From the Notebook

The Background

This fascinating diatribe by G.L. Norrman was published in the article “Architecture as a Career for Young Men”, from the April 4, 1903, edition of The Sunny South.

A reporter asked 3 leading Atlanta architects of the time to offer advice for young men considering an architectural career (the emphasis on men is notable, as women were entering the field in increasing numbers).

While W.T. Downing and W.F. Denny provided honest but measured remarks, Norrman gave a surprisingly blunt and weary assessment of the architect’s plight, with more than a hint of bitterness. His criticism of design competitions was particularly timely.

The next month, plans Norrman entered in competition for the city hall in Savannah, Georgia, were deemed “the best of the fourteen submitted.”³ However, all the competing plans were ultimately rejected, and the project was instead awarded to a local designer, H.W. Witcover.⁴

A later news investigation revealed: “The plans the City liked best, were those of Mr. G.L. Norrman of Atlanta, but he had no pull with the machine.”⁵

The newspaper alleged that Norrman’s plans were handed to Witcover — “a friend of the administration” — who was paid over $10,000 to design nearly identical plans.⁶ Savannah’s city hall was completed in 1906 and is indeed highly similar to Norrman’s design.

Little wonder Norrman was so disparaging of his profession.

Norrman’s remarks:

“The gift of gab is the essential thing for the architect. Knowledge, sense of proportion, and beauty, regard for it as an art, no longer count in architecture. One must be pleasant and agreeable, one must get business and make money.

“This is success counted in dollars and cents. It is success as the public understands it. It is the succcess that is appreciated. Thorough knowledge is dangerous; a ‘pleasing address’ is more to be desired than great wisdom.

“As I say, this is the popular conception of architecture. But architecture itself is an art; one must, in a large degree, be born for it. The training must be long and thorough—four years at some university, for the basic culture which leads to an understanding of the classic terms and figures used in architecture, and (in this country) four years in the polytechnic schools. In the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris the course is six years. After that, practical work in an architect’s office—making in all ten or twelve years of preparation.

“Is the apprenticeship long and arduous? I should say so—that is, to become an architect. This, however, is not necessary to make money in the profession of architecture. One then needs only to learn the superficial tricks; and so long as he has the aforementioned gift of gab it is only necessary that his building be safe, and the bricks stay in place. The public will never be any wiser.

“This is the most discouraging part of the profession. Let a man labor for years, and produce a masterpiece, the public will never notice it. It is the spirit of the age; it is as much so in Europe as in America. Nowadays, no one asks, Is he a good architect? but rather, Does he make money out of architecture?

“This is true of all artistic professions, but the worst part of it as applied to architecture is that plans must often be submitted in competition, where the judges are men in other lines of work. They would laugh at you if you claimed to understand dry goods, and they would be offended if you intimated that they didn’t understand architecture, and yet they pass on your design. It may be the result of years of study and experience, and the best of the lot; but it is not an accident if it is accepted. Not knowing anything about it, they say, ‘Give it to So-and-so; he’s a good fellow.’

“But to return to the beginner. His apprenticeship must be thorough, and in addition to his school training he must do office work. I think that artistic feeling is necessary to a large degree, though a sense of proportion and the finer distinctions between styles and ornament are largely things of habit and training. One may cultivate them much as a man cultivates command of language.

“What does architecture offer? At a recent civil service examination 150 trained draughtsmen applied for a government position which paid $1,500 a year. The winner of the new depot competition will get $1,000, and this for years of hard and unappreciated work. A farmer could make more on one year’s hay crop, and with one-tenth the nervous strain and exertion. No, I can’t say that the young man may expect a bonanza.”⁷

