David Richard Jones (October 24, 1832 – February 16, 1915) was a Welsh-American architect and poet.

Early life

Jones was born October 24, 1832, in

Dolwyddelan Dolwyddelan ( ; ; ) – in Victorian times, often spelled Dolyddelen – is a village and community in Conwy county borough, Wales, on the main A470 road between Blaenau Ffestiniog and Betws-y-Coed. As a community, the population of Dol ...

, North Wales, the son of Richard James Jones and Ann Jones. On September 2, 1845, Richard, Ann and family (5 boys and one girl) immigrated to the United States. Richard purchased 480 acres of government land east of the village of

Cambria, Wisconsin Cambria is a village in Columbia County, Wisconsin, Columbia County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 767 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. It is part of the Madison, Wisconsin, Madison Madison, Wisconsin metropolitan area, ...

. He built a log house and moved there in the spring of 1846. The farm was named Oakland. In May 1852, David R. left Oakland for the city of Racine, Wisconsin, where he apprenticed with architect

Lucas Bradley Lucas Bradley (1809–1889) was an American architect in Racine, Wisconsin. His brother, Evan O. Jones, remained in Cambria and was a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly and Senate.

Architecture

Jones worked in

Racine Jean-Baptiste Racine ( , ) (; 22 December 163921 April 1699) was a French dramatist, one of the three great playwrights of 17th-century France, along with Molière and Corneille as well as an important literary figure in the Western traditi ...

for about 4 years before he returned to Cambria. While in Cambria he designed and built many buildings in the area, along with maintaining a lumber yard. In 1871 he left Cambria to become the head draftsman for architect Abraham Radcliffe of St. Paul, Minnesota. In the spring of 1873, Jones returned to Wisconsin and started his own practice in

Madison Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States Place names * Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital of Wisconsin and the largest city known by this ...

. He set up office on Main Street across from the Capitol. He maintained the office in Madison until 1885. In 1880 and 1881 Jones had a branch office in Racine Wisconsin. His head draftsman

James Gilbert Chandler James Gilbert Chandler (August 4, 1856 – January 17, 1924) was a prominent architect in Racine, Wisconsin. Personal life Chandler was born at Berlin Falls, New Hampshire, on August 4, 1856, to Milton Walker Chandler and Sarah Grover Chandl ...

worked for him in the Racine office and later took over the business in 1882. One of his first commissions in Madison was a mansion for General

David Atwood David Atwood (December 15, 1815 – December 11, 1889) was a nineteenth-century American politician, publisher, editor and printer from Wisconsin. He represented Wisconsin's 2nd Congressional District in the United States House of Represen ...

, the founder and publisher of the Wisconsin State Journal. Atwood wrote highly of Jones skill in his paper. Residences for other prominent Madisonians were soon to follow, Mayor Silas U. Pinney, Colonel C.G. Thorton, banker Lucien Hanks, and Judge

Romanzo Bunn Romanzo Norton Bunn (September 24, 1829 – January 25, 1909) was an American lawyer and judge. He was a United States district judge of the Western District of Wisconsin, a Wisconsin Circuit Court Judge, and a member of the Wisconsin Stat ...

among others. Madison was becoming a resort city in the 1870s and 80s. Two of Jones commissions were in response to that. Jones designed the buildings for the Monona Lake Assembly Chautauqua and the Tonyawatha Resort Hotel during that time period. Much of his other work was for the Wisconsin State Government. He designed buildings for the Normal Schools at Whitewater, Platteville and River Falls. He also designed buildings at the Mendota Insane Asylum,

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, ...

Madison and the north and south wings of the Wisconsin Capitol Building. Jones had several students and employees within his firm. His students were Herman Esser, Owen J. Williams, and James G. Chandler. He employed Edward Stark, Frederick W. Paunach, William Kleinpell and J. Albert Swenon.

The capitol disaster

In the spring of 1882, the Wisconsin State Legislature approved $200,000 for the extension of the Wisconsin State Capitol. An architectural competition was held and Jones was awarded the commission. In May of that year bids were sought, with a project completion date of January 1, 1884. Twice the project went out for bids only to exceed the $200,000 approved by the state legislature. Twice Jones was requested to revise the plans in order to bring down the bids. One of the revisions eliminated the octagonal towers and the lower ranks of iron columns were replaced with stone piers. Eventually the firm of Bentley and Nowlan were the successful bidders with a bid of $188,370. By late 1883 the north wing was all but completed. The south wing had some additional work to be structurally complete. On November 8^th, at 1:40 pm the south wing collapsed, trapping and killing 8 workmen and injuring many others. Immediately after, Governor Jeremiah Rusk called together a group of specialist to determine the cause. The group was made up of Albert C. Nash, a prominent architect from Ohio, Godfrey Ludwig, the superintendent of public buildings for Cincinnati Ohio, Carl F. Struck architect from Minneapolis, and J.R. Willett an architect from Chicago. Their report placed the blame on substandard materials, specifically the cast iron columns. The day after the disaster, a coroner’s inquest was impaneled. That inquest was led by Dane County District Attorney

Robert M. La Follette Robert Marion "Fighting Bob" La Follette Sr. (June 14, 1855June 18, 1925), was an American lawyer and politician. He represented Wisconsin in both chambers of Congress and served as the 20th Governor of Wisconsin. A Republican for most of his ...

