Clarence Sumner Luce


Clarence Sumner Luce was an American architect who practiced first in Boston, then at Newport, Rhode Island, and finally in New York. He is best known for his design for the Holyoke Opera House, and his designs for a series of Newport houses.

Early life

Clarence Luce was born at Chicopee, Massachusetts on June 10, 1852, the son of Augustus Luce and his wife, Clarissa Elvira Clapp. As of 1855, the family lived at Haydenville, Williamsburg, Massachusetts, where Augustus Luce worked as a "brass moulder" in the mill of the Haydenville Manufacturing Co. By 1870, Augustus Luce was a superintendent of the mill, living next door to the Greek Revival mansion of the mill's owner, Josiah Hayden. In 1874, a flood destroyed the mill, but the Hayden family rebuilt it the following year to a design by Clarence Luce.

Career

Luce attended the Williston Seminary in Easthampton, Massachusetts for four years, where he enrolled in the "scientific course" of study. In 1870, he moved to Boston to apprentice with the architect Gridley J.F. Bryant, and became, for a brief time, Bryant's partner. At the same time, Luce took courses at the Lowell Institute and attended lectures on architecture at Harvard University.
Luce worked for Bryant until 1874, when he established his own practice at 17 Pembroke Square. Having cultivated a thriving practice designing houses at Newport, Rhode Island, Luce relocated there in 1882, remaining until 1885 when he moved to New York. Luce died at his home on Staten Island, New York on March 22, 1924.

Architectural works