Ralph M. Hulett
There was a time when the darkest caves and the rudest of shelters evidently fulfilled all that our far-away ancestors demanded in a home. Utility alone was considered and ages had to pass before artistic ideas were born and became fruitful in the planning for comfort and beauty of habitation, as well as security. This was the beginning of architecture, and its encouragement and development have given beauty, luxury and safety not only in the unequaled magnificent structures in different lands that have enthused the world, but in the every-day office building, church, schoolhouse, factory plant and residence of modern times. Life would be much less worth living in a world where the talent and trained skill of the architect had never been known. Among the prominent architects of Cleveland, Ralph M. Hulett, president of the Ralph M. Hulett Company, occupies a foremost place.
Ralph M. Hulett was born at Cleveland, March 28, 1873. His parents were M. P. and Esther (Fawcett) Hulett. The father was born and educated at Rutland, Vermont, and from there came to Cleveland in 1870, where he embarked in a planing mill business, and continued the manufacture of blinds for houses and general planing-mill work. He was married here in 1871 to Esther Fawcett, and died here in 1879. Ralph M. Hulett is an only child. He attended the public schools and was graduated from the high school when eighteen years of age. He had artistic faculty, which he determined to develop along practical lines and secured a position as draftsman in the office of B. F. Van Develde, architect. After two years of experience there Mr. Hulett entered the employ of George H. Smith, architect, with whom he continued for five years, and during the next five years occupied the same position in the office of George H. Steffen, architect, afterward working with other architects, becoming thoroughly acquainted with different methods and every year more certain of his own technical skill. In 1900 Mr. Hulett opened his own office and in February, 1916, he incorporated his business under the style of the Ralph M. Hulett Company, of which he is president This company does a general architectural, building and real estate business.
A few of the most important buildings for which Mr. Hulett prepared the architectural designs are as follows: Farmers and merchants Bank, Philip Bing Monumental Works, Palm apartment house, a $50,000 residence for E. C. Deibel at Akron, Ohio, the Central School at Talmadge, Ohio, and churches, schools, residences and factory buildings at other points.
An architect often finds himself hampered by conflicting interests in the way of building material and location sites, and in a way Mr. Hulett has overcome some of these obstacles by becoming associated in allied business trades to the extent of being a director in the Carpathian Realty company, in the Fire Safe Development Company and others. He is possessed of decided artistic talent, as his beautifully designed buildings show, but he also has decided business ability and has been very generally successful in his undertakings.
Mr. Hulett was married at Bradford, Pennsylvania, in August 1895, to Miss Clara Townsend, who died in April, 1902, survived by one son, Coulter T., a talented young man of nineteen years, who is a draftsman in his father’s office in preparation for the same profession. Mr. Hulett was married in May, 1913, to Miss Clara Goodyear. They attend the Episcopal Church.
As a citizen Mr. Hulett has been active and useful and is a leading factor in the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce, but his political activity has largely been confined to casting his vote with the republican party. He belongs to Brooklyn Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, and to the Elks, and is also a member of the Southern Athletic Club.
From Cleveland - Special Limited Edition, The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago & New York, 1918 v.1