PUTNAM, John Louis (1875-1932), a successful architect in Vancouver, B.C. and a partner with the Seattle architect W. Marbury Somervell from 1910 to 1916 (see list of works under Somervell & Putnam). Putnam was born in Sulphur Springs, Texas on 24 July 1875, but no information has been found on his early education or training. Before arriving in Seattle, he was a draftsman and assistant in the New York City office of Carpenter & Blair, Architects in 1904-08, and Putnam was assigned to oversee major architectural commissions by the firm which were built in Montgomery, Alabama and Pensacola, Florida. In January 1909 Putnam formed a short-lived partnership with Frederick Johnck in Birmingham, Alabama, as Johnck & Putnam, Architects, but by early 1910 Putnam had moved again, this time to Seattle, Washington where he was invited by W.M. Somervell to form a partnership and to operate a branch office in Vancouver, B.C. where he represented the Seattle firm of Somervell & Putnam (Vancouver Daily World, 16 Feb. 1910, 22).
It appears that many of the commissions by that Canadian office were handled by Putnam. Somervell was never a resident of Vancouver; he remained in Seattle where he completed the major American commercial projects by their office during the period from 1910 to 1916. Both Somervell and Putnam served with the U.S. Army during WWI. After 1920, Putnam moved back to his home state of Texas and opened an office in Dallas where he was in partnership with Eugene E. Davis, as Putnam & Davis, Architects (Dallas City Directory, 1922, p. 1197). In November 1923 it was announced that Putnam had moved his office from Dallas to Los Angeles, California where he had once again teamed up with Somervell who had, by then, closed his office in Seattle (American Architect [New York], cxxiv, 19 Dec. 1923, 574). The firm of Somervell & Putnam remained active in California from 1924 until late 1927, after which both maintained an office under their separate names.
Putnam attained the rank of Major with the United States Army, and after his death on 20 March 1932, he was buried in Arlington Cemetery outside Washington, D.C. (death notice Evening Star [Washington], 21 March 1932, page A9). A photographic portrait of Putnam can be found in D. Luxton, Building The West: The Early Architects of British Columbia, 2003, 367 (inf. Marvin Anderson, Univ. of Washington, Seattle).
JOHNCK & PUTNAM (architects of Birmingham, Alabama)
TROY, ALABAMA, a large 4 storey hotel for C.S. Tutwiler, North Three Notch Street, designed by Johnck & Putnam in 1909 (Troy Messenger, 24 March 1909, 3, illus. extensive descrip.). After the departure of Johnck for Chicago, and Putnam for Seattle in late 1909, the commission was taken over by Okel & Cooper, Architects of Montgomery, Alabama, but by 1911 it appears that the hotel project had been abandoned and was never built.