William Ralph Emerson (March 11, 1833 – November 23, 1917) 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 ...

. He partnered with

Carl Fehmer Carl Fehmer (November 10, 1838 – 1923) was a prominent German-American Boston architect during the 19th century. Fehmer had already started his architectural career before his service in the Civil War, but became well-established afterwar ...

in Emerson and Fehmer.

Early life and education

A cousin of

Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, abolitionist, and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champ ...

, William was born in

Alton, Illinois Alton ( ) is a city on the Mississippi River in Madison County, Illinois, Madison County, Illinois, United States, about north of St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri. The population was 25,676 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. It is a p ...

, and trained in the office of Jonathan Preston (1801–1888), an architect–builder in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. He formed an architectural partnership with Preston (1857–1861), practiced alone for two years, then partnered with

(1864–1873). He is best known for his Shingle Style houses and inns, many of them in Bar Harbor, Maine. He worked with fellow Boston designer

Frederick Law Olmsted Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822August 28, 1903) was an American landscape architect, journalist, social critic, and public administrator. He is considered to be the father of landscape architecture in the USA. Olmsted was famous for co ...

on the creation of the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., designing several of the zoo's first buildings. Emerson was a friend of the Boston painter

William Morris Hunt William Morris Hunt (March 31, 1824September 8, 1879) was an American painter. Born into the political Hunt family of Vermont, he trained in Paris with the realist Jean-François Millet and studied under him at the Barbizon artists’ colony, be ...

, who painted a portrait of Emerson's son Ralph, shown at an exhibition of Hunt's work at the

Boston Museum of Fine Arts The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 paintings and more than 450,000 works ...

in 1880.Portrait of Master Ralph Emerson, Exhibition of the Works of William Morris Hunt, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Dec. 20, 1879-Jan. 31, 1880, Seventh Edition, Alfred Mudge & Son, Boston, 1880
/ref> Emerson died in

Milton, Massachusetts Milton is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States and an affluent suburb of Boston. The population was 28,630 at the 2020 census. Milton is the birthplace of former U.S. President George H. W. Bush, and architect Buckminster Fuller. ...

Personal life

On September 15, 1873 he married Sylvia Hathaway Watson.

Selected works

* 1869 Sanford-Covell Villa Marinabr>
72 Washington Street,

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and northeast of New Yor ...

* 1869 Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller Mansion renovation,

Woodstock, Vermont Woodstock is the shire town (county seat) of Windsor County, Vermont, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town population was 3,005. It includes the villages of Woodstock, South Woodstock, Taftsville, and West Woodstock. History Cha ...

* 1875

Massachusetts Homeopathic Hospital Massachusetts Homeopathic Hospital was a homeopathic institution in Boston, Massachusetts, at which the first successful kidney removal in New England was performed. Established by an act of the Massachusetts legislature in 1855, the hospital ope ...

, Harrison Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts * 1878 Eustis Estate, Canton Avenue,

* 1878 Summer cottage of

painter

, Magnolia, Massachusetts * 1879 ''Redwood'', C. J. Morrill House, Bar Harbor, Maine * 1881

Boston Art Club The Boston Art Club, Boston, Massachusetts, serves to help its members, as well as non-members, to access the world of fine art. It currently has more than 250 members. History The Boston Art Club was first conceived in Boston in 1854 with the co ...

, 150 Newbury Street, Boston, Massachusetts * 1887

Saint Jude's Episcopal Church Saint Jude's Episcopal Church is a historic church at 277 Peabody Drive (Maine State Route 3) in Seal Harbor, Maine. Built in 1887–89, this Shingle-style church is the least-altered surviving example of ecclesiastical architecture in Maine de ...

, Seal Harbor,

Mount Desert, Maine Mount Desert is a town on Mount Desert Island in Hancock County, Maine, United States. The population was 2,146 at the 2020 census. Incorporated in 1789, the town currently encompasses the villages of Otter Creek, Seal Harbor, Northeast Harb ...

* 1887 Saint Margaret's Roman Catholic Church, Beverly Farms, Massachusetts * 1887 ''

Tianderah Tianderah is a historic home located at Gilbertsville in Otsego County, New York. It was built in 1887 by Boston-based architect William Ralph Emerson. It is an "L" shaped, stone Romanesque Revival and Shingle style residence dramatically ove ...

,'' stone and shingle residence, Gilbertsville, New York; Listed on the National Historic Register, November 2, 1978 #78001894 * 1888 Fitz Cottage,

Jackson Jackson may refer to: People and fictional characters * Jackson (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the surname or given name Places Australia * Jackson, Queensland, a town in the Maranoa Region * Jackson North, Qu ...

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the nor ...

* 1889

William James William James (January 11, 1842 – August 26, 1910) was an American philosopher, historian, and psychologist, and the first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States. James is considered to be a leading thinker of the lat ...

House, 95 Irving Street,

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston ...

* 1890 The Reading Room, now part of the Bar Harbor Inn, Bar Harbor, Maine * 1890–1892 The Hotel Claremont,

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 ...

* 1896 ''Felsted'', a cottage for

Deer Isle, Maine Deer Isle is a town in Hancock County, Maine, United States. The population was 2,194 at the 2020 census. Notable landmarks in Deer Isle are the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Stonington Opera House, and the town's many art galleries. ...

References

* ''The Architecture of William Ralph Emerson'', catalog by Cynthia Zaitzevsky with photography by Myron Miller, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Mass. 1969.

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Emerson, William Ralph 1833 births 1917 deaths Architects from Illinois Architects from Boston People from Alton, Illinois People from Milton, Massachusetts