William G. Preston Explained

William Gibbons Preston
Nationality:	American
Birth Date:	1842 9, mf=yes
Birth Place:	Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Death Date:	^[1]
Death Place:	Brookline, Massachusetts, U.S.
Honorific Suffix:	FAIA

William Gibbons Preston (September 29, 1842 – March 26, 1910) was an American architect who practiced during the last third of the nineteenth century and in the first decade of the twentieth. Educated at Harvard University and the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris,^[2] he was active in Boston, New York, Rhode Island, Ohio, New Brunswick and Savannah, Georgia, where he was brought by George Johnson Baldwin to design the Chatham County courthouse. Preston stayed in Savannah for several years during which time designed the original Desoto Hotel (1890, demolished 1965^[3]), the Savannah Volunteer Guards Armory and 20 other distinguished public buildings and private homes.^[4] He began his professional career working for his father, the builder and architect Jonathan Preston (1801–1888), upon his return to the United States from the École in 1861, and was the sole practitioner in the office from the time his father retired c. 1875^[5] until he took John Kahlmeyer as a partner in about 1885.^[6]

The drawings of the Preston firm, now owned by the Boston Public Library, make up "...one of the most complete sets of architectural graphics preserved from the nineteenth century."^[7] Many of his buildings were pictured as prints in American Architect and Building News. He is credited with the introduction of the bungalow to the United States through a house loosely of the type that he designed in Monument Beach, Massachusetts in 1879.^[8] Preston was an early historic preservationist. He was influential in the successful 1896 effort to prevent the Massachusetts state legislature from demolishing Boston's historic State House,^[9] which had been designed by the noted architect Charles Bulfinch and built in 1798. Bulfinch was also an architect of the Capitol building in Washington, D.C.^[10]

Preston ran his practice for many years from a commercial and office building located at 186 Devonshire Street.^[11] He designed Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Rogers Building in 1864, located on Boylston Street near Boston's Copley Square, which housed the school's architecture department. Floor plans for the building show a large, centrally located space devoted to an architectural library and museum. Drawings from the Study Collection were hung on the studio walls and numerous casts and other artifacts also lined the walls and picture rails.^[12]

Preston married Estelle M. Evans (1847–1920),^[13] whose father was the wealthy real estate developer Brice S. Evans,^[14] on December 6, 1866, and the couple had one son, Evans (1867–1900). William was an active member and fellow of the American Institute of Architects^[15] and served that organization in the office of first vice-president at the end of the 1890s.^[16] He was for many years a member of the Boston Society of Architects, and for thirty years served as its treasurer.^[17] He died at his home at 1063 Beacon Street^[18] in Brookline in 1910.^[19]

