James W. McLaughlin was a Cincinnati, Ohio

Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

 architect. He studied to be an architect working under famed James Keys Wilson

James Keys Wilson

James Keys Wilson was a prominent architect in Cincinnati, Ohio. He studied with Charles A. Mountain in Philadelphia and then Martin E. Thompson and James Renwick in New York James Keys Wilson (1828–1894) was a prominent architect in Cincinnati, Ohio. He studied with Charles A. Mountain in...

. He fought in the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

 serving in the Union Army

Union Army

The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...

. He become a popular builder in Cincinnati during the late 19th century. In 1870 he helped organize the Cincinnati Chapter of the American Institute of Architects

Cincinnati chapter of the American Institute of Architects

The Cincinnati chapter of the American Institute of Architects, later renamed AIA Cincinnati, was the fourth chapter of the American Institute of Architects and was recognized on February 14, 1870. The national organization, founded in 1857 in New York City, was represented by its president...

 and in the same year he was made a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects

American Institute of Architects

The American Institute of Architects is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to support the architecture profession and improve its public image...

 serving on its board.

Early life

McLaughlin was born on November 1, 1834, the second son of William and Mary McLaughlin. McLaughlin's family was "largely" Scotch-Irish and his father William McLaughlin was an "early" Cincinnati merchant who moved to the developing city from Sewickley, Pennsylvania

Sewickley, Pennsylvania

Sewickley is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, west northwest of Pittsburgh along the Ohio River. It is a residential suburb of Pittsburgh. The population was 3,827 at the 2010 census...

, in 1818. When the American civil war broke out, McLaughlin served in the Union Army

Union Army

The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...

. During the war he became a lieutenant

Lieutenant

A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...

 in the infantry body guard of General John C Fremont

John C. Frémont

John Charles Frémont , was an American military officer, explorer, and the first candidate of the anti-slavery Republican Party for the office of President of the United States. During the 1840s, that era's penny press accorded Frémont the sobriquet The Pathfinder...

. After the war he published "a book illustrated with his vivid vignettes of army life based on his experiences with General Fremont in California."

Architectural career

At the age of fifteen he entered the tutelage of James Keys Wilson

James Keys Wilson

James Keys Wilson was a prominent architect in Cincinnati, Ohio. He studied with Charles A. Mountain in Philadelphia and then Martin E. Thompson and James Renwick in New York James Keys Wilson (1828–1894) was a prominent architect in Cincinnati, Ohio. He studied with Charles A. Mountain in...

. 1855, the first year of his independent practise, he built the dry goods store on West Fourth Street. Architect Samuel Hannaford

Samuel Hannaford

Samuel Hannaford was an American architect based in Cincinnati, Ohio. Some of the best known landmarks in the city, such as Music Hall and City Hall, were of his design...

 was his rival in the city. McLaughlin's design for the Cincinnati Zoological Gardens (1874–1875) "produced the earliest completed structures specifically for that purpose in the United States, and displayed his sense of humor and flexibility in housing specimens in buildings inspired by their geographical and ethnically associated origins."

Affiliations

McLaughlin helped organize the Cincinnati Chapter of the American Institute of Architects

Cincinnati chapter of the American Institute of Architects

The Cincinnati chapter of the American Institute of Architects, later renamed AIA Cincinnati, was the fourth chapter of the American Institute of Architects and was recognized on February 14, 1870. The national organization, founded in 1857 in New York City, was represented by its president...

 in 1870 and was the group's president from 1878–1882 and 1889–1893. He was made a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects

American Institute of Architects

The American Institute of Architects is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to support the architecture profession and improve its public image...

 in 1870, served on its board, and "was active in their national meetings, including that held in Cincinnati in 1889, when the AIA and the Western Society of Architects merged."

Projects

• St. Francis Seraph Church (1859) at 1600 Vine Street in Cincinnati
• Cincinnati Public Library  (1868–1870)
• Motch Jewelers (ca. 1871) building at 613 Madison Avenue in Cincinnati
• Cincinnati Zoo Historic Structures
  Cincinnati Zoo Historic Structures
  The Cincinnati Zoo Historic Structures are a set of historic buildings at the Cincinnati Zoo in Cincinnati, Ohio. They have been listed in the National Register of Historic Places since February 27, 1987....
  
   at 3400 Vine Street in Cincinnati, Ohio (a National Historic Landmark
  National Historic Landmark
  A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
  
