John J. Earley

Quick Facts

Significance:

Developer of Aggregate Concrete used at Meridian Hill Park

Place of Birth:

New York

Date of Birth:

December 12, 1881

Place of Death:

Washington, DC

Date of Death:

November 25, 1945

John Earley was born in 1881 in New York City. His father was a skilled stone worker and artist who worked in ecclisiastical subjects.

Before John's tenth birthday, the family moved to Rosslyn, VIrginia. His father set up a studio on G Street and ran a successful business out of it. When John turned seventeen, he began apprenticing in his father's shop.

Another apprentice was Basil Taylor. Taylor became a business partner of John's after James fell seriously ill. By 1907 John Earley and Basil Taylor had opened the John J. Earley Office adn Studio.

The focus of the office shifted after James Earley's death. While James had lived, the studio focused on stonework and sculpture. Under John's management, the focus shifted to stucco and plasterwork.

They worked on projects including the White House interiors and the lobby of the Willard Hotel.

Attracted to the colors achieved in Byzantine architecture, John began experimenting with projects using aggregate concrete. Some of his early projects include th stylized busts on the sides of the Q Street, or Dumbarton, Bridge that spans Rock Creek near Georgetown.

In 1916, Earley completed a full-size mock up of a wall section for Meridian Hill Park using aggregate concrete. Though the texture had been suggested by Cass Gilbert, Chairman of the Commission of FIne Arts, it was Earley who figured out how to accomplish it. 

The aggregate concrete which Earley called "architectural concrete" was used for the walls, benches, urns, obelisks and railings in the park.

Earley died on November 25, 1945, just two weeks after suffering a stroke. On his deathbed, he sold his entire business to Basil Taylor for $1.