Description

Harrison Albright (b. 1866 – d. 1932) was born May 17, 1866 in Shoemakertown (later Ogontz), Pennsylvania. He was the son of Joseph and Louise Albright. He was married to Susie Jane Bemus. He was a self-trained architect who began his business designing residential and public projects in Philadelphia. In 1891 he moved to Charleston, West Virginia and was architect for the State of West Virginia in addition to designing residential projects. In 1905 he moved his architectural practice to California, working in Los Angeles and San Diego.

Albright was an early proponent of reinforced concrete construction. He designed a number of buildings for sugar magnate John D. Spreckels including the open-air Spreckels Organ Pavilion for the 1915 Panama-California Exposition and was best known for his innovative design of the West Baden Springs Hotel in Orange County, Indiana, which boasted the largest free-spanning dome in the world at the time of its construction. He also worked as an architect for the Santa Fe Railroad, and designed the predecessor to Union Station (now demolished) in Los Angeles, California and the terminal at Ash Fork, Arizona. He died January 3, 1933 in Los Angeles.

Sources: R. E. Murphy, Progressive West Virginians (1905), Balboa Park Exposition Designers 1915-1935, http://www.marshall.edu/special-collections/old_main/1899-harrison-albright-popup.asp, http://pancalarchive.org/albright/