William
Robert Ware, 1832-1915.
Papers, 1826-1914.
Manuscript Collection - MC 14
Biographical Note | Chronology | Scope and Content Note | Bibliography
William Robert Ware was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, into a well-known, established Massachusetts family. His forefathers had a strong religious bent, as evidenced by his father, Henry Ware, Jr. (1794-1843), a noted Unitarian divine and professor at the Divinity School of Harvard University, and his grandfather, Henry Ware (1764-1845), who was a Unitarian clergyman. Ware's religious feelings are more apparent in his personal writing than in his professional work.
Ware is best known as an educator and as the founder of the schools of architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Columbia University. He began his architectural career after graduating from the Lawrence Scientific School in 1856 with an S.B. degree. He first studied with James E. and Edward C. Cabot in Boston and then spent eight months as a student in the atelier of Richard M. Hunt in New York City where his fellow students included Charles Gambrill, George Browne Post, and Ware's future partner Henry Van Brunt. In 1860 Ware went into practice with E. S. Philbrick, an engineer. Several years later he formed a partnership with Henry Van Brunt which lasted until Ware left Boston for New York in 1881.
The partners established an atelier in their office and Ware strove to provide the students with a good background in both practical method and theory. His success is reflected by his appointment in 1865 as head of the proposed school of architecture in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the first American school of architecture. Ware traveled to Europe to study architectural education and to develop a program of study for MIT. For fourteen years he devoted himself to directing the fledgling program. Conflicts with the administration over the Milton Scholarship funds and an unpaid bill for architectural services rendered were the basis of Ware's growing dissatisfaction with MIT.
In 1881 Ware left MIT and moved to New York where he established the department of architecture in the School of Mines at Columbia University (then Columbia College). As at MIT, his guidance and insight were key factors in the development of an architectural program. He was aided by his previous experience, the establishment of other American schools of architecture in the intervening years, and the fact that Columbia as a college was already well-established when the decision was made to create a department of architecture. Ware's work has gained him the reputation of father of architectural education in America.
In addition to his role as an educator, he contributed to the establishment of the high standards of competition maintained by the American Institute of Architects, and wrote many significant papers and textbooks in the field. Ware is not as well known for his achievements as an architect, though he and Van Brunt designed and erected a number of noteworthy buildings, especially in the Boston and Cambridge areas.
| Memberships |
Architectural League of New York Archeological Institute of America Committee on the American School of Classical Studies in Athens Permanent Committee, School of Drawing and Painting of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts |
| Honorary |
Royal Institute of British Architects Societé Centrale des Architectes Français |
| Fellow | American Academy of Arts and Sciences |
| Some
of the buildings designed, erected or renovated by Ware and Henry Van Brunt |
First Church (Unitarian), Boston, Massachusetts First Congregational Church, Boston, Massachusetts Old Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts Union Railroad Station, Worcester, Massachusetts Universalist Church, North Cambridge, Massachusetts Episcopal Seminary, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts Sanders Theater/Memorial Hall, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts Two dormitories, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts Weld Hall, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts Extension, Gore Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts |
| Projects
and competitions for which Ware served as a judge or advisor |
Indianapolis Soldiers Monument Philadelphia Art Club Madison Square Garden New York Public Library D.A.R. building in Washington, D.C. City Hall, St. Louis, Missouri |
CHRONOLOGY
| 1832 | Born 27 May in Cambridge, Massachusetts, son of Henry Ware, Jr. (1794-1843), Unitarian clergyman, and Mary Lovell (Pickard) Ware (1798-1849). |
| pre-1846 | Attended Hopkins Classical School? |
| 1846 | Spent six months traveling in London and southern England. |
| pre-1847 | Attended Milton Academy. |
| ca. 1847-1848 | Student at Philips Exeter Academy. |
| 1852 | Graduated from Harvard College. |
| 1852-1854 | Tutor in private families in New York |
| 1854-1856 | Attended Lawrence Scientific School and received degree of S.B. |
| 1856-1859 | Studied in office of James E. and Edward Clark Cabot of Boston, architects. |
| 1859 | Spent eight months as a student in the atelier of Richard M. Hunt in New York City |
| 1860 | Began partnership with Edward S. Philbrick, engineer. |
| 186?-1881 | Partnership with Henry Van Brunt; they establish an atelier in their office. |
| 1864 |
Became a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects. |
| 1865 |
Appointed head of the proposed architecture school at MIT. Taught drawing and helped organize the department at MIT. |
| ca. 1866 | Began collecting money for the Milton Scholarship |
| 1866 | An Outline of Architectural Instruction printed; presented as a paper read before the Society of Arts of MIT in December 1865. |
|
Dec.
