H. Rus Warne

Who was H. Rus Warne?

Harry Rus Warne was a Charleston, West Virginia-based architect.

He was born at Parkersburg, West Virginia in 1872 and attended the Ohio Mechanics Institute in Cincinnati, Ohio. Warne established his architectural practice in Parkersburg in 1892, after having traveled extensively throughout the United States and in Europe. He moved to Charleston in 1902, and formed Silling Associates, Inc. The firm continues today as the oldest continuing architectural firm in West Virginia.

He designed two World’s Fair pavilions for West Virginia. One was the 123-foot tall Coal Column and West Virginia Building at the 1907 Jamestown Exposition; the other was the West Virginia Building for the 1915 Panama–Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. He also designed many residential homes for wealthy clients in the growing suburbs of Edgewood, South Hills and Kanawha City near Charleston.

Warne died at home in Charleston April 25, 1954, and his ashes are in the Warne family mausoleum in Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Parkersburg.