Howard Nott Potter

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Potter was born in New York City on May 6, 1859. He was the son of Virginia (née Mitchell) Potter (1827–1890) and Democratic U.S. Representative Clarkson Nott Potter (1825–1882).{{cite news |title=OBITUARY {{!}} CLARKSON N. POTTER |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1882/01/24/106240662.pdf |access-date=9 November 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=January 24, 1882}} Among his siblings was Maria Louisa Potter,{{cite web |title=Mrs. Joseph Leslie Cotton (ca. 1858-1882) |url=https://www.nyhistory.org/exhibit/mrs-joseph-leslie-cotton-ca-1858-1882 |website=www.nyhistory.org |publisher=New-York Historical Society |access-date=9 November 2018}} who married Joseph Leslie Cotton of Boston;{{cite news |title=WEDDINGS IN JUNE. COTTON-POTTER IN NEW-ROCHELLE. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1881/06/08/98559501.pdf |access-date=9 November 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=June 8, 1881}} Virginia Potter, who did not marry,{{cite news |title=VIRGINIA POTTER, 80; AIDED GIRLS CLUBS; Dies After Spending 60 Years Improving Living Conditions for Working Women |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1937/10/28/94448308.pdf |access-date=9 November 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=October 28, 1937 |language=en}} Eleanor Potter, and Clarkson Alonzo Potter.{{cite news |title=BEACH-AVENUE CLOSED TO TRAVEL. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1883/06/03/102826858.pdf |access-date=9 November 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=June 3, 1883}} Upon his father's death in 1882, he shared in his estate valued in excess of $1,000,000.{{cite news |title=Clarkson N. Potter's Will |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1882/02/02/98580499.pdf |access-date=9 November 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=February 2, 1882}}

His paternal grandparents were Sarah (née Nott) Potter (daughter of Eliphalet Nott, the longest serving college president in the United States) and Alonzo Potter, the Episcopalian Bishop of Pennsylvania. His maternal grandparents were Matthew and Louisa (née Kidd) Mitchell of Philadelphia.{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Henry Townsend |title=Manual of Westchester County: Past and Present |date=1913 |publisher=H. T. Smith |pages=64–65 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eMYpAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA64 |access-date=9 November 2018 |language=en}} Among his many prominent relatives were uncles Howard Potter, a New York City banker, Robert Brown Potter, a General in the American Civil War,{{cite news |title=CLARKSON N. POTTER'S SUMMER RESIDENCE. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1882/03/07/103405964.pdf |access-date=9 November 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=March 7, 1882}} Edward Tuckerman Potter, an architect, Henry Codman Potter, the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New York, Eliphalet Nott Potter, who served as President of Union College and Hobart College, and William Appleton Potter, also an architect who designed the Church of the Presidents in Elberon, New Jersey.{{EB1911|wstitle=Potter, Henry Codman}}{{cite book |last1=Kiger |first1=Phebe Brooks |title=The Genealogy and History of the Brooks and related families |date=1976 |publisher=Kiger |page=36 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LXA2AAAAMAAJ |access-date=9 November 2018 |language=en}}

Potter was educated in private schools in New York, then "fitted for college" under Dean Oliver. He entered Union College and graduated in 1881 with an A.B. degree. After Union, he went abroad for several years until he returned in 1890 to attend Columbia College to study architecture. He returned to Europe to finish his education.

After completing his architectural education in Europe, Potter returned to New York and began his career by partnering with Glenville Snelling to form the architecture firm of Snelling & Potter. In his practice, he was known for designing many private homes in the city and country, including the Bencoe Residence in White Plains, New York.{{cite book |title=Architectural Record |date=1920 |publisher=McGraw-Hill |page=107 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vZsDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA107 |access-date=9 November 2018 |language=en}} He also designed several churches, including the St. John's Cathedral in Jacksonville, Florida and the enlargement of The Priory in Pelham, New York.

Potter also wrote about architecture, including Stable Planning, published in The Architectural Review in September 1902.{{cite book |title=Quarterly Bulletin Containing an Index of Literature from the Publications of Architectural Societies and Periodicals on Architecture and Allied Subjects: V. 1-12, V. 13, No. 1-3; Jan. 1, 1900-Oct. 1, 1912 |date=1902 |publisher=American Institute of Architects |page=232 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NyEbAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA232 |access-date=9 November 2018 |language=en}} He served on the New York Society of Architects as the vice-chair of the Decoration committee in 1922.{{cite book |last1=New York Society of Architects |title=Year Book of the New York Society of Architects |date=1922 |publisher=A. M. Madigan |page=7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BDlGAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA7 |access-date=9 November 2018 |language=en}}

In 1892, Potter and his wife were included in Ward McAllister's "Four Hundred", purported to be an index of New York's best families, published in The New York Times.{{cite news|last1=McAllister|first1=Ward|title=THE ONLY FOUR HUNDRED {{!}} WARD M'ALLISTER GIVES OUT THE OFFICIAL LIST. HERE ARE THE NAMES, DON'T YOU KNOW, ON THE AUTHORITY OF THEIR GREAT LEADER, YOU UNDER- STAND, AND THEREFORE GENUINE, YOU SEE.|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1892/02/16/108210917.pdf|access-date=26 March 2017|work=The New York Times|date=16 February 1892|language=en}} Conveniently, 400 was the number of people that could fit into Mrs. Astor's ballroom.{{cite book|last1=Keister|first1=Lisa A.|title=Getting Rich: America's New Rich and How They Got That Way|date=2005|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521536677|page=36|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5dAtJf1hmAUC&pg=PA36|access-date=20 October 2017|language=en}}

Potter was a member of the Kappa Alpha Society, the Racquet Club, the Westchester Country Club, and the City Club of New York.

