J. B. McElfatrick
American architect
John Bailey McElfatrick (1828–1906) was an architect known for his design of theaters in the United States and Canada. He eventually went into practice with his sons William H. McElfatrick and John Morgan McElfatrick (1853–1891) in the firm J. B. McElfatrick & Sons.
Early life
McElfatrick studied architecture and engineering with his father, Edward McElfatrick.
Career
In 1851, he established a practice with offices in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and Philadelphia. The firm later expanded to St Louis, Cleveland, and Chicago. He also designed theaters in Ottawa and Montreal in Canada. He is credited with the design of more than 100 theaters and for instituting improved sight lines, multiple exits, fire sprinkler systems, and continuous rows of seating without aisles on the ground floor.
His works include the Central Colored School at 542 West Kentucky Street in Louisville, Kentucky, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Several theaters he designed, including BAM Harvey Theater in Brooklyn, Metropolitan Opera House in Philadelphia, Miller Symphony Hall in Allentown, Pennsylvania, remain in use as of the early 21st century.
“J. B. McElfatrick” enters the record as american architect. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what McElfatrick, American and architect can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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“J. B. McElfatrick” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, McElfatrick, American and architect provides the most credible route into that argument.
Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q60198043. The first chronological checks are 1828, 1906, 1853 and 1891.
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This entry incorporates text from “J. B. McElfatrick” 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.