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CHARLES W. HEARD VICTORIAN ARCHITECT by ERIC JOHANNESEN Charles W. Heard was a major Midwestern Victorian architect, and prob- ably the most important one in Cleveland for nearly three decades, from 1847 until his death in 1876. Like most of the architects of his generation, he began his career in the early nineteenth century carpenter-builder tradi- tion--the profession of architect in the modern sense did not emerge until the 1840's. Heard was to work in the Gothic, Romanesque, Italian, and French mansard styles of his day. Of the many buildings constructed by him during the decades before and after the Civil War, only a small num- ber survive today. These, as well as those that are known only from the records, display his progressiveness of design and skillful workmanship. Charles Wallace Heard was born in Onondaga, New York, in 1806, and his family moved to Painesville, Ohio, three years later.1 In 1822, at the age of fifteen, he became the apprentice of Jonathan Goldsmith, long recognized as one of the major architects of the Greek Revival period in Ohio. In 1830 Heard married Goldsmith's daughter, Caroline, and he was associated with his father-in-law from the time of his apprenticeship until the latter's death in 1847. In 1833 Heard moved to Cleveland where he worked with Goldsmith during the 1830's. Together they built, near the Public Square and along Euclid Street, a number of homes in the late colonial and classical styles for prominent and influential citizens. About this same time a house was built for Sherlock J. Andrews, and Heard was placed on the job as "foreman" or "boss-journeyman." Although the Andrews house is frequently attributed to Heard, Lucia Goldsmith stated, in a list of her father's buildings: "I have seen H [Heard] credited as archi- tect of [the Andrews] house, but have proof to contrary."2 The first house on which there seems to be general agreement that Heard was the primary designer was the one constructed sometime in the 1830's for Charles M. Giddings on Rockwell and Ontario Streets, facing the Pub- lic Square. The house was a stone structure of late Georgian design, with white wooden trim, a balustraded cornice, and four chimneys. Its archi- tectural details were undoubtedly taken from the widespread pattern books which helped so much in the dissemination of the classical styles in the early nineteenth century.3 Charles Heard was an important Cleveland citizen, active in the literary and debating societies of the day, Democratic politics, and the fire depart- ment. He was also one of the founders of the Cleveland Academy of Nat- NOTES ON PAGE 174 |