Architect, Builder. World-renowned architect whose knowledge, authority, and impact on the built modern world retains timeless relevance, as demonstrated by the re-publication in 2011 (by Goldberg Press) of Birkmire's still-relied-upon book, "Skeleton Construction In Buldings - With Numerous Practical Illustrations of High Buildings" as well as by re-publication in September 2010 (by Kessinger Publishng LLC) of "Architectural Iron And Steel, And Its Application In The Construction Of Buildings (1892)," among other titles.
Birkmire's buildings stand throughout the boroughs of New York (with just two examples at Tremont Baptist Church, Bronx, and 396 Broadway at Walker SE, Manhattan) as well as in Mexico (Mexican National Opera House, Mexico City). As recently as February 2022, his 1910 building at 16 West 22nd Street, a 12-story, 165,000-square-foot neo-Renaissance store and loft building located in the historic Flatiron District, became the subject of a new long-term lease by Heard City.
Son and grandson of early (1840) County Antrim Irish immigrants who fled religious persecution as Presbyterians, William Harvey Birkmire was born and raised in the multi-ethnic Philadelphia neighborhoods of East Falls and Manayunk, learning and intuiting at the elbows of his stone-carver grandfather, father, and uncles about the natural properties of building materials.
Birkmire formally studied architecture under Samuel Sloan.
Family Members
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John Harvey Birkmire
1835–1904
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Mary Ann Shronk Birkmire
1836–1892
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Louisa A Meny Birkmire
1869–1917 (m. 1888)
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Lillian Elizabeth Birkmire Neal
1863–1906
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Mary A Birkmire Kearney
1866–1923
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Amanda Birkmire Lawrence
1868–1927
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George W. Birkmire
1872–1940
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Harry S. Birkmire
1873–1916
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John Shronk Birkmire
1876–1937
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Harold Birkmire
1889–1944
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Cyril Birkmire
1892–1957
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Edith Berkmire McCarter
1893–1969
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Freda Meny Birkmire Ball
1895 – unknown
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Gladys Birkmire
1901–1968
Flowers
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