Hale was born in
Rochester, New York on December 25, 1855, In 1860 he moved to the
Central City-Blackhawk mining area in Colorado where his father had a
gold mine. He went to school in
Central City, Colorado until 1864, when he returned to Rochester to continue his education. During his schooling in Rochester, he worked for two local architects in the city. He worked for two years after graduating high school as a teacher before enrolling in
Cornell University in
Ithaca, New York in April 1875. He was allowed to skip the general curriculum classes with permission from the head of the architecture department, so he only stayed at Cornell for two years until 1877, again working for local architects during his summer breaks. After receiving his degree, he got a job working as an assistant to
James Goold Cutler, a Rochester architect. He remained with Cutler for two years before leaving in 1879.
Colorado Hale moved to
Denver, Colorado to begin his own practice as an architect in 1880. then came their first son, Girard Van Barcelu Hale, in 1886; and Frederick Albert Hale, Jr., on January 29, 1888. A fourth child (and third son) was born on March 17, 1895, when the family was in Salt Lake City, Utah. Hale left Roeschlaub to partner with
H. B. Seeley in 1883. He is also attributed as architect of the
Auerbach Brothers Block, the
Beason Block, the
Summit Block, the
Eagle Block, the
American Linen Supply Company, the
Masonic Lodge, and the
Elks Club. In total, Hale received permits to construct 107 buildings in Salt Lake City between 1891 and 1916, including 34 commercial buildings between 1892 and 1914 and 47 for private residences. He became partners with
Richard K. A. Kletting and
Walter E. Ware during his practice in Salt Lake City and was very popular among the wealthy there. While his partners were known for their commercial buildings, Hale was more widely known in the city for his residential designs. One reason Hale may be lesser known for his commercial designs is that by 1986, most of his commercial buildings had been demolished. Only 8 of the 34 original commercial projects remained standing at that time. Hale was a member of several organizations in the city, including several for whom he built the clubhouse. The included the
Alta Club, the Elks Club, and the
Salt Lake Country Club. He was also a member of the Utah chapter of the
Sons of the American Revolution by virtue of his great-grandfather John Hale, a colonel in the New Hampshire Militia and a surgeon in the First New Hampshire Continental Line. Hale was the director of the
Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce and served on the Board of Public Works. Hale died in Salt Lake City on September 6, 1934. ==Notable works==