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J. Cleaveland Cady

American architect

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 31, 2026
Entity authorityQ6105147
Source-derived summary

Josiah Cleaveland Cady (January 1837 – April 17, 1919) was an American architect known for his Romanesque Revival designs. He was also a founder of the American Institute of Architects.

Cady started his career as a draftsman for Town & Davis in New York City. He opened his Manhattan practice, J. Cleaveland Cady, Architect, in 1864. The firm became J. C. Cady & Company in 1882 and Cady, Berg & See in 1890. Cady's work was diverse, including residences, churches, colleges, libraries, museums, and railroad depots. His first major project was designing the Brooklyn Art Association's Brooklyn Academy of Design in 1869, with architect Henry Martyn Congdon.

Cady designed the American Museum of Natural History, the Metropolitan Opera House, and fifteen buildings at Yale University. Although much of his work centered around New York and New England, he was also the main architectural advisor for Berea College in Kentucky. Cady's designs include one National Historic Landmark and twelve buildings that are individually listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “J. Cleaveland Cady” as american architect. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewStrongest as a route into the people, institutions and dated events that shaped the subject’s public record. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1837, 1919, 1864, 1882—that can be checked directly. The authority record carries competing date values—1837, 1837-01-01—which should remain separate until their references and qualifiers are resolved. The account is most persuasive where Cleaveland, Cady and American can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as american architect. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 31, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6105147. VIAF identifies the subject as 35924106. The Library of Congress control number is n85823436. 2 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1837, 1919, 1864 and 1882.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
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Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “J. Cleaveland Cady”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow J. Cleaveland Cady primary sources, J. Cleaveland Cady archive and Cleaveland research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “J. Cleaveland Cady”?
  2. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
  3. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from J. Cleaveland Cady” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.