Edwin Butler Crittenden

Interior of St. Mary Episcopal Church, Anchorage, Alaska, 1955. Edwin Butler Crittenden (1915-2015) was an American architect practicing in Anchorage, Alaska. Referred to later in life as the "dean of Alaska architecture", He attended Pomona College ('38), Yale University ('42) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ('47). He served in the United States Coast Guard from 1942 to 1946, and worked for Santa Paula, California, architect Roy C. Wilson between 1946 and 1948. He then relocated to Alaska, where he worked for the Alaska Housing Authority until 1951. That year, Crittenden established his own architecture practice in Anchorage. and Wallace J. Wellenstein, who joined in 1960. In 1962 Wellenstein left to establish his own firm, and with the promotion of C. Harold Wirum, an employee since 1954, the firm became Crittenden, Cassetta, Wirum & Jacobs. In 1968 Jacobs left to form his own engineering practice, and Kenneth D. Cannon was made partner in the new firm of Crittenden, Cassetta, Wirum & Cannon.

In 1971 the firm agreed with Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum of St. Louis and San Francisco. They formed the jointly operated firm of CCWC/HOK Architects and Planners for work in Alaska. A month later Wirum left the partnership, forming Maynard & Wirum with Kenneth Maynard. Maynard had worked for the Crittenden firm from 1962 to 1965. CCC/HOK Architects and Planners operated until the agreement ended in 1980,

As a consequence of the drop in oil prices and the recession that followed, the firm went bankrupt in 1986.

Architectural works Anchorage Municipal Auditorium, Anchorage, Alaska (1954, demolished) Visitor Information Center, Anchorage, Alaska (1954) St. Mary Episcopal Church, Anchorage, Alaska (1955) Austin House and Condit House, Sheldon Jackson College, Sitka, Alaska (1957–58) Chancellor's House, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska (1958) Public Safety Building, Anchorage, Alaska (1961, demolished) Pratt Museum, Homer, Alaska (1967–68) Valdez City Hall, Valdez, Alaska (1967) Anchorage Air Route Traffic Control Center, Anchorage, Alaska (1969) Unocal Building, Anchorage, Alaska (1969) James M. Fitzgerald United States Courthouse and Federal Building, Anchorage, Alaska (1976–79 and 1979–80) Noel Wien Public Library, Fairbanks, Alaska (1977) University of Alaska Museum of the North, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska (1981, altered 2002-06) William A. Egan Civic and Convention Center, Anchorage, Alaska (1983) Grace Hall, Alaska Pacific University, Anchorage, Alaska (1984) Fine Arts Building, University of Alaska Anchorage, Anchorage, Alaska (1986)

Gallery