View source for Caleb Ormsbee

{{Short description|American architect}}
{{Infobox architect
|name                 = Caleb Ormsbee
|image                = 
|image_size           = 
|caption              = 
|nationality          = 
|birth_date           = {{Birth date|1752|10|15}}
|birth_place          = [[Rehoboth, Massachusetts]]
|death_date           = {{Death date and age|1807|12|31|1752|10|15}}
|death_place          = [[Providence, Rhode Island]]
|practice_name        = 
|significant_buildings= [[Nightingale-Brown House]], [[Thomas P. Ives House]]
|significant_projects = 
|significant_design   = 
|awards               = 
}}
[[File:Nightingale–Brown House Providence RI 2012.jpg|right|thumb|[[Nightingale–Brown House|House for Joseph Nightingale]], [[Providence, Rhode Island]], 1791–92.]]
'''Caleb Ormsbee''' (1752-1807) was an American [[master builder]] and [[architect]]  of [[Providence, Rhode Island]]. Two of his buildings have been designated United States [[National Historic Landmarks]].

==Life and career==
Ormsbee was born October 15, 1752, in [[Rehoboth, Massachusetts]] to Daniel and Keziah (Cummings) Ormsbee.<ref name="Rehoboth"/> His training is unknown, but he may have served his apprenticeship with Jonathan Hammond,{{efn|name=Hammond|Also spelled Jonathan Hammon.}} a carpenter who was associated with Joseph Brown in designing and building the [[First Baptist Church in America]] in 1774.<ref name="Isham">Norman M. Isham, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=fgc2AAAAIAAJ The Meeting House of the First Baptist Church in Providence: A History of the Fabric]'' (Providence: Charitable Baptist Society, 1925)</ref>

Ormsbee was self-trained in design.<ref name="Cady"/> He is known to have owned a copy of ''A Book of Architecture'', published by [[James Gibbs]] in 1728, which he is believed to have purchased from the estate of Joseph Brown.<ref name="Isham"/> He also looked to contemporary American architecture, and based his design for the 1795 building of the [[First Unitarian Church of Providence|First Congregational Church]] on the [[Hollis Street Church]] in [[Boston]], designed by [[Charles Bulfinch]] and built in 1788.<ref name="Cady"/>

[[John Holden Greene]] was an apprentice of Ormsbee beginning in 1794, and remained in his employ until his death in 1807.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Greene, John Holden|url=https://www.oxfordartonline.com/groveart/view/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.001.0001/oao-9781884446054-e-7000034776|access-date=2021-01-11|website=Grove Art Online|year=2003|language=en|doi=10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.T034776|last1=Woodward|first1=W. Mckenzie|isbn=978-1-884446-05-4 }}</ref>

==Personal life==
In 1774 Ormsbee married Molly Walker, also a Rehoboth native.<ref name="Rehoboth">James N. Arnold, ''Vital Record of Rehoboth, 1642-1896'' (Providence: Narragansett Historical Publishing Company, 1897)</ref>

Ormsbee died December 31, 1807, in Providence.<ref>Gravestone</ref>

== Works ==
* Double house for Caleb Ormsbee,{{efn|name=Benefit|Located at 407-409 Benefit Street. Ormsbee lived in 407 Benefit until his death.<ref name="Woodward"/>}} [[Providence, Rhode Island]] (1788)<ref name="Woodward">William McKenzie Woodward and Edward F. Sanderson, ''Providence: A Citywide Survey of Historic Resources'', ed. David Chase (Providence: Rhode Island Historical Preservation Commission, 1986)</ref>
* House for John I. Clark, [[Providence, Rhode Island]] (1789, burned 1849)<ref>"[https://www.brown.edu/cis/sta/dev/providence_architecture/locations/college_hill/nightingale_brown_house/ College Hill: Nightingale Brown House]," brown.edu, Providence Architecture, n. d. Accessed July 6, 2021.</ref>
* [[Nightingale–Brown House|House for Joseph Nightingale]], [[Providence, Rhode Island]] (1791–92, NHL and NRHP 1989)<ref>[https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/89001242 Nightingale–Brown House NRHP Registration Form] (1989)</ref>
* [[First Unitarian Church of Providence|First Congregational Church]], [[Providence, Rhode Island]] (1795, burned 1814)<ref name="Cady">[[John Hutchins Cady]], ''The Civic and Architectural Development of Providence, 1636-1950'' (Providence: The Book Shop, 1957)</ref>
* [[Thomas P. Ives House|House for Thomas P. Ives]], [[Providence, Rhode Island]] (1803–06, NHP and NRHP 1970)<ref>[https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/70000023 Thomas P. Ives House NRHP Registration Form] (1970)</ref>

==Gallery==

{{Gallery
|title=|align=center
|File:John Innes Clark House.jpg
 |House for John I. Clark, [[Providence, Rhode Island]], 1789.
|File:Nightingale–Brown House Providence off-center view RI 2012.jpg
 |[[Nightingale–Brown House|House for Joseph Nightingale]], [[Providence, Rhode Island]], 1791-92.
|File:First Congregational Church, Providence.jpg
 |[[First Unitarian Church of Providence|First Congregational Church]], [[Providence, Rhode Island]], 1795.
|File:Thomas P. Ives House Providence 2011.jpg
 |[[Thomas P. Ives House|House for Thomas P. Ives]], [[Providence, Rhode Island]], 1803.
}}

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060714062043/http://www.ormsby.org/genie/Thomas/Caleb_1752.html Caleb Ormsbee 1752 - 1807]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ormsbee, Caleb}}
[[Category:1752 births]]
[[Category:1807 deaths]]
[[Category:Architects from Providence, Rhode Island]]
[[Category:Architects from Massachusetts]]
[[Category:People from Rehoboth, Massachusetts]]

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