(Jan. 13, 1837-Nov. 5, 1915). Founder of R. P. Daggett & Company, Architects, Robert Platt Daggett received his architectural training in New Haven, Connecticut, where he was born and raised. He moved to Indianapolis in 1868 and quickly established himself as one of the state’s leading architects. He was in partnership with Matthew Roth for several years, circa 1870-1874, and formed R. P. Daggett & Company with James B. Lizius in 1880.
A prolific and versatile architect, Daggett helped shape the appearance of late-19th-century Indianapolis. He designed well over 100 residences, including the (528 Lockerbie Street, built for John R. Nickum, circa 1872), and was responsible for several churches, public buildings, and schools. Among his school commissions were two high school buildings, the Girls’ Classical School and Indianapolis Public School 3. A model of Public School 3 received first prize in Philadelphia at the Centennial Exhibition of 1876 for its “superiority of arrangement, ventilation and sanitary convenience.”
Many of the city’s leading businessmen sought Dagget’s services. His firm produced several business blocks in the Indianapolis , notably the McKee Building (200 South Meridian Street, 1889), and also Vajen’s Block, the Lemcke Building, Sayles Building, Loraine Building, Marion Building, Wright’s Market Street Block, the Indianapolis News Company, Lombard Building (22-24 East Washington Street, 1893, which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places), and H. Lieber Company Building (24 West Washington Street, circa 1898). Major industrial commissions include the original laboratory, E. C. Atkins & Company saw works, , and Dean Brothers Steam Pump Works (323 West 10th Street, 1893).
Commissions undertaken by Daggett & Company outside Indianapolis include Stott Hall at (circa 1884) and many buildings on Purdue University’s West Lafayette campus. Courthouses by Daggett in Shelby and Warren counties were destroyed by fire and have been replaced.
Daggett was named a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects in recognition of his distinguished career. He retired to California around 1912. The practice was continued under various names by his son and grandson Robert Frost Daggett Jr., until the latter’s retirement in 1977. At that time, it was the second oldest architectural firm in Indiana. Only a small fraction of the firm’s early work survives.
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