# Frederick S. Holmes

Frederick S. Holmes was an American safe and vault engineer, and inventor who designed the largest vaults in the world. During his career, Holmes designed over 200 vaults throughout the United States, Canada and Japan from 1895 to 1941. The majority of Holmes designed vaults are located in New York's Financial District; many are publicly accessible and in buildings on the National Register of Historic Places. His name is engraved on the builder's plaques, typically located on the vault door's encased jamb controls.
Holmes' vault designs evolved over time to keep up with attacks from safe-crackers or 'Yeggmen' adept at vault penetration. A Holmes advertisement from 1921 reads, "Newly discovered methods of attack necessitate radical departures from hitherto accepted standards of design". Holmes specialized in jamb-controlled vaults where the combination locks and bolt-throwing mechanism are located inside the vault creating a solid vault door with no spindle holes. Entry requires two points of attack (door and jamb), which doubles the time required for burglars to breach the vault.
Holmes was an expert in his field and described as 'one of the leading, if not the leading vault engineer of America, and a man whose word is unquestioned by those who have had transactions with him'. In recognition of significant contributions to the field of bank vault engineering, a tribute was written in The Journal of the Franklin Institute stating, “Coincident with the modern development of the safe and bank vault industry was that of the profession of the Bank Vault Engineer. The industry owes much of its progress to the work done by the pioneers of this profession: William H. Hollar, John M. Mossman, George L. Damon, Emil A. Strauss, Frederick S. Holmes, Benjamin F. Tripp, and George L. Remington.” Holmes is known to have collaborated with all these vault engineering greats except for Strauss.
Holmes collaborated with prominent architects such as Cass Gilbert and Alfred Bossom and leading vault builders including Bethlehem Steel, Carnegie Steel, Damon Safe & Iron Works, Diebold, Herring-Hall-Marvin, J&J Taylor, LH Miller Safe & Iron Works, Mosler Safe, Remington & Sherman, and York Safe & Lock.

## Early life

Frederick Stacy Holmes was born on August 27th, 1865 in Boston, MA to George W. Holmes and Frances A. Stacy. His father was from Maine and worked as a Pattern Maker and his mother was from New Hampshire and was a housewife. Holmes attended Boston High School and received private engineering instruction in New Hampshire.

## Career

Homes first worked as a Pattern Maker like his father, a Machinist and then a Mechanical Draftsman. He worked his way up to General Superintendent for safe and vault manufacturers in Chicago, Boston, and Philadelphia before venturing out on his own. Holmes was co-owner of Hoyer & Holmes with Isaiah Wellington Hoyer in Philadelphia that specialized in safe and vault design and construction. He worked as a Bank Vault Engineer for John M. Mossman from 1900-1904 where he designed the Maiden Lane Safe Deposit Company vault among others. Frederick S. Holmes started his company of the same name in 1901 and by 1910 was designing jamb-controlled vaults for which he was known. He was in private practice for 40 years where he designed his most notable vaults: Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, One King West Hotel & Residence in Toronto, and Sun Life Insurance in Montreal.
| 1879 to 1883 | 1883 to 1887 | 1887 to 1891 | 1891 to 1895 | 1895 to 1900 | 1901 to 1941 |
| Pattern Maker and Machinist | Mechanical Draftsman | General Superintendent for Chicago Safe & Lock in Chicago, IL | General Superintendent for Damon Safe & Iron Works in Boston, MA and Philadelphia, PA | Co-Owner / Bank Vault Engineer at Hoyer & Holmes, a Partnership with Isaiah W. Hoyer in Philadelphia, PA | Owner / Bank Vault Engineer at Frederick. S. Holmes, a private practice in New York, NY. Bank Vault Engineer was his most commonly used title, but similar combinations were used in his published works and advertisements |

## Personal life

Frederick S. Holmes married Katherine E. Vincent from New Hampshire on March 27th, 1886 in Chelsea, MA. He was involved with industry groups such as the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (1913-1930), the Bankers Club (1920-1930), the Investigating Committee of Architects & Engineers (1926), the Engineers’ Club (1920-1930), the Hardware Club of New York (1914), and the New York State Society of Professional Engineers (1936). Holmes had an active social life with membership in the American Club in Toronto (1920), the Brotherhood of Man (1924), the New York Athletic Club (1914-1941), and the Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York (1920-1930). His political affiliations changed throughout his life; he was a registered Republican (1914-1930) and Independent (1924, 1926, 1931-1932). In 1932, Holmes was critically injured when struck by an automobile while walking home. He was 67 years old at the time and suffered a fractured skull from the hit-and-run driver. Holmes recovered and managed to work another nine years before retiring in 1941 at the age of 76. He died eight years later from arteriosclerotic heart disease on November 10th, 1948 in Hathorne, MA at the age of 84 and was buried at Exeter Cemetery in New Hampshire.

