GetWiki

{{short description|American architect}}

factoids

|birth_place = St. Louis, Missouri19252505|22}}|death_place = Tokyo, Japan|alma_mater = Harvard University |practice = |significant_buildings= St. Agnes Cathedral (Kyoto)|significant_projects = |significant_design = |awards = }}James McDonald Gardiner (May 22, 1857 – November 25, 1925) was an American architect, lay Anglican church missionary and educator who lived and worked in Japan during the Meiji period.

Early life and education

Born May 22, 1857 in St. Louis, Missouri, son of James McDonald and Margaret McCartney (Gordon) Gardiner. Educated at Hackensack Academy and Harvard University graduating with a degree in architecture in 1879.

Mission work and architectural career in Japan

Gardiner first came to Japan in 1880 and designed numerous school, church and private residential buildings while in the country. As a lay missionary in the Anglican Church in Japan his connection with Bishop Channing Moore Williams and the work of US Episcopal Church mission was close, leading in part to his appointment as one of the first Presidents of St. Paul's School, the founding institution of Rikkyo University.File:Holy Trinity Cathedral, Tsukiji.jpg|thumb|left|Holy Trinity Cathedral, TsukijiTsukijiGardiner's first task on arrival in Japan was to design and supervise the construction of new school and dormitory facilities for St. Paul's School in Tsukiji, Tokyo. The three-story, red brick, school buildings in an American Victorian Gothic style were completed in 1881, but suffered significant damage in an earthquake in 1894. Gardiner was also responsible for the design of adjacent Holy Trinity Cathedral, completed in 1890, which served as the center of Episcopal Church mission activity in the city.JOURNAL, Jefferys, Henry Scott, Letter from Japan, The Churchman, 31 October 1891, 571,weblink Other than St. Agnes Cathedral (Kyoto), other buildings of note designed by Gardiner and still preserved in Japan include St. John's Church, Kyoto (1907), now in the historic building collection at Meiji-mura, and the former residence of Sadatsuchi Uchida, known as The Diplomat's House (1910), since 1995 a feature of the Italian Garden park in Yamate, Yokohama.WEB, Kawasaki, Satoko, Diplomat's House,weblink A Victorian Original on Yamate Bluff, Japan Times, 21 May 2014, Sayuri Daimon, October 22, 2010, Additionally, Ascension Church in Hirosaki, Aomori Prefecture, completed in 1921.Grave located at the True Light Church, Nikkō, Tochigi, Japan; an Anglican church of his own design.BOOK, Satow, Ernest, The Diaries of Sir Ernest Satow, 2003, Edition Synapse / Lulu Press, Chiyoda, Tokyo, 978-0-557-35372-9, 430, E book,weblink 21 December 2014,

Gallery

File:Gaikoukan_no_ie.JPG|The Diplomat's House, Yamate, YokohamaFile:Kyoto St Agnes Episcopal Church02st3200.jpg|St. Agnes Cathedral (Kyoto)File:Meiji-Mura 3881372647 2c41e47a3d.jpg|St. John's Church, Meiji-muraFile:True Light Church, Nikko 20130812.jpg|True Light Church, Nikko, Tochigi

Family

Married Florence Rhodes Pitman, Principal of St. Margaret's School for Girls, Tokyo in 1882. One son; James Lawrence McDonald Gardiner and Three daughters; Hasu no Hana, Ernestine and Lillian.

• Eldest daughter, Hasu no Hana, married Episcopal missionary, Shirley Hall Nichols in 1916. In 1925 Nichols was elected to serve as the Episcopal Bishop of Kyoto.WEB, Schmidt, Lewis, Interview with Walter Nichols,weblink Foreign Affairs Oral History Division, Library of Congress, 1 January 2015, October 10, 1989,

References

{{reflist}}

See also

• Rikkyo University
• Meiji-mura

{{authority control}}