Stephen Carpenter Earle (January 4, 1839 – December 12, 1913) was an architect who designed a number of buildings in Massachusetts and Connecticut that were built in the late 19th century, with many in Worcester, Massachusetts. He trained in the office of Calvert Vaux in New York City. He worked for a time in partnership with James E. Fuller, under the firm "Earle & Fuller". In 1891, he formed a partnership with Vermont architect Clellan W. Fisher under the name "Earle & Fisher".
Earle's most noted work is the Richardsonian Romanesque Slater Memorial Museum on the campus of the Norwich Free Academy in Norwich, Connecticut, where he had a generous budget and a sympathetic patron. In 2015, the Hartford Courant called the Slater Museum the "crown jewel among Norwich's cultural treasures" and "a masterpiece of Romanesque revival design."
He designed university buildings, commercial buildings, churches, and more. Among his university buildings are:
Clark University, Clark University campus, Worcester, Massachusetts
Mears Hall, Grinnell College campus, Grinnell, Iowa
Goodnow Hall, the oldest building on the Grinnell College campus (Grinnell, Iowa), damaged by tornado in 1882 and rebuilt
Old Chapel, University of Massachusetts campus, Amherst, Massachusetts
In December 1913, Earle died at Memorial Hospital in Worcester after becoming ill with pneumonia.
Armsby Block, 144-148 Main St.
Bancroft Tower, Bancroft Tower Rd. (Earle & Fisher)
Central Congregational Church, corner of Grove St. and Institute Rd., before 1906
Hope Cemetery, 119 Webster St.
John Legg House, 5 Claremont St.
One or more structures in Oxford-Crown Historic District, Roughly bounded by Chatham, Congress, Crown, Pleasant, Oxford Sts. and Oxford Pl.
Pilgrim Congregational Church, 909 Main St.
Providence Street Firehouse, 98 Providence St. (Earle & Fisher)
Salisbury Factory Building 2, 49-51 Union St.
South Unitarian Church, 888 Main St. (Earle & Fisher)
St. Mark's Episcopal Church (Worcester, Massachusetts), Freeland St., a Romanesque building built in 1888, listed on the NRHP
St. Matthew's Episcopal Church (Worcester, Massachusetts), 693 Southbridge St. (Earle & Fisher)
D. Wheeler Swift House, 22 Oak Ave.
Union Congregational Church, 5 Chestnut St. (Earle,Stephen & C. Fisher)
Walker-White House, a Queen Anne house at 47 Harvard Street in Worcester
One or more structures in Washburn Square-Leicester Common Historic District, Main St., Washburn Sq., 3 Paxton St. Leicester MA (Earle & Fisher)
Whitcomb Mansion, 51 Harvard St.
Worcester Art Museum original building, 55 Salisbury St.
Worcester Five Cents Savings Bank, 316 Main St., built in 1891
Christ Church Cathedral, Springfield, Massachusetts, built in 1876
Leicester Public Library, 1136 Main Street, Leicester, Massachusetts
Pilgrim Congregational Church, Columbia Rd, Dorchester, Massachusetts
Lyon Memorial Library (Monson Free Library), 2 High St., Monson, Massachusetts
One or more structures in Princeton Center Historic District, Jct. of Hubbardston and Mountain Rds., Princeton, Massachusetts
Old Chapel, at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, built in 1885
Rock Castle School, Prospect St., Webster, Massachusetts, (Earle & Fuller)
Memorial Hall, Canton, Massachusetts
Carroll Building, 9-15 Main St., and 14-20 Water St., Norwich, Connecticut, a building built in 1887, listed on the National Register of Historic Places
Slater Library and Fanning Annex, 26 Main St., Griswold, Connecticut
Slater Memorial Museum, said to be perhaps his finest work.
Park Congregational Church
Rhode Island
Burnside Memorial Hall in Bristol, Rhode Island, is a two-story Richardsonian Romanesque public building on Hope Street. It was dedicated in 1883 by President Chester A. Arthur and Governor Augustus O. Bourn, to the memory of Ambrose Burnside, Civil War General and Rhode Island Governor.