Selected projects

• Rogers Building of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, (1864, demolished 1939) 491 Boylston Street, Boston MA., with his father Jonathan Preston^[20]
• New England Museum of Natural History (1865, with Jonathan Preston, extant) 234 Berkeley Street, Boston, MA – after a fifteen-month restoration in 2013 now RH Boston.^[21]
• Charles Edward Cook house (c. 1870 – extant) 1 Gloucester St., Boston, MA^[22]
• Hotel Vendome (1871 – extant) 160 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA, corner section by Preston, remainder by J.F. Ober and R. Rand in 1881
• World's Peace Jubilee Coliseum, 1872, Dartmouth Street and St. James Avenue, Boston, MA
• George H. Fales house (1873 – extant) 27 W. Main St., West Brookfield, MA
• Massachusetts State Prison – Third Place winning entry, (1874)^[23]
• Moody and Sankey Tabernacle, Tremont Street, Boston, MA (1876,^[24] demolished c. 1883) now the site of Boston Center for the Arts
• J.C. Gilbert House(1876, extant) 40 Vautrinot Ave., Hull, MA
• Thomas–Webster Estate, main house (1878 – extant) 238 Webster Street, Marshfield, MA
• Exhibition building at Rio de Janeiro (1878 – status unknown)^[25]
• Charles H. Bradshaw house, (1878, extant) 175 Summer Street, Spring Hill (Somerville), MA^[26]
• Police Station and Jail, (1878, demolished c.1975) 128 King Street E., Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada^[27]
• Seashore House, (1879, extant) 30 Highland Ave, Hull, MA; MA ^[28]
• Bungalow (1879 – status unknown) address unknown Monument Beach, MA
• Mason Building, Liberty Square, (1880 – demolished) 70 Kilby Street, Boston^[29]
• Proposal for an International Exposition Building for the 1883 New York World's Fair^[30] (1880 – fair never held)
• Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association building (1881, demolished 1959) Huntington Avenue and West Newton Street, Boston, MA^[31]
• Hull Yacht Club, (1882, demolished) 63 Highland Ave., Hull, MA
• C. Kennard House, (1882, extant) 42 Western Ave., Hull, MA
• Pavilion at Friars Head (1882 – status not known) Campobello, New Brunswick
• Jacob Sleeper Hall, Boston University, (1883, demolished) 688 Boylston Street, Boston, MA
• The Hotel Aubry (1883, demolished 1959) 149 Newbury Street, Boston, MA (W.G. Preston & Albert C. Fernald)
• Lincoln Public Library^[32] (1884, extant, with subsequent additions by others) 3 Bedford Road Lincoln, MA
• Claflin Building (1884, extant), 20 Beacon Street, Boston, MA, renovation of an 1873 building by others as the building for the Boston University School of Religious Education and Social Service, named for university founder Jacob Claflin. Alexander Graham Bell taught vocal physiology in the building. It has also held retail businesses and is now a residential condominium building.^[33]
• Boston Terra Cotta Company's "New Building"^[34] (1885, demolished) 394 Federal St., Boston MA

• Savannah Cotton Exchange (1886, extant) 100 E. Bay Street, Savannah GA
• Greene's Inn (1887,^[35] – burned c.1980 and subsequently demolished^[36]) 175 Ocean Road, Narragansett Pier, RI
• George Johnson Baldwin house (1887, extant)^[37] – 225 E. Hall, Savannah, GA. This house is notable for its "...tall ribbed chimneys and the elaborate stepped dormer(s)."^[38]
• Chadwick Lead Works, (1887, extant) 176–184 High Street, Boston^[39]
• "Gardencourt" Charles H. Pope house (c. 1888 – extant) 10 Gibson Avenue, Narragansett Pier, RI ^[40] now expanded and converted to a condominium community.
• Union Society Building (1889, extant)^[41] 121–125 Whitaker St., Savannah GA
• Chatham County (GA) Courthouse (1889, extant), 124 Bull Street, Savannah, GA
• Hotel De Soto (1890,^[42] demolished 1968^[43]), E. Liberty Street at Drayton Street, Savannah, GA, now the site of the Hilton DeSoto Hotel.
• Charles M. Russell mansion^[44] (1890 – demolished in 1966 and replaced by a Goodyear store^[45]) 328 Lincoln Way East, Massillon, OH
• St. Luke's Lutheran Church^[46] (1890, extant) Marlon Avenue and Park Avenue West, Mansfield, OH. Repurposed as a home.
• Francis H. Dewey house "Stonecroft" (1891 – extant) 362 Ocean Road, Narragansett Pier, RI ^[47]
• Marion Music Hall (1891 – extant) 164 Front Street, Marion, MA^[48]
• Armory of the First Corps of Cadets of the Massachusetts Volunteer Militia^[49] (1891, completed 1897, extant), 97–105 Arlington Street, Boston, MA, pictured on August 20, 1892, American Architect and Building News
• John Hancock Building (Devonshire) (1891, demolished c.1903) 178 Devonshire Street, Boston, MA^[50]
• Savannah Volunteer Guards Armory, (1893, extant) 90–92 (now 342) Bull Street, Savannah, GA, now Poetter Hall, Savannah College of Art and Design.
• Central Exchange Building, (c.1895 – extant) 340 Main Street, Worcester, MA
• Templeton Farm Colony of the Massachusetts School for the Feeble-Minded (Now Templeton Developmental Center), (1899, extant) 126 Royalston Road, Templeton, MA
• Boston Transit Commission Building (1903, extant) 15 Beacon Street, Boston, MA
• Dormitories and Electric Plant for the Massachusetts School for the Feeble-Minded^[51] (after 1925 the Walter E. Fernald State School), (1902, 1905, extant), 200 Trapelo Road, Waltham, MA
• International Trust Company Building (1906 – extant) 45 Milk Street, Boston, MA, substantial expansion of existing building by others.^[52]
• Quincy Market Cold Storage Warehouse (1906,^[53] demolished) 21–33 Eastern Avenue, Boston, MA
• Barn for the Massachusetts State Sanatorium^[54] (1908, demolished) State Hospital Road, Rutland, MA
• Central Station of West End Street Railway Company, Boston
• Boston Public Garden footbridge^[55]

