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Samuel Eldon Homsey

American architect, 1904–1994

BiographySamuel E. Homsey, son of Elias S. and Margaret (Sabbag) Homsey, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and studied architecture at M.I.T., earning a B.S. Arch. and an M.S. Arch., the latter in 1926. He undoubtedly met his future wife and partner, Victorine du Pont, while at M.I.T. By 1935 he and Victorine du Pont Homsey had moved to Wilmington, Delaware, and opened an architectural firm, Victorine & Samuel Homsey, possibly the first husband and wife-run architectural firm in the United States. In 1962 this office was succeeded by Victorine & Samuel Homsey, Inc. Samuel Homsey retired in 1979.

During World War II Homsey served as a Navy commander in the office of research and inventions for the Naval Reserve (1942–1946). He also served as an architectural critic at M.I.T., Cornell University, the University of Virginia, and the Rhode Island School of Design. He was vice-president of the American Institute of Architects from 1965 to 1967. Public service included stints on the New Castle County Regional Planning Commission (1948–1959), the New Castle County Zoning Commission (1952–1957), Wilmington Board of Parks, and the Delaware State Planning Council.

Homsey (with G. Morris Whiteside) designed the original Delaware Art Center (predecessor to the Delaware Art Museum) building, which opened in 1938 on Kentmere Parkway. In addition, Homsey painted watercolors and exhibited at the museum, including in a four-person show in 1966.

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