Babcock, Everett Phipps

BABCOCK, Everett Phipps (1874-1928) of Tacoma, Wash. was in partnership there with Ambrose J. Russell from c. 1905 until 1911 when he moved to Vancouver, B.C. to oversee the construction of several Canadian projects for the firm (see entry under Russell, Babcock & Rice). Born in New York on 13 June 1874 Babcock moved to Tacoma with his parents in 1888 and was educated there at Washington College. He worked in the drafting department of the Northern Pacific Railway and the municipal Engineering Department, then formed a partnership with A.J. Russell in Tacoma. In 1908 both architects opened joint offices in Seattle (where Russell collaborated with Walter E. Rice) and in Tacoma (where Babcock remained to direct the local office of Russell & Babcock). When the firm obtained two important commissions for office towers in Vancouver in 1911, Babcock moved to Canada and opened a branch office of the firm. In addition to handling the affairs of the office, Babcock was one of thirty architects from the United States and Canada who submitted an entry in the competition for the Vancouver Civic Centre in 1914 (C.R., xxix, 6 Jan. 1915,, 8). His scheme was not among the finalists and Theo Korner was awarded First Premium. Babcock continued to live and work in Vancouver until late 1915 then moved to Portland, Ore. and became director of Babcock & Riley Inc., a firm of interior decorators. His name last appears in the Portland Directory of 1921, and he later died in Pasedena, Calif. on 16 May 1928 (biog. H. Hunt, Tacoma: Its History and Its Builders, c. 1916, iii, 148-9; inf. Mr. K.R. Turner, Seattle Public Library)