Frank Shaver Allen

Frank Shaver Allen was born in 1860 in Galesburg, Illinois. He seems to have received some training in Chicago.Christ Episcopal Church NRHP Registration Form (1982) By 1880, he was practicing architecture in Streator, Illinois. In 1886, Allen formed a partnership with John H. Coxhead, the firm being Allen & Coxhead."New Architectural Firms," Inland Architect and Builder 7, no. 1 (February 1886): 8. The partnership was dissolved the following year when Coxhead relocated to St. Paul, Minnesota.Jeffrey A. Hess and Paul Clifford Larson, St. Paul's Architecture: A History (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2006): 72-74. Following the dissolution of this partnership Allen moved to Joliet, where he did much of his best-known work.

In 1893, an exhibit of his work in school architecture at the World's Columbian Exposition received an award from the exposition commission, which led to significant expansion of his practice."Architect Allen's Advance," School Board Journal 16, no. 3 (March 1898): 11.

After being commissioned for work in California, he moved to Los Angeles in 1904 with his family, settling in Pasadena."Hotel Arrivals," Los Angeles Herald, February 25, 1904, 2. He originally maintained his practice from Pasadena, but moved it to Los Angeles in 1907.

Allen was also an Egyptologist.

In 1910, Allen was arrested for having an Altadena boy in his Los Angeles hotel room. The Los Angeles Times wrote that: "The boy, in whose company he was when arrested, is the same who was reported missing some time ago. No trace of him could be found by the police until he walked into his home in Altadena with the explanation that he had been in San Francisco with Allen. The matter was reported to the District Attorney's office, and an investigation was begun which resulted in last night's arrests. Allen is one of the most prominent architects in Southern California. He has been reckoned as a leader in his profession in this end of the State, and has occupied a high position in society. His family is of the most exclusive in the fashionable circles of Pasadena and Altadena.""Architect Is Under Arrest," Los Angeles Times, 09/01/1910, pt. II, p. 3."Architect Under Arrest," Los Angeles Times, September 1, 1910, 14. By early the next year, the felony charge was dropped. The Los Angeles Times reported that "The felony charge against F. S. Allen, a Pasadena architect, was ordered dismissed on motion of Deputy District Attorney Harry Alexander, on the ground it would be impossible to secure sufficient evidence to convict Allen.""Wants Probation," Los Angeles Times, 02/22/1911, pt. II, p. 2.

Though other details of this incident are not known, it likely hastened the end of Allen's architectural career, who retired in 1915. He later operated a music store. He died in California on August 26, 1930.[https://pcad.lib.washington.edu/person/794/ Frank Shaver Allen], Pacific Coast Architecture Database. Accessed October 27, 2022.

Allen was responsible for a number of buildings that have been listed on the United States National Register of Historic Places.

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20190401161014/http://www.cityofjoliet.com/halloffame/artists/fsallen.htm Frank Shaver Allen website]

{{reflist}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Frank Shaver}}

Category:1860 births

Category:1930 deaths

Category:American Egyptologists

Category:People from Joliet, Illinois

Category:Architects from Illinois

Category:Architects from California