Further reading

• City of Boston, Landmarks Commission. International Trust Company Building (45 Milk Street) Study Report, 1977. (Building designed by Preston)
• Jean Ames Follett-Thompson: "The Business of Architecture – William Gibbons Preston and Architectural Professionalism in Boston in the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century," Ph.D. diss., Boston University, 1986

External links

• Boston Public Library. William G. Preston (1842–1910) Collection
• New York Public Library. View of the Coliseum, World's Peace Jubilee and International Musical Festival, 1872 (designed by Preston)
• http://communities.aia.org/sites/hdoaa/wiki/Wiki%20Pages/ahd1035887.aspx
• Hotel Vendome. Preston designed the corner building, 1871
• Poetter Hall historical marker
• http://aknextphase.com/tag/william-g-preston The Next Phase Blog – Social commentary and opinions: No guns, politics, or religion. Boston's Hidden Gems: New England Museum Restoration – This is the seventh in a series of posts on largely unknown spaces in Boston that are open to the public.
• https://www.bluffton.edu/homepages/facstaff/sullivanm/georgia/savannah/225hall/preston.html 225 East Hall (or the George Baldwin House) – Page 1 (of two pages), William Gibbons Preston, 1887, Mary Ann Sullivan, Bluffington University
• International Trust Company Building – 45 Milk Street, Boston – Boston Landmarks Commission Study Report https://www.cityofboston.gov/images_documents/International%20Trust%20Co%20Study%20Report%20%236_tcm3-21370.pdf
• Lost New England – Hotel Vendome, Boston http://lostnewengland.com/2016/02/hotel-vendome-boston/
• PHOTOS, PRINTS, DRAWINGS – Savannah Historic District, Whitfield Building (Union Society Building), 121–125 Whitaker Street, Savannah, Chatham County, GA https://www.loc.gov/item/ga0457/
• Charitably Speaking - "MCMA History" http://static1.squarespace.com/static/53f4e897e4b0a8e6ecb770f6/t/5579a773e4b0a256bcff89fe/1434036083997/MCMANewsJune2015ForWeb.pdf

