Charles Wheelock

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This article is about the architect. For the engineer and alderman, see Charles F. Wheelock.

Charles R. Wheelock (born December 12, 1833 in Charlestown, Massachusetts; died September 24, 1910 in Alameda, California) was a noted early architect in Birmingham. The partnership of Wheelock & Wheelock which he formed with his son Harry in 1883 lasted until 1939 and employed many younger designers, such as S. Scott Joy, Eugene Knight, James A. Lewis and Hugh Martin, who also contributed greatly to the city.

Wheelock worked as a carpenter and contractor before representing himself as an architect, with no apparent formal training. He married the former Eliza Manchester of Boonville, New York in 1853. They had five children, Charles F., George F. (1857), Jesse Manchester (1859), Harry Bert (1866), and Mary.

During the Civil War, Wheelock served as a Captain in the 97th New York Volunteers, a regiment commanded by a relative, a Colonel Charles Wheelock, who died in 1865 and is buried in Boonville. After the war, Wheelock moved to New York City. Soon he had relocated to the newly-founded village of Emporia, Kansas and was elected to represent the 3rd Ward in the first City Council upon its incorporation in 1870.

He moved to Texas in the early 1870s and partnered with Jacob Larmour on several important commissions there. By the end of the decade he had relocated to Las Vegas, New Mexico where he established an office in the Jesuite Building. He encouraged a protégé, John Sorenson, to practice there before moving on.

In late 1882 Wheelock came to Birmingham and quickly established himself as the young city's first architect of note. He brought his son, Harry, into the partnership of Wheelock & Wheelock.

By 1895 Wheelock was Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of the State of Alabama, Free and Accepted Masons.

Wheelock died while visiting Alameda, California in September 1910. His body was returned to Birmingham for burial.

Notable buildings

The Church of the Advent

Residences

References

  • Wilson, H. T. (c. 1880) Historical Sketch of Las Vegas, New Mexico. Chicago, Illinois: Hotel World Publishing
  • "Jesse M. Wheelock" biography in An Illustrated History of New Mexico. (1895) Chicago, Illinois: Lewis Publishing Company, pp. 448-49
  • Owen, Thomas McAdory and Marie Bankhead Owen (1921) History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography. 4 volumes. Chicago, Illinois: S. J. Clarke Publishing Co.
  • "Charles R. & Harry Wheelock, Architects" typescript (August 3, 1950), in "Architects & Architecture", Vol. 2 of material compiled by Hill Ferguson for the cornerstone vault in Birmingham City Hall
  • Browne, Catherine Greene (1992) The History of Forest Park. Birmingham: Cather Publishing Company
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