. "The panel found Nowlan culpable of "improperly and insufficiently" repairing a fault in the second-story pier near the southeast corner of the extension, which they found to have contributed to the falling of the south wing. They also found D. R. Jones and a consulting Milwaukee architect,

Henry C. Koch Henry C. Koch (March 30, 1841 – May 19, 1910) was a German-American architect based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Biography Born in Hanover in the Kingdom of Hanover, Koch immigrated as a toddler with his family to the United States. His architect ...

, guilty of negligence "in designing the internal construction of the said south wing of the Capitol Extension without a due and proper regard for the safety during the erection . . ."

The aftermath of the capitol disaster

After the collapse of the capitol, both the number and the scale of the projects declined for Jones. In 1885 Jones sold his Madison office to Owen J. Williams. Jones returned to Cambria where he continued to design buildings until just prior to his death. His post Madison works include buildings for the City of Portage Wisconsin (Fire Engine House and Council Room), Columbia County (Register of Deeds Building, Jail and Sheriffs House, Insane Asylum, Poor House), the State of Wisconsin and numerous churches and residences throughout south central Wisconsin. In 1893, Jones was hired by William H. Jones, President of the Plano Manufacturing Company, as the principal and supervising architect for the construction of a new manufacturing plant. When completed, the factory encompassed 25 acres of land in West Pullman, Illinois, and employed 1400 workers. Jones worked on the project from 1893 to 1905. In 1902 the Plano Manufacturing Company merged with the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company, the Deering Harvester Company, and 2 other companies to form the

International Harvester Company The International Harvester Company (often abbreviated by IHC, IH, or simply International ( colloq.)) was an American manufacturer of agricultural and construction equipment, automobiles, commercial trucks, lawn and garden products, household e ...

. Jones' last known building, the addition to the Cambria Wisconsin High School, was in 1911.

Selected works

*General

House, Madison, Wisconsin *

Washburn Observatory The Washburn Observatory ( obs. code: 753) is an astronomical observatory located at 1401 Observatory Drive on the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Completed in 1881, it was a major research facility ...

1401 Observatory Dr, Madison, Wisconsin *Monona Lake Assembly 1155 E Lakeside St, Madison, Wisconsin *Judge

House, 104 Langdon St, Madison, Wisconsin * Assembly Hall (Music Hall), 925 Bascom Mall University of Wisconsin Madison, Wisconsin Musichall

*Smith and Lamb Business Block, 105 W. Main St, Madison, Wisconsin *First Congregational Church, 103 S. Church St,

Whitewater Whitewater forms in a rapid context, in particular, when a river's gradient changes enough to generate so much turbulence that air is trapped within the water. This forms an unstable current that froths, making the water appear opaque and ...

, Wisconsin Washburn Observatory

*M.J. Rowland House, 124 W. Florence St, Cambria, Wisconsin * George Q. Erskine House, 920 Main St, Racine, Wisconsin * Wisconsin Building, U.S. Centennial Exhibition, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania *

Wisconsin State Capitol The Wisconsin State Capitol, located in Madison, Wisconsin, houses both chambers of the Wisconsin legislature along with the Wisconsin Supreme Court and the Office of the Governor. Completed in 1917, the building is the fifth to serve as the Wi ...

Extension (3rd Capitol), Madison, Wisconsin *Magnetic Observatory, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin *Plano Manufacturing Company, West Pullman, Illinois *Tonyawatha Spring Hotel, Madison, Wisconsin * State Normal School, River Falls, Wisconsin * H.T. Bailey Store and Opera House, 194 E Court St, Richland Center, Wisconsin *Warren House Hotel,

Baraboo Baraboo is a city in the Midwest and the county seat of Sauk County, Wisconsin, United States. The largest city in the county, Baraboo is the principal city of the Baraboo Micropolitan Statistical Area. Its 2020 population was 12,556. It is situ ...

, Wisconsin * Engine House #3, 700 6th St, Racine, Wisconsin * Wisconsin State Hospital for the Insane, Madison, Wisconsin * Rountree Hall Addition, 30 N. Elm St., Platteville, Wisconsin * Grace Episcopal Church (Rem), 116 W. Washington Avenue, Madison Wisconsin

Poetry

Jones was considered a fine poet among many Welsh Americans, but because of the influence of

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended ...

on his poetry, others found it unacceptable. He wrote poetry for the newspaper '' Y Drych'' and for local publications such as the ''Cambria News''. Jones and his poetry were featured in the ''Cambrian'', a magazine published in Utica New York. Jones had two books of poetry published, ''Hans Bywrd yr Han Lywyd'' (1897) and ''Yr Ymchwilan y Galwuni'' (1910). His unpublished works are in a collection at Bangor University in Wales UK.

Personal life

On October 30, 1857, Jones married Jane Williams of Welsh Prairie, Wisconsin. They had four children (Mary, Margaret, Richard and Jane); Richard died in 1865, a year after his birth from scarlet fever. Six years later, his wife, Jane, died in 1871 while the family was living in St. Paul, Minnesota. Jones moved back to Wisconsin in 1873, where he married Annie Roberts of Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, on December 24, 1878. Jones died February 16, 1915, at the age of 82 and is buried in the Cambria Cemetery along with his wives.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, David R. 1832 births 1915 deaths Welsh emigrants to the United States People from Dolwyddelan People from Madison, Wisconsin Architects from Wisconsin Poets from Wisconsin People from Cambria, Wisconsin People from Racine, Wisconsin