HAMMOND, GEORGE FRANCIS (26 Nov. 1855-26 Apr. 1938), an important classical architect active in Cleveland from 1886-1926, was born in Roxbury, Mass., the son of George and Cornelia Johnson Hammond. He attended the Massachusetts Normal Art School, and studied with Wm. R. Ware, founder of the first American curriculum based on the Beaux-Arts system of architectural training, at MIT. In 1876, Hammond worked as a draftsman in the office of Wm. G. Preston in Boston. He began independent work in 1878, setting up his own office in 1884. In 1886 Hammond moved to Cleveland, having designed the first HOLLENDEN HOTEL in 1885, one of the first large fireproof hotels in Cleveland (see HOTELS). Among his Ohio works were the Electric Bldg., 1900; the First Church of Christ, Scientist (Lane Metropolitan CME Church), 1904; the master campus plan and 5 original buildings of the Ohio State Normal College (Kent State University), 1911-15; McKinley High School, Canton; and the U.S. Post Office in Zanesville. He designed hospitals, schools, factories, and power buildings in Chicago, Kansas City, New Orleans, Toronto, and Montreal. Hammond's own home in CLEVELAND HTS. is a fine Colonial Revival residence. He designed a number of suburban homes, especially in the Clifton Park area of LAKEWOOD. He published A Treatise on Hospital and Asylum Construction in 1891.
Hammond married Annie Borland Barstow in 1883. Following her death in 1886, he married Annie E. Butcher of Toronto in 1897; they divorced in 1922. Hammond's third wife was Dorothy Weirick, whom he divorced in 1931. Hammond had one child, Adelaide, from his second marriage. Retiring in 1926, Hammond died in Falls Village, Conn.