Beyond An Architect's Legacy: Paintings of Wm. J. Carpenter AIA

This book is about the life and works of my grandfather William James Carpenter, a talented architect and artist whose career has never been recognized and properly documented. It was with deep sentiment that I studied his painting "The Forgotten Man" and decided to assure that he would become "The Unforgotten Man." My personal odyssey began when I made a trip to DeLand, Florida to find the association between the Putman Hotel and a painting of a hotel signed "Putnam Inn, DeLand, Florida, W. J. Carpenter, Architect." Although I had known him when I was a child, I knew little of his career or that he had been recognized as a prominent architect during the 1920's and had designed many significant buildings in Volusia County. As a result of that trip I began a fascinating quest to discover and to preserve a part of family and architectural history that I feared was in danger of being lost forever. As a young Englishman William James Carpenter emigrated with his family to the United States to seek a new life in the growing country recovering from the Civil War. At 21, he struck out on his own to establish an architectural career. For the next 40 years he traveled around the country, producing numerous successful commercial and residential architectural projects, which have formed a notable legacy. Along the way he found time to create many watercolor paintings, most still existing today. About 50 of these works have been collected here by his grandson Jack. When viewed as a group they create a legacy of the life of the man himself.Study of his still-lifes, architectural renderings, and romantic portraits has revealed a side of the architect never seen before. Art lovers and historians will enjoy following the life of this remarkable man beyond the legacy of his architectural works. Those fortunate enough to have connections to his architecture will be interested in the insight of their benefactor, as they look back and say, as John Ruskin said, "See, this our father did for us."