Clarence Sumner Luce (1852–1924) was an American architect who practiced first in Boston, then at Newport, Rhode Island, and finally in New York. He is best known for his design for the Holyoke Opera House, and his designs for a series of Newport houses.
Clarence Luce was born at Chicopee, Massachusetts on June 10, 1852,[1] the son of Augustus Luce and his wife, Clarissa Elvira Clapp. As of 1855, the family lived at Haydenville, Williamsburg, Massachusetts, where Augustus Luce worked as a "brass moulder" in the mill of the Haydenville Manufacturing Co.[2] By 1870, Augustus Luce was a superintendent of the mill, living next door to the Greek Revival mansion of the mill's owner, Josiah Hayden.[3] In 1874, a flood destroyed the mill, but the Hayden family rebuilt it the following year to a design by Clarence Luce.
Luce attended the Williston Seminary in Easthampton, Massachusetts for four years, where he enrolled in the "scientific course" of study. In 1870, he moved to Boston to apprentice with the architect Gridley J.F. Bryant, and became, for a brief time, Bryant's partner. At the same time, Luce took courses at the Lowell Institute and attended lectures on architecture at Harvard University.[4]
Luce worked for Bryant until 1874, when he established his own practice at 17 Pembroke Square (where he worked from 1875 to 1877).[5] Having cultivated a thriving practice designing houses at Newport, Rhode Island, Luce relocated there in 1882, remaining until 1885 when he moved to New York.[6][7][8] Luce died at his home on Staten Island, New York on March 22, 1924.
^Cuyler Reynolds, New York at the Jamestown Exhibition (1909), p.549.
^In the 1873 Boston Directory, Luce is a draftsman working at 17 Pembroke, presumably for the architect Gridley Bryant who had offices there. In the 1875, 1876, and 1877 directories, Luce has his own office at 17 Pemberton Square; in 1878 Luce has an office at 11 Pemberton Square.
^ abcJames L. Yarnall, Newport Through its Architects (2005), p.106.
^Luce appears in the 1881 Boston City Directory, but not in the 1882 edition.
^Luce's son Clarence was born at Newport in October 1883.
^ abcdeNational Register of Historic Places, Old Beach Road Historic District, Nomination Form (1973).
^James L. Yarnall, Newport Through its Architects (2005), p.107.
^James L. Yarnall, Newport Through its Architects (2005).
^World's Fair Bulletin, Volume 4, September 1903, pp.21-21.