Maude Darling-Parlin
Maude Frances Darling-Parlin (August 20, 1884 – February 27, 1979) was an American architect from Fall River, Massachusetts who is known for her houses, theaters, and civic projects.
Maude Frances Darling-Parlin | |
---|---|
Born | August 20, 1884[1][2] |
Died | February 27, 1979 (aged 94) Fall River, Massachusetts |
Occupation | Architect |
Practice | Darling and Parlin |
Biography
Maude Frances Darling was born to George Darling and Frances Lydia Rebecca Davis. She was born into a family of architects, including her father and her grandfather Joseph M. Darling.[3]
Darling graduated from B.M.C. Durfee High School in 1903.[4] Then, she graduated the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1907 after submitting her thesis for a community dining hall.[3] She later attended Pratt Institute.[3] Darling married MIT classmate Raymond W. Parlin in 1910,[3] a sanitary engineer and street commissioner.[5] he died in 1924 after they had three children.[3][4]
Although Darling-Parlin considered teaching, her father convinced her to focus on the family firm with her brother George S. Darling; they changed the name to Darling and Parlin.[3] After a fire ravaged Fall River in 1928, the firm earned several commissions to revitalize the affected area.[3] In the 1930s, she worked as a surveyor for the Works Progress Administration.[3]
In addition to completing over one-hundred homes,[6] Darling-Parlin contributed theaters, schools, places of worship, and other public buildings. In Somerset she designed the Brayton House and Jerathmael Bowers House, in Assonet the Barnaby House; in Westport the Waite-Potter House; and in Fall River the Adams House (north wing).[3] Her theaters in Fall River include, Durfee Theater (opened 1929, demolished 1973), Rialto, Capitol, Bijou, Strand, Park, and Empire.[3] The schools she planned are the Bristol County Agricultural School Dormitory, Hector L. Beliele Elementary, and First Baptist Church (Sunday School addition).[3] She worked on the Baptist Temple and Temple Beth EL in Fall River.[3] Other buildings of Fall River, specifically, Mills Building, Sullivan Building, Buffington Building (c1916, Darling-Parlin alone), Mohican Hotel, People's Cooperative Bank, Fall River Trust Company.[3][6] Also the Women’s Union and the YMCA can be attributed to her.[4]
Darling-Parlin worked on the restoration of the historic Luther Store in Swansea, Massachusetts (now the Swansea Historical Society Museum).[3][4]
Darling-Parlin retired in 1975, and died four years later.[4] She is buried at Oak Grove Cemetery. Darling-Parlin's drawings are held at the MIT Museum.[7][8]
Works
![](../I/Fall_River_Cooperative_Bank%252C_Massachusetts.jpg.webp)
- Fall River Cooperative Bank, Fall River (1929)[9]
- Woman's Club of Fall River, Fall River, MA (1925 remodel facade and interior)[3][6]
- Welcome Home Arch (c. 1920)[3]
- War Department, Newport, Rhode Island (c. 1945)[3]
- Navy Base Officers' Club, Newport, Rhode Island (c. 1945)[3]
References
- U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935–2014
- North America, Family Histories, 1500–2000
- Allaback, Sarah (2008). "Darling-Parlin, Maude (1885–1979)". The First American Women Architects. Urbana and Chicago, Ill.: University of Illinois Press. pp. 72–73. ISBN 978-0-252-03321-6. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
- Allard, Deborah. "Four Fall River women who were ahead of their time". The Herald News. Fall River, MA. Retrieved 2018-10-19.
- Melosi, Martin V. (26 November 2004). Garbage in the cities: refuse, reform, and the environment (Rev. ed.). Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. ISBN 9780822972686. OCLC 878136522.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Gilder, Karen Van. "Maude Darling-Parlin Architecture -- NRHP Travel Itinerary". www.nps.gov. Retrieved 2018-10-19.
- "MIT Museum". webmuseum.mit.edu. Retrieved 2018-10-19.
- "MIT Museum". webmuseum.mit.edu. Retrieved 2018-10-19.
- Ahlstrom, Aaron (11 June 2019). "Fall River Cooperative Bank". SAH Archipedia. Society of Architectural Historians. Retrieved 8 September 2020.