Norman Isham

{{short description|American architect (1864–1943)}} {{Infobox person | name = Norman Morrison Isham | image =  | alt =  | caption = | birth_name =  | birth_date = {{Birth date|1864|11|12}} | birth_place = | death_date = {{Death date and age|1943|01|01|1864|11|12}} | death_place = [[Wickford, Rhode Island]] | other_names = | occupation = architectural historian, preservationist, author | years_active = | known_for = Preservation of colonial-era buildings in Rhode Island | notable_works = | alma_mater = [[Brown University]] | resting_place = Elm Grove Cemetery in [[North Kingstown, Rhode Island]] }}

[[Image:Mowryhouse.jpg|thumb|150px|right|Isham's diagram of the 1653 [[Roger Mowry Tavern|Mowry House]], a [[stone-ender]] in [[Providence, Rhode Island]] from his 1895 book<ref>{{cite book |title=Early Rhode Island Houses |author=Norman Morrison Isham, Albert Frederic Brown |year=1895 |publisher=Preston & Rounds |isbn= |url=https://archive.org/details/earlyrhodeislan00browgoog |quote=early rhode island houses. }}</ref> ]] '''Norman Morrison Isham''' (1864–1943) was a prominent architectural historian, author, and professor at [[Brown University]] and [[Rhode Island School of Design]] (RISD). He was an ardent preservationist and a pioneer in the study of early American architecture.<ref name=obit />

==Biography== Norman M. Isham was born in [[Hartford, Connecticut]] on November 12, 1864, to Dr. Henry and Frances Elizabeth (Smyth) Isham.<ref name=obit /> As a child his family moved to [[Providence, Rhode Island]]. Norman Isham attended Mowry and Goff's preparatory school and [[Brown University]]. At Brown he received a A.B. in 1886 and an A.M. in Architecture in 1890.<ref name=TheInd /> After graduation in 1886, Isham worked for architectural firm of [[Stone, Carpenter & Willson]] and later [[Martin & Hall]]. He also served as an architecture instructor at Brown University.<ref name=TheInd /><ref name="Norman Morrison Isham">[http://home.sprynet.com/~awb02/ham4.htm Norman Morrison Isham] at home.sprynet.com</ref>

In 1899 Isham and Benjamin Wright created an architecture partnership which existed from 1912 to 1920 and 1923 to 1933. Isham chaired the architectural department at the [[Rhode Island School of Design]] starting in 1912.<ref name=TheInd /> He was a member of the American Institute of Architects and the Royal Institute of British Architects and published several architecture texts, including "Early Rhode Island Houses" in 1895. Isham was well known for his renovations of many prominent early Rhode Island and other New England houses, particularly, [[stone-enders]].<ref name="Norman Morrison Isham" />

After Isham's wife, Elizabeth Barbour Ormsbee, died in 1917, he moved from Providence to [[Wickford, Rhode Island]]. There, he constructed a two-story, shingle-style Colonial Revival home on Boston Neck Road. Initially, it was a summer home, but he moved there permanently after the death of his wife.<ref name=TheInd />

Isham was a consultant on the building of the American Wing of the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]] in New York,<ref name=obit /> and was a consulting architect on the [[Delaware Legislative Hall]], 1930–1933.<ref name=TheInd /><ref>{{cite web|title=Guide to the Norman Morrison Isham Papers|url=http://drs.library.yale.edu/HLTransformer/HLTransServlet?stylename=yul.ead2002.xhtml.xsl&pid=mssa:ms.1156&clear-stylesheet-cache=yes|website=Yale University Library|accessdate=3 December 2015}}</ref>

==Memberships and societies== * Member of the [[General Society of Colonial Wars]]{{citation needed|date=December 2015}} * Elected to the [[Walpole Society]] in 1911<ref name=obit /> * Elected to the [[American Antiquarian Society]] in 1933<ref name=obit />

==Historic preservation== Norman Isham is perhaps best known for his work preserving and restoring Colonial-era homes and structures in Rhode Island.<ref name=TheInd /> He wrote extensively on the topic of Colonial architecture and furniture.<ref name=TheInd /> His books ''Early Rhode Island Houses'', published with Albert F. Brown in 1895, and ''Early Connecticut Houses'', published in 1900, are classics in their field.<ref name=obit />

