Mid-Century
After World War II, increased demand for MEP engineering talent here in Maryland did not allow reopening of the South Carolina and DC offices, but the Richmond office continued working for C&P Telephone and numerous hospitals, schools, and colleges.
The Baltimore office, located downtown in a large townhouse on Pleasant Street not far from what is now Mercy Hospital, continued designing schools, colleges, hospitals, and libraries throughout the state while adding some of Maryland’s leading architects to the client list. Many of these projects brought us our first major central power plants and large campus distribution systems for steam, water, and electric.
As the firm grew, Mr. Posey made partners of longtime employees Wilbur Hossfeld, who was my father, and Raymond Hughes. To reflect the addition of the two new owners, he changed the firm name to James Posey & Associates.
MEP building systems were far less complex in those days, and codes for mechanical and life safety were very basic or nonexistent. Engineering schools taught little about building systems, so design firms depended on the mentor-protégé relationship to develop staff and future leaders. Mr. Posey strongly believed in this approach, which continues today.
The U.S. Naval Academy and U.S. Capitol Complex exemplify longstanding relationships we have developed under term contract work, in this case with NAVFAC Washington and the Architect of the Capitol.
As Mr. Posey’s eyesight began to fail in the mid-1950s, Wilbur Hossfeld, who was managing the Richmond office, was needed in Baltimore so the Richmond office was closed. After exactly fifty years of leading the firm he founded, Mr. Posey died in 1961 at the age of 81.
Later that year, Wilbur Hossfeld and Ray Hughes incorporated the company as it is known today, James Posey Associates, Inc., with Wilbur as President. At that time, they promoted George Arendt, another longtime employee, to Principal. George’s clients were primarily architects in nearby Anne Arundel County engaged in school design, and the firm opened a branch office in the county in Glen Burnie under his direction.
Both locations thrived primarily on a steady stream of education-related projects. When Ray Hughes left the firm in 1969, both offices consolidated to one location in Baltimore County just west of the city. Projects were numerous and increasingly larger due to the surge of baby boomers in need of more schools in Baltimore’s rapidly expanding suburbs. At the time, it seemed the prosperity brought by the education market would never end.
Wilbur Hossfeld, who succeeded James Posey as President, was recognized at a banquet in his honor on his 50th anniversary with the firm. Current President Steve Hudson is shown presenting him with a plaque on behalf of the staff.
In 1972, Reese Williamson and I were promoted to Principals, Reese having joined the firm in 1959 and myself in 1964. By the end of the decade, the boom in educational facilities came to a halt. Fortunately, there had been some forewarning of this, and we were successful in pursuing the growing need for prime MEP design work under “term contracts” with many of the DOD and federal agencies headquartered throughout the region.
This client base quickly expanded to include the Naval Facilities Engineering Command, General Services Administration, Army Corps of Engineers, Department of Veterans Affairs, National Institutes of Health, and Smithsonian Institution. More recently, our base in prime contract work has been strengthened by a series of contracts with the Architect of the Capitol.
These relationships proved vital to the firm’s future. They brought a steady stream of ongoing prime MEP design work, while allowing us to pursue our traditional role of consultant on multi-discipline teams led by architects.
Back-to-back term contracts with a wide variety of federal agencies established the firm’s credentials to respond quickly for “on call” work and manage multiple projects of all sizes at one time. They also gave us new experience on a wide variety of building types and developed our reputation with potential clients.
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A Century of Excellence
JPA is celebrating the centennial of the firm founded by Baltimore engineer James Posey
in 1911.Continue Reading
Featured Project
Coppin State University
Baltimore, MD
Providing a major addition to this urban campus, the new 253,000-SF complex includes a state-of-the art sports facility, facilities management/public safety building and a satellite central utilities plant (SCUP).
Featured Project
U.S. Capitol Visitor Center
Washington, DC
JPA designed the MEP infrastructure for a 580,000-SF underground facility for the five-million visitors to the U.S. Capitol each year.
Featured Project
Peninsula Regional Medical Center
Salisbury, MD
Phased implementation of the Master Plan to significantly expand facilities at this premier regional tertiary care medical center on Maryland's Eastern Shore.
Featured Project
National Institutes of Health
Bethesda, MD
Renovation of the first floor in Building 49 transformed existing office and laboratory space into a BSL-2 research area.
Featured Project
Great Seneca Creek Elementary School
Germantown, MD
This was Montgomery County’s pilot LEED project and is the first LEED certified school in Maryland, achieving Gold status.
Featured Project
Roland Park Country School
Baltimore, MD
A new 60,000-SF athletic center for this college preparatory girls’ school features an eight-station indoor rowing tank facility, the first of its kind in a Maryland school.
Featured Project
Fairfax County Public Safety Operations Center
Fair Lakes, VA
Fairfax County and the Commonwealth of Virginia consolidated regional public safety and transportation functions to a new government office park near Dulles International Airport.
Featured Project
Mount Vernon Estate & Gardens
Mount Vernon, VA
Two new facilities totaling 71,200-SF added 23 galleries and five theaters to the historic family home of our nation’s first president.
Featured Project
Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, MD
Opened in 1915, this 146,000-SF academic building is the oldest and largest on the Homewood Campus.