Norman Morrison Isham (November 12, 1864 – January 1, 1943) was a prominent American architectural historian, author, preservationist, and professor who
became a leading authority on early American architecture.Queer Places:
Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, United States
240 Boston Neck Rd, North Kingstown, RI 02852, USA
Elm Grove Cemetery, 960 Tower Hill Rd, North Kingstown, RI 02852, USA
Norman Morrison Isham (November 12, 1864 – January 1, 1943) was a prominent American architectural historian, author, preservationist, and professor who
became a leading authority on early American architecture.
Born in Hartford, Connecticut, on November 12, 1864, to Dr. Henry Isham and Frances Elizabeth Smythe Wellman (later Smyth) Isham, he moved with his family to Providence, Rhode Island, as a child. He attended Mowry and Goff's preparatory school before entering Brown University, where he earned his undergraduate degree (A.B.) in 1886 and a Master’s degree (A.M.) in Architecture in 1890.
Isham began his professional architectural career working for local firms such as Stone, Carpenter & Willson and Martin & Hall, before opening his own office in 1892. He later entered a partnership with Benjamin Wright from 1899 to 1903. Alongside his private practice, he dedicated much of his life to education and academia. He taught architecture at Brown University from 1894 to 1898 and later joined the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), where he served as a lecturer from 1920 to 1923, as head of the Architectural Department from 1912 to 1920 and again from 1923 to 1933, and continued lecturing there past 1933.
As a pioneering figure in historical preservation, Isham was widely recognized for his meticulous restorations of colonial-era structures and stone-ender houses throughout Rhode Island and New England. His expertise was sought nationally; he served as the consultant in full charge of the Colonial Rooms during 1923 and 1924 for the American Wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (speaking at its dedication), and as a consulting architect on the Delaware State House (Legislative Hall) reconstruction from 1930 to 1933. He shared his extensive research through landmark publications, co-authoring Early Rhode Island Houses (1895) with Albert F. Brown—which established his reputation through detailed examinations and measurements of 17th-century buildings—followed by Early Connecticut Houses in 1900. His subsequent works included The Homeric Palace, The Meeting of the First Baptist Church, Providence (1925), Early American Houses (1928), In Praise of Antiquaries (1931), Trinity Church, Newport (1936), and A Glossary of Colonial Architecture, published in 1939 by the Walpole Society. In recognition of his distinguished service, the Rhode Island Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (of which he was a fellow) presented him a testimonial in 1936, and in 1940 he received a bronze plaque for restoring the Gilbert Stuart snuff mill at the painter's birthplace in North Kingstown.
In his personal life, Isham married Elizabeth Barbour Ormsbee in 1895. Following her death on January 1, 1917, he moved permanently to Wickford, Rhode Island, where he had built a two-story, shingle-style Colonial Revival home on Boston Neck Road. Active within professional and historical circles, he was a member of the American Institute of Architects, the Royal Institute of British Architects, the General Society of Colonial Wars, the Wren Society of London, and the American Antiquarian Society (elected in 1933). Reflecting his standing among prominent scholars and collectors of early American decorative arts and architecture, he was elected as a member of the Horace Walpole Society in 1911. Isham passed away on January 1, 1943, at his Wickford home at the age of 78 after several years of failing health, leaving no descendants. His funeral brought many renowned architects to Wickford, and fellow Providence architect Harry Slocomb tragically suffered a fatal heart attack following the service. Isham was laid to rest alongside his wife and parents at Elm Grove Cemetery in North Kingstown, Rhode Island.
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