George Albert Clough


George Albert Clough was an architect working in Boston in the late 19th century. He designed the Suffolk County Courthouse in Pemberton Square, and numerous other buildings in the city and around New England. Clough served as the first City Architect of Boston from 1876 to 1883.

Life and career

George Albert Clough was born May 27, 1843, in Blue Hill, Maine. He attended the Blue Hill Academy and worked as a draftsman for his father, the shipbuilder Asa Clough. He moved to Boston in 1863, entering the firm of Snell & Gregerson as a student. He remained with Snell until 1869, when he established his own practice. In 1876 he was elected City Architect of Boston, the first person to hold the office. He continued in that position until 1883, when he was replaced by Charles J. Bateman. He was awarded his largest commission, the Suffolk County Courthouse, in competition two years later in 1885. This building was completed in 1893, largely to Clough's design but with modifications he disapproved of. He was a private practitioner until 1901, when he formed a partnership with Herbert L. Wardner. Clough & Wardner operated until Clough's death in 1910.
Wardner continued to practice on his own in Boston until 1915, when he moved to Poughkeepsie, New York, moving again to Akron, Ohio, in 1919, where he died in 1939.

Personal life

In 1876 Clough married Amelia M. Hinckley of Thetford, Vermont, the sister of Lyman G. Hinckley. They had three children.
Clough died December 30, 1910, at home in Brookline, Massachusetts, at the age of 67.

Legacy

Historian Walter Muir Whitehill described him as "a competent but not very inspired practitioner."
A number of Clough's projects have been listed on the United States National Register of Historic Places.

Architectural works