BRAGDON, Claude Fayette (1866-1946) was an architect and artist of Rochester, N.Y. who designed the Hunter Street Bridge at Peterborough, Ont., 1920-21, a project carried out in collaboration with the eminent Canadian engineer Frank Barber. The structural purity and elegance of this design which spans the Otonabee River was expressed entirely in concrete in a single graceful arch which was embellished with a terra cotta balustrade and lantern standards also designed by Bragdon. A detailed essay on the project appeared in the American architectural journal called The Architectural Record [New York], liii, January 1923, 3-10.
The collaboration between Barber and Bragdon was again employed on the design and construction of the East York-Leaside Viaduct, TORONTO, ONT., 1927, which spanned the Don River valley. Although Bragdon's concept for a bridge modelled on a Roman viaduct was not used, his bold, geometric tile designs were incorporated into the balustrade work on the bridge (Globe [Toronto], 29 Oct. 1927, 24).
Bragdon was born in Oberlin, Ohio and served an architectural apprenticeship under Bruce Price of New York City, and with Green & Wicks of Buffalo, N.Y. He commenced his own practice in Rochester, N.Y. in 1901 where his best known work was the New York Central Railway Station, built 1912-13 (demol.), and the First Universalist Church, Court Street, 1908. In 1923 he moved to New York City and devoted much of his time to the design of theatre stage sets and served as Art Director to the American actor Walter Hampden. He was the author of several books which outlined his theosophical views, including The Beautiful Necessity (1910), Four-Dimensional Vistas (1916), and Architecture and Democracy (1918). Bragdon died in New York City on 17 September 1946 (obituary in New York Times, 18 Sept. 1946, 31; biography in Macmillan Encyclopedia of Architects, i, 1982, 268-69). A major collection of his drawings for nearly four hundred projects, including commissions for cottages at Pointe-au-Pic, Quebec and for bridges in Ontario, is held at the University of Rochester (Rhees Library, Special Collections, Acc. D.87)
(works in Canada)
OJIBWAY ISLAND, GEORGIAN BAY, ONT., tower and new wing for the Ojibway Hotel, on Ojibway Island, 1913 (David Macfaline, At The Ojibway - 100 Summers on Georgian Bay, 2006, illus.; inf. Ojibway Historical Preservation Socety, Pointe au Baril, Ont; inf. Stephen Otto, Toronto)
PETERBOROUGH, ONT., Hunter Street Bridge, design of the bridge, terra cotta balustrade, and decorative lamp standards, 1920-21 (Architectural Record (New York), liii, Jan. 1923, 3-10, illus., Canadian Engineer [Toronto], xl, 7 April 1921, 355-58, illus.)
TORONTO, ONT., East York - Leaside Viaduct, spanning the Don River Valley, 1927 (Globe [Toronto], 29 Oct. 1927, 24)