Fuller & Delano


Fuller & Delano was an architectural firm in Worcester, Massachusetts, active from 1878 until 1942. It originally consisted of architects James E. Fuller and Ward P. Delano. The firm designed more than 20 buildings that were later listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.

Firm history

Fuller & Delano was established in 1878 by James E. Fuller and Ward P. Delano II. Though trained as a carpenter, Fuller had been partner of architect Stephen C. Earle from 1866 to 1876. Fuller was formally associated with Delano after he had been a draftsman in his office for about a year. They were continuously associated until Fuller's death in 1901, though a third architect, Howard Frost, was a member of the partnership from 1895 to 1899.
After Fuller's and Delano's deaths, respectively, their sons, Robert L. Fuller and Ward P. Delano III were brought into the partnership. The younger Fuller and Delano worked together until Delano's suicide in 1940, and Fuller retired in 1942, ending the firm's sixty-four years of continuous practice.
Fuller & Delano initially kept their offices in the building of the Peoples Savings Bank, 452 Main Street, where Earle & Fuller had their office since they designed it in 1869. In 1911 they relocated to the Chase Building, 44 Front Street, which the firm had designed in 1886. They stayed there until Robert L. Fuller retired in 1942.

Biographies of partners

James Edward Fuller

James Edward Fuller was born October 5, 1836, in Warwick, Massachusetts to James Fuller and Nancy Fuller. He was first trained in the building trades, being apprenticed to his brother, a carpenter. From 1858 to 1865 he was a carpenter on his own account in Athol. Ultimately deciding to become an architect, in 1865 he moved to Worcester and entered the office of E. Boyden & Son, where he remained for a year. In 1866 he joined the firm of Stephen C. Earle as partner, forming the firm of Earle & Fuller. They worked together until the partnership was dissolved in 1876. In 1878, after two years of independent practice, Fuller formed a partnership with draftsman Ward P. Delano. Fuller and Delano continued their association until Fuller's death, which occurred in Worcester on July 31, 1901.
In 1859 Fuller married Clara Delia Gould, also of Warwick, and they had three children who lived to adulthood: Clara Gertrude Douglass, born 1861, James Edward Fuller, born 1865, a contractor affiliated with the George A. Fuller Company and Robert Lesure Fuller, detailed below. In 1890 Fuller purchased the Charles Newton House, built c.1846 in northern Worcester, where he lived for the rest of his life. His children built houses on the property as well.
From 1892 until his death Fuller was a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects.
The Fuller family of Warwick was descended from Samuel Fuller, who immigrated to North America in 1620 aboard the Mayflower.

Ward Parker Delano II

Ward Parker Delano II was born January 12, 1851, in Marion, Massachusetts to Ward Parker Delano and Amanda F. Delano. He attended the public schools, and as a young man worked for a coal company, working in the South for several years during Reconstruction. When he returned north he worked for a number of architects and builders in Boston, ultimately entering the office of Ware & Van Brunt. He remained there until 1877, when he moved west to Worcester for a job with Fuller. They became business partners in 1878. They worked together until Fuller's death in 1901, when Delano brought Fuller's son into the business and incorporated the firm.
In 1881 he married Elizabeth Holmes Sparrow of Mattapoisett, Massachusetts. They had five children, three of which lived to adulthood, including Ward Parker Delano III. Delano died in Worcester, September 23, 1915.
Though Delano became a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects alongside his partner in 1892, he resigned his membership in 1902.
The Delano family of Marion was descended from Philip Delano, who immigrated to North America in 1621.

Robert Lesure Fuller

Robert Lesure Fuller was born June 29, 1871, in Worcester, the youngest child of James E. Fuller. He attended public schools and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, graduating in 1896. After graduation he returned to Worcester and entered the office of Fuller & Delano. In 1900 he served as representative of his cousin's contracting firm, the George A. Fuller Company, at the Exposition Universelle in Paris. Upon his father's death in 1901 he became a principal in the newly incorporated Fuller & Delano Company. After the death of Ward P. Delano II, Ward P. Delano III became a principal. Fuller and Delano remained associated until Delano's death in 1940. Fuller continued the firm for two more years, retiring in 1942.
Fuller first married Mary W. White of Worcester. After her death, he married Luella Morrow of Holden, Massachusetts. Fuller had two children, both by his first wife. Fuller died October 18, 1950.
Fuller was affiliated with the Worcester chapter of the American Institute of Architects, but was not a member of the national organization.

Ward Parker Delano III

Ward Parker Delano III was born July 24, 1883, in Worcester, the eldest child of Ward Parker Delano II. He attended Tabor Academy in Marion and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, graduating in 1905. He worked for a number of other architects in Boston and New York before entering his father's firm in 1908. He became a principal in 1915 upon his father's death. He never married. He died by suicide in his office, January 10, 1940.

Legacy

Fuller & Delano were the architects of at least twenty buildings that have been listed on the United States National Register of Historic Places, and others contribute to listed historic districts.

Architectural works

In Worcester, Massachusetts

Elsewhere in Worcester County

Elsewhere in Massachusetts

In New Hampshire