Herbert Phipps Kenway
- Birth date 16 August 1852 at Fairwater near Cardiff
- Immigration 17 January 1874 at Portland Maine
- Naturalisation 3 September 1879
- Marriage 3 February 1881 to Alice Kimball (1854-1933) at Boston USA
- Death date Sunday 13 July 1890 at Mumbles
- Burial Wednesday 16 July 1890 at Mumbles, Oystermouth Glamorgan
- Burial Newton Cemetery Newton Middlesex Massachusetts
Herbert Phipps Kenway was born on 16 August 1851, at Fairwater near Cardiff, Wales, the son of Edward Kenway and his wife, Frances Ann (nee Cooper). For many years his father, Edward Kenway was secretary of the Taff Vale Railway Company. Nothing is yet known of his early education. However, the 1871 Census for England and Wales records him as being an (unknown) architect’s pupil living in in lodgings in Chorlton-on-Medlock, Manchester. During this period, he probably met T Raffles Davison (qv) later an architectural illustrator and editor of the British Architect, a personal connection being suggested in the British Architect obituary. T Raffles Davison would later illustrate a house in Beacon Street, Boston, by Allen and Kenway [AA and BN 28 July 1883]
Shortly after completing his articles, he emigrated to the United States where he joined his older brother Balston Cooper Kenway (1844-1909), who had emigrated some five years earlier. They settled in Auburn and opened an office in the city building, offering services in both architecture and civil engineering. For a brief period they secured a number of important commissions in Auburn and elsewhere in the State. By 1875 Herbert had moved to Boston where he worked in the City Architect's office, although he maintained his association with the Auburn firm. The partnership was evidently dissolved in 1876 when it was reported that Balston Kenway left for St. Paul, Minnesota. Herbert Kenway was said to have remained in the city architect’s office of Boston several years and superintended the election of many of the school and other buildings of that city.
By early 1880, Herbert Kenway had joined into partnership with Francis Richmond Allen (1843-1931), Allen and Kenway remaining in partnership until Kenway’s death in 1890. According to one obituary, the practice designed a large, number of eminent buildings in Boston, Baltimore, Kansas City, and other places throughout the country. Among Newton buildings erected from Kenway’s plans was the model Rice school-house and the new residences of H. E. Cobb, George Crosby, and Mr Sayford.
He married on February 3, 1881, in Boston, USA, to Alice Kimball (1854-1933), the daughter of James W. Kimball and his wife, Mary. There were four surviving children of Herbert and Alice - Herbert Winthrop Kenway (1881-1972); Mary Salisbury Kenway, (1884-1891); Rosalind Denny Kenway Lewis (1886-1971); Florence Lowell Kenway, (1887-1932); Edward Kenway, (1888-1969). ? Florence Lowell Kenway.
By 1890 Herbert Kenway had been in failing health for more than a year, during which time a number of the most noted physicians of Boston had seen him and for six months grave fears had been entertained as to the final result, although when he went to England in June to visit his aged mother, it was not anticipated other than he would return to Boston.
Herbert Kenway died on Sunday 13 July of 1890 at the village of Oystermouth on the coast near Swansea and according to the Parish Register of All Saints Church was buried here on 15 July (typo?) although the local paper indicates that burial took place on Wednesday 16 July 1890. However, United States records indicate that he is buried at Newton Cemetery Newton Middlesex Massachusetts (Find a Grave). Date of burial not specified.
Address
1871 Manchester, England
1874 Auburn,Maine, USA
1875-1876 Boston City Architects Department
1886-1890 Allen and Kenway (FR Allen and H P Kenway) architects, 220 Devonshire, room 35 (Boston Directory 1886)
Residence
1871 Chorlton-on-Medlock, Manchester (Census)
1875 1 Allston Place, Boston USA (Boston Directory 1875)
1878-1880 7 Ashburton Place, Boston USA
1880-1890 Newton, Middlesex, Massachusetts USA
1883-1884 21 Somerset USA
Obituary South Wales Daily News 21 August 1890 page 5
Obituary American Architect and Building News 19 July 1890 page 34
Obituary British Architect 8 August 1890 page 91]
Reference Monmouthshire Merlin 29 August 1851 page 3 BMD - birth
Works: Back Bay Boston
1879 274 Marlborough
1880 342 Beacon Street [Allen and Kenway]
1880 344 Beacon Street [Allen and Kenway]
1880 198 Commonwealth Avenue [Allen and Kenway]
1881 318 Beacon [Allen and Kenway]
1881 269 Commonwealth Avenue [Allen and Kenway]
1882 346 Beacon Street [Allen and Kenway] - should this be 344?
1882 324 Beacon Street [Allen and Kenway]
1882 200 Commonwealth Avenue [Allen and Kenway]
1882 202 Commonwealth Avenue [Allen and Kenway]
1882 386 Marlborough [Allen and Kenway]
1884 282 Commonwealth Avenue [Allen and Kenway]
1884 291 Commonwealth Avenue [Allen and Kenway]
1885 206 Commonwealth Avenue [Allen and Kenway]
1885 208 Commonwealth Avenue [Allen and Kenway]
1886 348 Beacon Street [Allen and Kenway]
1886 408 Beacon Street [Allen and Kenway]
1888 347 Commonwealth Avenue [Allen and Kenway]
1891 460 Beacon Street [Allen and Kenway]