Edgar Newcomb, Architect [1846-1924]
Edgar Allen Poe Newcomb [†] was born on April 23, 1846 in Boston. At the age of sixteen he joined his father's architectural practice as an apprentice, becoming a partner four years later. Between 1866 and 1868 the firm, known as Levi Newcomb & Son, was located in Portland, Maine, but it returned to Boston in 1868. Newcomb continued to be listed in Boston directories as an architect until 1900. In 1901 he and his sister moved to Honolulu, Hawaii where he continued his architectural practice. Newcomb's obituary credits him with designs for college buildings at Bowdoin, Tufts and Harvard, as well as the Carpenter Memorial Library in Manchester, NH. In Hawaii, he was a favorite architect among the wealthy and designed a number of "fine Honolulu homes." After he moved to Hawaii, he returned to New York several times to design "mansions" for Trueman J. Avery, George Miller and a country house on Ostaga Lake (in New York) for S.S. Spalding. He also supervised renovations at Trinity Church in Boston. In addition to his architectural accomplishments, Newcomb was cited for his achievements as a published poet and composer. He died in Honolulu in 1924.
† Elizabeth Drufree Hengen, consultant, American Red Cross, Frank Pierce Carpenter House, Manchester, NH, nomination document, 1993, National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places, Washington, D.C.