Charles Barton Keen
Charles Barton Keen (1868–1931) was an American architect known for designing homes and country estates in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, especially along the Philadelphia Main Line. He was born in Philadelphia, the youngest of three sons. He studied at the University of Pennsylvania, graduating in 1889, then trained as a draftsman for Theophilus P. Chandler and later worked with his cousin Frank Miles Day. He also studied at the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art (1890–1892). Keen partnered with Frank E. Mead early on and later mentored William Roy Wallace. For about 35 years he designed many suburban houses for wealthy clients, including tobacco magnate R. J. Reynolds, for whom he built Reynolda House in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He sometimes collaborated with landscape architect Thomas Sears. Keen was a member of Pine Valley Golf Club and won a division in the 1920 winter tournament at Pinehurst. In May 1923, at Katharine Reynolds Johnston's request, he moved his family from Pennsylvania to Winston-Salem; he based his business at the Wachovia Building and later returned north with Wallace as his partner. He was a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects. Keen died of a stroke in Bermuda on February 12, 1931, at age 62 after a long illness and was buried in Woodlands Cemetery, Philadelphia.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 14:12 (CET).