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John A. Carter (architect)

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John A. Carter
Born(1924-06-16)June 16, 1924
DiedJanuary 11, 2017(2017-01-11) (aged 92)
NationalityAmerican
OccupationArchitect
St. George's Episcopal Church in Durham, completed in 1954.
The interior of the First Baptist Church in Keene, completed in 1966.
Contoocook Valley Regional High School in Peterborough, completed in 1970.
The Nashua Public Library, completed in 1971.

John A. Carter FAIA (1924–2017) was an American architect in practice in Nashua, New Hampshire, from 1953 to 1995.

Life and career

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John Avery Carter was born June 16, 1924, in Nashua to Eliot Avery Carter and Edith (Gardner) Carter.[1] His grandfather, James R. Carter, was the founder of the Nashua Corporation, one of Nashua's largest employers, and the family maintained a close relationship with the company. Carter was educated at Phillips Academy and at Yale University, graduating in 1949 with a BArch. He worked as a drafter for architects Robert T. Coolidge and E. Carleton Granbery in New Haven and as a designer for Kane & Fairchild in Hartford before returning to Nashua in 1953 to open his own office.[2] His first work was St. George's Episcopal Church, a small modernist church in Durham. In 1956 he formed a partnership with former classmate Bliss Woodruff, a New Haven native.[3] In the 1970s Carter & Woodruff was the largest architecture firm in the region.[4] In 1974 the partnership was expanded to include David W. Cheever, an employee since 1958, but was dissolved in 1976. Carter then returned to private practice until his retirement in 1995.

Carter was among the leading New Hampshire architects during his lifetime. He and his firms were frequently honored for their work by the local and national bodies of the American Institute of Architects.[5] Carter joined the AIA in 1954 as a member of the New Hampshire chapter. He was elected to several chapter leadership positions, and served as president from 1965 to 1968 and as New England regional director from 1980 to 1982.[6][7] In 1984 he was elected a Fellow, the organization's highest membership honor.[8]

Personal life

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Carter was married in 1950 to Julie Adelaide Macauley, and they had six children.[1] The couple lived in a house on Bartlett Street in Nashua, designed by and built for Carter in 1963, until their retirement to Florida in 1999.[4] Carter died January 11, 2017, in West Palm Beach.[9]

Architectural works

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See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ A contributing property to the Nashua Gummed and Coated Paper Company Historic District, NRHP-listed in 2015.

References

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  1. ^ a b "Carter, John Avery" in Who's Who in the East (Wilmette: Marquis Who's Who, 1988): 142.
  2. ^ a b "Carter, John Avery" in American Architects Directory (New York: R. R. Bowker Company, 1956): 84.
  3. ^ a b c "Carter, John Avery" in American Architects Directory (New York: R. R. Bowker Company, 1962): 107.
  4. ^ a b c Cynthia Jones, "Building a reputation" in Telegraph, August 16, 1992, F1 and F3.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Bryant F. Tolles Jr. and Carolyn K. Tolles, New Hampshire Architecture: An Illustrated Guide (Hanover: University Press of New England, 1979)
  6. ^ a b c d e f "Carter, John Avery" in American Architects Directory (New York: R. R. Bowker Company, 1970): 141.
  7. ^ AIA Journal 69, no. 1 (January 1980): 3.
  8. ^ John Avery Carter, AIA Historical Directory of American Architects. Accessed October 16, 2022.
  9. ^ "Prolific Nashua architect dies at 92," The Telegraph, January 29, 2017. Accessed October 16, 2022.
  10. ^ "Woodruff, Bliss" in American Architects Directory (New York: R. R. Bowker Company, 1962): 778.
  11. ^ Lisa Mausolf, Mid 20th Century Architecture in New Hampshire: 1945–1975 (Concord: New Hampshire Department of Employment Security, 2012)
  12. ^ Barry Palmer, "$2 Million School Is Seen For Peterborough; Contoocook District To Vote On Regional Plan" in Telegraph, July 18, 1967, 1.
  13. ^ "Woodruff, Bliss" in American Architects Directory (New York: R. R. Bowker Company, 1970): 1012–1013.
  14. ^ Abbie Greenleaf Library NRHP Registration Form (2003)
  15. ^ "Invitation to Bid" in Telegraph, December 27, 1978, 25.
  16. ^ Donald Dillary, "It may look like more books, but its all in the arrangement" in Telegraph, May 8, 1986, 56.