Boyington, William W.
William W. Boyington Soundex Code B523
William W. Boyington Architect
William Warren Boyington (1818–1898) was an architect who designed several notable structures in and around Chicago. He was also mayor of Highland Park, Illinois.
Born: Wednesday, July 22, 1818, Southwick, Massachusetts.
Died: Sunday, October 16, 1898, Highland Park, Illinois, (aged 80)
Buried: Rosehill Cemetery.
1871 Edwards' Directory of the City of Chicago
Boyington, William W., architect, Office: 85 Washington, Residence: 51 Calumet Avenue, page 140.
The AIA Historical Directory of American Architects
File: ahd1004650
William W. Boyington (Wednesday, July 22, 1818 to Sunday, October 16, 1898)
Name: Boyington, William W.
Personal Information:
Birth/Death: (Wednesday, July 22, 1818 to Sunday, October 16, 1898)
Occupation: American architect
Location (state): IL
This record has not been verified for accuracy.
AIA Affiliation:
Member of The American Institute of Architects (AIA) 1869-1876
Fellow of The American Institute of Architects (FAIA) 1869
Biographical Sources:
Biographical directories:
Entry in Henry F. Withey, A.I.A., and Elsie Rathburn Withey, Biographical Dictionary of American Architects (Deceased) (Los Angeles: New Age Publishing Company, 1956. Facsimile edition, Hennessey & Ingalls, Inc., 1970)
Entry in Macmillan Encyclopedia of Architects (New York: Macmillan, 1982)
Entry in Biographical Dictionary of Cincinnati Architects, 1788-1940.
Related Records:
Archival Holdings:
The American Institute of Architects
Membership file may contain membership-related correspondence, although there are few written records concerning 19th-century members. Contact the AIA Archives at archives@aia.org for further information.
Publications
Biographical Dictionary of American Architects (Deceased), page 71
Boyington, William W. (1839 to 10/16/1898), Chicago, Illinois, F.A.I.A.
In practice in Chicago prior to the Great Chicago Fire, Mr. Boyington participated actively in the subsequent re-building of the city as architect of many important buildings including churches, hotels, and various public and commercial structures.
He was born and received an early education in Springfield, Massachusetts, and is said to have studied architecture in New York under Professor Stone. Still in his teens when he first arrived in Chicago, the young man began practice shortly thereafter, and his first commission was to design the old Central Union Depot. He was increasingly busy up to the 1871, in that period engaged in planing many churches, of which the best known were:
St. Paul's Universalist Church, Wabash Avenue and Van Buren Street;
the First Presbyterian Church,
Wabash Avenue Methodist Church, NW corner of Harrison Street and Wabash Avenue.
the First Baptist Church,
the North Presbyterian Church,
the old Second Baptist Church, now the home of the Aiken Institute.
Also churches of equally elaborate design were built from his plans in cities of Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Iowa, and Wisconsin.
Among his most important secular works should be named the following:
Jones Hall, 1859;
Douglas Hall, 1865, at the old University of Chicago at Cottage Grove Avenue and Rhode Street, (in association with the elder Wheelock);
The Dearborn Observatory at the University of Chicago, 1863;
Crosby's Opera House (built in 1865, destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire;
the McCormick Building at the foot of Lake Street, 1866;
the old Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway Depot;
Chicago Water Works with its fine tower (still standing) built between 1867-1869;
old Masonic Hall, 85 N. Dearborn Street, East side Dearborn, near Washington Street
Board of Trade Building (won in a competition) at the head of LaSalle Street, 1865, no longer standing;
and the following hotels:
The Sherman House Hotel, 1869;
the Massasoit House
and the Grand Pacific Hotel at the junction of Clark Street, Jackson Boulevard, and LaSalle Street, completed in 1871, just prior to the Great Chicago Fire.
In the reconstruction period which followed, he continued active for several years, re-building many of his early works damaged or destroyed in the holocaust.
