Robert C. Dean
Born(1903-12-05)December 5, 1903
DiedDecember 21, 1997(1997-12-21) (aged 94)
NationalityAmerican
OccupationArchitect
The James B. Duke Library of Furman University, completed in 1957.
Champlin and Morriss Halls of Brown University, completed in 1960.
The Humanities Building of Macalester College, completed in 1965.
The library of Bentley University, completed in 1968.
The United States Embassy in Amman, completed in 1992.

Robert C. Dean FAIA (1903–1997) was an American architect in practice in Boston from 1939 until shortly before his death. From 1974 until his retirement he was head of the architectural firm now known as Perry Dean Rogers Architects.

Life and career

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Andrew Charles Dean was born December 5, 1903 in Memphis, Tennessee. He attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, graduating in 1926 with a B.Arch followed by an M.Arch in 1927. Between academic terms he worked for Memphis and Boston architects, including Mahan & Broadwell, Perry, Shaw & Hepburn and Allen & Collens. In 1927, following his graduation and marriage, he was hired as assistant professor of architecture at Georgia Tech. He moved back to Boston in 1929 to become an instructor at MIT. In 1930 he rejoined Perry, Shaw & Hepburn, remaining with it and its successors for the rest of his career. In 1939 he was made an associate, and a partner in 1947. In 1949 the firm was renamed Perry, Shaw & Hepburn, Kehoe & Dean to recognize the admission of Dean and another architect, Christopher M. Kehoe, who died shortly afterward. Kehoe and Dean were promoted in part to to their work on the Jordan Marsh addition, completed in phases beginning the same year.

By the time Perry retired from practice in 1974, the firm's name had been changed to Perry, Dean & Stewart. After Stewart's departure the same year Dean incorporated the firm as Perry Dean Partners, with himself as president. New partners included Charles F. Rogers II and Dean's son, Andrew J. Dean. In 1977 the firm was merged with Stahl Associates, a firm founded in 1961 by Frederick A. Stahl. The merged office was known as Perry, Dean, Stahl & Rogers with Dean as chair and Stahl as president.[1] In 1982 Stahl left to reestablish his own firm, and Dean and his partners continued as Perry Dean Rogers Architects, still the present (2023) name.

Dean joined the American Institute of Architects in 1939, and was elected a Fellow in 1953. He was president of the Boston Society of Architects from 1946 to 1951.

Personal life

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In 1927 Dean was married to Ruth Cameron Andrew, a fellow student of architecture at MIT, graduating in 1929. Mrs. Dean practiced as an interior designer in her husband's firm, and in 1961 she spearheaded a campaign to establish a women's professionship at the school. Their goal was realized in 1973, when the Ellen Swallow Richards Professorship for women faculty members was established.[2][3][4]

The Deans lived in Wellesley and had four children: Robert C. Dean Jr., Cameron Dean, Andrew J. Dean and Nancy Elizabeth (Dean) MacNeil. Robert C. Dean Jr. became a noted engineer, and Andrew J. Dean also became an architect. After leaving his father's firm Andrew Dean established Dean Tucker Shaw, later DTS Shaw Associates, which was acquired by Perkins & Will in 2001.[5]

Dean joined the Massachusetts National Guard in 1930, and during World War II served in the army from 1941 to 1946. He was thereafter a general officer in the United States Army Reserve until 1956.[6][7]

Mrs. Dean died November 13, 1991,[4] followed by her husband on December 21, 1997 in a nursing home in Natick.

Architectural works

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By the 1970s, the firm of Perry, Shaw & Hepburn and its successors had completed about a thousand projects. Those where Dean had a prominent role include:

Notes

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References

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  1. ^ "Perry, Dean Partners and Stahl Assoc. merge" in Boston Globe, January 30, 1977, C2.
  2. ^ "Ruth C. Andrew Weds R. C. Dean" in Boston Globe, September 11, 1927, A15.
  3. ^ "Woman Professor at MIT? Drive Begins to Make it Real" in Boston Globe, June 9, 1961, 18.
  4. ^ a b "Class Notes" in Technology Review 95, no. 3 (April, 1992): MIT13
  5. ^ Building Design & Construction 42, no. 9 (September, 2001): 14.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g "Dean, Robert Charles" in American Architects Directory (New York: R. R. Bowker Company, 1956): 129.
  7. ^ a b "Dean, Robert Charles" in American Architects Directory (New York: R. R. Bowker Company, 1970): 210.
  8. ^ Anthony M. Sammarco, Jordan Marsh: New England's Largest Store (Charleston: History Press, 2017)
  9. ^ a b c d Marian Christy, "The Dean of US architects" in Boston Globe, June 22, 1986, 91.
  10. ^ a b c d e "Dean, Robert Charles" in American Architects Directory (New York: R. R. Bowker Company, 1962): 159.
  11. ^ a b c William McKenzie Woodward and Edward F. Sanderson, Providence: A Citywide Survey of Historic Resources, ed. David Chase (Providence: Rhode Island Historical Preservation Commission, 1986)
  12. ^ Robert L. Levey, "Bentley on the Go" in Boston Globe, December 4, 1966, A8.