Famed architect lives on in downtown Monmouth

Ron Woodruff (right) points out design elements inspired by Henry Hobson Richardson, one of this country’s most influential architects, during a recent walking tour. Woodruff is a historic commission member and architect.

/ Photo by Lance Masterson

Henry Hobson Richardson never spent a minute in Monmouth. Yet his influence is clearly visible 137 years after his death.

There’s no plaque, nor any Main Street park celebration held in his honor. But if a Mt. Rushmore existed for this country’s leading architects, Richardson’s face would be among those carved in stone. Frank Lloyd Wright is one of the greats Richardson inspired by bringing the outside in, in terms of how one designs a building.

“Richardson established a lot of what (Wright) understood as a kind of a design ethic, which is design with nature,” said architect and Historic Commission member Ron Woodruff. “It’s pretty incredible to see how one person’s influence could influence the whole country. It was really 50 years ahead of its time. It influences what we even do today.”

Richardson’s contributions might have been greater had he not died of Bright’s disease in 1886. He was 47 years old.

Trinity Church in Boston is considered by many to be his greatest design achievement. Though Richardson lived on the East Coast, his influence made its way west. Locally, it's seen in such notable examples as the Ross Theater in Monmouth, the courthouses in Dallas and Corvallis, and the J.S. Cooper Block building in Independence.

Richardson is noted for his use of “rusticated stone bases, round arches, oriel towers, asymmetrical design, picturesque roof lines and multicolor masonry terracotta,” Woodruff said.

Many of these elements are visible on historical buildings in downtown Monmouth.

“They’re there if you know what to look for,” Woodruff said.

Fellow commission member Amy Lemco and Community Development Director Suzanne Dufner recently joined Woodruff in helping others decipher this mystery. The morning began with a brief introduction on Richardson, with a tour of several historical buildings following.

“So (we were) trying to make the connection between history and what’s here today. And so the work we see around here today is pretty much the influence of one architect,” Woodruff said.

One goal of the tour was to encourage people to do a walking tour on their own.

"The key is knowing what to look for, and the more you understand and know about your subject, the more interest you’re going to have," Woodruff said. "Therefore, what I’m trying to do through our historical commission, is to show what these buildings are, why they are the way they are and then spread the influence to a wider community to where they better appreciate our historical town."

Not a bad legacy for someone who died young, and whose great period of influence lasted about 20 years. But that was plenty of time for the genius of Richardson to spread.

“There were publications that builders and architects read, kind of like the publications we read today, that helped spread design influences,” said Woodruff.

Not only architects read these publications, however. Contractor-builders also did.

“They would get a foundation plan from the city or county, and that’s all they had,” said Woodruff. “The rest of the design was design-as-you-go. They probably had an overall pattern. But they didn’t submit a complete building plan as we do today for a building permit.”

(Publisher’s note: This article originally appeared in the Polk County Itemizer-Observer. It has been slightly edited for publication in the Monmouth Free Press.)