In 1884 he entered the Department of Architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and completed the two years' special course in 1887, and then went to the office of Mr. John Calvin Stevens in Portland, Me. He afterwards worked in the Boston office of McKim, Mead & White, and in the office of Peabody & Stearns, where he was engaged upon the drawings for the buildings at the World's Fair. As will be seen, he has had a varied experience and is well equipped to make the best use of his opportunities for the next two years.
It has been the custom in recent years with the winners of the scholarship to delay their departure until midsummer or early fall, but Mr. Aldrich proposes to start in June. His plan of work has not yet been entirely fixed, but he will probably spend a large part of his time in Italy, working in conjunction with the American atelier at Rome.
The three other scholarships in which the same problem in design was employed have also been awarded. For the McKim Fellowship of Columbia College ten designs were submitted. The award was made to Mr. John Russell Pope of New York, a graduate from the school in the class of 1894. The Roman Scholarship was also awarded to Mr. Pope. In the competition for the latter twenty-three designs were entered, and besides the first award honorable mention was given to Mr. Henry E. Emery of Nyack, N. Y., Mr. Fellows of Chicago, and Mr. Bossange and Mr. Ayres of New York, graduates of Columbia College, and to Mr. Percy Ash of Philadelphia.
In the University of Pennsylvania Scholarship in Architecture there were six competitors, and the award was made to Mr. Percy Ash, a graduate of the University. Mr. Ash has also had several years' practical experience in the best offices of Philadelphia, such as those of Cope & Stewardson and Frank Miles Day & Bro.
Mr. H. L. Duhring, Jr., of the Senior class in the University, was given second place.
The American Architect, in an interesting notice of the recent exhibition of the Boston Society of Architects and Boston Architectural Club, takes the occasion to comment unfavorably upon the disfigurement of the catalogue by advertisements, which it says are "most excellent things in their proper place, but wholly out of place in an exhibition catalogue." Why this is so it is hard to see, unless the Architect believes that there is not advertising enough to go round, and that it should all be reserved for the trade and professional papers. At all events this is "kicking against the pricks," for it is well known that the expenses of such exhibitions cannot be met without some outside assistance, and the most feasible plan that has been found for making both ends meet is to interest the dealers in materials used in the buildings represented in the exhibitions. As these dealers are seldom named on the drawings exhibited, it seems proper that some return should be made for their most valuable assistance, without which the exhibition would not be possible.
The Architect further says: "The position taken by the St. Louis Chapter A. I. A. was the proper and dignified one, and it ought to be followed elsewhere. The catalogue of their recent exhibition, although a much more costly one than either the Boston or the League catalogue, contains not a line of advertising matter." This is certainly an amusing misstatement. Instead of "not a line," this catalogue has more space devoted to advertising than any of the others mentioned. What it would have been without its sixty-four pages of advertising, yielding an income of at least $50 a page, we leave others to figure out. Some of these pages we should prefer to see treated differently, as they do detract from the illustrations which they face, and they are sprinkled full of water-closets, radiators, bath-tubs, and various other building appliances not especially artistic in their suggestiveness. Still there is considerable taste and care evinced in the arrangement of many of the pages, and they are well printed on good paper. Possibly this accounts for the failure of the Architect to recognize them as advertisements.
The dignified course, it seems to us, is that followed by the committee of the Boston exhibition. In this case a certain number of pages was reserved in the catalogue to be devoted to advertising, and the houses to be represented were given to understand that all would be treated alike. No cuts would be used, and the pages would all be set in type of uniform style, thus insuring a desirable ensemble. We think that the advertising when well presented adds to, rather than detracts from, the interest of a catalogue. Our only desire is to see it done in good taste. The display of plumbing apparatus and all manner of building appliances we do not consider in good taste in this place.