Warren H. Hayes - Life

Life

The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography included a lengthy entry about Hayes, together with some family background, five years before his death:

On his father's side he is of New England stock, being descended from George Hayes, of Windsor, Connecticut, who emigrated from Scotland to Derbyshire, England, and thence to Windsor, Connecticut, in 1680, where descendants of the family still live. Many honored names represent the family in professional and official life, 19th President of the United States Rutherford Hayes being among the number. Upon his mother's" side, Mr. Hayes' progenitors are the Robsons and Straughans, of Northumberland, England, who emigrated to Geneva in Ontario, early in the nineteenth century. The boyhood of Mr. Hayes was spent on the farm of his father, George Goundry Hayes, who was at that time one of the most successful agriculturists in that section, owning and tilling large farms in Yates, Steuben, and Ontario. The son's studies were begun at the age of five in the district school, and continued for seven years. This was supplemented at the select school in Italy, New York, at Watkins' Academy, and at Genesee Wesleyan Seminary at Lima, New York.

In 1868 Hayes entered the sophomore class of Cornell University, and was graduated in 1871, having successfully taken the courses in architecture and civil engineering, including the natural sciences and modern languages. He also, during his college course, took two President Andrew Dickson White, who was the founder of the Department of History and Political Science, first prizes for proficiency in mechanics and physics. The succeeding ten years were given to the successful practice of his chosen profession, architecture, at Elmira, New York, where, in May 1881, he was united in marriage to Miss M. F. Beardsley. In September 1881, he opened an office in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where from that time to 1894, he has maintained a widely extended and successful practice. Many of the finer business and public buildings in Minneapolis and St. Paul have been erected by him, as well as notable structures in other cities. Hayes shows especial originality in ecclesiastical architecture. Among the churches which he has designed are the First Congregational Church at Rockland, Massachusetts, the Union Congregational Church at Rockville, Connecticut, the First Baptist Church at Portland, Oregon, and the Wesley Methodist Episcopal Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

At the present time Hayes has in process of erection the Fowler Methodist Episcopal Church, a most complete and finely equipped edifice, and named for Bishop C. II. Fowler and now known as the Scottish Rite Temple. All the above buildings, and many similar ones, notably the Central Presbyterian Church of St. Paul, Minnesota, and the First Presbyterian Church of Galesburg, Illinois, are planned on Hayes' original "diagonal plan" of auditorium, developed by him in the winter of 1882, and first used in several leading churches in Minneapolis. Its beauty and success were popular from the first. It has become widely known and used, until now it may justly be said to be the most practical and successful form of church auditorium known in modern architecture. It insures superior qualities with respect to Acoustics, facilities for sight, ventilation, light, access, and ease of combination with the chapel, bringing all within sight of, and within short distance from, the speaker. The diagonal auditorium is the result of much study on the part of the originator, to whom it has brought great credit and enduring fame. On October 26, 1886, Hayes was married to Mrs. Lillie Cook Van Norman, of Hamilton, Ontario, his first wife and daughter having died four years previous. From this second marriage three children were born to them: Edith, George Edson, and Helen, who, with Mary Van Norman, the stepdaughter, form the present family. .

An article at the time of his untimely death in 1899 from pernicious anemia noted:

Warren Howard Hayes was born at Prattsburgh, Steuben County, New York, Aug 22, 1847. His boyhood was spent on the farm of his father, who was at that time one of the most successful agriculturists in that section. Mr Hayes received his earlier education in the select school of Italy, N.Y., at Watkin's Academy, and at Genessee Wesleyan Seminary of Lima, N.Y. In 1868 he entered the sophomore class of Cornell University and was graduated in 1871, having successfully taken the courses in architecture and civil engineering, including the natural sciences and modern languages. The succeeding ten years of his life Mr. Hayes devoted to the successful practice of his chosen profession at Elmira, N.Y. In 1881 he removed to Minneapolis.

Mr. Hayes' specialty was church designing and his work and fame in that line are by no means local. Churches have been built in all parts of the United States and Canada from his plans and one at Pekin, China. About his last work was in connection with the new Westminster church in Minneapolis. Among the larger churches designed by him are the following: Wesley Methodist, Fowler Methodist, First Methodist, First Congregational, Central, Calvary and Immanuel Baptist, First Presbyterian, Swedish Tabernacle in Minneapolis' the Central Presbyterian, St. Paul' First Baptist, Portland Ore' Presbyterian churches at Mankato, Minn., Madison, Wis., Ashland, Wis., Oshkosh, Wis., Baraboo, Wis. While devoting his attention especially to churches, Mr Hayes did considerable notable work in other lines. The Hugh Harrison wholesale building, First Avenue North and Third Street, the North Star Shoe Company building and the Sykes block are other Minneapolis monuments to his taste and ability as an architect.

—The Improvement Bulletin, Sept. 2, 1899

After Hayes' death his architectural business was purchased by Frederick H. Heath, who began his architectural studies in Hayes office and who worked as a draftsman and designer for Hayes for ten years. Heath went on to a very distinguished career and designed hundreds of buildings in the Tacoma, Washington area.