Francis W. Fitzpatrick

Francis Willford Fitzpatrick
An early 20th Century portrait
Born	(1863-04-09)April 9, 1863 Montreal, Canada
Died	July 10, 1931(1931-07-10) (aged 68) Evanston, Illinois
Occupation	Architect

Francis Willford Fitzpatrick (April 9, 1863 – July 10, 1931) was an architect in Duluth, Minnesota, Washington, DC, Omaha, Nebraska,and Evanston, Illinois. He often abbreviated his name as F. W. Fitzpatrick in publications and correspondence. Fitzpatrick was an early advocate of fireproof buildings, and he was a frequent columnist in architectural trade publications on a variety of topics.

Fitzpatrick was born in Montreal, Canada on April 9, 1863. His parents were John and Mary Fitzpatrick. He immigrated to the United States in 1883 and began working as a drafter in the office of Minneapolis architect Leroy Buffington, remaining until 1887. Then in 1888, Fitzpatrick worked at the offices of the brothers Fremont D. Orff and George W. Orff. He formed the Minnesota Decorating Company and successfully contracted for the interior painting and decorating of the 107-room Dacotah Hotel in Grand Forks, North Dakota in 1889.

He joined the American Institute of Architects in 1889.

After completing his work at the Dacotah Hotel, Fitzpatrick moved to Duluth, Minnesota and formed a partnership, Traphagen and Fitzpatrick, with Oliver G. Traphagen that lasted from 1890 to 1896. This was his most productive time as an architect.

The partnership ended in 1896 when Traphagan relocated to Hawaii and Fitzpatrick moved to Washington, D.C.

In 1896 Fitzpatrick accepted a position as assistant to the Supervising Architect at the United States Treasury. Prior to the Tarsney Act of 1893, federal buildings were designed by architects at the treasury. Fitzpatrick entered government service at a time when federal architects were becoming advisors and supervisors on federal building contracts with design work more in the hands of private architects. At the treasury, Fitzpatrick worked for Jeremiah O'Rourke and then for William Aiken. Fitzpatrick was assigned to the Chicago Federal Building project as an assistant to architect Henry Ives Cobb, and he moved to Chicago to become one of many supervisors of construction. Soon Fitzpatrick was the only supervisor of construction, and his relationship with Cobb deteriorated for reasons of procurement and process related to construction. Fitzpatrick resigned from the project in 1903 and returned to private practice two years before the building was completed.