Warren, Knight & Davis

Warren, Knight & Davis was a leading architecture firm in Birmingham.

William Warren opened his practice in 1917 with Eugene Knight. John Davis became a partner in the firm on January 1, 1922. Other architects who worked with them have included Sigmund Nesselroth and George Turner. Davis' son, John Davis Jr and Knight's son Albion, both joined the firm in 1946 and carried on as partners.

In the 1920s the firm kept offices on the 16th floor of the Empire Building. After its completion in 1928 they moved to the Protective Life building. Later the firm took offices in the Central Bank & Trust building on 20th Street South, which opened in 1967.

The firm was dissolved with the death of John Davis Jr in 1989.

In addition to their numerous projects in Birmingham, the firm designed institutional and commercial buildings in Montgomery, Tuscaloosa and Florida. The firm's close ties to Governor Bibb Graves, industrialist Charles DeBardeleben and to Auburn University helped them secure thirty commissions on Auburn's campus before 1950.

Notable projects

Birmingham

• Birmingham News building, 1917 (demolished 2007)
• Capitol Park as monumental civic center (unrealized plan), 1921
• Masonic Temple Building, Temple Theatre, 1922
• North Birmingham Elementary School, 1923
• Federal Reserve building, 1924
• Alabama Power Building, 1925
• Independent Presbyterian Church, 1925
• Jemison Building, 1925
• Liberty National Building, 1925
• Norwood School, 1925
• Singer Building facade, 1920s
• Southern Life & Health Insurance building, Highland Avenue, 1920s
• Donnachaidh residence, 1926
• Gus Mayer showroom, 1926
• Pratt Elementary School additions, 1926
• Birmingham Fire Station No. 3, 1927 (demolished 1992)
• Country Club of Birmingham clubhouse, 1927
• Watts Building, 1927
• Parisian building, 1928
• Protective Life Building, 1928
• Trinity United Methodist Church (Edgewood), 1928
• Ramsay High School, 1930
• Theodore Swann residence, 1930
• West End High School, 1930 (demolished 2009)
• Hood Building, renovation for Blach's, 1935
• Vulcan Park, 1939
• Seventeenth Avenue School, 1941
• Southtown Court, 1941
• Family Reserve Insurance building, 1946
• Guaranty Savings and Loan, 1948
• University of Alabama School of Dentistry, 1950
• The Club, 1951
• Crippled Children's Clinic, 1951
• Indian Springs School, 1952
• Birmingham VA Medical Center, 1953
• Southern Life & Health Insurance building, 7th Avenue South, 1954
• Oscar Wells Memorial Building, 1959
• Clark Building remodeling, 1962
• Downtown Club, 1966
• Central Bank & Trust building, 1967
• Phillips High School renovations, 1967
• AT&T City Center, associated firm, 1971
• Garvin Building, 1987

Auburn

• Auburn Stadium, Auburn, 1939

Montgomery

• Alabama Department of Archives and History, Montgomery, 1938
• State Office Building, Montgomery, 1955
• U.S. Air University, Montgomery, 1955

Tuscaloosa

• Bibb Graves Hall, Tuscaloosa, 1929

elsewhere

• Watermark Tower, Anniston, 1937
• Chemical Corps and Training Command Center, Fort McLellan, 1955
• Dormitory, University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee

References

• Schnorrenberg, John M. (1999) Remembered Past, Discovered Future: The Alabama Architecture of Warren Knight & Davis, 1906-1961. Birmingham: Birmingham Museum of Art. ISBN 0931394430
• "Warren, Knight & Davis" in Joan M. Marter, ed. (2011) The Grove Encyclopedia of American Art. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195335791 pp. 156-157