Evans, Allen, 1849-1925

Allen Evans was born in Paoli, Pennsylvania, son of Edmund Cadwalader Evans, MD (1812-1881) and Mary Louisa Allen Evans. He studied two years at the Philadelphia Polytechnic College, and by 1869 he was employed in the office of Samuel Sloan. By 1871 Evans had moved to Furness & Hewitt. In 1881 he became a full partner with Frank Furness and the firm's name became Furness & Evans. In 1885 the firm was expanded and the name became Furness, Evans & Co. Evans carried on the firm under the same name after Furness's death in 1912.

Furness was unquestionably the dominating personality in the firm until his declining years, and it is difficult to establish definitely Evans's role in the design of the firm's projects. According to biographical materials [099.36] prepared by his daughter, Margaret Evans, after his death, "Frank Furness was the bizarre, original and brilliantly artistic member of the firm, while Mr. Evans took care of the more practical part of the planning. His tastes were more quiet and tended towards simplicity of line and careful proportions. This showed in some of the later buildings which were more under his influence, at the end of Mr. Furness' life, and after his retirement and death - notably the Girard Trust Company Building ... which was largely of Mr. Evans' designing."

From the time Evans entered the office, his family and personal connections brought in a stream of residential and ecclesiastical commissions, and it appears that Evans may also have borne principal responsibility for the design of a number of the commissions he brought to the firm, most clearly the houses and churches for his own family and friends. Evans's friendship with Alexander J. Cassatt was responsible for a number of Pennsylvania Railroad commissions, including the Broad Street Station in Philadelphia. Whatever Evans's role may have been in the Broad Street Station project, the design and details bear witness that Furness retained the upper hand. The commission for the Girard Bank Building in Philadelphia came to the firm entirely because of Evans, in face of outspoken antipathy from members of the bank board toward Furness's characteristic style. The bank was not told of any role Furness played in its design, but he later claimed substantial credit.

Evans was married in 1876 to Rebecca Chalkley Lewis, daughter of John T. Lewis, a prominent Philadelphia businessman, with extensive social and Episcopal Church connections. They lived in Penrhyn, the house in Haverford, Pennsylvania built by Furness & Hewitt for Evans's father shortly after he entered the office. When it burned in 1898, he rebuilt on the same land, where they lived until his death in 1925. Another house was designed for his brother Rowland on his father's property, and they jointly owned a rental house on adjoining land (alterations and additions ca. 1883). After Allen Evans's death, members of his family continued to live in houses within the family compound. Allen Evans and his brother Rowland were founding members of the Merion Cricket Club (1865) and he was instrumental in moving it (1892-1893) to Haverford. Furness, Evans & Co. designed its first clubhouse at the Haverford location; and after that structure was destroyed by fire, the firm designed a much larger clubhouse (extant).

Allen Evans was a founding member of St. Mary's Episcopal Church, Ardmore (1887) and served on the vestry for 38 years. Furness, Evans & Co. designed the church in 1887 and also an addition (1923). Rebecca Evans was very active in parish life from the founding until her death in 1927. Their son Allen Evans entered the Episcopal ministry. He attended Yale Divinity School (B.D. 1917) and served as Dean of the Philadelphia Divinity School, 1937-1947.