Sydney Strickland (1880-1954) moved to Brookline about the age of fourteen when his family relocated there circa 1895 after the death of his father in 1892. He became an architect after graduating from MIT and studying at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. In 1905, he married Elsie Rutan, who was the daughter of well-known Brookline architect Charles Rutan. The newlyweds lived with her parents at 111 Davis Ave. for several years as Sydney apprenticed at her father’s firm of Shepley, Rutan, and Coolidge. Sydney’s mother had been living at 15 Hedge Rd. and Sydney was involved in designing four new houses there from 1913-1923. The couple first moved to #57 Hedge Rd. when it was built circa 1913 then moved next door to #43 Hedge Rd. (interior photos are on file) when it was built circa 1917.

In 1915, he formed a partnership with Alexander Francis Law, with whom he had worked in the offices of Shepley, Rutan, and Coolidge. In 1920, the firm added William Power Blodget to become Strickland, Blodget, and Law. The firm designed a number of buildings in the Boston area including the Ritz Carlton Hotel.

Gift of Chris Hussey