Tredyffrin Easttown Historical Society
History Quarterly Digital Archives

Source: 1947 Volume 6 Number 3, Pages 52–53

Richardson Brognard Okie 1875-1945

Howard S. Okie

Page 52

Brognard Okie

This prominent architect was born in Camden, New Jersey, the son of the late Richardson B. and Clara Mickle Okie but at the time of his death had been a resident of Easttown since 1880. Coming to Berwyn as a small boy, he was to live there until early manhood, when he purchased the farm near Leopard which was to be his home until his death on December 27, 1945.

Gifted with natural skill with his pencil, R. Brognard Okie's mind was soon to turn to architecture and particularly to a study of the early buildings of eastern Pennsylvania. On graduation in 1897 from the Architectural School of the University of Pennsylvania, he entered the office in Philadelphia of the late Arthur Stanley Cochrane. Upon the death of Mr. Cochrane within a short time, a partnership was formed between Mr. Okie and H. Louis Duhring, Jr. and Charles A. Ziegler, both of Philadelphia. This association was dissolved after some years and Mr. Okie continued alone in the practice of his profession until his death.

Page 53

To natural talent he was to add great knowledge of colonial house construction, acquired in great measure by examination of the early houses so plentiful in the neighborhood of his home. With these attributes he had also a passion for perfection to the smallest detail and an obstinate insistence upon having his own way when he felt that he was right. Recognition was quick to come to him and he became widely known as an authority on the colonial architecture of the United States. Among his houses best known to the general public are the Betsy Ross house in Philadelphia, an alteration and remodeling, "High Street" of the Philadelphia Sesqui-Centennial, and the William Penn House at Pennsbury.

Notwithstanding a busy life, Mr. Okie found time to actively manage his farm and to take a serious part in public affairs. He was a vestryman of Old St. David's Church for many years, and by turn an active and progressive member of the road and school boards of Easttown Township. He took great interest in the work of this history club and was always ready to lend his superior skill and knowledge to its efforts to preserve the history of the early houses of the neighborhood and to aid in location of early reads and the recording of their history. Lost to our club at the height of his powers, his place will be difficult to fill.

Mr. Okie's House