Hentz, Reid & Adler Architectural Drawings Collection

The Atlanta architecture firm Hentz, Reid & Adler are known in the Southeast for their Beaux-Arts style and as the founding fathers of the Georgia school of classicism. The firm began in 1909 as Norrman, Hentz & Reid. However, shortly after its foundation, partner Gottfried L. Norrman died and the firm became known simply as Hentz & Reid. Rudolph S. Adler became a partner in 1913, creating Hentz, Reid & Adler. In 1927, after Reid’s death the year before, Philip T. Shutze became a partner in the firm, then known as Hentz, Adler & Shutze. Hentz retired in 1944 and William Armistead became a partner, shifting the firm’s name to Shutze, Armistead & Adler for one year until the death of Adler. The firm of Shutze & Armistead continued until 1950 when Armistead retired. Shutze retired in 1958.

Joseph Neel Reid (1885-1926), known as Neel Reid, was born in 1885 in Alabama. He was raised in Macon, Georgia and in 1901 he graduated from Gresham High School in Macon. From approximately 1903-1905, Reid apprenticed with architects Curran Ellis in Macon and Willis F. Denny in Atlanta. Between 1905 and 1907, Reid studied architecture at Columbia University in a short-term, non-degree program. Columbia’s architecture department was based on the French Beaux-Arts system and during Reid’s time there, Charles McKim (of McKim, Mead & White, an architectural firm famous for its classical Beaux-Arts designs) headed an atelier at Columbia. Reid returned to Macon in 1908 and received his first commission, from W. Emmett Smalls, that same year.

Hal Fitzgerald Hentz (1883-1972) was born in Florida in 1883. Hentz and Reid became acquainted in Atlanta in 1905. Hentz had graduated from Emory University in 1904 and in 1905 both he and Reid went to Columbia University to study architecture, although Hentz did not receive his degree in architecture from Columbia until 1912. In 1907, to further their architectural education, Hentz and Reid traveled to Europe. During this time Hentz studied at L’Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris and it is believed that Reid also studied there for a brief period of time.

In 1909 Hentz and Reid, along with Swedish-born architect Gottfried L. Norrman (1856-1909) formed the Atlanta firm of Norrman, Hentz & Reid. This firm was short-lived as Norrman committed suicide shortly after its formation. Although Hentz & Reid were based in Atlanta, at the Candler Building, they also maintained a branch office in Macon from 1909-1915. Harry E. Lindley managed the Macon office. During the 1920s, the firm also had a Florida office.

The firm changed its name to Hentz, Reid & Adler in 1913 with the addition of Rudolph S. Adler (1889-1945) as partner. Alder was an Atlantan who had also studied architecture at Columbia. He joined the firm in 1911 and became partner two years later.

Neel Reid was the principal designer for Hentz, Reid & Adler and as such was responsible for most of the design output of the firm. After Reid’s death in 1926 from a brain tumor, Philip Shutze became the main designer for the firm. Philip T. Shutze (1890-1982) was born in Columbus, Georgia in 1890. He received a degree in architecture from Georgia Tech in 1912 and from Columbia University in 1913. After Columbia, Shutze joined Hentz, Reid & Adler and became a faculty member at Georgia Tech. Shutze received the Prix de Rome in 1915 and spent time studying and traveling in Italy before returning to the United States permanently in 1920. After working with other architectural firms in Atlanta and New York, he rejoined Hentz, Reid & Adler and became a partner in 1927.

In addition to their architectural work, Hentz, Reid & Adler played an important part in nurturing the Georgia Tech architecture department. They often served as design critics and teachers for the program in addition to providing part-time jobs for its students. Several of these student employees went on to become well-known in their own right, including architects Philip T. Shutze, Lewis E. “Buck” Crook, and Ernest Daniel "Ed" Ivey, and sculptor Julian H. Harris.