JOHN ROBERTSON (HAPPY) WARD, FAIA (1897-1988)

Ward was born in France, graduating in architecture from MIT in 1916 and 1919, also attending Columbia in 1916 and Harvard in 1919. He worked, unpaid, for Bigelow and Wadsworth, then paid jobs at Putnam and Chandler, Guy Lowell, Blackall Clapp Whittemore, Perry Shaw Hepburn, and Aberthaw Construction. He opened a private practice in Boston MA in 1921. He moved to Bermuda in 1938, designed houses, and became consulting architect for the US Army base there during WWII.

In 1956 he established Robertson Ward Associates (RWA) in Antigua, designing resorts and private homes in the Caribbean. In what would become the Mill Reef Club, he led a group from the US who purchased 1,400 acres of sugar cane farmland to create a new resort. RWA expanded in 1958 with the opening of a new office in Nassau. Soon after, the firm was commissioned by Pan Am CEO Juan Trippe to master plan and design the Cotton Bay Club in Eleuthera, Bahamas, a gated community with the first off-shore commission for golf course designer Robert Trent Jones. In 1960, a third office was opened in Barbados, where the firm designed the original Sandy Lane Hotel, golf course, and residential development. Today, RWA maintains fully functioning offices in Antigua, the Bahamas, and Barbados. Ward also designed the Stanford Employees Credit Union in 1964, Stanford CA; Falmouth MA Jr. HS; the 1933 Woolworth Memorial Chapel, Bronx NY; among other projects.

Ward first married Sylvia Whiting and they had three children: John Robertson Ward, Jr., Sylvia (Susie) Ward Sawyer, and Shelia Ward. They divorced in 1927. His second wife was Dot, who had three children from her first marriage. His third wife was Dolly. At the end of his career, he moved to London UK in Knightsbridge. He also had a house in La Torelle, Molgny, France.

Son John Robertson Ward Jr. (1922-2014) graduated in physics from Harvard in 1945 and in architecture from Harvard in 1951. He did graduate work at IIT in 1952, worked for Skidmore Owings Merrill, taught at IIT and then opened his own practice in Chicago in 1960. He designed Dickinson Science, Tishman Lecture Hall, and the Visual Arts and Performing Arts Center at Bennington College, among many other buildings in the northeast. His daughter is Robin Ward Miller.

If you know of other residential projects, please email george@usmodernist.org.

---

 
Around 1927 - The Agnes Pine Apartments Renovation, 10 East 61st Street, New York NY. Ward moved into one upon completion. Possibly destroyed in 1958. Status unknown.
Around 1928 - House in Tuxedo Park NY. Status unknown.
Around 1929 - The Ned King House 1, Goldens Bridge NY. Status unknown.
Around 1930 - The Ned King House 2, White Sulphur Springs WV. Status unknown.
Around 1931 - The Lansing McVickar House, Wainscot NY. Status unknown.

---

Around 1932 - The Philip D. and Effie Wagoner House, aka Oreneca, 50 Oreneca Road, Ridgefield CT. He was the CEO of Underwood Typewriters and later made some of the first mainframe computers. Due to expensive materials including stone facing and entrance gates imported from France, the house cost over $1M dollars, an incredible amount for that time. Located on West Mountain on the shore of Round Pond. Effie Wagoner died in 1940 and Wagoner stayed in the superintendent's "cottage," with 27 rooms. In 1958, he left the house to his doctor, who sold off all the furnishings, and it was left empty for 18 years. Sold in 1965 to Harrison and Jean Horblitt, the head of the Grolier Club. Horblit was a collector of rare books and manuscripts, which were kept in the basement in fireproof cabinets. Sold in 2004 to Stephen P. Reynolds and Susan C. Wolf. Status unknown.

---

1937 - The Franklin B. Kirkbride House, aka Five Wells,

909 West Road, New Canaan CT. Interiors by William Muschenheim. When it was built, the locals who disliked it called it the Fairfield County Jail. It was New Canaan's first Modernist residence, way before the Harvard 5. . Appears no one else owned the home after Franklin died in 1955 and Lydia died in 1962. New house not built until 2003.Photos by Alfred Cook. Featured in the book Modern House in America, 1940; Landmarks of New Canaan, 1951; Architectural Record, November 1938; House and Garden, April 1939. Destroyed 1970.

---

1938 - The Duncan McMartin House, aka The Palms, Pembroke, Bermuda. Status unknown.

1938 - The Mrs. Frances Drake Renovation, Somerset, Paget, Bermuda. Status unknown.

1946 - The Robertson Ward House, Acapulco, Mexico. Status unknown.

1946 - The Alberto Pullen House, Acapulco, Mexico. Status unknown. Pullen also commissioned Ward to design the Hotel de Las Americas (later called Prado-Americas) in Acapulco.

---

Sources include: 

2009 New Canaan Modernism Survey; granddaughter Sally Newell; granddaughter Robin Ward Miller.