William Lawrence Bottomley (February 24, 1883 – February 1, 1951), was an American

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

in twentieth-century New York City;

Middleburg, Virginia Middleburg is a town in Loudoun County, Virginia, United States, with a population of 673 as of the 2010 census. It is the southernmost town along Loudoun County's shared border with Fauquier County. Middleburg is known as the "Nation's Horse an ...

; and

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

. He was known for his

Colonial Revival The Colonial Revival architectural style seeks to revive elements of American colonial architecture. The beginnings of the Colonial Revival style are often attributed to the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, which reawakened Americans to the archi ...

designs of residential buildings in the United States and many of his commissions are situated in highly aspirational locations, including

Monument Avenue Monument Avenue is a tree-lined grassy mall dividing the eastbound and westbound traffic in Richmond, Virginia, originally named for its emblematic complex of structures honoring those who fought for the Confederacy during the American Civil War. ...

in Richmond, Virginia.Katie Kelley, Architectural Historian, Historic Richmond Foundation

Education

Educated at the

Horace Mann School , motto_translation = Great is the truth and it prevails , address = 231 West 246th Street , city = The Bronx , state = New York , zipcode = 10471 , count ...

in New York, Bottomley graduated from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in 1906 with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

degree in architecture. In 1907 he studied at the

American Academy in Rome The American Academy in Rome is a research and arts institution located on the Gianicolo (Janiculum Hill) in Rome. The academy is a member of the Council of American Overseas Research Centers. History In 1893, a group of American architects, ...

, where he had received the McKim Fellowship in Architecture. In 1908 he entered the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, in the ''atelier'' of

Victor Laloux Victor Alexandre Frederic Laloux (15 November 1850 – 13 July 1937) was a French Beaux-Arts architect and teacher. Life Born in Tours, Laloux studied at the Paris École des Beaux-Arts ''atelier'' of Louis-Jules André, with his studies i ...

, where he studied until he returned to the US to practice formally as an architect in 1909.

Personal life

William Lawrence married Harriet Townsend, a

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

and writer, on August 26, 1909 at Beech Hill in

Westport, New York Westport is a town in Essex County, New York, United States overlooking Lake Champlain. The population was 1,312 at the 2010 census. The town is on the eastern border of the county and is south of Plattsburgh and south of Montreal, Quebec, Canad ...

. Harriet's love for gardening may have influenced William's strong alliance with landscape architect

Charles Gillette Charles Freeman Gillette (1886–1969) was a prominent landscape architect in the upper South who specialized in the creation of grounds supporting Colonial Revival architecture, particularly in Richmond, Virginia. He is associated with the rest ...

. William and Harriet had three daughters: Harriet, Susan, and Virginia.

Career

The Mediterranean-style house in Castine

In his 40-year career, William designed 186 commissions, the majority of which (40%) were in Virginia. "Bottomley's clients...while well-to-do, didn't have names with the lofty status of Rockefeller, Whitney, or Widener." Eleven of Bottomley's commissions are currently listed individually 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 ...

. Eight of these are in Virginia. William Lawrence Bottomley designed this residence (see right photo) at 155 Western Promenade in Portland, Maine.155 Western Promenade
Website.
/ref> In 1918, young U.S. Army lawyer Walter G. Davis, Jr. worked with the American Commission to Negotiate Peace in Paris, resulting in the Treaty of Versailles, where Europe was divided after World War I. Two years later, he swept into fashionable 155 Western Promenade, with its 32-foot salon for entertaining; inset Grand Tour paintings collected by Davis during his travels; and a library featuring a priceless Zuber & Cie mural from Paris: the Boston panel of Views of North America. His work is now the subject of the

Historic Richmond Foundation Historic Richmond Foundation was founded in 1956 by Elisabeth Scott Bocock, Louise Catterall, Mary Wingfield Scott, Dr. Wyndham B. Blanton, and others in order to save the Church Hill area surrounding St. John's Church. The mission of Historic Ri ...