On May 9, 1884, Potter was married to Ethelinda "Ethel" Potter (1860–1949).{{cite book |last1=Landau |first1=Sarah Bradford |title=Edward T. and William A. Potter: American Victorian architects |date=1979 |publisher=Garland |pages=81–82 |isbn=9780824039592 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0BzqAAAAMAAJ |access-date=9 November 2018 |language=en}} Ethel, his first cousin, was the daughter of his paternal uncle, and fellow architect, Edward Tuckerman Potter, who designed the Nott Memorial at Union College.{{cite book |title=Blatchford Memorial II: A Genealogical Record of the Family of Rev. Samuel Blatchford, D.D., with Some Mention of Allied Families, Also Autobiographical Sketch of Rev. Dr. Blatchford from "The Blatchford Memorial". |date=1912 |publisher=Privately printed |pages=[https://archive.org/details/blatchfordmemori00blat/page/87 87]-88 |url=https://archive.org/details/blatchfordmemori00blat |access-date=9 November 2018 |language=en}} Together, they were the parents of:{{cite book |last1=Raymond |first1=Andrew Van Vranken |title=Union University: Its History, Influence, Characteristics and Equipment, with the Lives and Works of Its Founders, Benefactors, Officers, Regents, Faculty, and the Achievements of Its Alumni. Union College, Albany Medical College, Albany Law School, Dudley Observatory, Albany College of Pharmacy |date=1907 |publisher=Lewis Publishing Company |pages=[https://archive.org/details/unionuniversity00raymgoog/page/n24/mode/2up 24]-25 |url=https://archive.org/details/unionuniversity00raymgoog |access-date=9 November 2018 |language=en}}

• Howard Clarkson Potter (1894–1894), who died in infancy.
• John Howard Nott Potter (1896–1961),{{cite news |title=JOHN H. N. POTTER, 64, EX-REALTY MAN HERE |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1961/08/06/118047068.pdf |access-date=9 November 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=August 6, 1961 |language=en}} who married Margaretta Wood, daughter of Rear Adm. Spencer Shepard Wood.{{cite book |title=The Hereditary Register of the United States of America |date=1976 |publisher=Hereditary Register Publications |page=667 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rWsKAQAAMAAJ |access-date=9 November 2018 |language=en}} He was president of Brett, Wyckoff, Potter, Hamilton Inc., real estate brokers in New York.{{cite news |title=Miss Ferber Becomes Bride Of S.W. Potter |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/07/31/archives/miss-ferber-becomes-bride-of-sw-potter.html |access-date=9 November 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=July 31, 1977 |language=en}}
• Ethel Julia Howard Potter (1898–1971),{{cite news |title=COX--Ethel H. Potter |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1971/08/30/79150375.pdf |access-date=9 November 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=August 30, 1971 |language=en}} who married artist Allyn Cox (1896–1982), son of artists Kenyon Cox and Louise King Cox, in 1927.{{cite news |last1=Waggoner |first1=Walter H. |title=ALLYN COX, 86, PAINTER OF MURALS FOR U.S. CAPITOL |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/09/28/obituaries/allyn-cox-86-painter-of-murals-for-us-capitol.html |access-date=9 November 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=September 28, 1982 |language=en}}

Potter inherited fifty percent of his father's country house, known as "Nutwood", in New Rochelle, overlooking the Long Island Sound. They also had a home in Harrison, New York known as "Allendale Farm".{{cite book |title=Social Register, Summer: Contains the Summer Addresses of Residents of New York, Washington, Philadelphia, Chicago, Boston and Baltimore |date=1904 |publisher=Social Register Association |page=305 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oP5BAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA305 |access-date=9 November 2018 |language=en}}

Potter died at his home, "The Sea Horse" in Westhampton Beach, on July 31, 1937.{{cite news |title=HOWARD N. POTTER, ARCHITECT, IS DEAD; Retired Partner in New York Firm Built Many Homes and Churches Here RELATED TO TWO BISHOPS Great-Grandson of Dr.-Eliphalet Nott and. Son of President of Bar Association |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1937/08/01/507209302.pdf |access-date=9 November 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=August 1, 1937 |language=en}} His widow died in Mendham, New Jersey in January 1949.{{cite news |title=POTTER--Ethel |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1949/01/22/96444545.pdf |access-date=9 November 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=January 22, 1949 |language=en}}

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Category:1859 births

Category:1937 deaths

Category:19th-century American architects

Category:20th-century American architects

Category:Union College (New York) alumni

Category:Columbia College (New York) alumni