Babb, Cook & Willard was a New York City-based

architectural firm In the United States, an architectural firm or architecture firm is a business that employs one or more licensed architects and practices the profession of architecture; while in South Africa, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark and other countri ...

established in 1884 that designed many important houses and commercial buildings. The principals of the firm were George Fletcher Babb (1836–1915), Walter Cook (1843–1916), and Daniel W. Willard. Willard left the firm in 1908, and was replaced by Winthrop A. Welch. The firm was subsequently renamed Babb, Cook and Welch until 1912, when it became Cook and Welch.

Walter Cook

Partner Walter Cook was born in New York and graduated from

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

in 1869. He further studied at the Royal Polytechnic School in Munich and at the

École des Beaux-Arts École des Beaux-Arts (; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth century ...

in Paris. He returned to New York in 1877 and worked there as an architect until he died on March 25, 1916, aged 70.

Works

Andrew Carnegie Mansion The Andrew Carnegie Mansion is a historic house located at 2 East 91st Street at Fifth Avenue in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York City, New York. Andrew Carnegie moved into his newly completed mansion in late 1902 and lived there unti ...

, 2 East 91st Street, New York City, designed to be "most modest, plainest, and most roomy house in New York" *

New York Life Insurance Building, Montreal Montreal's New York Life Insurance Building (also known as the Quebec Bank Building) is an office building at Place d'Armes in what is now known as Old Montreal, erected in 1887-1889. At the time of its completion, it was the tallest commercial b ...

, which was the tallest building in the province of Quebec from 1888 to 1908 *"The Clearing", a Colonial Revival estate house built around 1889 for John Hornor Wisner, a merchant in the China trade, at what is now the

Reeves-Reed Arboretum The Reeves-Reed Arboretum (13.5 acres (5.5 ha)) is a nonprofit arboretum and garden located at 165 Hobart Avenue in Summit, Union County, New Jersey, United States. It is the only arboretum in Union County. A popular wedding spot, the arboretum ...

De Vinne Press Building The De Vinne Press Building, located at 393-399 Lafayette Street at the corner of East 4th Street, in the NoHo district of lower Manhattan, New York City, is a brick structure, built in 1885-1886 and designed by the firm of Babb, Cook & Willard i ...

, built 1885–1886, listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

*About six of 39 Carnegie libraries built in New York City * Frederick B. Pratt House, in Brooklyn, New York, completed in 1898 in a neo-Georgian style *

Charles Atwater House Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...

at 321 Whitney Avenue in New Haven, Connecticut, a significant Shingle style house in the

Whitney Avenue Historic District __NOTOC__ The Whitney Avenue Historic District is a historic district in the East Rock neighborhood of New Haven, Connecticut. It is a district which included 1,084 contributing buildings when it was listed on the National Register of Histori ...

*William S. Ingraham House in the Federal Hill Historic District of Bristol, Connecticut. The 25-room Shingle-Style home was built in 1890 and heated by pipes connected to the

E. Ingraham Company The E. Ingraham Company was one of the premier American clock and watch manufacturers during the 19th and 20th centuries. Headquartered in Bristol, Connecticut, the firm was founded in 1831 by Elias Ingraham and controlled by members of the Ingrah ...

Welwyn Welwyn is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Hertfordshire, England. The parish also includes the villages of Digswell and Oaklands, Hertfordshire, Oaklands. It is sometimes referred to as Old Welwyn or Welwyn Village, ...

, a Georgian-style mansion built in 1906 in

Glen Cove, New York Glen Cove is a Political subdivisions of New York State#City, city in Nassau County, New York, United States, on the North Shore (Long Island), North Shore of Long Island. At the 2020 United States Census, the city population was 28,365 as of th ...

References

;Notes

External links

* Defunct architecture firms based in New York City 1884 establishments in New York (state) American companies established in 1884 Design companies established in 1884 Design companies disestablished in 1916 1916 disestablishments in New York (state) {{US-architect-stub