Leander McCord, Jr. – Rochester’s Architect of the Roaring Twenties

Leander W. McCord Jr. was one of the Rochester region’s foremost residential architects of the Jazz Age. His career spanned from the early 1910s through the late 1940s, reaching its zenith during the roaring ‘20s when his accomplishments were heralded in newspapers and his design capabilities were in demand by the rich and famous, as well as the burgeoning middle class. McCord crafted his homes in a multitude of styles, but his specialty was stately and whimsical Tudor Revival designs that rivaled the best work of the esteemed Syracuse architect Ward Wellington Ward. Having passed from this mortal realm as a life-long bachelor, McCord faded into obscurity despite having designed hundreds of homes and buildings. Since 2008, Christopher Brandt has been researching and raising awareness about Leander McCord Jr’s life and career. This presentation, richly illustrated, explores the remarkable accomplishments of an architect whose name it is hoped will no longer just be one memorialized in a simple epitaph of stone.