John Lawrence Mauran (1866-1933) entered Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a student of electrical engineering but switched to architecture in his sophomore year. "I had my wires crossed with Course IV." Rhode Island-born Mauran had the good fortune to study architecture at MlT with Eugene Létange from L'École des Beaux Arts in Paris. (Professor Létange's eighteen year tenure as head of design at MlT helped to establish the prominence of the institution and influenced the direction of American architecture.)

After graduation from MIT in 1889, Mauran completed his education abroad before returning to Boston and entering the office of Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge--successors of H. H. Richardson. Two years later Mauran was sent to the firm's Chicago office where he worked on the Chicago Public Library and Chicago Art Institute.

In 1893, he joined Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge's St Louis office. Mauran married Isabel Chapman in 1899 and the couple moved into her family home (designed by Eames & Young) at 46 Vandeventer Place.

The following year saw the formation of Mauran, Russell & Garden and the departure of Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge from St. Louis. The new firm took over the work in progress and the suite of offices in the Chemical Building. Nelson C. Chapman (wealthy scion of a lumber baron, a co-owner of the building (and Isabel Chapman Mauran's uncle) brought the first big commission: an addition to the 1896 Chemical Building. Mauran was President of the St. Louis Chapter of the American Institute of Architects in 1902 and 1903. In January of 1904, he penned an article which appeared in The Brickbuilder accompanying his design for a "suburban clubhouse:"

Not far from the business center of St. Louis, in the rolling country to the west, runs the beautifully clear Meramec River. At a point easily reached by both trains and trolley and intersected by one of the fine state roads, perfect for motors, a goodly number of the sensible moneyed men of the city have established their homes and settled down to enjoy the good and simple things of this life, away from the noise, dirt and heat of the metropolis. Just as our New England forefathers brought many of their ideas of architecture and civic arrangement from the fatherland, so our Missouri colony has been influenced unconsciously, perhaps, by the surroundings of the Hub of the Universe. At all events, the broad macadam streets overarched with fine trees, bordered by stately places and more modest vine-clad cottages, are reminiscent of Brookline or Milton. The climate, however, has affected the architecture of hall and cottage alike, for as wood construction is neither cool enough nor sufficiently durable, and native granite difficult to quarry, the local material, clay, has lent itself admirably to a brick and terra-cotta expression of the solution of the same problem in "sunny Missouri," worked out so many years ago in Spain and Italy.

Mauran's appreciation of St. Louis terra cotta and brick is evident in a remarkable collection of buildings designed by the firm. Although the most spectacular example is the Second Baptist Church from 1907, the Racquet Club, the Chouteau Apartments, numerous residential designs and libraries are also distinguished by the creative use of local materials.

Mauran, a man of great charm fortified by important connections, London-born Ernest John Russell and Edward G. Garden (born in Toronto) practiced together for only nine years. In addition to a lively practice in St. Louis, the firm received commissions in outstate Missouri, Illinois, New Hampshire (where Mauran spent the summers) and Texas. After Garden's departure in 1909, William DeForrest Crowell (an employee of the firm who was trained at MIT and l'École des Beaux Arts) became a partner in Mauran, Russell & Crowell. The last of the original founders, Russell, died in 1969 and will be the subject of a later article in this series.

All information and illustrations on these pages
are from the collections of the Landmarks Association of St. Louis, Inc.
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