Julian Livingston Peabody

Julian Livingston Peabody (March 29, 1881 – January 24, 1935) was a well-known American architect and soldier who drowned on board the SS Mohawk during a collision with a cargo ship.

Julian Livingston Peabody
Born	(1881-03-29)March 29, 1881 New York City, U.S.
Died	January 24, 1935(1935-01-24) (aged 53) New Jersey, U.S.
Alma mater	Harvard University Columbia School of Architecture École des Beaux-Arts
Occupation(s)	Architect, soldier
Spouse	Celestine Eustis Hitchcock ​ ​ (m. 1913; their death 1935)​
Children	3
Parent(s)	Charles A. Peabody Jr. Charlotte Damon Peabody

Early life

Peabody was born on March 29, 1881, in New York City. He was the eldest of three children born to Charlotte Anita Damon^[1] Charles Augustus Peabody Jr., a New York State Assemblyman.^[2] He had two younger siblings, John Damon Peabody,^[3] and Anita Livingston Peabody.^[4][5]

His paternal grandparents were Judge Charles Augustus Peabody and, his first wife, Julia Caroline (née Livingston) Peabody.^[6] His grandfather's second wife was Mary Eliza Hamilton, a cousin of Mrs. Astor, and a daughter of John Church Hamilton and granddaughter of Founding Father Alexander Hamilton.^[7]

Peabody prepared at the Groton School, graduating with the class of 1899, before attending Harvard University. After his 1903 graduation from Harvard, he spent a year at the Columbia School of Architecture before three years spent studying in France at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, beginning in the spring of 1905, where he joined the atelier Deglane.^[8]

Career

 

Front entrance of Mineola Post Office and portion of facade, 2008.

In 1907, Peabody returned to New York from Paris where he entered the office of Howells & Stokes (architects John Mead Howells and Isaac Newton Phelps Stokes),^[9] and later, the office of Grosvenor Atterbury, architect.^[10][11]

In January 1911, he established the architectural firm of Peabody, Wilson and Brown, with offices at 389 Fifth Avenue in New York City.^[8] His partners were Archibald Manning Brown, who studied with Peabody at the École des Beaux-Arts, and Albert E. Wilson.^[12] They later moved to 140 East 39th Street.^[13]

Peabody earned a reputation as being one of the foremost American architects for the design of large country houses, including the president's houses at Dartmouth College and Wake Forest University. The firm was responsible for the 1921 renovation of the Hotel Astor in Times Square as well as various schools and public buildings. He designed homes for Maxfield Parrish, Augustus St. Gaudens,^[14] and author James Norman Hall, a personal friend of the Peabodys, in Tahiti.^[9]

The United States Post Office in Mineola is the only federal commission the Peabody, Wilson firm is known to have undertaken, and was one of its last. After Peabody's death, Brown left the firm that same year to head the design team planning the Harlem River Houses, the first federally financed housing project in New York City.^[15]

Military service

During World War I, due to the ill health of his wife, he obtained a position in the Red Cross Headquarters in Washington, D.C., where he was quickly made director of the Bureau of Allied Prisoners' Relief. In the spring of 1918, after his wife's health recovered sufficiently for him to serve, he obtained a commission in the Aviation Division of the U.S. Navy for service in France as an Intelligence officer. After several months of preparation at Annapolis, he went to France in May 1918 and served there until the armistice.^[8]

Personal life

On March 27, 1913, Peabody was married to Celestine Eustis Hitchcock in Aiken, South Carolina, by the Right Rev. Henry P. Northrop, Bishop of South Carolina.^[16] Celestine was a daughter of polo player Thomas Hitchcock Sr. and Louise Marie (née Eustis) Hitchcock. Together, they lived at Pond Hollow Farm in Westbury on Long Island (across the road from his parents-in-law's estate, Broad Hollow Farm),^[17] and were the parents of a son who died in infancy, and two surviving children:^[18]

• Julian Livingston Peabody Jr. (1914–2014), a graduate of Princeton University and Columbia Law School who was a lawyer with LeBoeuf, Lamb, Leiby,^[19]
• Daphne Peabody, who married Edward Eugene Murray, a Dartmouth College graduate who was the son of the Democratic Senator from Montana, James E. Murray, in 1944.^[20]

Peabody was a member of the Harvard Club, the Racquet and Tennis Club, the New York City Club, the Piping Rock Club, the Locus Valley Club, the Seawanhaka Yacht Club, the Oyster Bay Club, the Architectural League of New York and the Beaux Arts Society.^[8]

