Charles E. Bell

Charles Emlen Bell (1858–1932),[1] often known as C.E. Bell, was an American architect of Council Bluffs, Iowa[2] and Minneapolis, Minnesota. He worked alone and in partnership with John H. Kent[2] and Menno S. Detweiler. He also worked as part of Bell, Tyrie and Chapman.[3] A number of his works are listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.[4]

South Dakota State Capitol
Rotunda of the South Dakota State Capitol
Martin County Courthouse

Biography and career

Bell was born in McLean County, Illinois on March 31, 1858, and was educated at West Town Boarding School, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. In 1880, he married Helen Louise "Nellie" Wickham (1858–1913), and they moved to Council Bluffs, Iowa in 1884.[5]

Bell began his career as a carpenter and worked on the construction of the post office in Council Bluffs. He and John Kent established a partnership, and won the competition to design the Montana State Capitol.[6] They opened an office in Helena, Montana for the project.

Bell moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota and set up a partnership with Menno Detweiler.[5] From 1904 until Detweiler's death in 1907, Bell & Detweiler built courthouses throughout the midwest including Brown County Courthouse (Wisconsin),[7] Delaware County Courthouse (Iowa),[8] and Martin County Courthouse (Minnesota).[9] In 1908, Bell joined architects George Augustus Chapman and William W. Tyrie in the firm Bell, Tyrie and Chapman, where he remained until 1913. Bell worked alone, with only brief partnerships, for the rest of his career and died on May 10, 1932 in Minneapolis.[5]

Selected works

Bells works include (with attribution):

References
  1. Philadelphia Architects and Builds
  2. West, Carroll Van (Autumn 1987). "A Landscape of Statehood: The Montana State Capitol". Montana: The Magazine of Western History. 37 (4): 74.
  3. "Special Photograph Collections" (PDF). history.sd.gov. South Dakota State Historical Society. Retrieved June 23, 2017.
  4. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  5. Lathrop, Alan K. (2010). Minnesota architects : a biographical dictionary. Minneapolis, Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press. pp. 16–17. ISBN 978-0-8166-4463-6.
  6. "A State Capitol. The Capitol Commission Let the Contract for Plans". Great Falls Tribune. Great Falls, Montana. March 20, 1898. p. 1. Retrieved June 24, 2017.
  7. "Court House and Jail: Designs Accepted for New Structures at Green Bay". The Oshkosh Northwestern. Oshkosh, Wisconsin. November 15, 1907. p. 1. Retrieved June 25, 2017.
  8. "Delaware County Courthouse". npgallery.nps.gov. Retrieved June 25, 2017.
  9. "Building Location Details: Martin County Courthouse". Archived from the original on 2012-06-06.
  10. "Gov. S. H. Elrod House". npgallery.nps.gov. Retrieved June 25, 2017.
  11. "Encyclopedia of the Great Plains - State and Provincial Capitols". Retrieved 6 July 2016.
  12. "Illinois Historic Sites Survey Inventory" (PDF). gis.hpa.state.il.us. Retrieved June 25, 2017.
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