Notes and References

1. April 1910 . Obituaries - William Gibbons Preston . American Institute of Architects Quarterly Bulletin. XI . 1 . 35 .
2. April 8, 1910 . Mechanic's Hall Designer Dies . Boston Journal . 9 .
3. Book: Triplett, Whip Morrison . Postcard History Series – Savannah . 2006 . Arcadia Publishing . Charleston . 0-7385-4209-1 . 10–14.
4. Book: Caldwell, Wilber W. . The Courthouse and the Depot: The Architecture of Hope in an Age of Despair – A Narrative Guide to Railroad Expansion and its Impact on Public Architecture in Georgia – 1833–1910 . 2001 . Mercer University Press. Macon . 0-86554-748-3 . 64.
5. Book: O'Gorman, James F. . On the Boards: Drawings by Nineteenth-Century Boston Architects. 1989 . University of Pennsylvania Press . Philadelphia . 0812212878 . 376–377.
6. July 1910. Obituary – William Gibbons Preston. The Western Architect . XVI . 1 . 76 .
7. Book: O'Gorman, James F. . On the Boards: Drawings by Nineteenth-Century Boston Architects. 1989 . University of Pennsylvania Press . Philadelphia . 0812212878 . 39.
8. Barbara Mayer – The Associated Press. June 20, 1997 . The Bungalow Makes a Comeback . The Salina Journal. A5 .
9. April 7, 1896 . THREE-CENT FARE – Representative Mellen Says West End Can Afford Them. – COMPANY SAYS IT IS NOT SO – Last Free Transfer Hearing Will Be Given Thursday. – MORE BOSTON LEGISLATION . Boston Post . 8 .
10. Book: Risjord, Norman K. . Representative Americans: The Revolutionary Generation. 2001. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers . Lanham . 1461641985 . 161, 167–69.
11. Book: The Boston Directory – Containing the City Record, A Directory of the Citizens, and Business Directory – No. LXXVII – Commencing July 1, 1882 . 1882 . Sampson, Davenport and Company . Boston . 1131.
12. http://web.mit.edu/museum/ware/architecture.html Architecture at MIT
13. April 26, 1920 . Deaths. The Boston Globe. XCVII . 117 . 13 .
14. Book: Herndon, Richard and Edwin M. Bacon . Men of Progress: One Thousand Biographical Sketches and Portraits of Leaders in Business and Professional Life in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts . 1896 . New England Magazine . Boston . 960–61.
15. February 16, 1884 . A Group of American Architects . American Architect and Building News . XV . 425 . 75 .
16. September 28, 1897 . MEN WHO MAKE PLANS – AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS HERE – PROTRACTED PRELIMINARY SESSIONS YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY – Contentions to be Adjudicated before Convention Can Meet . Detroit Free Press. 63 . 4 . 7 .
17. April 1910 . Chapter Notes - Boston Chapter. American Institute of Architects Quarterly Bulletin. XI . 1 . 10 .
18. Rich Adams . June 1915 . MCMA History. Charitably Speaking . 2–3 .
19. Book: American Art Annual, Volume 8 . MacMillan Company . 1911 . 400.
20. July 14, 1888 . Summary: Henry Parfitt; Jonathan Preston; James Jackson Jarves, lately deceased – The Lockout of the Iron-Workers – The Congressional Library – Architects and Engineers. American Architect and Building News . XXIV . 65 . 13 .
21. Raul Barreneche . May 2013 . Restoration Hardware's Boston Flagship Store Opens in a Historic Building – After two years of planning and major renovations, Restoration Hardware—newly rebranded as RH—opens its largest store to date in a historic 1860s building. Architectural Digest . 64–65 .
22. May 17, 1879 . An Elegant Double, Octagon Front, Three Story and French Roof Dwelling House – On the Corner of Beacon and Gloucester Streets . Boston Post . XCVI . 118 . 3 .
23. March 20, 1874 . The New State Prison . Boston Post . LXXXVI . 68 . 3 .
24. October 16, 1876 . Moody and Sankey in Boston . Fitchburg [Massachusetts] Daily Sentinel . IV . 188 . 2 .
25. August 3, 1878 . A New Commercial Project . Boston Post . XCV . 29 . 3 .
26. January 19, 1878 . House for Charles H. Bradshaw, Esq., Spring Hill, Mass. W.G. Preston, Architect . American Architect and Building News . III . 108 . 22 .
27. May 4, 1878 . Police Station at St John, N.B. . American Architect and Building News . 3 . 123 . 157 .
28. “Seashore House” in Wm. T. Comstock Modern Architectural Designs and Details 1881 later Victorian Architectural Domestic Plans and Details, 1987
