William Alciphron Boring (September 9, 1859 – May 5, 1937) was an American architect noted for co-designing the Immigration Station at Ellis Island in

New York harbor New York Harbor is at the mouth of the Hudson River where it empties into New York Bay near the East River tidal estuary, and then into the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast of the United States. It is one of the largest natural harbors in t ...

Career

Boring studied first at the University of Illinois, then spent an additional year (1885) as a student at Columbia University. In 1886, he maintained a partnership in Los Angeles with architects Solomon I. Haas (1857–1945) and E.L. Caukins. From 1887 to 1890 Boring studied architecture at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris along with his friend Edward Lippincott Tilton. Boring and Tilton returned to New York in 1890 to work in the office of McKim, Mead, and White. In 1891 Boring and Tilton left McKim, Mead, and White to form their own architectural partnership. Among their notable works were the Casino in Belle Haven, Connecticut (1891) and the

Hotel Colorado Hotel Colorado is an 1893 Italianate structure in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, United States, and one of the oldest hotels in Colorado. History Established by silver magnate and banker Walter Devereux, construction began in 1891 at a cost of $850, ...

in the resort town of Glenwood Springs, Colorado (1891). The partnership's work culminated in the 1897 design for the new federal Immigration Station at Ellis Island. This work was honored with a gold medal for Architecture at the Exposition Universelle, Paris (1900); a gold medal at the Pan-American Exposition, Buffalo (1901); and a silver medal at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis (1904). The partnership of Boring & Tilton ended in 1904. The men started working independently of one another but continued to share offices and equipment until 1915. In 1913, Boring was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate member. In 1916, Boring joined the faculty of the

Columbia School of Architecture Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP) is the architecture school of Columbia University, a private research university in New York City. It is regarded as an important and highly prestigious architecture school.

, where he eventually became Director in 1919 and Dean from 1931 to 1932. As dean of architecture at Columbia Boring, and especially his successor

Joseph Hudnut Joseph F. Hudnut (1886–1968) was an American architect scholar and professor who was the first dean of Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design. He was responsible for bringing the German modernist architects Walter Gropius and Marcel ...

, encouraged the then-nascent modernism and incorporated studies in town planning.

Works

Early works

*Fire House Number 1, now a state historic site known as the

Old Plaza Firehouse The Old Plaza Firehouse is the oldest fire station in the city of Los Angeles, built in 1884. It is located near Olvera Street in the Los Angeles Plaza Historic District. It was named California Historical Landmark No. 730 on April 8, 1960. Desi ...

; Los Angeles, California, 1884

With Edward Lippincott Tilton

* 1891: Casino, Belle Haven, Connecticut * 1891–1893:

, Glenwood Springs, Colorado (placed on the

List of Registered Historic Places in Colorado There are more than 1,500 properties and historic districts in Colorado listed on the National Register of Historic Places. They are distributed over 63 of Colorado's 64 counties; only the City and County of Broomfield has none. __NOTOC__ Cu ...

) * 1896: Morristown School, Morristown, New Jersey (Morristown–Beard School today) * 1897–1901: United States Immigrant Station, on Ellis Island in the Port of New York (added to the Statue of Liberty National Monument on May 11, 1965, placed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966 * 1899: Town Hall,

East Orange, New Jersey East Orange is a City (New Jersey), city in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 69,612. The city was List of municipalities in ...

* 1902–1903: Astor Warehouse, 29–35 Ninth Avenue, Manhattan, New York City * 1900–1905: Tome School for Boys, Port Deposit, Maryland * 1901: Marine barracks, Brooklyn Navy Yard, Brooklyn, New York City * 1904–1905: Brooklyn Heights Casino, Fort Hill Estate, Brooklyn, New York City * 1917: Lemmonier Library, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana

Solo designs

* 1906: apartment building at 520 Park Avenue in Manhattan (demolished in 1932) * 1907–1908:

American Seamen's Friend Society Sailors' Home and Institute The Jane is a boutique hotel located at 505–507 West Street, with its main entrance at 113 Jane Street in the West Village section of the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. The building was originally the American Se ...

, 505 507 West Street, Manhattan * 1907–1908: St. Agatha's School for Girls, later

St. Agnes Boys High School Saint Agnes Boys High School was a small, all-boys, private Catholic high school on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. It was run by the Marist Brothers in conjunction with the Archdiocese of New York. The mascot of St. Agnes was t ...

, 555 West End Avenue, Manhattan (landmark, 2016 condos) * 1909: apartment building at 540 Park Avenue in Manhattan, New York City * 1910: Casino Mansion Apartments, 200 Hicks Street, Brooklyn, New York City * 1911: apartment building at 521 Park Avenue in Manhattan, New York City

References

Notes Bibliography * Mackay, Robert B.; Baker, Anthony K. and Traynor, Carol A. (eds.) ''Long Island Country Houses and Their Architects, 1860–1940'' (1997) New York: Norton * Morrone, Francis ''An Architectural Guidebook to Brooklyn'' (2001) Gibbs Smith,

External links

* * * * *
William A. Boring architectural drawings and papers, circa 1859–1937
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boring, William 1859 births 1937 deaths Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation alumni 19th-century American architects American alumni of the École des Beaux-Arts 20th-century American architects People from Carlinville, Illinois Architects from Illinois