Résumé

The Philadelphia Architects and Buildings Database called Cummings "one of the first bi-coastal American architects." (See Philadephia Architects and Buildings.org, "Biography: Cummings, Gordon Parker (c. 1809-1889)," accessed 12/10/2018.)

Principal, Gordon P. Cummings, Architect, Philadelphia, PA, c. 1844-1851.

Principal, Gordon P. Cummings, Architect, San Francisco, CA, c. 1852-1854. In 1854, Cummings maintained his architectural office in Room #123 on the fourth floor of the Montgomery Block, his most famous building in San Francisco. (See Appendix to Buildings—Montgomery Block, LeCount & Strong's San Francisco City Directory for the Year 1854, [San Francisco : Printed at the San Francisco Herald Office, 1854], p. 192.)

Principal, Gordon P. Cummings, Architect, Philadelphia, PA, c. 1855-1865. In 1861, he had an office at 146 South 4th Street in Philadelphia. (See Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, City Directory, 1861, p. 1106.)

Principal, Gordon P. Cummings, Architect, San Francisco, CA, 1865. Cummings had an office at 131 Montgomery Street in 1865. (SeeSan Francisco, California, Directory, 1865, p. 485.) Cummings's name did not appear in San Francisco, California, City Directory, 1867.

Principal, Gordon P. Cummings, Architect, Sacramento, CA, 1868-1870. Cummings worked on the California State Capitol in 1868-1870.

Principal, Gordon P. Cummings, Architect, San Francisco, CA, 1871-1877. The San Francisco City Directory, 1875, indicated that Cummings was both an architect and a civil engineer. (See The New City Annual Directory of San Francisco 1875, p. 271,San Francisco, California, City Directory, 1875, p. 774. The San Francisco, California, City Directory, 1876, p. 898 and San Francisco, California, City Directory, 1877, p. 955, also listed him under "civil engineers.") His San Francisco office was located at 131 Montgomery Street.

Principal, Gordon P. Cummings, Architect, Philadelphia, PA, 1878-1887 or 1888. His practice had an office at 201 South 5th Street from approximately 1884 until 1887. (See Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, City Directory, 1884, p. 388 andPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, City Directory, 1887, p. 404) Cummings seems to have entered theMasonic Home for Free and Accepted Masons of Pennsylvania in either 1888 or 1889 after retirement.

Teaching

Instructor, Carpenters' Company School of Architecture, Philadelphia, PA, 1846-1849

Professional Activities

Founding Member, Pennsylvania Institute of Architects, Philadelphia, PA, 1861.

Relocation

Born in New York State, Cummings lived and worked in both Pennsylvania and California during his long and productive career. He resided in San Francisco at two different times, once in Sacramento, and spent three periods in Philadelphia, PA.

In 1868, Cummings lived in Sacramento, CA, supervising the construction of the California State Capitol. He lived at the Avenue House, on the northeast corner of 4th Avenue and L Street. (See Sacramento, California, City Directory, 1868, p. 103 andSacramento, California, City Directory, 1869, p. 53.) In 1870, he lived at Figg House at 101 L Street in Sacramento. (See Sacramento, California, City Directory, 1870, p. 96.)

He moved back to San Francisco by 1871-1875, where he lived and worked at 131 Montgomery Street. (See the San Francisco Directory for the Year Commencing April, 1871, p. 188 andNew City Annual Directory of San Francisco, 1875, p. 271.)Cummings also was noted as living in San Francisco in 1883, although he was not listed as an active architect at this time. (See San Francisco, California, City Directory, 1883, p. 353.)

The architect lived at 239 South 3rd Street in Philadelphia from at least 1884 until 1887. (See Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, City Directory, 1884, p. 388 andPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, City Directory, 1887, p. 404.)

In the last year or so of his life, Cummings resided at the Masonic Home for Free and Accepted Masons of Pennsylvania, 3331 North Broad Street in Philadelphia, near what is now Temple University Hospital. (See Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, City Directory, 1889, p. 426.) He passed away on 03/01/1889 and was buried on 03/05/1889 in Monument Cemetery in Philadelphia. This cemetery was in existence between 1839 and 1956, when some of its bodies were relocated to make room for expansion of Temple University's campus. He was reinterred at Lawnview Memorial Park in Rockledge, PA.

Cummings did not leave a large estate, having only about $900 at the time of his death, according to his will.

Biographical Notes

Member, Saint Andrew's Society, Philadephia, PA, 1857- . Founded in 1747, the Saint Andrew's Society was a charity dedicated to assisting poor Scottish immigrants settling in Philadelphia.

Cummings designed the first building in Philadelphia, PA, the Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company (1850), constructed completely of cast-iron.