Edward Austin Kent
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Edward Austin Kent (February 19, 1854 – April 15, 1912) was a prominent architect in
Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...
. He died in the sinking of the RMS ''Titanic'' and was seen helping women and children into the lifeboats.


Biography

Edward Austin Kent was born in
Bangor, Maine Bangor ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Penobscot County, Maine, United States. The city proper has a population of 31,753, making it the state's List of municipalities in Maine, third-most populous city, behind Portland, Maine, Portland ...
on February 19, 1854 to Harriet Ann Farnham (1830–1908) and Henry Mellen Kent (1823–1894). Kent moved with his family to Buffalo after the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
, where his father, Henry, opened a successful department store, Flint & Kent. He was the brother of William Winthrop Kent (1860–1955), also a prominent architect who studied under H. H. Richardson, and Charles Farnham Kent (1856–1878), who died aged 22 in
Denver, Colorado Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...
. Kent attended and graduated from
Yale Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of the nine colonial colleges ch ...
, in 1875, and later the
École des Beaux-Arts ; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth centu ...
, the famous
Beaux-Arts architecture Beaux-Arts architecture ( , ) was the academic architectural style taught at the in Paris, particularly from the 1830s to the end of the 19th century. It drew upon the principles of French neoclassicism, but also incorporated Renaissance and ...
school in Paris. Returning to the U.S. in 1877, he became junior partner in the
Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States. With a population of 148,620 and a Syracuse metropolitan area, metropolitan area of 662,057, it is the fifth-most populated city and 13 ...
firm of Silsbee and Kent. In 1884, he returned to Buffalo and remained there for the rest of his career, helping to found the Buffalo Society of Architects and receiving many prominent commissions, including Flint & Kent. Until his death, he lived at the Buffalo Club. In 1912, he took a two-month vacation to France and Egypt and planned on retiring after returning home. He decided to delay his trip home so he could travel on the maiden voyage of the new and luxurious ocean liner, the .


Aboard the ''Titanic''

Kent traveled as a first-class passenger. He mingled with the other socialites, and with a writers' group which included
Helen Churchill Candee Helen Churchill Candee (October 5, 1858 – August 23, 1949) was an American author, journalist, interior decorator, feminist, and geographer. She is best remembered as a survivor of the sinking of RMS Titanic, RMS ''Titanic'' in 1912, and for ...
and Archibald Gracie. He perished when the ship struck an iceberg and sank on the night of April 14–15, 1912. As the ship was sinking, he disregarded his own safety to help women and children into the lifeboats. He was last seen at around 2:20 a.m. making no attempts to save himself as he was swept into the ocean. His body was recovered by the CS ''Mackay-Bennett'' as body No. 258 and claimed by his brother when the ship docked. He was laid to rest in the Forest Lawn Cemetery in
Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...
.


Notable works

* Temple Beth Zion (built 1890; destroyed 1961) - erected in the
Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...
style at 599 Delaware Avenue in Buffalo, as a copper-domed synagogue. Destroyed on October 4, 1961, when a fire, fueled by flammable liquids being used to refinish the pews, destroyed the building. * Chemical No. 5 Firehouse (built 1894) - erected in the
Art Nouveau Art Nouveau ( ; ; ), Jugendstil and Sezessionstil in German, is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and ...
style at 166 Cleveland Avenue in Buffalo. * A. E. Perron Company Building (built 1895) - erected in the Beaux-Arts style at 674 Main Street in Buffalo, as a factory and sales room for the A. E. Perron Company, a manufacturer of early automobiles, sleighs and harnesses. * Otto-Kent Building (built 1896) - erected in the Beaux-Arts style at 636-644 Main Street in Buffalo, adjacent to Shea's Buffalo, for his father's department store, Flint & Kent * Unitarian Universalist Church of Buffalo (built 1906) - erected in the English Gothic style at 695 Elmwood Avenue in Buffalo and listed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
on June 30, 2015.


See also

* Passengers of the RMS ''Titanic''


References


External links


A trailer for a film about the life of Edward Austin Kent
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kent, Edward Austin 1854 births 1912 deaths Deaths on the RMS Titanic Architects from Bangor, Maine Architects from Buffalo, New York Yale University alumni American alumni of the École des Beaux-Arts Burials at Forest Lawn Cemetery (Buffalo) 19th-century American architects 20th-century American architects