Devon
Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...
, England in 1822, where he started working under John Hayward. He was a member of the Exeter Architectural Society, and his first known work is a canopied tomb in Gothic style beside the
high altar
An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in paganis ...
in St. Thomas' Church in Exeter. In 1842, Wills exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts in London.
He emigrated to
New Brunswick
New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...
in 1845 to work on Christ Church Cathedral in Fredericton, which he modelled on St. Mary's Church in
Snettisham
Snettisham is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It is located near the west coast of Norfolk, some south of the seaside resort of Hunstanton, north of the town of King's Lynn and northwest of the city of Norwic ...
, Norfolk. He moved to New York City, began an architectural firm in late 1847 and married Emily Coster in 1848. He became associated with the New York Ecclesiology Society and soon was the official architect for that group. In 1850 he published ''Ancient Ecclesiastical Architecture and Its Principles, Applied to the Wants of the Church at the Present Day''. and Emily died in that same year.
In 1851 he took a partner into his firm, Henry Dudley, who had also worked under Hayward in Exeter. He remarried to Almy Warne Casey in November 1853; she was the daughter of the
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...
iron merchant James Casey. They had one son, Charles James Wills. Frank Wills died suddenly in Montreal in 1857, where he was working on Christ Church Cathedral.
Albany, New York
Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York C ...
Anglican Church
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the ...
Milford, Connecticut
Milford is a coastal city in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States, located between New Haven and Bridgeport. The population was 50,558 at the 2020 United States Census. The city includes the village of Devon and the borough of Woodmon ...
Madison, Mississippi
Madison is a city in Madison County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 24,841 at the 2010 census. The population is currently over 25,000. It is part of the Jackson Metropolitan Statistical Area.
History
The city of Madison, named ...
Abingdon, Maryland
Abingdon is a census-designated place in Harford County, Maryland, United States. It lies northeast of Baltimore on Maryland Route 7, near the Bush River, between Exits 77 ( MD 24) and 80 ( MD 543) of Interstate 95.
Demographics
History
Abi ...
Madison, Mississippi
Madison is a city in Madison County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 24,841 at the 2010 census. The population is currently over 25,000. It is part of the Jackson Metropolitan Statistical Area.
History
The city of Madison, named ...
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and ...
Napoleonville, Louisiana
Napoleonville is a village and the parish seat of Assumption Parish, in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The population was 660 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Pierre Part Micropolitan Statistical Area. The village is best known as the loc ...
Claremont, New Hampshire
Claremont is the only city in Sullivan County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 12,949 at the 2020 census.
History Pre-colonial native populations
Before colonial settlement, the Upper Connecticut River Valley was home to the Pe ...
Flushing, New York
Flushing is a neighborhood in the north-central portion of the New York City borough of Queens. The neighborhood is the fourth-largest central business district in New York City. Downtown Flushing is a major commercial and retail area, and the i ...
.
*
St. John's Church St. John's Church, Church of St. John, or variants, thereof, (Saint John or St. John usually refers to John the Baptist, but also, sometimes, to John the Apostle or John the Evangelist) may refer to the following churches, former churches or other ...
(1853–58) in
Troy, New York
Troy is a city in the U.S. state of New York and the county seat of Rensselaer County. The city is located on the western edge of Rensselaer County and on the eastern bank of the Hudson River. Troy has close ties to the nearby cities of Albany ...
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
.
*
Christ's Church, Rye
Christ's Church, Rye (formerly Grace Church), is an Episcopal church in the Diocese of New York, located next to the Boston Post Road ( U.S. Route 1) in Rye in Westchester County, New York. Established in 1695, the parish is one of the oldest i ...
(1854–55) in
Rye, New York
Rye is a coastal suburb of New York City in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is separate from the Town of Rye, which has more land area than the city. The City of Rye, formerly the Village of Rye, was part of the Town until it r ...
Montgomery, Alabama
Montgomery is the capital city of the U.S. state of Alabama and the county seat of Montgomery County. Named for the Irish soldier Richard Montgomery, it stands beside the Alabama River, on the coastal Plain of the Gulf of Mexico. In the 202 ...
Oberlin, Ohio
Oberlin is a city in Lorain County, Ohio, United States, 31 miles southwest of Cleveland. Oberlin is the home of Oberlin College, a liberal arts college and music conservatory with approximately 3,000 students.
The town is the birthplace of th ...
Connersville, Indiana
Connersville is a city in Fayette County, east central Indiana, United States, east by southeast of Indianapolis. The population was 13,481 at the 2010 census. The city is the county seat of and the largest and only incorporated town in F ...
Huntsville, Alabama
Huntsville is a city in Madison County, Limestone County, and Morgan County, Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Madison County. Located in the Appalachian region of northern Alabama, Huntsville is the most populous city in ...
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...
, Quebec.
* Saint George's (1856–58) in Portage-du-Fort, Quebec, Canada
Also, based on similarities, three other churches are believed to be from his firm:
* Trinity Episcopal Church (1855)
Scotland Neck, North Carolina
Scotland Neck is a town in Halifax County, North Carolina, United States. According to the 2010 census, the town population was 2,059. It is part of the Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina Micropolitan Statistical Area.
History
The Hoffman-Bower ...
.
*
Church of the Nativity
The Church of the Nativity, or Basilica of the Nativity,; ar, كَنِيسَةُ ٱلْمَهْد; el, Βασιλική της Γεννήσεως; hy, Սուրբ Ծննդեան տաճար; la, Basilica Nativitatis is a basilica located in B ...
(1856–59) in
Union, South Carolina
The city of Union is the county seat of Union County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 8,393 at the 2010 census. It is the principal city of the Union Micropolitan Statistical Area (population 28,961 according to 2010 Census) ...
Natchitoches, Louisiana
Natchitoches ( ; french: link=no, Les Natchitoches) is a small city and the parish seat of Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, United States. Established in 1714 by Louis Juchereau de St. Denis as part of French Louisiana, the community was name ...