Fitchen, John [Frederick], III

Date born:  1905

Place Born:  Ithica, NY

Date died:  1990

Place died:  Hamilton, NY

Architect and architectural historian.  Fitchen was the son of John Fitchen, Jr., and Ruth Williams (Fitchen). Fitchen graduated from Yale University with B. A. in 1927 and a Master's Degree in architecture from Harvard University in 1932.  He married Mary Elizabeth Nelson and joined the faculty of Colgate University in Hamilton, NY in 1934.  He remained at Colgate his entire career. He was the construction architect for the New York Emergency Housing Project between 1946-1947.  Fitchen chaired the department in 1950 (through 1965).  He retired from Colgate, emeritus, in 1971. He is buried in Colgate Cemetery, Hamilton.

Home Country:  United States

Sources:  Who Was Who in America, 1989-1993.New Providence, NJ: Marquis Who's Who, 1993,  p. 114; [obituary:] "John F. Fitchen, Retired Profess of Architecture." Post-Standard (Syracuse, NY) June 5, 1990, p.

Bibliography:  Construction of Gothic Cathedrals: a Study of Medieval Vault Erection. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1961; Building Construction Before Mechanization. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1986; The New World Dutch Barn: a Study of its Characteristics, its Structural System, and its Probable Erectional Procedures. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1968.