1866- |
Traveled in Europe (England, Scotland, Italy, France, and the Low Countries) to study methods of architectural education. "On the Condition of Architecture and Architectural Education in the United States." (Sessional Papers of the Royal Institute of British Architects, 1866-1867). Paper read before the Royal Institute of British Architects. |
| 1867 | September, attended the Universal Exposition in Paris, France. |
| 1868 | October, Department of Architecture at MIT opened with sixteen students under Ware's direction. |
| 1871 | Ware proposed postgraduate architectural course. |
| 1873 |
Postgraduate course established. |
| 1874 | Ware did drawings for proposed new MIT building in Copley Square (not built); non-payment of bill by MIT provokes rift with MIT. |
| 1876-1881 | Served as Secretary of the School of Drawing and Painting of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. |
| 1877 | Early use of stack system for book storage in American libraries implemented by Ware during alternations of old library building at Harvard University. |
| 1878 |
Greek Ornament published. |
| 1881 |
11 May, Ware's letter of resignation from MIT as head of the Architecture Department sent to William Barton Rogers, President of MIT. Fall, established the department of architecture in the School of Mines at Columbia College (University). |
| 1883 |
Traveled in Europe to purchase a collection of books, photographs and equipment for the new architecture department at Columbia. Modern Perspective published. |
| 1885-1903 | Served as Trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. |
| 1889-1890 | Visited Spain, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Italy, and France. |
| 1893 | Elected Chairman of the Committee on Art Schools, Metropolitan Museum of Art. |
| 1896 | Received honorary degree of L.L.D. from Harvard University. |
| 1899 | "Competitions," American Architect, 30 December 1899. |
| 1900 |
"The School of Architecture: Its Resources and Methods" reprinted from Columbia University Quarterly, June 1900. Member of the designing board of the Pan-American Exposition. |
| 1902 |
Spring, breakdown. Trustees of Columbia University set apart Department of Architecture as a separate university school |
| 1903 |
June, Ware retired from Columbia University as Emeritus Professor. Traveled to Europe; returned to Milton, Massachusetts, to live with his sister Harriet. |
| 1904-1906 | The American Vignola (2 volumes) published. Part I "The Five Orders"; Part II "Arches and Vaults, Roofs, Doors and Windows, Walls and Ceilings, Steps and Stairs." |
| 1905 | "Saracenic Architecture," reprint, Harvard Engineering Journal, April 1905. |
| 1909 | "Drawing, Designing and Thinking," Architectural Record. |
| 1912-1913 | Architectural Shades and Shadows (textbook) published. |
| 1915 |
9 June, Ware died at Milton, Massachusetts. |
| 1940 |
"The Teaching of Architecture," abridgement of "An Outline of Architectural Instruction," Technology Review, April 1940. |
0.6
cubic ft. (2 manuscript boxes)
Processed in 1979 by Nora Murphy
Box
1
The provenance of the papers in this part of the collection is rather
uncertain. The majority of the correspondence was given by Harriet Ware
(sister of William Ware) to Harry W. Gardner (then Associate Professor
and later Professor of Architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology) on 25 September 1917. In January 1943 Gardner gave the papers
to the Rotch Architectural Library at MIT. The 1887 letter from Ware
to Frederick Augustus Porter Barnard, President of Columbia College
(later Columbia University), was given to the Rotch Library in 1938
by William Emerson, Dean of the School of Architecture. The unfinished
biography of Ware was given to the Rotch Library by Dean Emerson in
the summer of 1940. Each of these accessions has since found its way
to the Institute Archives. In March 1979, the Rotch Library transferred
the remainder of the biography to the Institute Archives.
Because of the lack of information surrounding the origins of the documents, an arrangement was imposed based on Ware's life and career. The majority of the collection has been divided into chronological units reflecting Ware's academic affiliations. The sole exception is the MIT 1881-1889 correspondence. These are letters to and from Ware and members of the MIT faculty and administration and it was felt to be more appropriate to group them with MIT correspondence. The following series were created:
These and the correspondence give a fairly clear presentation of the nature of Ware's relationship with each school. There is discussion of the causes of Ware's dissatisfaction with MIT and his plans for beginning the architectural school at Columbia College. Some correspondence includes a discussion of his theory of architectural education.
The collection includes an unfinished biography of Ware, possibly written by his nephew William Rotch Ware. This provides a good deal of information about Ware personally and professionally and thus is useful in understanding Ware. Throughout the biography are transcripts of some of Ware's correspondence used to illustrate areas of his life and career, from his publications to self appraisal of his accomplishments. The index of correspondents should be checked for extant letters located in MC 14 which are mentioned in the biography. Those letters for which there are only transcript versions were not included in the index.