Some of the buildings Isham worked to preserve include:

* Bullock-Thomas House, [[North Kingstown, Rhode Island]]<ref name=TheInd /> *[[Clemence-Irons House]], [[Johnston, Rhode Island]], 1691 *[[Smith's Castle]], [[Wickford, Rhode Island]], 1678 *[[Clement Weaver House]], [[East Greenwich, Rhode Island]], 1679 *[[John Balch House]], [[Beverly, Massachusetts]], 1679 *[[Eleazer Arnold House]], [[Lincoln, Rhode Island]], 1693 *[[John Randall House]], [[North Stonington, Connecticut]], 1690 *Joshua [[Babcock–Smith House]], Westerly, Rhode Island, 1734 *[[General Nathanael Greene Homestead]], [[Coventry, Rhode Island]], 1774 *[[Gilbert Stuart birthplace]], [[Saunderstown, Rhode Island]], 1751<ref name=TheInd /> *[[Hyland House]], [[Guilford, Connecticut]], 1713 * John Updike House, [[North Kingstown, Rhode Island]]<ref name=TheInd /> *[[Newport Colony House]], [[Newport, Rhode Island]], 1739<ref name=TheInd /> *[[Museum of Newport History|Old City Hall]], [[Newport, Rhode Island]], 1762 <ref name=TheInd /> *[[Newport Brick Market]], [[Newport, Rhode Island]], 1762 *[[Stephen Hopkins House]], [[Providence, Rhode Island]], 1708<ref name=TheInd /> *[[Redwood Library]], [[Newport, Rhode Island]], 1747 *[[Trinity Church (Newport, Rhode Island)]], 1724 *[[University Hall (Brown University)|University Hall]], [[Brown University]]<ref name=obit /> *[[Wanton-Lyman-Hazard House]], [[Newport, Rhode Island]], 1697 *[[Whitehall Museum House]], [[Middletown, Rhode Island]], 1729<ref name=TheInd />

==Death and burial== Norman Isham died on January 1, 1943.<ref name=obit /> His funeral attracted many renowned architects to Wickford to pay their respects. Tragically, fellow Providence architect Harry Slocomb suffered a heart attack and died after Isham's funeral service.<ref name=TheInd />

Isham is buried with his wife and parents at Elm Grove Cemetery in [[North Kingstown, Rhode Island]].<ref name=TheInd /> He left no descendants.<ref name="Norman Morrison Isham"/>

==References== <references>

<ref name=TheInd>{{cite news|last1=Cranston|first1=G. Timothy|title=Norman M. Isham, the beloved preservationist|url=http://www.independentri.com/independents/north_east/opinion/article_407d88d4-d45b-516e-b4ec-67f63b36cb5f.html|accessdate=3 December 2015|publisher=The Independent|date=10 September 2015}}</ref> <ref name=obit>{{cite journal|title=Obituary: Norman Morrison Isham|journal=Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society|issue=April 1943|pages=18–21|url=http://www.americanantiquarian.org/proceedings/44807073.pdf|accessdate=3 December 2015}}</ref>

</references>

==External links== *[http://home.sprynet.com/~awb02/ham4.htm Isham bio] *[http://www.quahog.org/factsfolklore/index.php?id=149 Examples of Isham's work] *[http://www.rihs.org/mssinv/Mss508.htm Norman Isham Papers Collection at the RI Historical Society] *{{cite book |title=Early Rhode Island Houses |author=Norman Morrison Isham, Albert Frederic Brown |year=1895 |publisher=Preston & Rounds |isbn= |url=https://archive.org/details/earlyrhodeislan00browgoog |quote=early rhode island houses. }}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Isham, Norman}} [[Category:1864 births]] [[Category:1943 deaths]] [[Category:Architects from Providence, Rhode Island]] [[Category:People from North Kingstown, Rhode Island]] [[Category:Writers from Hartford, Connecticut]] [[Category:Brown University alumni]] [[Category:Rhode Island School of Design faculty]] [[Category:Writers from Providence, Rhode Island]]