References

1. “Mr. Lawrence McNeil’s New Residence”. Savannah Morning News (Savannah, Georgia), November 1, 1902, p. 12. ↩︎
2. “Society”. Savannah Morning News, January 30, 1904, p. 7 ↩︎
3. “Design By G.L. Norrman, Atlanta”. Savannah Morning News (Savannah, Georgia), May 20, 1903, p. 8. ↩︎
4. “All Plans Rejected”. Savannah Morning News (Savannah, Georgia), May 28, 1903, p. 10. ↩︎
5. “Lest We Forget”. The Searchlight (Savannah, Georgia), January 5, 1907, p. 2. ↩︎
6. ibid. ↩︎
7. “Architecture As a Career For Young Men”. The Sunny South (Atlanta), April 4, 1903, p. 4. ↩︎

The Background

As was often the case in his career, in September 1901, G.L. Norrman was compelled to justify his design choices for the dimwitted good ol’ boys of a local building committee.

Norrman had submitted plans in competition with 13 other architects for the Duval County Courthouse in Jacksonville, Florida, after the previous structure burned in the Great Fire of 1901.

Although Norrman’s plan was publicly endorsed by 5 top county officials, some members of the county commission reportedly objected to his proposal to design the courthouse with a stucco finish.

The objection seems absurd given the ubiquitous Spanish/Mediterranean influence that would soon come to define the “Florida style” — by the 1920s, you’d be hard-pressed to find a building in the state that wasn’t slathered in cheap stucco.

Norrman used stucco extensively in his works from the late 1890s and early 1900s, and in response to the commission’s objections, he wrote a letter in which he deferentially offered to withhold the stucco finish from the structure, but also defended his preference for the material.

In the letter, Norrman charted stucco’s origins to ancient Rome, although he erroneously referred to the Pantheon as the Parthenon. Norrman also noted that the General Post Office and the U.S. Patent Office Building in Washington, D.C. — both designed by Robert Mills — were finished in stucco.

Of course, Southern politicians couldn’t care less about architecture in Europe or the North, too consumed with playing God in their ugly little backwoods fiefdoms. So Norrman pulled out an old trick that always works on local leaders — in Atlanta, anyway — insinuating that Jacksonville just didn’t measure up to other Southern cities: “All the old buildings of Charleston, Savannah and New Orleans are finished in stucco”, he explained.

Norrman’s effort was in vain — the commission selected a fairly terrible plan designed by Rutledge Holmes, an unremarkable architect from Charleston who moved his practice to Jacksonville after the fire and lived in Florida for the remainder of his career. Holmes, incidentally, shot himself to death in 1929, twenty years after Norrman did the same. Southern architects are a tragic lot.

The September 24, 1901, issue of The Evening Metropolis published Norrman’s letter to the Duval County commission in full.

Norrman’s remarks:

County Commissioners:

“Dear Sir—I have been informed that there is some objection to the stucco finish which I specified as in my judgment being the most suitable finish for the new court house. If it be true that there there is any such objection to my design, I would respectfully suggest that the stucco be left off, and that the brick work be finished in the usual manner without any stucco. By such omission you will save 60 cents per yard or about $2,100. At the same time you will please allow me to call your attention to the fact that the oldest and most noted buildings in existence have been finished with stucco. Notably among these are the Parthenon [sic] and St. Peter’s, in Rome, which have been built for 2,000 years. Stucco is used in Europe, especially on the continent, nearly exclusively. All of the old buildings in Mexico, and, in fact, nearly all the buildings erected by the early Spaniards, both here and in South America, as well as in Spain, are finished with stucco. All of this is well known to every educated architect and can be corroborated by your expert.

“In this country nearly all the old State houses and court houses of importance that were erected before the war, and which are now in tact [sic], are finished in stucco.

“The United States postoffice [sic] and the patent office in Washington are finished in stucco.

“All the above, I think is known to every builder of any ordinary information.

“All the old buildings of Charleston, Savannah and New Orleans are finished in stucco, and Mr. Flagler is going to finish his Palm Beach palace with stucco, because it is actually the best finish to use on a brick or concrete building.

“In my own practice I had been using stucco on buildings for the past twenty-five years, with very satisfactory results.”

