Warren, Knight & Davis

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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

Auburn

Montgomery

Tuscaloosa

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