COOLIDGE, Charles Allerton (1858-1936), a prominent architect in Boston, Mass. and partner there in the leading firm of Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge, Architects from 1886 to 1914, all of whom were former associates of Henry H. Richardson (died 1886). In 1902, Coolidge was credited with the design of the McCormick Memorial Episcopal Church, PELEE ISLAND, ONT. (Evening Record [Windsor], 14 April 1902, 3). This church was one of several erected in the late 19th and early 20th C. to serve worshippers on the resort island community located in Lake Erie, and was visited by tourists from nearby Ohio, and from southwestern Ontario.
Coolidge was born in Boston, Mass. and graduated from Harvard College in 1881, then studied architecture at nearby Massachusetts Inst. of Technology from 1881 to 1883. He received further training in the office of H.H.Richardson from 1883 until 1886. After the death of Richardson, Coolidge joined with two other draftsmen from that office, George F. Shepley and Frank Rutan. to form a new partnership that became one of the largest and most successful architectural offices in New England.
After the death of the senior partners from the Boston office, Coolidge formed a new partnership in Boston with George C. Shattuck, who had formerly worked in Montreal in the partnership with Edward Maxwell from 1899 to 1901 (see list of works under Maxwell & Shattuck). They collaborated from 1914 to 1922, and then Coolidge formed a new partnership with Henry R. Shepley (son of George F. Shepley), Francis V. Bullfinch and Lewis B. Abbott, and they remained active for several years until the death of Coolidge in 1936. Coolidge died at Locust Valley, N.Y. on 1 April 1936 (obituary New York Times, 2 April 1936; obit. American Architect [New York], cxlviii, April 1936, 106; obit. & port. Architectural Forum [New York], lxiv, May 1936, 66-68; biog. H. Withey, Biographical Dictionary of American Architects, 1956, 136-37).