Eugene Clarence Gardner (1836–1915) was an American architect and author of Springfield, Massachusetts. Gardner was noted both for the architectural influence of his extensive practice as well as his writings on the American home. Gardner was the most notable architect of Springfield.
Life and career
Eugene Clarence Gardner was born March 28, 1836, in Ashfield, Massachusetts to Bela Gardner and Lucy (Barber) Gardner. He was raised on the family farm, and attended district schools as well as the Ashfield and Conway Academies. He learned the trade of mason and worked for some time in New Ipswich, New Hampshire, before moving to Florence, where his family had moved in his absence. In 1858 Gardner married and moved west, and was appointed principal of Tallmadge Academy in Tallmadge, Ohio. In 1859, while principal, he oversaw the construction of a new building for the academy. In 1862, he returned to Florence, and the following year opened an architect's office in Northampton. Perhaps facing competition from established architect William Fenno Pratt, in 1868 he moved downriver to Springfield, where he formed a partnership with contractor-turned-architect Jason Perkins, also a former resident of Northampton. The firm of Perkins & Gardner was dissolved in 1873, and both returned to private practice.
Gardner worked independently until 1888, when he formed a partnership with his son, George C. Gardner, and draftsman George R. Pyne, practicing as Gardner, Pyne & Gardner. In the winter of 1888–89 Gardner moved to Washington, D.C. in hopes to improve his ailing health.
