was beginning as an officer in the US Army at the Presidio in San Francisco, CA.
Parents
His father was the Anglican minister, Dr. Herbert Henry Gowen (1864-1960), born in England, who resettled in Seattle, WA, from Vancouver, BC, Canada, in 1896. Gowen was a Professor of Oriental Languages at the University of Washington Seattle (UW), and was Departmental Chair c. 1938. Prof. Gowen was naturalized in the US District Court, Western District, in Seattle on 09/10/1910.
Lance Gowen's mother was Annie Kate Green.
Spouse
He married May Trimble (1900-1991) in 1928.
Her parents were William Pitt Trimble, a financier, and Cannie Ford Trimble. The family owned real estate in the area; it purchased an island property in 1903, which they named "Trimble Island," later called Blake Island. May grew up in Seattle attending primary education in Seattle, and secondary schools in San Francisco and the East. In the mid-1920s, May went to Europe to study art; there she met Gowen. They married in Trinity Episcopal Church, where Lance's father served as Rector. May had a brother, Webb Trimble.
Biographical Notes
Gowen's Draft Registration Card of 05/28/1917 indicated that he was of medium height and build with "light" hair and blue eyes.
Gowen traveled throughout Europe and North Africa during 1922-1924. He applied for a US Passport on 06/05/1922, indicating that he would set sail for Europe on 06/29/1922 aboard the S.S. France. During his two years abroad, he intended to study in France, and travel in Greece, Italy, the British Isles, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland and Germany. At other times, Gowen made trips to Mexico and the Far East.
Arthur P. Hermann, Director of the School of Architecture, and a long-time teaching colleague of Gowen, eulogized him in 1958: "The College, the profession and the students who had contact with Professor Gowen will long remember him as a dedicated, devoted teacher. He had the ability to inspire his students to do their best work. He was known as an imaginative and sensitive designer, and although his practice was limited he has left behind a most refined and sensitive performance wherever he was asked to build. He had a quiet, gentle manner, was kind and considerate of others and always the perfect gentleman. His life will long remain a source of inspiration to all who knew him." (See "Professor Lance E. Gowen," University of Washington, College of Architecture Year Book, 1957-1958, frontispiece.)
PCAD id: 5808
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