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.
In 1883, he started a business of his own and afterwards became a member of the firm of Wheelwright & Haven, later known as Wheelwright, Haven & Hoyt. The firm operated until c. 1930 as Haven & Hoyt.
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.
Wheelwright was nominated for the office of City Architect on March 30, 1891, by mayor Nathan Matthews Jr., the same day he fired the incumbent, Harrison H. Atwood.[3] Wheelwright was confirmed by the city council on April 6, and for the next four years had control of all of the city's architectural work.[4] Nonetheless Wheelwright believed that the city should be free to choose architects on a project-by-project basis, and after the election of Edwin Upton Curtis to succeed Matthews, advised him to abolish the office.[5] The office was abolished later that year as part of a revision of the city charter, and Wheelwright returned to full-time private practice.[6]
Wheelwright's most visible work as city architect was the former central fire station. 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 this building and was 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.[7][8][9][10] Since 1980, the building has housed the Pine Street Inn, a shelter for homeless people.[11]
Personal life
In June 1887, Wheelwright married Elizabeth Boott Brooks. His son was the poet John Brooks Wheelwright.
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.[12]
^"Many Changes," Boston Daily Globe, July 2 1895, 1.
^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.
^Zaitzevsky, Cynthia R. (July 1986). "Written Historical and Descriptive Data"(PDF). National Park Service / Historic American Engineering Record. Retrieved June 26, 2015.
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.