Addison Hutton was born on November 28, 1834. He grew up in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, southeast of Pittsburgh. He was the son of Joel Hutton, a Quaker carpenter, and Ann Mains. At an early age, he became fond of the "solid necessities of building" and enjoyed working alongside his father. Like his father, Addison would vary between carpenting and school. A young man named Robert Grimacy gave him lessons in architecture; it was then that Addison Hutton considered it to be a possible direction in his own life.
Career
Addison Hutton studied architecture with Samuel Sloan, who was a leading Philadelphia architect and author of books on house designs. He supervised construction of the Sloan-designed Longwood in Natchez, MS (1859–62), until construction was abandoned during the American Civil War (stranding Hutton, a pacifist, in the Deep South). He became Sloan's partner in 1864 and was able to bring numerous commissions to their office due to his Quaker connections. By 1868, he had established his own office.
In November 1901, the American Institute of Architects denounced the design competition for the Pennsylvania State Capitol at Harrisburg and strongly urged its members not to participate. Hutton was one of nine architects who submitted designs (his was not selected), and he was expelled from the AIA in February 1902.
Marriage and children
On October 10, 1865, Addison married Rebecca Morris, daughter of Philadelphia industrialist Israel Morris. They had one child, a girl named Mary, who was born September 1, 1869; Mary married Jame Garrett Biddle. In 1876, Hutton built a house for his family in Bryn Mawr, PA, near those of several of his clients. It still stands at the southwest corner of Montgomery and Morris Avenues.
Death and afterward
Addison Hutton died on June 26, 1916, and was buried at Short Creek Meeting House, Jefferson Co., Ohio. His granddaughter has written a biography: Elizabeth Biddle Yarnall, Addison Hutton: Quaker Architect, 1834–1916 (Philadelphia: The Art Alliance Press, 1974).
1874 Lenape Building, SE corner Main & State Sts., Doylestown, PA
1876 Bucks County Intelligencer (newspaper) Building, Doylestown, PA
1878 Bucks County Courthouse, Doylestown, PA
1884–85 Bucks County Prison (later Pine Street Hotel), 138 S. Pine St., Doylestown, PA (now James A. Michener Art Museum)
1888–89 Girard Life Insurance Building, NE corner Broad & Chestnut Sts. Philadelphia, PA (demolished 1926)
1890 Pennsylvania Company for Insurance on Lives and Granting Annuities, 517 Chestnut St., Philadelphia, PA (demolished 1950s in the creation of Independence Mall)
1900 Department for the Chronic Insane, first floor plan, Harrisburg State Hospital, PA
