Charles Barton Keen
Charles Barton Keen (December 5, 1868 – February 12, 1931) was an American architect, prominent in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was known for designing residences and country estates. Early life Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1868, the youngest of the three sons of Charles Burtis Keen and Harriet Emily Ide. 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. Keen also studied at the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art between 1890 and 1892. One of his classmates was Frank E. Mead, whom Keen later worked with prior to Mead's departure for California. His protégé in the early 20th century was William Roy Wallace. Career Keen designed suburban residences and country estates for over thirty-five years, mostly along the Philadelphia Main Line. He became the architect of choice among the wealthy, including North Carolina tobacco magnate R. J. Reynolds. For Reynolds, he designed his Reynolda House residence, now a museum,