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Richardson Brognard Okie Jr. (1875–1945) was an American architect. He is noted for his Colonial-Revival houses and his sensitive restorations of historic buildings.

Biography

Okie was born in Camden, New Jersey, to Dr. Richardson B. and Clara Mickle Okie. He grew up in Chester County, Pennsylvania, graduated from the architecture program at the University of Pennsylvania in 1897, and briefly studied in Europe. He gained practical experience from a summer (1896) spent with William L. Price. After college he was employed by Arthur S. Cochran and soon became his associate. In 1899, he formed a partnership with architects H. Louis Duhring Jr. and Carl Ziegler, that lasted until 1918. He practiced independently until his death in 1945. In his later years he was joined by his son Charles (b. 1915).

He designed a re-creation of George Washington's "President's House" as an attraction at the 1926 Sesquicentennial Exposition in Philadelphia; a re-creation of Pennsbury Manor, William Penn's manor house on the Delaware River, as a museum for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; and restored the Betsy Ross House in Philadelphia as a museum. He also designed dozens of exquisitely-detailed Colonial-Revival houses in the suburbs surrounding Philadelphia. He bought his own house, "Hillside" in Radnor, Pennsylvania, in 1901, and tinkered with it periodically. It remains in his family's possession.

A number of his works are listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. Okie's papers are held by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Selected works

• Alterations to Bolingbroke Mansion, King of Prussia Road, Radnor, Pennsylvania (1901 and 1908). Now the rectory of St. Martin's Episcopal Church.
• Overfields (Joseph W. Sharp, Jr., house), Sugartown Road, Berwyn, Pennsylvania (1902).
• Addition to Pine Forge Mansion, Pine Forge Road and Douglass Drive, Pine Forge, Douglass Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania (1919), NRHP-listed.
• Appleford, 770 Mount Moro Road, Villanova, Pennsylvania (1920s).
• Re-creation of The President's House, Sesquicentennial Fairgrounds, Philadelphia (1925–26, demolished). Headquarters for the Daughters of the American Revolution during the 1926 World's Fair.
• Squirrel Run (S. Hallock duPont residence), 9 Barley Mill Road, Wilmington, Delaware (1926–27).
• Restoration of Roughwood, 107 Old Lancaster Road, Devon, Pennsylvania (1928–30), NRHP-listed.
• Additions to Hillside, King of Prussia Road, Radnor, Pennsylvania (1929). Okie's own house.
• Restoration of Paxton Church, Sharon Street, Paxtang, Pennsylvania (1930).
• Library addition to Buena Vista, 661 South Dupont Highway, Saint Georges, Delaware (1932), NRHP-listed.
• Alterations to Mansion House, Reading Furnace Historic District, Mansion Rd., Warwick Township, Pennsylvania (1936), NRHP-listed.
• Re-creation of Pennsbury Manor, Falls Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania (1936–39), NRHP-listed.
• Restoration of Betsy Ross House, 239 Arch Street, Philadelphia (1937–41).
• Commissioned to design the Hopeman Estate Home in Waynesboro, Virginia for Mr. A.A. Hopeman Jr.

• 

  Additions to South Brook Farm, Street and Bird Roads, East Marlborough Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania (1940), NRHP-listed. Now the New Bolton Center of the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine.
• Restoration of St. Peter's Church in the Great Valley, St. Peter's Road, East Whiteland Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania (1940s), NRHP-listed.
• Merestone, Yeatman's Station Rd., New Garden Township, Pennsylvania (1942), NRHP-listed. The 3-acre property straddles the border between Pennsylvania and Delaware.
• White Horse Historic District, Goshen and Providence Roads, Willistown Township, Pennsylvania, NRHP-listed.
• The Moore-Irwin House in King of Prussia. Okie twice provided additions and restoration for owner Alexander D. Irwin in the 1930's, '40's. The estate was formerly General Peter Muhlenberg's Headquarters' during the Revolutionary War Winter Encampment at Valley Forge, and is where George Washington wrote in his diary of lodging and fishing during a break in the Constitutional Convention, while also meeting there with two other Founding Fathers, Gouverneur Morris and Robert Morris.
  • Addition to Abraham Hall House, 7005 Goshen Road (1930s). A later addition is attributed to Charles Okie.
  • Restoration of White Horse Inn, 6154 Goshen Road (c. 1940). The stone building was moved about 100-feet back from the highway.
  • Restoration of Mary Yarnall House, 7002 Goshen Road (1940s). Charles Okie designed the garage, c. 1950.
  • Restoration of Charles Mendenhall House, 7004 Goshen Road (1940s). Charles Okie designed the garage, c. 1950.
  • Restoration of Caleb Yarnall House, 7008 Goshen Road (1949). Charles Okie.

Gallery

• St. Martin's Episcopal Church, Radnor, Pennsylvania. Bolingbroke (background, right) was restored by Okie.
• Pennsbury Manor, Falls Township, Pennsylvania (re-created 1936-39).
• South Brook Farm, East Marlborough Township, Pennsylvania (restored 1940).

References

1. ^ Okie, Richardson Brognard (1875-1945) data from the Philadelphia Architects and Buildings (PAB) project of the Athenaeum of Philadelphia
2. ^ "National Historic Landmarks & National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania" (Searchable database). ARCH: Pennsylvania's Historic Architecture & Archaeology. Retrieved 2013-06-08. Note: This includes Robert J. Wise Jr. (December 2000). "National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form: White Horse Historic District" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-11-05.
3. "National Historic Landmarks & National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania" (Searchable database). CRGIS: Cultural Resources Geographic Information System. Note: This includes George E. Thomas (June 1991). "Pennsylvania Historic Resource Survey Form: South Brook Farm" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-12-16.
4. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
5. R. Brognard Okie Architectural Papers, Pennsylvania State Archives.
6. Bolingbroke from Historic American Buildings Survey.
7. Hillside from Historic American Buildings Survey.
8. Paxton Church from Historic American Buildings Survey.
9. Buena Vista Conference Center
10. Pennsbury Manor Collection from Pennsylvania State Archives.
11. "NPGallery Asset Detail". npgallery.nps.gov. Retrieved 2019-12-28.
12. St. Peter's Church in the Great Valley from Historic American Buildings Survey.
13. "General Muhlenberg's Headquarters". King of Prussia Historical Society, The Moore-Irwin House. Retrieved 11 June 2024.
14. Founders Archives, Washington Diary. . . . July 30th 1787 and July 31st 1787, as well as personal letter to Elizabeth Powel noting the visit to Jane Moore's House]

Further reading

Garrison, James B. (2013). Stone Houses: Traditional Homes of R. Brognard Okie. New York: Rizzoli. ISBN 978-0-8478-4078-6.

External links

• Richardson Brognard Okie data from the Philadelphia Architects and Buildings (PAB) project of the Athenaeum of Philadelphia

• Architects from Philadelphia
• People from Camden, New Jersey
• People from Chester County, Pennsylvania
• 1875 births
• 1945 deaths
• University of Pennsylvania alumni
• Defunct architecture firms based in Pennsylvania
• Preservationist architects