## Published works

This list includes articles, copyrights, court testimony, interviews, patents, and speeches by Frederick S. Holmes in chronological order.
| Year | Item |
| 1890 | Patent - US Patent 438,236 Electric Safe-Lock (electric controlled combination locks) with William H. Hollar |
| 1891 | Patent - US Patent 459,226 Safe or Vault (soft metal joint packing) Signature Witness for William H. Hollar |
| 1892 | Patent - US Patent 467,465 Electric Lock (electric controlled combination locks) |
| 1892 | Patent - US Patent 477,897 Electric Lock (electric controlled combination locks) with William H. Hollar |
| 1892 | Patent - US Patent 477,898 Electric Lock (electric controlled combination locks) with William H. Hollar |
| 1896 | Patent - US Patent 557,389 Removable Sill for Vaults or Safes |
| 1899 | Patent - US Patent 620,073 Safe (drill resisting construction) Assignor to William H. Hollar |
| 1905 | Article - The Design and Construction of Modern Bank Vaults |
| 1908 | Patent - US Patent 901,710 Movable Ventilator for Vaults with George L. Damon |
| 1910 | Court Testimony - Mosler Safe Co. vs. Maiden Ln Safe Deposit Co. (trial witness) |
| 1911 | Article - Vault Building - The Backward State of the Art, the Reason and the Remedy |
| 1911 | Article - Vault Building Problems with portrait photograph at 46 years old |
| 1911 | Article - Why Insure Against Anything that Never Happens? |
| 1912 | Article - A Renaissance of Vault Design |
| 1912 | Article - Uncle Sam to Build the World's Largest Treasure Vault |
| 1912 | Interview - World’s Largest Treasure Vault (P. Harvey Middleton interview) |
| 1913 | Article - Vault For Treasure |
| 1913 | Article - That $70,000 New York Bank Vault Robbery |
| 1913 | Article - Impregnable Safes (Spanish) |
| 1913 | Article - Vaults - A Criticism |
| 1916 | Article - Modern Practice in the Design of Bank Vaults Part 1 - Protective Principles and Construction Methods |
| 1916 | Article - Modern Practice in the Design of Bank Vaults Part 2 - The Requirements of Small Banks |
| 1916 | Speech - New Vault Construction to Resist the Cutter-Burner (NY State Safe Deposit Association Convention speech) |
| 1916 | Article - Reliability in Vaults and Safes |
| 1916 | Article - The Construction of Bank Vaults (a synopsis of the Brickbuilder articles listed above) |
| 1917 | Article - A New Concrete for Bank Vaults (describes Holmes's testing methods) |
| 1917 | Article - The Oxy-Acetylene Cutting Torch |
| 1917 | Article - Thoughts as to Erection, Arrangement and Fitting Up of a Safe Deposit Vault |
| 1921 | Article - Vault Construction for Small Communities |
| 1923 | Article - Harris, Forbes & Company's New Vault |
| 1923 | Article - Protecting Our Great Banks (by Edward H. Smith with Holmes contributions) |
| 1923 | Article - The World's Greatest Bank Vaults (by Edward H. Smith with Holmes contributions) |
| 1923 | Article - Vault Protection |
| 1924 | Article - The Romance of the Lock (by Edward H. Smith with Holmes contributions) |
| 1924 | Article - Safeguards that are Required Against the Modern Yegg |
| 1924 | Article - Vault Weaknesses that must be Overcome |
| 1925 | Article - There Are No Jimmy Valentines |
| 1925 | Article - New York Savings Bank Problems - Safety Deposit Vaults for All |
| 1926 | Copyright - Copyright with Ralph M. Hooker |
| 1927 | Article - Guarding America's Wealth - A Renaissance of Bank Burglary |
| 1928 | Article - Bank Vault Construction and Equipment |
| 1991 | Article - The Lure of The Lock (includes the abridged article 'Bank Vault Construction and Equipment', see above) |
| 2005 | Article - Monuments to Money: The Architecture of American Banks by Charles Belfoure, (Holmes article excerpts) |