Very respectfully,

G.L. NORRMAN²

References

1. “Dwellings.” The Engineering Record, Volume 41, no. 12 (March 24, 1900), p. 287. ↩︎
2. “Court House Plan Selected.” The Evening Metropolis (Jacksonville, Florida), September 24, 1901, p. 1. ↩︎

This picture gives me great joy.

I just found a stash of old images that I had completely forgotten about, including this one I took in 2017 of the W.L. Glessner Residence in Americus, Georgia.

Planned as a 7-room cottage,¹ this lovely 2-story Queen Anne style home is one of 7 surviving buildings in Americus designed by G.L. Norrman. There isn’t historic documentation to prove it, but everything about the design indicates it’s his.

The home was built between May and September 1890 for W.L. Glessner,^{2 3 4 5} the editor of the Americus Recorder newspaper, who was the town’s most vocal booster when it was, briefly, one of the fastest-growing cities in the state.

Glessner lived in the home for less than 2 years,⁶ leaving Americus in 1892,⁷ shortly after the town fell into economic collapse.

I visited this house at least once when I was 8 or 9 years old, but I don’t remember much about the interior, except that it felt a little creepy and reeked of bat guano, but that would describe most of the old structures in Americus.

By the early 1990s, the home was abandoned and stripped of its original woodwork, mantels, and other interior elements, although it later received a meticulous restoration that incorporated pieces salvaged from local historic homes.

The owners at the time reported that they discovered a “secret room” apparently sealed off for years behind a wall — that certainly piqued my adolescent curiosity.

I hope to take my final photos of this home in the next year, and they will undoubtedly be much better than this one — my photographic skills have increased exponentially in the last 8 years. Still, this is a nostalgic and heartwarming discovery.

References

1. “For Sale.” The Americus Daily Times-Recorder (Americus, Georgia), February 11, 1892, p. 6. ↩︎
2. “Town Talk.” Americus Weekly Recorder (Americus, Georgia), May 2, 1890, p. 5. ↩︎
3. “Beautiful Building Lots.” Americus Daily Recorder (Americus, Georgia), May 4, 1890, p. 1. ↩︎
4. “A Building Boom” (advertisement). Americus Daily Recorder (Americus, Georgia), May 13, 1890, p. 2. ↩︎
5. “Building a House!” Americus Weekly Recorder (Americus, Georgia), September 12, 1890, p. 6. ↩︎
6. “For Sale.” The Americus Daily Times-Recorder (Americus, Georgia), February 11, 1892, p. 6. ↩︎
7. “Death of Mrs. L.E. Stone.” Americus Times-Recorder (Americus, Georgia), December 17, 1892, p. 1. ↩︎

The Background

Following the 1900 Galveston hurricane, which became the deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history, G.L. Norrman opined that the Texas port city should build a seawall, his comments appearing in Wallace Putnam Reed‘s column for The Macon Telegraph on September 20, 1900.

If it sounds like Norrman was familiar with Galveston, there’s a reason: he likely emigrated to the United States through the Port of Galveston in 1874,¹ and it’s possible that he worked in the city or elsewhere in Texas as a draftsman before starting his practice in South Carolina.²

As a result of the hurricane, Galveston did indeed build a seawall.

Norrman’s remarks:

“Galveston should have a sea wall. Holland is below the ocean, and yet it is efficiently protected by dykes. Galveston is six feet above the sea, and a wall is feasible.

“Then the buildings should be of a substantial, storm-proof character. People should prepare proper safeguards and not charge every disaster to Providence.”³

References

1. “An Educated Architect”. The Atlanta Journal, December 17, 1892, p. 9. ↩︎
2. Withey, Henry F. and Withey, Elsie Rathburn. Biographical Dictionary of American Architects (Deceased). Los Angeles: New Age Publishing Co. (1956), p. 448. ↩︎
3. Reed, Wallace Putnam. “Atlanta Street Talk.” The Macon Telegraph (Macon, Georgia), September 20, 1900 ↩︎

The Background

A recurring theme of G.L. Norrman‘s career was his vocal opposition to the prohibition of alcohol, at a time when the temperance movement was in full force in the United States, and many cities and states attempted to ban its sale and production.

