Jack B. Smith

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Jack Bass Smith (born March 18, 1894 in Birmingham; died July 23, 1974) was an architect.

Smith earned his bachelor of science in architecture at the University of Pennsylvania in 1916 and worked as a draftsman for Cross & Cross in New York City before entering World War I as an ambulance driver and later a 2nd Lieutenant aviator in the American Expeditionary Forces serving in France.

After the war, Smith returned to Birmingham. He continued as a trainee with Wheelock & Wheelock before taking a position in David O. Whilldin's office in 1919. He was also involved in the Birmingham Flying Club's organization of the 1st National Guard Flying Squadron here. In 1921 he moved away again, working as a job captain for Holabird & Root in Chicago, Illinois. When the firm was hired to design the new Jefferson County Courthouse in Birmingham, Smith returned to his home town to lead the firm's "Birmingham Branch Office", which closed in 1931, months before the courthouse construction was completed.

Smith remained in Birmingham and operated his own practice from 1931 to 1958. In 1956 he kept his residence at the Ridgely Apartments and his offices on the 16th floor of the Brown-Marx Building.

Smith was involved in projects for Southern Research Institute, the Alabama Power Company, and the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce. He was associated once more with Holabird & Root in the design of the Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Company's Flintridge Building in Fairfield, when opened in December 1950. Later he designed the Central Park Library and associated with Nelson Smith and Henry Sprott Long Sr on the design of Vulcan Materials' headquarters offices in Mountain Brook. Smith served as president of the Birmingham chapter of the American Institute of Architects in 1938-1939. He was honored as a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects in 1950.

In 1959 Smith accepted the job of architect to the Boston Naval Shipyard in Boston, Massachusetts. A year later he transferred to the Federal Aviation Agency in Washington D.C.

References

  • 1956 American Architects Directory (December 1955) American Institute of Architects/ R. R. Bowker
  • 1962 American Architects Directory (1962) American Institute of Architects/ R. R. Bowker