User:JPRiley/Taylor

Taylor & Fisher developed from the Baltimore office of Parker, Thomas & Rice, which had been established in Boston and Baltimore in 1900. When resident partner Douglas H. Thomas Jr. died in 1915, the surviving Boston partners, J. Harleston Parker and Arthur W. Rice, invited Robert Edward Lee Taylor (April 9, 1882 – June 22, 1952) to lead the office.^[1]: 258

Taylor was born in Norfolk, Virginia, to Colonel Walter H. Taylor, aide-de-camp to Confederate General Robert E. Lee, and Elizabeth Selden Taylor, née Saunders. He attended Norfolk Academy, the University of Virginia (UVA) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston, graduating from the latter in 1904. During the next two years he worked as a drafter for architects in New York City, Washington, DC, Philadelphia and Baltimore. In 1906 he returned to Norfolk where he formed the partnership of Taylor & Hepburn with MIT classmate Andrew Hopewell Hepburn.^[1]: 258 With lead architects Wyatt & Nolting they served as associate architects for the Virginia Bank and Trust Building (1909, NRHP-listed) in Norfolk.^[2] They worked together until 1909 when Hepburn returned north. Taylor then joined the firm of Ferguson & Calrow, which then became Ferguson, Calrow & Taylor.^[3] This firm's works included the thirteen-story Royster Building (1912) in Norfolk and the Lambeth Field colonnade (1913) and Peabody Hall (1914) for UVA.^{[4]: 409 [5]: 95–96, 171–172}

In 1924 David Kirkpatrick Este Fisher Jr. (February 2, 1892 – 1978) joined the partnership.^[6] Fisher was born in Baltimore and attended Princeton University and MIT, graduating in 1916. He worked for Kenneth M. Murchison in New York City until 1917, when he enlisted in the American Expeditionary Forces at the beginning of America's entrance into World War I. When he left service in 1919 he returned to Baltimore, where he joined Parker, Thomas & Rice.^[7] Under their leadership, the Baltimore office was responsible for the former Forest Park High School (1924, demolished),^[8] the Monumental Life Insurance Company Building (1926)^[9] and the First English Lutheran Church (1928)^[10]: 104 and had begun design work on the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond Baltimore Branch (1928, NRHP-listed).^[11]

In 1927 Parker and Rice retired from the Baltimore office, which became the independent firm of Taylor & Fisher.^[12] In 1973 the partnership was reorganized as Taylor, Fisher, Bowersock & Martin Inc. with Warren A. Bowersock, an employee from 1935 to 1949 and a partner since 1954, as president.^[13][14] The firm closed its Baltimore office in 1977.^[15]

• 1928 – Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond Baltimore Branch, Baltimore^[11]
  • In 1955–56 the original top two floors were demolished and replaced by a six-story addition, also by Taylor & Fisher; NRHP-listed
• 1929 – 10 Light Street, Baltimore^{[16]: 149–150}
  • Designed by Taylor & Fisher and Smith & May, associated architects
• 1930 – McCarter Theatre, Princeton, New Jersey^{[17]: 206–207}
  • Built for the Princeton Triangle Club, of which Fisher had been a member
• 1935 – United States Appraisers Stores (former), Baltimore^[18]
  • Designed by Taylor & Fisher and William F. Stone Jr., associated architects, for the Office of the Supervising Architect
• 1938 – Edgar Shannon Library, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia^{[5]: 92–93}
  • Known until 2024 as the Alderman Library, for Edwin Alderman
• 1939 – Banneker Hall, Morgan State University, Baltimore^[19]
  • Original built as the Soper Library
• 1940 – Hagerstown City Hall, Hagerstown, Maryland^[20]
  • Designed by Taylor & Fisher, architects, with Amos J. Klinkhart of Hagerstown, associate architect
• 1941 – Telephone Building, Baltimore^[21]
• 1942 – Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond Charlotte Branch, Charlotte, North Carolina^[22]: 79
  • Demolished in 1997 to make way for Three Wells Fargo Center (2000)
• 1950 – Akron Union Station (former), Akron, Ohio^[7]
  • As of 2026, the Buckingham Building of the University of Akron
• 1950 – James Addison Jones Library, Greensboro College, Greensboro, North Carolina^[23]
• 1952 – Holmes Hall, Morgan State University, Baltimore^[24]
• 1952 – Hurt Gymnasium, Morgan State University, Baltimore^[25]
• 1953 – Harford Mutual Insurance Group headquarters, Bel Air, Maryland^[26]
  • Designed by Taylor & Fisher, architects, with Shaw & Duff of Bel Air, associate architects
• 1953 – Mergenthaler Vocational-Technical High School, Baltimore^[7]
• 1955 – Kenwood High School, Baltimore^[13]
• 1960 – Notre Dame Preparatory School, Towson, Maryland^[27]
• 1964 – Macaulay Hall, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore^[28]
• 1967 – Baltimore Polytechnic Institute, Baltimore^{[29]: 225–226}