Personal Data

James Templeton Kelley was born on September 4, 1855, in Roxbury, the son of Thomas Kelley and his wife, Jane Stinson.

He married first on February 13, 1882, in Lynn, to Ella (Eleanor) Hale Sweetser (b. 1Mar1854 in Lynn; d. 1922 in France), daughter of David Sweetser and his wife, Mary H. (LNU).

He married second on December 4, 1923, to Marion (Seaverns) Williams (b. 1868-1869 in Brookline), daughter of Henry Gibbs Seaverns and his wife, Emily Heustis.  She had been married previously to Samuel Williams.

James Kelley died on January 5, 1929, in Washington DC.

Career

In 1880, he was a draftsman at 19 Exchange Place, in the offices of Sturgis and Brigham.  In 1886, he opened his own office in his home on Beacon Hill, first at 75 Pinckney and then, in about 1890, at 57 Mt. Vernon.  In the mid-1890s, Harold S. Graves joined his office as a draftsman, and in about 1909 he became an architect working with Kelley. It does not appear that there was ever a formal partnership of Kelley and Graves.  Kelley retired in about 1925 and Graves moved his office to Boylston Street.

According to his Boston Globe obituary, James Kelley “had an active part in the revival of colonial architecture in Boston and vicinity.”

Back Bay Work