James Kellum Smith

Who was James Kellum Smith?

James Kellum Smith Sr. was an American architect, of the well-known Gilded Age architectural firm of McKim, Mead, and White.

Smith grew up in the small city of Towanda in Bradford County, Pennsylvania, where he attended Towanda High School, was a member of the Omega Gamma Delta fraternity, and was graduated in 1910. From Towanda, Smith went on to Amherst College where he was a member of the Chi Psi fraternity and was graduated in 1915, with Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Xi honors. He received his degree in architecture from the University of Pennsylvania after a short interruption for service in World War I.

James was a member of McKim, Mead and White from 1920 to 1961 and the architect for Amherst College from 1930 to 1960. He became a full partner in 1929, and was the last surviving partner of MM&W. He primarily designed academic buildings, but his last major work was the National Museum of American History.

Charles Follen McKim was the classicist, and Stanford White the flamboyant designer. Per Baker, William Rutherford Mead was the MM&W partner who "hired and fired", "steered the ship", and spent his time "trying to keep the partners from making damn fools of themselves."