Charles Barton Keen

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1868,[2] the youngest of the three sons of Charles Burtis Keen and Harriet Emily Ide.[1]

He studied architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, graduating in 1889. Upon returning from a sojourn to Europe, he worked for a year as a draftsman for Theophilus P. Chandler, the founder of UPenn's school of architecture, before working for his cousin Frank Miles Day, one of the three founders of House and Garden.[1]

Keen also studied at the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art between 1890 and 1892.[1] One of his classmates was Frank E. Mead, whom Keen later worked with prior to Mead's departure for California.[1]

His protégé in the early 20th century was William Roy Wallace.[1]

Keen designed suburban residences and country estates for over thirty-five years, mostly along the Philadelphia Main Line.[1] He became the architect of choice among the wealthy, including North Carolina tobacco magnate R. J. Reynolds.[1] For Reynolds, he designed his Reynolda House residence, now a museum, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.[3] He partnered with landscape architect Thomas Sears on several projects.[1]

Reynolda House, c. 1915, during its construction

Keen was responsible for the following buildings:[1]

• Swarthmore Lodge, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania
• Lasater House, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
• Lucy Henry Harrison House, Brookneal, Virginia (1911)[4]
• Reynolda House, Winston-Salem, North Carolina (1912–1917)
• Alexander Worth McAllister House, Greensboro, North Carolina (1918–1919)
• Richard J. Reynolds High School, Winston-Salem, North Carolina

Keen was an accomplished golfer. As a member of Pine Valley Golf Club, he won his division at the 1920 winter tournament at Pinehurst, North Carolina.[1]

In May 1923, at the request of Katharine Reynolds Johnston, Keen relocated his family from Pennsylvania to Winston-Salem. His business was based at the Wachovia Building.[5] He returned north the following year, however, with Wallace joining him as partner.[1]

Keen was a fellow of the American Institute of Architects.[6]

Keen died of a stroke on February 12, 1931, while in Hamilton, Bermuda. He was 62, and had been ill since April 1929.[6] He was interred in Woodlands Cemetery in Philadelphia.