Norman Morrison Isham

Isham was well nurtured on the past.  His knowledge of Colonial times included the minute details of what the early settlers had in their houses. It is not unusual to find sketches of such things as a candle stand, a sundial, a bureau, a bed, a teapot, tools  or hardware scattered amongst his work.

Seventeenth  Century Door Hardware

Isham once wrote:
   "It was the native tradition, English or Dutch, which our early  craftsmen brought hither. They could not do otherwise. Plan,  elevation and framing; windows, doors and interior finish; all were  what they had used in the old home. They simply transplanted them.   But while this traditional art, which had been little touched by the  Renaissance, still lived on in Europe after our fathers migrated, it was,  here in America cut off from the old stem, grew in its own way, and  while it never lost its likeness to the European stock, it produced  something, both in methods and results which belonged to itself."

By the time of his death, Isham had become nationally regarded as a leading authority in early New England architecture.
 
 

Biography

Norman M. Isham was born in Hartford, Connecticut and at a young age moved with his family to Providence, Rhode Island. After attending Mowry and Goff's  preparatory school, Isham entered Brown University, graduating in 1886 with a A.B. degree and in 1890 with an arts degree.

In 1886 he joined the architectural firm of Stone, Carpenter and Wilson, and in 1894 entered the firm of Martin and Hall where he became the head draftsman. During this period he held the position of Instructor in architecture at Brown University.

In 1899 Isham opened his own Architectural firm in partnership with Benjamin Wright (1871-1962) and for the periods between 1912 to 1920 and 1923 to 1933, he was head of the architectural department at the Rhode Island School of Design.

Isham married Elizabeth Barbour Ormsbee (1862-1917) of Providence in 1895. They lived at 151 Power Street and summered in Wickford. When Isham's wife died he moved to Wickford permanently where he lived on Hamilton Avenue in a house he built .  Isham  is buried in Wickford. There were no children.
 
 

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