JORDAN, Albert Henry (1823-1872) of Detroit, Michigan was active there in partnership first with his brother Octavius Jordan from 1852 and then with James Anderson from 1856 onward, as Jordan & Anderson, Architects.. Albert was born in Hammersmith, London, England on 14 May 1823. In his own testimony given to the Congressional Court of Claims in Washington in 1862, he stated that "....I was 6 years studying my profession in the office of an architect in London. I was 12 years in the City of Edinburgh, generally employed in civil engineering and architecture" (U.S. Govt., 27th Congress, Report of the Court of Claims, Vol. Two, 1862, p. 577-78). In 1846 he emigrated to the United States and settled in Hartford, Connecticut where both Albert & Octavius Jordan opened an architectural office. They both moved to Detroit, Mich. in 1850, but it was Albert Jordan who proved to be an ambitious and talented architect in his own right when his design for Fort Street Presbyterian Church in Detroit was completed in 1855 (W. H. Ferry, The Buildings of Detroit, 1968, 47-8, illus.). This elaborate Gothic work may have prompted the Anglican congregation in Windsor, Ont. to hire Jordan later that same year to prepare a more modest yet equally assured design for All Saints Anglican Church, Windsor, Ontario. His versatility as an architect was also evident in his distinctive Italianate designs for the Essex County Court House, and for the Windsor City Hall, both of which were, upon their completion, among the most sophisticated civic buildings to be found in western Ontario in the mid-nineteenth century.
A dearth of work in the Detroit region during the American Civil War likely prompted Jordan to leave and move west in 1863, first to San Mateo, California where he continued to practise as an architect, then to Portland, Oregon in 1870 where he was also active. He died there on 23 October 1872 (obituary Morning Oregonian [Portland], 24 Oct. 1872, 3; obituary Detroit Free Press, 5 Nov. 1872, 1; biog. in Richard E. Ritz, Architects of Oregon, 2002, 218-19)
(works in Windsor, Ont.)
ESSEX COUNTY COURT HOUSE, Sandwich Street, 1855 (Windsor Herald, 26 May 1855, 2; Detroit Free Press, 7 Sept. 1895, 8, historical article & descrp.; M. Carter, Early Canadian Court Houses, 1983, 222, illus.; Andrew Foot, Windsor Then & Now, 2021, 14-15, illus.)
ALL SAINTS ANGLICAN CHURCH, City Hall Square at University Avenue East, 1855-57 (Windsor Herald, 14 July 1855, 2; The Church [Toronto], 10 Aug. 1855, 6; C.B. Hallam, Through Ninety Years - All Saints Church, Windsor, 1945, 5)
WINDSOR TOWN HALL, City Hall Square, 1856; demol. (Windsor Herald, 30 May 1856, 2; Andrew Foot, Windsor Then & Now, 2021, 48-49, illus.)
(works in Michigan)
DETROIT, MICH., Fort Street Presbyterian Church, 1855; burned 1876; rebuilt; burned 1914; rebuilt (Detroit Free Press, 17 Nov. 1855, 1, descrip.; Kathryn B. Eckert, Buildings of Michigan, 1993, 70, illus. & descrip.)
DETROIT, MICH., Jefferson Avenue Presbyterian Church, 1853-55 (Detroit Free Press, 7 Dec. 1855, 1, descrip.)
KALAMAZOO, MICH., Michigan Asylum for the Insane, 1856-57 (Detroit Free Press, 23 Jan. 1857, 2 & 3, descrip.)
DETROIT, MICH., Fire Engine House No. 4, for the Lafayette Fire Co., Wayne Street near Congress Street, 1856-57 (Detroit Free Press, 5 March 1857, 1, descrip.)
YPSILANTI, MICH., public school for District No. 4, 1857 (Detroit Free Press, 12 May 1857, 2, t.c.)
DETROIT, MICH., St. Peter's Episcopal Church, Michigan Avenue at Trumbull Avenue, 1859 (Detroit Free Press, 26 June 1859, 1, descrip.)
DETROIT, MICH., Roman Catholic Church, Adelaide Street near Woodward Avenue, 1859 (Detroit Free Press, 10 July 1859, 1)
DETROIT, MICH., St. John's Protestant Episcopal Chapel, Woodward Avenue at High Street, 1859-61 (Detroit Free Press, 18 Nov. 1859, 1, descrip.; 7 June 1860, 1, cornerstone ceremony)
(works in Oregon)
PORTLAND, ORE., Trinity Episcopal Church, 1872 (Morning Oregonian [Portland], 4 March 1872, 3)