Name George Lovatt, Role Architect | Died 1958 | |
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Known for George I. Lovatt Sr, Architect Structures Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, St. Joseph\'s Polish Catholic Church | ||
George I. Lovatt Sr. (1872–1958) was an American architect who designed numerous Roman Catholic churches in Eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey and elsewhere during the late 19th and early 20th century.
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Childhood and architectural education
He studied at the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art during the academic terms 1890/91 and 1892/93. His first documented commission occurred as a result of the death of Adrian Worthington Smith, who had begun work on the Monastery of the Visitation in Wilmington, Delaware (now demolished). Following Smith's death in 1892, Lovatt completed the convent and continued his studies at the PMSI at the same time. In 1894 he established an architectural practice in Philadelphia, with offices at 424 Walnut Street.
Practice
Lovatt proved to be a formidable competitor for the considerable Catholic church work which was initiated in the time. Although Edwin Forrest Durang and Henry Dagit designed a number of Catholic church and institutional buildings, Durang's firm moved to New York City in the 1930s, leaving Henry D. Dagit, Lovatt, and the Hoffman-Henon firm to divide major Catholic commissions.
Lovatt's firm received both local and national honors, including a commendation for the Church of the Most Precious Blood, Philadelphia, in 1926 at the International Exhibition held in Barcelona, Spain. He followed this honor in 1930 by winning the Philadelphia Chapter of the AIA's gold medal for his Church of the Holy Child, Philadelphia. In 1927 he was joined in the firm by his son George I. Lovatt Jr., but did not retire until 1940.