Frederick S. Holmes

Frederick S. Holmes was an American safe and vault engineer, and inventor who designed the largest vaults in the world. During his career, Holmes designed over 200 vaults throughout the United States, Canada and Japan from 1895 to 1941, considered to be the golden age of bank vault construction. The majority of Holmes designed vaults are located in New York's Financial District; many are publicly accessible and in buildings on the National Register of Historic Places. His name is engraved on the builder's plaques, typically located on the vault door's encased jamb controls.
Holmes' vault designs evolved over time to keep up with attacks from safe-crackers or 'Yeggmen' adept at vault penetration. A Holmes advertisement from 1921 reads, "Newly discovered methods of attack necessitate radical departures from hitherto accepted standards of design". Holmes specialized in jamb-controlled vaults where the combination locks and bolt-throwing mechanism are located inside the vault creating a solid vault door with no spindle holes. Entry requires two points of attack, which doubles the time required for burglars to breach the vault.The culmination of vault door design and security resulted in which were used on the largest vaults ever built.
Holmes was an expert in his field and described as 'one of the leading, if not the leading vault engineer of America, and a man whose word is unquestioned by those who have had transactions with him'. In recognition of significant contributions to the field of bank vault engineering, a tribute was written in The Journal of the Franklin Institute stating, “Coincident with the modern development of the safe and bank vault industry was that of the profession of the Bank Vault Engineer. The industry owes much of its progress to the work done by the pioneers of this profession: William H. Hollar, John M. Mossman, George L. Damon, Emil A. Strauss, Frederick S. Holmes, Benjamin F. Tripp, and George L. Remington.” Holmes worked with all these vault engineering greats except Strauss.
Holmes collaborated with prominent architects such as Alfed Bossom, Cass Gilbert, Darling, Pearson & Cleveland, Walker & Weeks, and York & Sawyer. He also worked with leading vault builders including Bethlehem Steel, Carnegie Steel, Damon Safe & Iron Works, Diebold, Herring-Hall-Marvin,, LH Miller Safe & Iron Works, Mosler Safe, Remington & Sherman, and York Safe & Lock.

Early life

Frederick Stacy Holmes was born on August 27th, 1865 in Boston, MA to George W. Holmes and Frances A. Stacy. His father was from Maine and worked as a Pattern Maker and his mother was from New Hampshire and was a housewife. Holmes attended Boston High School and received private engineering instruction in New Hampshire.

Career

Homes first worked as a Pattern Maker like his father, a Machinist and then a Mechanical Draftsman. He worked his way up to General Superintendent for safe and vault manufacturers in Chicago, Boston, and Philadelphia before venturing out on his own. Holmes was co-owner of Hoyer & Holmes with Isaiah Wellington Hoyer in Philadelphia that specialized in safe and vault design and construction. He worked as a Bank Vault Engineer for John M. Mossman where he designed the Maiden Lane Safe Deposit Company vault among others. Afterwards, Holmes started a company of the same name and by 1910 was designing jamb-controlled vaults for which he was known. He was in private practice for 36 years when he designed his most notable vaults:

Personal life

Frederick S. Holmes married Katherine E. Vincent from New Hampshire on March 27th, 1886 in Chelsea, MA. He was involved with industry groups such as the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Bankers Club, the Investigating Committee of Architects & Engineers, the Engineers’ Club, the Hardware Club of New York, and the New York State Society of Professional Engineers. Holmes had an active social life with membership in the American Club in Toronto, the Brotherhood of Man, the New York Athletic Club, and the Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York. His political affiliations changed throughout his life; he was a registered Republican and Independent. In 1932, Holmes was critically injured when struck by an automobile while walking home. He was 67 years old at the time and suffered a fractured skull from the hit-and-run driver. Holmes recovered and managed to work another nine years before retiring in 1941 at the age of 76. He died eight years later from arteriosclerotic heart disease on November 10th, 1948 in Hathorne, MA at the age of 84 and was buried at Exeter Cemetery in New Hampshire.

Published works

This list includes articles, copyrights, court testimony, interviews, patents, and speeches by Frederick S. Holmes in chronological order.

Year	Item
1890	Patent - US Patent 438,236 Electric Safe-Lock
1891	Patent - US Patent 459,226 Safe or Vault
1892	Patent - US Patent 467,465 Electric Lock Patent - US Patent 477,897 Electric Lock Patent - US Patent 477,898 Electric Lock
1896	Patent - US Patent 557,389 Removable Sill for Vaults or Safes
1899	Patent - US Patent 620,073 Safe
1905	Article - The Design and Construction of Modern Bank Vaults
1908	Patent - US Patent 901,710 Movable Ventilator for Vaults
1910	Court Testimony - Mosler Safe Co. vs. Maiden Lane Safe Deposit Co.
1911	Article - Vault Building - The Backward State of the Art, the Reason and the Remedy Article - Vault Building Problems with portrait photograph at 46 years old Article - Why Insure Against Anything that Never Happens?
1912	Article - A Renaissance of Vault Design Article - Uncle Sam to Build the World's Largest Treasure Vault Interview - World’s Largest Treasure Vault
1913	Article - Vault For Treasure Article - That $70,000 New York Bank Vault Robbery Article - Impregnable Safes Article - Vaults - A Criticism
1916	Article - Modern Practice in the Design of Bank Vaults Part 1 - Protective Principles and Construction Methods Article - Modern Practice in the Design of Bank Vaults Part 2 - The Requirements of Small Banks Speech - New Vault Construction to Resist the Cutter-Burner Article - Reliability in Vaults and Safes Article - The Construction of Bank Vaults
1917	Article - A New Concrete for Bank Vaults Article - The Oxy-Acetylene Cutting Torch Article - Thoughts as to Erection, Arrangement and Fitting Up of a Safe Deposit Vault
1921	Article - Vault Construction for Small Communities
1923	Article - Harris, Forbes & Company's New Vault Article - Protecting Our Great Banks Article - The World's Greatest Bank Vaults Article - Vault Protection
1924	Article - The Romance of the Lock Article - Safeguards that are Required Against the Modern Yegg Article - Vault Weaknesses that must be Overcome
1925	Article - There Are No Jimmy Valentines Article - New York Savings Bank Problems - Safety Deposit Vaults for All
1926	Copyright - Copyright 59490 with Ralph M. Hooker
1927	Article - Guarding America's Wealth - A Renaissance of Bank Burglary
1928	Article - Bank Vault Construction and Equipment
1991	Article - The Lure of The Lock
2005	Article - Monuments to Money: The Architecture of American Banks by Charles Belfoure,