Purdy and Henderson

Purdy and Henderson was founded in Chicago, and transferred their headquarters to New York City in 1896. They eventually had branch offices in Boston, Seattle, Chicago, and Havana. Purdy and Henderson were a patron of the Seattle Architectural Club in 1910. Lightner Henderson died prematurely in 1916, but the firm continued to operate under the name of Purdy and Henderson well after his death. Purdy and Henderson, Engineers, collaborated with architect H. Craig Severance on 40 Wall Street, which for one month in 1930, was the tallest building in the world. The firm most likely closed at about the time of Corydon Purdy's death in 1944.

They worked on the John B. Agen Warehouse in Downtown Seattle in 1910 and the Royal Insurance Company Headquarters Building #2 in Financial District, San Francisco, among others. Purdy and Henderson designed several buildings in New York City, including One Times Square, Macy's Herald Square, and the Flatiron Building.

Corydon Tyler Purdy

Professional history

Purdy had been a draftsman and surveyor's assistant in Chicago, Milwaukee and Saint Paul and in Chicago, IL, in the early 1880s. Purdy specialized in bridge design and applied these skills to skyscrapers. He worked as a structural engineer on the thirteen story steel frame of the Tacoma Building, Chicago, IL, (Holabird and Roche, Architects). Purdy and Henderson opened a New York City office in 1894 and moved its operations there by 1896. The New York City office designed the structure for the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York, NY. (Schultze and Weaver, Architects, 1893-1897). In 1899, Purdy supervised the start-up of a New York office for his friend, George A. Fuller (1851-1900). (Purdy maintained a professional relationship with the Fuller Company.) By 1900, Purdy and Henderson had obtained consulting work in Havana, Cuba and produced important buildings there including El Capitolio and the Hotel Nacional. By 1910, the office had in addition to its New York office, four branches including Havana, Cuba, Boston, MA, Chicago, IL, and Seattle, WA. During the Depression, Purdy and Henderson were involved in a race to build the world's tallest building, an American structure taller than the Eiffel Tower. Purdy and Henderson closed after Purdy's death.

Purdy was a member, American Society of Civil Engineers; Member, Institute of Civil Engineers of Great Britain; Member, Western Society of Engineers; Member, Engineers' Club of New York; Member, University of Wisconsin Alumni Club of New York; Member, Arctic Club, Seattle, WA; He won the Telford Premium Medal, Institute of Civil Engineers, London, 1909.

Writings

Purdy was a writer and spoke at national events for professional groups like the Boston Society of Engineers. He gave keynote speeches and educational lectures at his alma mater (UW), Cornell University, and other schools of engineering study. Said Purdy:

The days of wooden bridges and buildings, and heavy masonry are numbered. Iron and other metals are rapidly taking their place. Engineers of the future must know the names and uses of the different forms in which iron or steel is produced, and they should know when a channel can be used to better advantage than a beam, and when an angle bar will serve better than a plate. In other words, they should well understand the particular characteristic of every form and shape of iron or steel which makes that particular form, shape, or kind most valuable in any given place or for any given use.

— Bulletin of the University of Wisconsin, 1894

Representative of Purdy's published writings are the following:

• "The Steel Skeleton Type of High Building" (Engineering News, 1891)
• "The Steel Construction of Buildings" (Bulletin of the University of Wisconsin, 1894)
• "The Use of Steel in Large Buildings" (Engineering Record, 1895)
• "Can Buildings Be Made Fireproof?" (Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, 1898)
• "The Relation of the Engineer to the Architect" (Proceedings of the American Institute of Architects, 1904)
• "The New York Times Building" (Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, 1909)