Edmund March Wheelwright 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 1891–1895.
Born and educated in Roxbury before it was annexed to Boston, Wheelwright graduated from Harvard in 1876 about the year the portrait opposite was taken. He continued his architectural education at MIT and at the École des Beaux-Arts. On his return from Paris he obtained a draftsman position with the firms of Peabody and Sterns and McKim Mead and White. In 1890 he joined Parkman B. Haven (1859-1943) in the firm Wheelwright and Haven.
As Boston City architect between 1891 and 1895, he was responsible for numerous schools, hospitals, fire houses, and police stations in the city. Still a Boston landmark was the 156-foot tower built for Boston Central Fire Station in the South End, modeled after the 14th-century Torre del Mangia in Siena.
After rejoining Wheelwright and Haven in 1896, he designed Horticulture Hall (1900), the New England Conservatory of Music (1903) and the Boston Opera House on Huntington Avenue (1909; demolished 1958). His work also included the new Longfellow Bridge across the Charles between Cambridge and Boston (1900-07) (pictured left). He served in some capacity on the Hartford Bridge over the Connecticut River, which was to be his last work. He suffered a nervous breakdown due to overwork and after 2 years in a Sanitarium at Thompsonville, CT, passed away at home in Dedham, MA.
In June 1887 he married Elizabeth Boott Brooks, with whom they had 3 children: Louise Brooks Wheelwright Damon (1889-1973), Edmund March Jr. (1891-1946), and John Brooks Wheelwright (1897-1940).
Born and educated in Roxbury before it was annexed to Boston, Wheelwright graduated from Harvard in 1876 about the year the portrait opposite was taken. He continued his architectural education at MIT and at the École des Beaux-Arts. On his return from Paris he obtained a draftsman position with the firms of Peabody and Sterns and McKim Mead and White. In 1890 he joined Parkman B. Haven (1859-1943) in the firm Wheelwright and Haven.
As Boston City architect between 1891 and 1895, he was responsible for numerous schools, hospitals, fire houses, and police stations in the city. Still a Boston landmark was the 156-foot tower built for Boston Central Fire Station in the South End, modeled after the 14th-century Torre del Mangia in Siena.
After rejoining Wheelwright and Haven in 1896, he designed Horticulture Hall (1900), the New England Conservatory of Music (1903) and the Boston Opera House on Huntington Avenue (1909; demolished 1958). His work also included the new Longfellow Bridge across the Charles between Cambridge and Boston (1900-07) (pictured left). He served in some capacity on the Hartford Bridge over the Connecticut River, which was to be his last work. He suffered a nervous breakdown due to overwork and after 2 years in a Sanitarium at Thompsonville, CT, passed away at home in Dedham, MA.
In June 1887 he married Elizabeth Boott Brooks, with whom they had 3 children: Louise Brooks Wheelwright Damon (1889-1973), Edmund March Jr. (1891-1946), and John Brooks Wheelwright (1897-1940).
Edmund March Wheelwright 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 1891–1895.
Born and educated in Roxbury before it was annexed to Boston, Wheelwright graduated from Harvard in 1876 about the year the portrait opposite was taken. He continued his architectural education at MIT and at the École des Beaux-Arts. On his return from Paris he obtained a draftsman position with the firms of Peabody and Sterns and McKim Mead and White. In 1890 he joined Parkman B. Haven (1859-1943) in the firm Wheelwright and Haven.
As Boston City architect between 1891 and 1895, he was responsible for numerous schools, hospitals, fire houses, and police stations in the city. Still a Boston landmark was the 156-foot tower built for Boston Central Fire Station in the South End, modeled after the 14th-century Torre del Mangia in Siena.
After rejoining Wheelwright and Haven in 1896, he designed Horticulture Hall (1900), the New England Conservatory of Music (1903) and the Boston Opera House on Huntington Avenue (1909; demolished 1958). His work also included the new Longfellow Bridge across the Charles between Cambridge and Boston (1900-07) (pictured left). He served in some capacity on the Hartford Bridge over the Connecticut River, which was to be his last work. He suffered a nervous breakdown due to overwork and after 2 years in a Sanitarium at Thompsonville, CT, passed away at home in Dedham, MA.
In June 1887 he married Elizabeth Boott Brooks, with whom they had 3 children: Louise Brooks Wheelwright Damon (1889-1973), Edmund March Jr. (1891-1946), and John Brooks Wheelwright (1897-1940).
Born and educated in Roxbury before it was annexed to Boston, Wheelwright graduated from Harvard in 1876 about the year the portrait opposite was taken. He continued his architectural education at MIT and at the École des Beaux-Arts. On his return from Paris he obtained a draftsman position with the firms of Peabody and Sterns and McKim Mead and White. In 1890 he joined Parkman B. Haven (1859-1943) in the firm Wheelwright and Haven.
As Boston City architect between 1891 and 1895, he was responsible for numerous schools, hospitals, fire houses, and police stations in the city. Still a Boston landmark was the 156-foot tower built for Boston Central Fire Station in the South End, modeled after the 14th-century Torre del Mangia in Siena.
After rejoining Wheelwright and Haven in 1896, he designed Horticulture Hall (1900), the New England Conservatory of Music (1903) and the Boston Opera House on Huntington Avenue (1909; demolished 1958). His work also included the new Longfellow Bridge across the Charles between Cambridge and Boston (1900-07) (pictured left). He served in some capacity on the Hartford Bridge over the Connecticut River, which was to be his last work. He suffered a nervous breakdown due to overwork and after 2 years in a Sanitarium at Thompsonville, CT, passed away at home in Dedham, MA.
In June 1887 he married Elizabeth Boott Brooks, with whom they had 3 children: Louise Brooks Wheelwright Damon (1889-1973), Edmund March Jr. (1891-1946), and John Brooks Wheelwright (1897-1940).
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