29. July 17, 1880 . Mason Building, Liberty Sq., Boston W.G. Preston, Architect . American Architect and Building News . VIII . 238 . 30 .
30. March 13, 1880 . The Illustrations – Sketch for the New York International Exposition Building, 1883, Mr. William G. Preston, Architect, Boston . American Architect and Building News . VII . 220 . 106 .
31. September 13, 1881 . THE FOURTEENTH EXHIBITION OF THE MECHANIC ASSOCIATION – History of the Association – Its work and Its Prosperity – Previous Exhibitions – Its Officers for Eighty-Seven Years – Present Membership, Etc. . Boston Post . CI . 64 . 5 .
32. March 15, 1884 . The Illustrations – Lincoln, Mass., Town Library . American Architect and Building News . XV . 429 . 120, 126 .
33. Boston Real Estate Observer: Claflin Building at 20 Beacon Street, accessed August 12, 2010
34. July 4, 1885 . A Portion of the Boston Terra Cotta Company's New Building -– Boston – Wm. G. Preston, Architect . American Architect and Building News . XVII . 497 . 7 .
35. Book: Tolles, Bryant Franklin . Summer by the Seaside: The Architecture of New England Coastal Resort Hotels, 1820–1950. 2008 . University Press of New England . Lebanon . 978-1584655763 . 50.
36. Web site: Historic Resources of Narragansett Pier. Rhode Island Preservation. 2014-10-21.
37. Regina Cole . Spring 1997 . Savannah Grace – In a City Famous for Old Houses, this one is a Landmark . Old House Interiors. III . I . 34 .
38. Web site: webpage 225 East Hall (or the George Baldwin House) – page 1 (of two pages), William Gibbons Preston, 1887 . Mary Ann Sullivan for Bluffington University. 2016-11-30.
39. May 7, 1887 . Chadwick Lead Works – Boston – Mr. W.G. Preston, Architect – Boston, Mass. . American Architect and Building News . XXI . 193 . 223 .
40. Narragansett Pier – Narragansett, Rhode Island – Statewide Historical Preservation Report: Rhode Island Historical Preservation Commission, Mrs. George E. Downing, Chairman, February, 1978, p.14
41. HABS Document No. GA-1203 A
42. Multiple print spread including main entrance, dining room, and exterior May 2, 1896, American Architect and Building News
43. Horace Sutton. October 6, 1968 . Historic Foundation Restoring Savannah's 19th Century Charm . Chicago Tribune. J13 .
44. June 26, 1890 . Our Architectural Illustrations . The Engineering and Building Record and Sanitary Engineer . 22 . 8 . 114, 114a .
45. June 22, 1965 . The C.M. Russell Mansion...will be razed. The [Massillon] Evening Independent . CII . 297 . 3 .
46. March 29, 1890 . The Illustrations – St. Luke's Church, Mansfield, O., Mr. W.G. Preston, Architect, Boston, Mass. . American Architect and Building News . XXVII . 744 . 205 .
47. Narragansett Pier – Narragansett, Rhode Island – Statewide Historical Preservation Report: Rhode Island Historical Preservation Commission, Mrs. George E. Downing, Chairman, February, 1978, p.35
48. Book: Rosbe, Judith Westlund . Marion . 2000 . Arcadia Publishing . Charleston . 9780738504193 . 23 . registration .
49. August 20, 1892 . The Illustrations – Armory of the First Corps of Cadets, Boston, Mass., Mr. W.G. Preston, Architect, Boston, Mass. . American Architect and Building News . XXXVII . 869 . 122 .
50. October 21, 1896 . BUILDERS FOR ALL TIME – AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS IN ANNUAL SESSION – HON. A.J. CALDWELL VOICES THE CITY'S WELCOME – Many Interesting Papers and Reports Read and Discussed – The Programme – Some of the People Here . The Nashville American . XXI . 7287 . 3 .
51. Book: Turner, Henry E. . Report of the Auditor of Accounts of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, for the Fiscal Year (eleven months) ending November 30, 1906. 1907 . Wright and Potter Co., State Printers . Boston . 430.
52. October 1909 . Reconstructions. The Western Architect . XIV . 4 . 33–34 .
53. August 1906 . The New Quincy Market Cold Store. Cold Storage and Ice Trade Journal . XVI . 2 . 29–31 .
54. Book: Turner, Henry E. . Report of the Auditor of Accounts of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, for the Fiscal Year ending November 30, 1908. 1909 . Wright and Potter Co., State Printers . Boston . 347.
55. News: What's up with those blocked-off stairs in downtown Boston? An answer, one year later . Steve . Annear . March 16, 2021 . March 16, 2021 . The Boston Globe .