American architect (1854?1912)
Edmund March Wheelwright
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Edmund M. Wheelwright,
c.
1876
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Born
| September 14, 1854
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Died
| August 15, 1912
(
1912-08-16
)
(aged 57)
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Occupation
| Architect
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Children
| John Brooks Wheelwright
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Practice
| Wheelwright & Haven; Wheelwright, Haven and Hoyt
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Buildings
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Projects
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In office
1891?1895
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Preceded by
| Harrison Henry Atwood
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Edmund March Wheelwright
(September 14, 1854 – August 15, 1912) was one of
New England
's most important architects in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and served as city
architect
for
Boston, Massachusetts
from 1891 to 1895.
Early life and career
[
edit
]
Wheelwright was born in
Roxbury, Massachusetts
, educated at
Roxbury Latin School
and graduated from
Harvard University
in 1876. He studied architecture at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
and later in Europe, after which he worked in the offices of
Peabody and Stearns
and of firms in New York and Albany.
In 1883, he started a business of his own and afterwards became a member of the firm of Wheelwright & Haven, more recently Wheelwright, Haven & Hoyt.
In June 1887, Wheelwright married Elizabeth Boott Brooks. His son was the poet
John Brooks Wheelwright
.
In 1893, Wheelwright and
R. Clipston Sturgis
were chosen by the trustees of the
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
to spend a year studying art museums throughout Europe; they later contributed to the ongoing design of the museum's building on
Huntington Avenue
.
Wheelwright, who designed the
Harvard Lampoon Building
, also oversaw the construction. It was first opened on February 19, 1909. Wheelwright while attending Harvard University was one of the founders of the
Harvard Lampoon
.
[1]
Wheelwright's design was inspired in part by an old church in
Jamestown, Virginia
,
[2]
and by the Flemish Renaissance details of Auburn Street buildings in its vicinity.
He was a fellow of the
American Institute of Architects
, serving on its board of directors from 1892 to 1894 and 1898 to 1900, as well as a fellow of the
Boston Society of Architects
. He published two books on
school architecture
: "The American Schoolhouse" and "School Architecture."
Charles Donagh Maginnis
had been his apprentice.
After suffering a nervous breakdown from overwork, he lived at a Thompsonville, Connecticut sanitarium for two years before dying on August 14, 1912, at age 57.
[3]
Boston's fire tower
[
edit
]
In 1892, Wheelwright designed and built a 156 foot tall tower in the
South End
of
Boston
, Massachusetts, which was originally designed as part of the central fire station and used as a fire lookout. Since Wheelwright wanted the building to stand out, it was modeled after the 14th century
Torre del Mangia
in Siena, Italy, and made of brick like the Italian original. It is the city's only Florentine-inspired building.
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]
Since 1980, the building has housed the Pine Street Inn, a shelter for homeless people.
[8]
Architectural works
[
edit
]
Wheelwright designed the following:
In addition, he was a consulting architect for:
Firms
[
edit
]
Mid-career, Wheelwright worked as an architect for the firm of
McKim, Mead, and White
. By 1897, he had formed a partnership and created the firm of "Wheelwright & Haven." This later became "Wheelwright, Haven and Hoyt," and (after Wheelwright's death) "Haven and Hoyt." The firm operated until c. 1930. The Haven and Hoyt Collection at the Boston Public Library holds a variety of materials related to Wheelwright, including renderings and photographs.
Selected publications
[
edit
]
- ^
The American Educational Review
. Vol. 31. American Educational Co. 1910. p. 365.
- ^
The Brickbuilder
. Vol. 19. Rogers & Manson. 1910. p. 82.
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"Noted Architect Dead"
.
The New York Times
. Boston. August 16, 1912. p. 9
. Retrieved
June 19,
2022
– via Newspapers.com.
- ^
Chandler, F. W. (Francis Ward), ed.
Municipal architecture in Boston, from designs by Edmund M. Wheelwright, city architect, 1891-1895
. Boston : Bates & Guild company, 1898.
- ^
The Brochure series of architectural illustration
, Volume 4, Bates & Guild Publishers, 1898. Cf.
p.123
- ^
Ralli, Tania (October 9, 2005).
"And Now A Word From Our Shelter: Ads Atop Pine Street Inn Help Pay To Restore It, But Some Ask Where It Will End"
.
The Boston Globe
. pp. 221,
229
. Retrieved
June 19,
2022
– via Newspapers.com.
- ^
Pine Street Inn (Boston)
- Wikimapia
- ^
Mightyspark.
"Pine Street Inn | History"
.
www.pinestreetinn.org
. Retrieved
April 9,
2024
.
- ^
Wheelwright and his brother John Tyler Wheelwright were among
The Lampoon
's
founders
- ^
Built as carriage house for
William Fletcher Weld
in 1889, became a museum in 1949
- ^
Credited to Wheelwright, Haven and Hoyt
- ^
"Bowditch School"
Archived
February 8, 2006, at the
Wayback Machine
, Jamaica Plain Historical Society
- ^
Zaitzevsky, Cynthia R. (July 1986).
"Written Historical and Descriptive Data"
(PDF)
. National Park Service / Historic American Engineering Record
. Retrieved
June 26,
2015
.
References
[
edit
]
- Walking Tour Guide for Larz Anderson Auto Museum in PDF format
- Boston Public Library Special Collections Department
Archived
July 5, 2013, at the
Wayback Machine
- Obituary,
Quarterly Bulletin Containing an Index of Literature from the Publications of Architectural Societies and Periodicals on Architecture and Allied Subjects
, V. 1?12, V. 13, No. 1-3; January 1, 1900 ? October 1, 1912, American Institute of Architects, page 251.
- Marquis, Albert Nelson (ed.),
Who's who in New England
, Chicago: A. N. Marquis & Company, 1909.
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