Atlanta enacted prohibition in July 1886,¹ reportedly prompting Norrman to return to practice for a brief time in Greenville, South Carolina,² which had not yet passed a similar law, although nearby Spartanburg had in 1884 — by just 4 votes.^{3 4}

Prohibition was incredibly unpopular in Atlanta, and the city’s business leaders loudly complained that it made them lose money. In November 1887, as Atlantans prepared to vote for a repeal of the law, The Atlanta Constitution asked the city’s architects if they had designed any commercial buildings since prohibition began. None had. Norrman reported:

“In response to your inquiry, I can say that I have no store building on hand to be erected in Atlanta, nor have I had for two years. I had some drawings made for five stores, two years ago, but they were not built, as the owner did not think it would pay to build them after prohibition started here.”⁵

Three days after Norrman’s remarks, a reported 15,000 Atlantans took to the streets in protest against prohibition,⁶ and the next day, voters overwhelmingly voted to end the ban.⁷

The threat of prohibition loomed again in 1899, when the Georgia House of Representatives approved a measure proposing a statewide ban,⁸ prompting Norman to write the following letter to The Atlanta Journal, published on December 2, 1899.

The attempt at statewide prohibition in Georgia failed a few days later,^{9 10} but ultimately succeeded in 1907, 13 years before prohibition was enacted nationwide.

Norrman’s remarks:

“In answer to some requests for my opinion about the prohibition bill, I will say that I think it is too much ado about nothing.

“It is morally wrong to confiscate property, or to debar people from using the comforts and luxuries of life in moderation on account of a few drunkards.

“If school boys, church members, prohibitionists, club men and legislators, or anybody else if they should get drunk, were taken to the station house and well whipped, there would rarely, or ever, be and drunkenness.

“‘The punishment should always fit the crime.’ So disgraceful behavior deserves disgraceful punishment.

“Prohibition practically confiscates a great deal of capital which is now used in a legal and proper manner, while whipping drunkards instead of petting them would only queer the business of the professional revivalist. The only business that would be seriously affected by such a law is that of the temperance lecturer. He would necessarily have to go out of business less than six months after such a law went into effect, for the lack of stock in trade. After that time, if there should be any drunkards left, they would keep so quiet that he could hardly pick out enough to arouse any emotion, even in the most sentimental of sentimentalists.”

G.L. Norrman¹¹

References

1. “Closed Up”. The Atlanta Constitution, July 1, 1886, p. 1. ↩︎
2. Morgan, Thomas H. “The Georgia Chapter of The American Institute of Architects”. The Atlanta Historical Bulletin, Volume 7, No. 28 (September 1943): p. 146. ↩︎
3. “Local Option Elections”. Edgefield Advertiser (Edgefield, South Carolina), December 4, 1884, p. 2. ↩︎
4. “Death Struggle With Saloons In Former Days of Spartanburg”. Spartanburg Weekly Herald, February 6, 1906, p. 6. ↩︎
5. “Here Are the Facts”. The Atlanta Constitution, November 22, 1887, p. 5. ↩︎
6. “15,000 People”. The Atlanta Constitution, December 4, 1884, p. 1. ↩︎
7. “It Is Wet”. The Atlanta Constitution, November 27, 1887, p. 10. ↩︎
8. “The Prohibition Bill Passed the House By Vote of 93 to 65”. The Atlanta Journal, November 22, 1899, p. 5. ↩︎
9. “Prohibition Bill Killed in the Senate; Vote 26-14”. The Atlanta Journal, December 8, 1899, p. 1. ↩︎
10. “Senate Kills Willingham Bill By Emphatic Vote of 26 to 14”. The Atlanta Constitution, December 9, 1899, p. 1. ↩︎
11. “(Communicated.)” The Atlanta Journal, December 2, 1899, p. 5. ↩︎