William Lee Stoddart
| William Lee Stoddart | |
|---|---|
| Born | November 3, 1868 Tenafly, New Jersey |
| Died | October 2, 1940 New Rochelle, New York |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Architect |
| Buildings | Georgian Terrace Hotel, Winecoff Hotel (both in Atlanta); Lord Baltimore Hotel (Baltimore) |
William Lee Stoddart (1868–1940) was an architect best known for designing urban hotels in the eastern United States. Though he was born in Tenafly, New Jersey, most of his commissions were in the South. He maintained offices in Atlanta and New York City.
Stoddart attended Columbia University, although it is uncertain if he graduated. He then worked in the office of George B. Post for ten years before opening his own office.
Stoddart married Mary Elizabeth Powell in Atlanta in 1898, and they settled in Maywood, New Jersey. After approximately a decade of living together, they separated, a separation that became the subject of scandal in the New York newspapers. (At the time of the divorce, Mrs. Stoddart lived with her three children in Reno, Nevada.) On November 1, 1909, she sued for divorce alleging "extreme cruelty." Shortly afterward, in late November Stoddart filed a countersuit. He alleged that his wife's attraction to one of his friends, Robert L. Shape, had led to the marital breakdown. During this era, when marital breakdowns were considered scandalous, The New York Times published three intimately personal letters from Mrs. Stoddart to Mr. Stoddart, in which she begged for a legal separation and financial support.
According to Stoddart's obituary, the divorce occurred in 1908. However, when one considers the two articles published in 1909 describing the divorce lawsuit and countersuit, it is likely that 1909 was the year the divorce actually occurred.
On July 19, 1923, at Asheville, North Carolina, William Stoddart remarried. His second wife was Mrs. Sabra (Wheless) Ballinger who died in 1934.
Stoddart spent his final years in Larchmont, New York and died of a stroke on October 2, 1940, at the age of 71 at a hospital in New Rochelle, New York.
Stoddart took pride in the efficient, rational design of his hotels, which reflected the enthusiasm for scientific management of his era. He expressed his approach to hotel design as a series of rules or formulas that would lead to maximum profitability. His design philosophy was similar to that of E.M. Statler's emphasis on efficiency in hotel architecture, except that Stoddart's hotels were smaller, less luxurious (e.g., not all guestrooms had ensuite bathrooms), and were in smaller cities. Both Stoddart and Statler aimed their hotels at serving the market niche of traveling sales representatives.
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