N. Lester Troast

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N. Lester Troast
BornJuly 20, 1899
DiedOctober 9, 1958
NationalityAmerican
OccupationArchitect
PracticeN. L. Troast; N. L. Troast & Associates
Mayflower School, Douglas, 1933.
Buildings, Matanuska Valley Colony, 1935.
U. S. Federal Building, Nome, 1935.
Governor's Mansion, Juneau, 1936.
Light and Power Building, Juneau, 1936.

N. Lester Troast (1899–1958)[1] was an American architect from Sitka and Juneau, Alaska, who was one of the first professional architects to practice in Alaska.

Life and career[edit]

Troast began his career in the 1920s, as a teacher at Sitka's Sheldon Jackson School. Circa 1930, he left the school and established an architect's office in Sitka. At that time, he was noted as Alaska's only professional architect.[2] Later that year he moved his office to Juneau, the largest city in the then-territory. He quickly associated with William A. Manley, who would become a partner in N. Lester Troast & Associates in 1935. Manley was sent to Anchorage in late 1937 to open an office for the firm in that city.[3] Troast moved to New Jersey, and Manley opened his own Anchorage office in 1941.

In New Jersey, Troast lived in Clifton, and was associated with the family firm, the Mahoney-Troast Construction Company, headquartered in Passaic.

William Manley would go on to have a notable career as the senior partner in the Anchorage firm of Manley & Mayer.

Works[edit]

N. Lester Troast, before 1935[edit]

N. Lester Troast & Associates, 1935-1941[edit]

  • 1935 - Decker Building, 231 S Franklin St, Juneau, Alaska[10]
  • 1935 - Juneau Motor Building, 2 Marine Way, Juneau, Alaska[11]
    • Burned.
  • 1936 - Alaska Electric Light and Power Building, 134 N Franklin St, Juneau, Alaska[12]
  • 1936 - Alaska Governor's Mansion (Remodeling), 716 Calhoun St, Juneau, Alaska[13]
  • 1937 - Douglas City Hall, 1016 3rd St, Douglas, Alaska[14]
    • Demolished.
  • 1938 - Bunkhouse, Independence Mines, Palmer, Alaska[5]
  • 1938 - Shrine of St. Thérèse, 21425 Glacier Hwy, Juneau, Alaska[13]
  • 1940 - Howard Romig House, 440 L St, Anchorage, Alaska[15]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "N. Lester Troast (1899-1958)". http://public.aia.org/. n.d. Web.
  2. ^ a b Fairbanks (AK) Daily News-Miner 28 July 1930: 8.
  3. ^ Alaska Miner 10 May 1938: 11.
  4. ^ "Sage Building". http://hcap.artstor.org/[permanent dead link]. n.d. Web.
  5. ^ a b Hoagland, Alison K. Buildings of Alaska. 1993.
  6. ^ Mayflower School NRHP Nomination. 1988.
  7. ^ Alanen, Arnold R. "Midwesterners in the Matanuska Valley: Colonizing Rural Alaska during the 1930s". People, Power, Places: Perspectives in Vernacular Architecture. Ed. Sally McMurry and Annmarie Adams. Knoxville, TN: University of Tennessee Press, 2000.
  8. ^ Western Architect and Engineer 1935: 71.
  9. ^ Hoagland, Alison K. Buildings of Alaska. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993.
  10. ^ "231 S. Franklin Street". http://www.juneau.org/. n.d. Web.
  11. ^ "1 February 1980 issue". http://www.juneau.org/. n.d. Web.
  12. ^ "File Not Found | Alaska Electric Light & Power" (PDF).
  13. ^ a b Loussac-Sogn Building NRHP Nomination. 1998.
  14. ^ "Douglas City Hall Blueprints 1937". http://www.juneau.org/. 6 June 2015.
  15. ^ South Addition Historic Context Statement & Building Survey. 2012.