Jay Herbert Morgan (10 December 1868 - 6 June 1937) was an American architect noted for his work on some of the first

steel frame Steel frame is a building technique with a " skeleton frame" of vertical steel columns and horizontal I-beams, constructed in a rectangular grid to support the floors, roof and walls of a building which are all attached to the frame. The devel ...

d, theatre, racecourse, office and residential buildings. As an architect with the

George A. Fuller Company George A. Fuller (1851 – December 14, 1900) was an American architect often credited as being the "inventor" of modern skyscrapers and the modern contracting system. Early life and career Fuller was born in Templeton, Massachusetts, near Wo ...

Morgan is known for his work on the

Hippodrome The hippodrome ( el, ἱππόδρομος) was an ancient Greek stadium for horse racing and chariot racing. The name is derived from the Greek words ''hippos'' (ἵππος; "horse") and ''dromos'' (δρόμος; "course"). The term is used ...

in New York and his design of buildings in Japan both immediately prior to and in the wake of the

Great Kantō earthquake Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness Greatness is a concept of a state of superior (hierarchy), superiority affecting a person or wikt:entity, object in a par ...

Biography

He was born on 10 December 1868 in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...

. Morgan first arrived in Japan in 1920 as chief architect for the George A. Fuller Company of the Orient Ltd. In addition to advising on the use of new steel-framed building techniques in the design of new seven and eight story office structures in Marunouchi, Morgan was solely responsible for the design of Brunner, Mond & Company's landmark Crescent Building in the port of Kobe. He married Augusta G. Schossoret on 10 December 1895 in

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee i ...

. Opening an independent architectural practice in 1922, Morgan contributed to the rebuilding of a number of buildings in the aftermath of the

in 1923. A number of his works still survive including

Christ Church, Yokohama Christ Church, Yokohama (横浜山手聖公会 Yokohama Yamate Seikokai), is a historic Anglican church located in Yamate, Yokohama, Japan. Providing a center of worship for both Japanese and English-language congregations the church traces its ...

(1931), Berrick Hall (1930), and the ruins of the grandstand of the former

Negishi Racecourse Negishi Racecourse was a horse-racing facility located on the outskirts of Yamate in the treaty port of Yokohama, recognized as the first purpose built European style racecourse in Japan. The course was operational between 1866 and 1942. History ...

(1929), all located in or close to the elevated

Yamate is the name of a historic neighbourhood in Naka-ku, Yokohama often referred to in English as ''The Bluff.'' The neighbourhood is famous as having been a foreigners' residential area in the Bakumatsu, Meiji and Taishō periods. While still do ...

neighbourhood in

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of ...

. Morgan constructed his own private residence at

Fujisawa, Kanagawa is a Cities of Japan, city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 439,728 and a population density of 6300 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Fujisawa is in the central part of Kanagawa ...

in 1931. A community group has been formed to preserve this property but the historic structure suffered arson attacks by an unknown assailant in 2007 and 2008. Morgan died on 6 June 1937 at the Yokohama General Hospital, Karasawa Nake-uk, Yokohama. His grave is located in the Foreigners General Cemetery in Yamate, Yokohama.

Selected works

* Main campus building, Rahauser Memorial Chapel and entrance gate of

Tohoku Gakuin University is a private university in Sendai, Japan. It was founded under a Christian background (specifically the German Reformed Church, which later was known as the Reformed Church in the United States. A large part of the Reformed Church in the United ...

Sendai is the capital city of Miyagi Prefecture, the largest city in the Tōhoku region. , the city had a population of 1,091,407 in 525,828 households, and is one of Japan's 20 designated cities. The city was founded in 1600 by the ''daimyō'' Date M ...

, Japan *

* Entrance gate and gatehouse of the Foreign General Cemetery,

, Yokohama. * Grandstand of the former

, Yokohama

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morgan, Jay 1868 births 1937 deaths 19th-century American architects People from Buffalo, New York 20th-century American architects American emigrants to Japan