  
• Stores for John Shillito Company
  John Shillito Company
  John Shillito & Co. was Cincinnati's first department store. It was founded by John Shillito and William McLaughlin in 1832 as "McLaughlin & Shillito", but their partnership soon broke up. In 1857, Shillito, now operating on his own, built a store on Fourth Street, designed by James W. McLaughlin...
  
   dry goods business that included what is now The Lofts at Shillito Place (1878), a 10 floor building.
• Cincinnati Gas, Coke & Light Co. building, an italianate structure that remains standing at 305 West Fourth Street and Plum Street (converted into an apartment building).
• Hamilton County Courthouse, Ohio (1884 rebuilding), a reconstruction "after a riot and fire" destroyed 30 years later
• original Cincinnati Art Museum building
  Cincinnati Art Museum
  The Cincinnati Art Museum is one of the oldest art museums in the United States. Founded in 1881, it was the first purpose-built art museum west of the Alleghenies. Its collection of over 60,000 works make it one of the most comprehensive collections in the Midwest.Museum founders debated locating...
  
   (1882–1886), "the oldest extant museum building in the Midwest" that has "been almost entirely swallowed up in later additions, but his interiors have recently been restored to approximately their original form and once again demonstrate their structural, functional, and systemic validity."
• Bishop's Place in Clifton (1885)
• Art Academy of Cincinnati
  Art Academy of Cincinnati
  The Art Academy of Cincinnati is a private college of art and design, accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design, in Cincinnati, Ohio...
  
   building (1885–1888)
• Sol P. Kineon-John Uri Lloyd house (1887) Clifton Avenue
• Machinery Hall for the 1888 Cincinnati Centennial Exposition "straddled" the Miami and Erie Canal
• Wayne County Courthouse, Richmond, Indiana (1889–1890) between 3rd, 4th, Main and South A Streets in Richmond Indiana. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places
  National Register of Historic Places
  The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
  
   (NRHP)
• First Unitarian Church, Cincinnati (1888–1889) at Reading Road and Linton Street, 2901 Reading Road Cincinnati, Ohio, credited to James C. McLaughlin
• Sir Alfred T. Goshorn house(1890–1891) Clifton Avenue. Includes a staircase salvaged from the library of a house designed by Frank Furness
  Frank Furness
  Frank Heyling Furness was an acclaimed American architect of the Victorian era. He designed more than 600 buildings, most in the Philadelphia area, and is remembered for his eclectic, muscular, often idiosyncratically scaled buildings, and for his influence on the Chicago architect Louis Sullivan...
  
  
• Y.M.C.A. Building, Cincinnati (1890–1891) "later adapted as the Shubert Theater"
• Ohio State Building
  World's Columbian Exposition
  The World's Columbian Exposition was a World's Fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. Chicago bested New York City; Washington, D.C.; and St...
  
   at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition
  World's Columbian Exposition
  The World's Columbian Exposition was a World's Fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. Chicago bested New York City; Washington, D.C.; and St...
  
   in Chicago. McLaughlin was chief architect for the project.
• Sir Alfred T. Goshorn House at 3540 Clifton Avenue in Cincinnati, Ohio
• Grace Church Cincinnati at 3626 Reading Road. Credited to McLaughlin and A.C. Nash, and listed on the NRHP.
• John Uri Lloyd House 3901 Clifton Avenue in Cincinnati. Listed on the NRHP.
• Mabley & Carew
  Mabley & Carew
  Mabley & Carew Department Store was a prominent department store in Cincinnati, Ohio.The store traced its roots to 1877, when Detroit merchants C. R. Mabley and Joseph T. Carew, en route to Memphis, were stranded in Cincinnati by a late train and wound up going into business in the heart of what...
  
   Building (1907) 12 floors (destroyed)
• Mabley & Carew
  Mabley & Carew
  Mabley & Carew Department Store was a prominent department store in Cincinnati, Ohio.The store traced its roots to 1877, when Detroit merchants C. R. Mabley and Joseph T. Carew, en route to Memphis, were stranded in Cincinnati by a late train and wound up going into business in the heart of what...
  
   Department Store 6 floors 1881 (destroyed)
• McAlpin building (1873) on Fourth Street, a 6 floor building adjacent to an earlier building designed by James Keys Wilson
  James Keys Wilson
  James Keys Wilson was a prominent architect in Cincinnati, Ohio. He studied with Charles A. Mountain in Philadelphia and then Martin E. Thompson and James Renwick in New York James Keys Wilson (1828–1894) was a prominent architect in Cincinnati, Ohio. He studied with Charles A. Mountain in...
  
  . Now part of a condo development.