Peabody and his wife were traveling to Mexico on board the liner SS Mohawk (owned by the Clyde-Mallory Line and under charter to the Ward Line) when it was involved in a collision with the Norwegian cargo ship Talisman off the coast of New Jersey.^[21] Fifteen passengers, including the Peabodys, and thirty crew members died in the sinking. After a double funeral at the Church of the Resurrection at 119 East 74th Street, the Peabodys were buried at Westbury Friends Cemetery.^[22]

References

1. "Died" (PDF). The New York Times. 5 February 1912. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
2. "C.A. PEABODY DIES; INSURANCE FIGURE; Former President of Mutual Life Company Stricken at Age of 82. PRACTICED LAW 30 YEARS An Astor Estate Trustee and Director on Many Important Boards. Noted as a Lawyer. Retired in 1927" (PDF). The New York Times. 27 April 1931. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
3. "JOHN D. PEABODY, 61, LAW FIRM MEMBER; Attorney Once a Director of Fulton Trust Co. Dies in Massachusetts Home" (PDF). The New York Times. 28 August 1944. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
4. "MISS PEABODY ENGAGED; Daughter of Charles A. Peabody to Wed Hamilton Hadden" (PDF). The New York Times. 2 September 1913. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
5. Hutto, Richard Jay (2006). Their Gilded Cage: The Jekyll Island Club Members. Indigo Custom Publishing. p. 68. ISBN 9780977091225. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
6. "Died" (PDF). The New York Times. 5 July 1901. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
7. "Ex-Judge Peabody Married: The Bride, the Guests, and Some of the Presents" (PDF). The New York Times. February 4, 1881. Retrieved October 17, 2016.
8. of 1903, Harvard College (1780-) Class (1920). Harvard College Class of 1903 Quindecennial Report. Plimpton Press. pp. –232. Retrieved 9 March 2020.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
9. "W/C Tropical Landscape, Julian Peabody, 1928 - Aug 13, 2016 | LOUIS J. DIANNI, LLC in NY". www.liveauctioneers.com. LiveAuctioneers. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
10. Pennoyer, Peter; Walker, Anne (2009). The Architecture of Grosvenor Atterbury. W. W. Norton & Company. pp. 40, 168. ISBN 978-0-393-73222-1. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
11. The International Studio. John Lane Company. 1912. p. 29. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
12. Peter D. Shaver (April 2006). "National Register of Historic Places Registration:Albert E. and Emily Wilson House". New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Retrieved 2010-12-24. See also: "Accompanying four photos".
13. Hamersly, Lewis Randolph; Leonard, John William; Mohr, William Frederick; Holmes, Frank R.; Knox, Herman Warren; Downs, Winfield Scott (1924). Who's Who in New York City and State. L.R. Hamersly Company. p. 979. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
14. "Collection | Julian L. Peabody". risdmuseum.org. RISD Museum. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
15. Gobrecht, Larry (December 1986). "National Register of Historic Places nomination, U.S. Post Office–Mineola". New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Retrieved 2008-06-29.
16. "PEABODY -- HITCHCOCK". The New York Times. 28 March 1913. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
17. "THE RESIDENCE OF JULIAN L. PEABODY, ESQ., AT WESTBURY, L. I. Peabody, Wilson & Brown, Architects". halfpuddinghalfsauce.blogspot.com. 21 July 2012. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
18. "MRS. PEABODY WON NOTE AS A RIDER; Former Celestin E. Hitchcock Rated as Good Horsewoman by Members of Hunt". The New York Times. 26 January 1935. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
19. "Paid Notice: Deaths PEABODY, JULIAN". The New York Times. November 23, 2014. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
20. "TROTH ANNOUNCED OF DAPIINE PEABODY; She Will Be Married to Lieut. E. E. Murray'of Air Forces, Son of Montana Senator" (PDF). The New York Times. 20 October 1943. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
21. "WARD LINER SINKS IN CRASH WITH FREIGHTER OFF JERSEY; ALL ABOARD BELIEVED SAVED; RAMMED 4 1-2 MILES OUT". The New York Times. January 25, 1935. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
22. "DOUBLE FUNERAL FOR J. L. PEABODYS; Service Conducted in Church of Resurrection for Ship Disaster Victims". The New York Times. 29 January 1935. Retrieved 9 March 2020.

External links

• Julian Livingston Peabody at Find a Grave