Holman King Wheeler | |
---|---|
Born | |
Died | December 1943 | (aged 84)
Nationality | American |
Alma mater | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
Occupation | Architect |
Practice |
|
Buildings |
Holman K. Wheeler was a prolific Massachusetts architect. Wheeler (working alone or with partners) is responsible for designing more than 400 structures in the city of Lynn alone,[1] including the iconic High Rock Tower which is featured prominently on the Lynn city seal. While practicing in Lynn and Boston over a career spanning at least 35 years Wheeler designed structures throughout the Essex County area, including Haverhill, Marblehead, Newburyport, Salem, Swampscott, and Lynn. Wheeler is responsible for a total of five Lynn structures listed on the National Register of Historic Places, more than any other person or firm.
Holman King Wheeler was born October 26, 1859, in Berlin, Massachusetts.[2] He attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, then located in Boston. He graduated in 1882.[3] He had worked in the offices of Lynn architects beginning in 1878, and began working on his own by 1883.[1][4] In 1884 he formed the firm of Wheeler & Northend in Lynn, with Salem architect W. Wheelwright Northend. Northend resumed his independent practice around 1893, and Wheeler continued alone. In 1904 he established a partnership with Charles L. Betton, Wheeler & Betton. Betton had left by 1914, and Wheeler established Wheeler & Johnson.[5] By 1919, Wheeler had left the Lynn area, heading south to Boston. He did at least one project from his office in that city,[6] but had retired to his and his wife's home in Newton by 1920.[7]
William Wheelwright Northend was born in 1857 in Salem to later Massachusetts State Senator William Dummer Northend. He was the younger brother to Mary Harrod Northend.[8] Originally intending to practice law, he graduated from Bowdoin College in 1880. Turning to architecture, he worked for Hartwell & Richardson and Cobb & Frost. He then attended M. I. T. for a year before studying in Paris.[9] Prior to establishing a firm with Wheeler, he had opened an office in Salem.[10] After the firm's dissolution, he practiced alone for a year before his death in 1894.[8] He was the architect of Swampscott's Phillips High School, opened in 1894[11] and demolished c.2018.[12] (Sources disagree on whether Northend or Wheeler was the architect.)[13]
Charles Louis Betton was born in 1870, and died in 1934 in Lynn. After leaving Wheeler, Betton established his own office. He designed the Pickering School in 1916 on Conomo Ave, Lynn.[14] He also did extensive industrial work.
The identity of Johnson is currently unknown.