's Year of Bottomley events.

Works

* 1912: Southampton High School (now Southampton Town Hall),

Southampton, New York Southampton, officially the Town of Southampton, is a town in southeastern Suffolk County, New York, partly on the South Fork of Long Island. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the town had a population of 69,036. Southampton is included in the stret ...

* 1915: 2324 Monument Avenue,

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

* 1918: 2309 Monument Avenue, Richmond, Virginia * 1920: 155 Western Promenade,

Portland, Maine Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metropol ...

* 1922–1924: addition to the Hotel Albert,

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

''Note:'' This includes ''See also:'' * 1923: 2315 Monument Avenue, Richmond, Virginia * 1923–1924: Blue Ridge Farm, Greenwood, Virginia * 1924: Stuart Court Apartments, Richmond, Virginia * 1924: 2601 Monument Avenue, Richmond, Virginia * 1926:

William and Helen Ziegler House The William and Helen Ziegler House (also known as the William and Helen Martin Murphy Ziegler Jr. House), located at 116 East 55th Street between Park and Lexington Avenues in the Midtown neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, was built in 19 ...

, 116-118 E 55th Street,

* 1928:

Casa Maria Casa Maria is a historic estate located near Greenwood, Albemarle County, Virginia, United States. The main house was built 1921–1922 in the Spanish-Mediterranean style, with a two-story brick addition that dates from 1928, and was designed b ...

(addition), Greenwood, Virginia * 1928:

Dakota Dakota may refer to: * Dakota people, a sub-tribe of the Sioux ** Dakota language, their language Dakota may also refer to: Places United States * Dakota, Georgia, an unincorporated community * Dakota, Illinois, a town * Dakota, Minnesota, a ...

Warrenton, Virginia Warrenton is a town in Fauquier County, Virginia, of which it is the seat of government. The population was 9,611 at the 2010 census, up from 6,670 at the 2000 census. The estimated population in 2019 was 10,027. It is at the junction of U.S. R ...

* 1929: Waverly Hill,

Staunton, Virginia Staunton ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 25,750. In Virginia, independent cities a ...

* 1920s: 2320 Monument Avenue, Richmond, Virginia * 1920s: 2714 Monument Avenue, Richmond, Virginia * 1930s (remodeling):

Rocklands Rocklands is a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk which encompasses the villages of Rockland All Saints and Rockland St Peter. It covers an area of and had a population of 702 in 282 households at the 2001 census, increasing to ...

, near

Gordonsville, Virginia Gordonsville is a town in Orange County, Virginia, Orange County in the U.S. state, Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Located about 19 miles northeast of Charlottesville, Virginia, Charlottesville and 65 miles northwest of Richmond, V ...

* 1933–1935 (remodeling): Col Alto,

Lexington, Virginia Lexington is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 7,320. It is the county seat of Rockbridge County, although the two are separate jurisdictions. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines ...

* 1934: DeLeon F. Green House in the

Weldon Historic District Weldon Historic District is a national historic district located at Weldon, Halifax County, North Carolina. It encompasses 256 contributing buildings, 2 contributing structures, and 9 contributing structures in the central business district and ...

Weldon, North Carolina Weldon is a town in Halifax County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 1,655 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina Micropolitan Statistical Area. History In 1752, Daniel Weldon purchased 1,273 acre ...

* 1939:

Newton White Mansion The Newton White Mansion is a Neo-Georgian home was built in 1939 by architect William Lawrence Bottomley for Captain Newton H. White of the United States Navy. Captain White had a long and distinguished career, serving on the USS Yorktown (PG-1) ...

, Mitchelville, Maryland

References

Citations

Works cited

External links

William L. Bottomley architectural drawings, 1913-1946
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bottomley, William Lawrence American residential architects 1883 births 1951 deaths Horace Mann School alumni 20th-century American architects Columbia University alumni American alumni of the École des Beaux-Arts Architects from New York City Architects from Richmond, Virginia American neoclassical architects