Form and Substance

A Paterson, New Jersey, history buff discovers how an architect from the class of 1887 helped shape his city.

IT STARTED ONE NIGHT FOR ME ON EBAY. I WAS AT HOME ON A QUIET evening and a bit bored. As an incidental collector of maps and memorabilia from my New Jersey city, I found something in the book category that caught my attention: The Recent Architecture of Fred Wesley Wentworth, Paterson, New Jersey. I bid on the book and lost, but I was intrigued. Who was Fred Wesley Wentworth and, given my interest in Paterson, why had I never heard of him?

A Google search identified Wentworth as a Dartmouth alum. With the help of archivists at Rauner I learned that Fred Wesley Wentworth, class of 1887, was a highly accomplished and respected architect based in Paterson from 1888 to 1943. The Rauner file led to information about his diverse practice, which included institutional, commercial and religious buildings—and prototypes for "moving picture" theaters, aeronautics manufacturing plants, downtown hotels and parking garages.

That Wentworth would find a home in Paterson, a rather gritty industrial city, was not predictable. His family was one of the most distinguished in New Hampshire, going back to years before Dartmouth was founded.

Wentworth was born on August 22,1864, in Boxboro, Massachusetts, where his father was lumbering for the shipbuilding industry. Within a year the family returned to Dover, New Hampshire, and Fred completed his public school education there. In the fall of 1883 he became one of 15 members of the first-year class in the Chandler department, a sciences department that initially started as the Chandler School at Dartmouth.

For students such as Wentworth, the emphasis of college life was an engaging and satisfying social scene. His college years coincided with the golden age of American fraternities (he was a member of the Chandler-based Phi Zeta Mu, later Tabard) and a growing number of senior societies with distinct themes and interests.

Most notably, Wentworth helped to found Casque & Gauntlet, a Dartmouth fixture based on King Arthur and the Round Table—the ultimate legend in fraternal camaraderie. Then as now, C&G's defining virtues were sociability, accomplishment and character. As the Web site of todays—now coed—organization states, "C&G's distinctive spirit still reflects the aims given by its founders: to unite and benefit those of high character and ideals, to render loyal service to Dartmouth and to encourage one another in worthy activities." These notions were very appealing to Wentworth, and his involvement in C&G informed his social values throughout his life.

Young Wentworth found the theme of "fraternal life" compelling, and for his thesis he created a hypothetical "chapter house" for a fraternity. The floor plan includes all the amenities a college man could hope for: billiards, formal parlor rooms, big stone fireplaces, a great hall and curving staircases. The exterior design is a young man's interpretation of English medieval design. Heavily rusticated stone gave the building a serious if somewhat awkward appearance.

When Wentworth settled in Paterson it was growing rapidly as the "Silk City of America." For the first 20 years or so of private practice Wentworth was the architect of choice for the business and professional elite of northern New Jersey. His clients included several colorful characters of the Gilded Age. Bird W. Spencer, a railroad entrepreneur and military man active in Republican politics, hired Wentworth for his bank headquarters, his residence and, most notably, the first home of the National Rifle Association in Sea Girt. Kimball C. Atwood, a successful insurance executive, commissioned a magnificent horse farm and estate in Oradell.

Among Wentworths other designs were a country home just outside of Paterson for Garret Hobart, a local political leader who later became vice president of the United States under William McKinley, and the Paterson estate of John Griggs—an attorney who served in the state legislature, later as governor of New Jersey and ultimately as U.S. attorney general. Both residences are noteworthy for their grandeur, dignified architecture and size. The Hobart home is now the centerpiece of William Paterson University.

A tragic fire and flood in 1902 destroyed the core of Paterson. As the city's leading architect, Wentworth found opportunities. During the next decade he helped re-form the downtown with the design of important commercial buildings, hospitals and institutional structures. By 1911 he was the president of the New Jersey chapter of the American Institute of Architects and was in great demand.

"He was not just another neoclassical architect," says professor Darius Sollohub of the New Jersey School of Architecture at NJIT. "The synagogue he designed transcends neoclassicism with a certain exoticism, while the Atwood home he did in Oradell is a fine example of shingle style. His body of work constitutes as fine an ensemble of early 20th century eclecticism as can be found."

His skills and social connections brought Wentworth back to Hanover. He regularly attended Dartmouth reunions, and when the C&G house needed work he was there to help. In 1915 he designed the rear wing of the C&G building that currently serves as the common room on the first floor and the private meeting room with the round table on the second floor. In addition Wentworth lent financial support to C&G, the only institutional beneficiary in his will.

The C & G building is not his only work on the Dartmouth campus. He designed the Psi Upsilon house for the Colleges oldest fraternity (established in 1841) in 1912 with a later expansion in the 19205. The building is typical of the residential architectural style he often used in New jersey.

Back in Paterson the city was changing in dramatic ways. Its population swelled with newcomers from eastern and southern Europe who were eager to become Americanized. New clients came to Wentworth with a variety of needs. And Wentworth, the sixth-generation American, adapted his practice to the requirements and aspirations of immigrant entrepreneurs.

worths major projects were commissioned by jacob Fabian, a Jewish merchant and community-leader-turned-movie theater-entrepreneur with whom Wentworth had a fruitful 20-year collaboration—unusual in a period when Jewish clients typically worked with Jewish architects. The Wentworth-Fabian portfolio contains a wide variety of buildings. Most significantly, the architect and entrepreneur developed several of the most innovative and spectacular movie palaces ever built in New Jersey, such as the Stanley Theater in Jersey City, which is still in use. The theaters were enormously successful, and Fabian became a major force in the movie distribution industry. Beginning in 1914 many of Went-

Fabians philanthropy also led to Wentworth designing three major Jewish institutions in Paterson: the Barnert Hospital in 1913, and in the 1920s the YM-YWHA (Young Men's/Young Women's Hebrew Association) building and Temple Emanuel, as well as a superb Masonic Temple that housed several lodges. These buildings were the cornerstones of Jewish life in the city for decades.

While Wentworth had a wide array of clients, most of whom shared his social and economic background, Fabian was by far his most important client. As Paterson changed, Wentworth easily could have left Paterson and shifted his practice. We can only speculate on Wentworth's motives for staying in Paterson and working so closely with Fabian. Perhaps it was Fabians determination and the opportunity to design prototypical buildings. Or it might have been Wentworths open-mindedness on social issues, a legacy of his C&G experience of judging men based on their character.

Man of Vision F.W. Wentworth(left) designedwonders such asthe Atwood home(right) in Oradell,New Jersey.

"His body of work constitutes a fine ensemble of early 20th century eclecticism."

RICHARD POLTON is a principal at Value Research Group of Livingston, New Jersey. His Web site is www.fredwesleywentworth.com.