There are also two typescript drafts of Ware's pamphlet An Outline of Architectural Instruction and printed copies of "Competitions," "Drawing, Designing and Thinking," and "The School of Architecture: Its Resources and Methods," all written by Ware.
Box
2 (formerly MC 19)
The papers of William Robert Ware in this part of the collection were
given to the Institute Archives by Annie Winsor Allen, great niece of
Ware, in September 1978. They were left to her by her mother, Annie Ware
(Winsor) Allen. The papers were divided into the following series:
The collection reflects the personal life and academic work of Ware, but the value and extent of the information in the documents varies. The correspondence sent by Ware to members of his family (mother, Mary Lovell [Pickard] Ware; sisters, Harriet, Emma; brother, Charles) is rich with discussions of family matters, opinions about American political life and the Civil War, and Ware's European travels. Sociologically, the papers reveal family life and interaction in the middle of the nineteenth century.
- I. Correspondence, Ware, 1846-1888, 1893
- II. Correspondence, Harriet Ware, 1915, 1917
- III. Journals, 1849-1871
- IV. Fables and Poems, 1859, 1870-1907
- V. Sketches, 5 pen and ink, n.d.
- VI. Obituaries and Memorials, 1915
The bulk of the collection consists of the above mentioned correspondence. Included in the remainder of the collection are journals in which Ware expresses his feelings about religion and Unitarianism. A majority of the entries were written as a personal analysis of sermons heard by Ware during his years as a student at Harvard College. The journals also contain drafts of letters sent (one in the 1851-1857 volume revealing his architectural aspirations) and a lecture outline, dated 1871, for a course in design.
Ware's artistic inclinations are expressed in the fables, poetry, and pen and ink sketches also located in the collection. The fables, which appear to have been published at an undetermined date, provide an interesting insight into the breadth of Ware's intellectual pursuits. Most of the poems were written by Ware and seem to have been intended for specific friends or relatives. Two of the poems were sent to Ware from his nephew William Rotch Ware and there is a verse-game from Frank Dempster Sherman. The pen and ink sketches (possibly of English churches) are not signed, but were received with the rest of the papers and therefore have been retained as a part of the collection.
The final component of the collection includes obituaries, memorials, and letters of condolence sent to Harriet on the death of William Ware. These are all written by friends and former students. They not only provide biographical information but also show the esteem in which Ware was held by his close associates.
Additional information about Ware can be found by referring to the bibliography and in other collections housed in the Institute Archives. Ware correspondence can be located in the William Barton Rogers and Rogers family papers (MC 1 and MC 2) and the papers of the Office of the President. The documents in these collections supplement the information found in MC 14 and provide much fuller documentation of Ware's academic affiliations, and thus aid in creating a more complete picture of Ware. Seen together, these documents offer research material in several areas: the early years of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the development of American architectural education, the internal struggles faced by a growing university department and the founding of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Columbia University architectural schools.
In addition, papers by and about Ware and members of his family are available for research at several other repositories. The Columbia University Libraries holds a collection of letters written by Ware to Warren P. Laird relating to the founding, activities, students, and finances of the American Academy in Rome, ca. 1894-1900. The papers of Henry Ware, Jr. (Ware's father) are held at the Harvard University Archives; the Schlesinger Library at Radcliffe College has the papers of Annie Winsor Allen, which contain family related material; and the Massachusetts Historical Society has papers of the Ware family.
Material received with the collection which did not relate specifically to Ware and was felt to be inappropriate in this collection was transferred to the Harvard University Archives, the Schlesinger Library, the Massachusetts Historical Society, and the Northborough Historical Collections.
Box 2, folders 18 and 19, consist of letters to William Ware, 1852-1897, including one from Booker T. Washington, 1897. Also included are family photographs and published pamphlets by the Rev. Henry Ware.
Box 2, folder 20, includes family correspondence to Ware, especially from his cousin George Lovell, 1826-1868.
Hamlin, Alfred Dwight Foster, "William Robert Ware," Columbia University Quarterly, September 1915, pp. 376-380.
The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, New York: James T. White and Company, 1924, v. VIII.
Pause, Michael, "Teaching the Design Studio, a Case Study: MIT's Department of Architecture," unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, MIT, June 1977.
"William Robert Ware, 1832-1915: Tributes of affection and appreciation from some of his friends and former pupils," Technology Review, v. 17, 1915, pp. 422, 460, 611.
Ware, Emma Forbes, The Ware Genealogy, 1901.
Ware, Henry, "The Family."
Ware, William Robert, An Outline of Architectural Instruction (PDF), 1866.
Ware, William Robert, "The Teaching of Architecture," Technology Review, April 1940, pp. 237.
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