Category Archives: Biographical

James Betelle Obituaries

These are the two obituaries I found for Betelle at the Newark Public Library. The first is from The Newark Evening News from June 5th, 1954. This was a Sunday, which establishes Betelle’s death as Thursday, June 3rd (whether that is the local or Italian date is unknown). The second obit (source unclear) is almost identical to the first, but does give one new bit of information: it confirms that Betelle was buried in Florence.

JAMES O. BETELLE, 75
Retired Newark Architect, Specialist in School Buildings,
Dies in Florence, Italy
The Newark Evening News, June 5, 1954

James O. Betelle, retired Newark architect who rose from a $2-a-week clerk in an architect’s office to become one of the country’s outstanding designers of educational buildings, died Thursday in Florence, Italy. Mr. Betelle, who was 75, had been suffering from a heart ailment.
Mr. Betelle, who formerly lived in Short Hills, had spent much of his time traveling in recent years. He went to Italy earlier this Spring.

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The Widow Betelle

John emailed me a few days ago with new information he dug up; Marie Betelle’s obituary from the New York Times:

August 30, 1959

Mrs. Marie Ann Louise Betelle, widow of James O. Betelle, an architect, died of a brain hemorrhage early yesterday at University Hospital. She was 52 years old.

Mrs. Betelle lived at 450 East 61st Street. She had a collection of objects d’ art, fine linens, engraved stemware, and religious articles.

There are no known survivors.

So, Mrs. Betelle was 47 when JOB died in 1954, at 75. That made her quite a few years younger than him, on the order of twenty-eight years. It’s good to be an architect!

That address, 450 East 61st Street, is in the area of a collection of hi-rise apartments and small old industrial buildings, right next to the 59th Street Bridge, so it’s not likely her residence is still standing (though I will go by there to make sure).

Photo of Betelle?

James O. Betelle, 1899

This is a group photo of the staff of Cope & Stewardson, circa 1899, where JOB served as draftsman. Is one of these fine moustachioed gentlemen our James?

Edit: The photo actually has a caption, buried on another page:
From Left to Right: Alfred Morton Githens, William Charles Hays, Walter Cope, John A. MacMahon, James O. Betelle, Emlyn Stewardson, S. A. Cloud, Wetherill P. Trout, Herbert C. Wise, James P. Jamieson, Eugene S. Powers, E. Perot Bissell, Miss Louise Stavely, Charles H. Bauer, William Woodburn Powers, John Molitor, Camillo Porecca, Office Boy, C. Wharton Churchman

So he’s 4th from left, back row.

Time Magazine – “School Builder”

This short piece appeared in the Arts section of the August 24th, 1931 issue of Time Magazine. While it doesn’t offer much new factual information about JOB, it does paint a more rounded picture of his life than what we know so far. Hey, he was bald! Note: Updated to include the accompanying photograph and cover.

SCHOOL BUILDER

Time MagazineProud were the friends and admirers of Architect James O. Betelle of Newark, N. J., last week and proud was Architect Betelle. He had just sent out the plans for Newark’s new Weequahic High School. With that building up, Architect Betelle could say that his firm had designed and supervised the erection of $100,000,000 worth of U. S. educational structures, an all-time world record.

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The Betelle Home is Robbed…

It appears that the Betelle’s had a break-in at their home while they were away during the winter of 1941. The full account was printed in the June 6, 1941 edition of The Millburn & Short Hills Item:

$60,000 GEM THEFT HERE
millburn-item.jpg Gaining entrance through a first floor window thieves obtained more than $60,000 in jewelry from the home of James O. Betelle of West Road, Short Hills some time during the absence of the family who had spent the winter in New York.
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