William Edward Parsons was born on June 19, 1872, in Akron, Ohio. He was educated at Norwich Free Academy and Yale University, attaining the degree of B.A. in 1895. After graduation, Parsons continued his studies at Columbia University, where he gained the degree of B.S. in 1898, and at the École des Beaux-Arts. Between 1901 and 1905, he left his job in New York, received a B.F.A. from Yale, and became consulting architect to the U.S. Government in the Philippines Islands. In 1914, he moved to Chicago, where he worked as an architect until 1938. Some of his important designs include the United States Botanical Gardens and the Federal Trade Commission building. In 1938-1939, he was an associate professor of architecture at Yale University. He was married on August 21, 1911, to Myra Louise Matthews, with whom he had two children. He died on December 17, 1939, in New Haven, Connecticut.
From the description of William E. and Myra L. Parsons papers, 1939. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 702169355
William Edward Parsons was born on June 19, 1872, in Akron, Ohio. He was educated at Norwich Free Academy and Yale University, attaining the degree of B.A. in 1895. After graduation, Parsons continued his studies at Columbia University, where he gained the degree of B.S. in 1898, and at the École des Beaux-Arts. Between 1901 and 1905, he worked at the New York Office of John Galen Howard. In 1905, he left his job in New York, received a B.F.A. from Yale, and became consulting architect to the U.S. Government in the Philippine Islands. In 1914, he moved to Chicago, where he worked as an architect until 1938. Some of his important designs include the United States Botanical Gardens and the Federal Trade Commission building. In 1938-1939, he was an associate professor of architecture at Yale University. He was married on August 21, 1911, to Myra Louise Matthews, with whom he had two children. He died on December 17, 1939, in New Haven, Connecticut.
William Edward Parsons, B.A. 1895.
Born June 19, 1872, in Akron, Ohio.
Died December 17, 1939, in New Haven, Conn.
Father, William Cheney Parsons (B.S. Western Reserve 1863), a manufacturer in Akron; son of Edward and Clementina (Janes) Parsons of Kent, Ohio. Mother, Sarah Day (Seymour) Parsons; daughter of Nathan Perkins Seymour (B.A. 1834) and Elizabeth (Day) Seymour. Yale relatives include: Timothy Pitkin (B.A. 1747) (great-great-great-grandfather); Jeremiah Day (B.A. 1795) (great-great-uncle); Thomas Day (B.A. 1797) (great-grandfather); Thomas M. Day (B.A. 1837) (great-uncle); Thomas Day Seymour (B.A. Hon. 1870) (uncle); Elizabeth S. Angel, Certificate of Art 1901, and Charles Seymour, '08 (cousins); Charles S. Parsons, '03 (brother); Robert Day Parsons, '42 (nephew). Thomas Clap, fifth president of Yale, was an ancestor.
Norwich Free Academy. High oration appointment Junior and Senior years; first DeForest Mathematics Prize and second Berkeley Premium Freshman year; second DeForest Mathematics Prize Sophomore year; divided Winthrop Prize Junior year; in College Choir Sophomore, Junior, and Senior years; member Phi Beta Kappa.
Attended Columbia University 1895-97 (B.S. 1898); studied at École des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1898-1901; manager New York office of John Galen Howard 1901-05; B.F.A. Yale 1905; consulting architect to United States Government in Philippine Islands 1905-14 (directed execution of Burnham plans for Manila and Baguio; planned restoration of old city walls and moats of the capital as public parks; designed Philippine General Hospital, Manila Hotel, and other buildings); member firm E. H. Bennett & William E. Parsons, Chicago, 1914-22, and Bennett, Parsons, and Frost, Chicago, 1922-38; associate professor of architecture, Yale University, 1938-39; consulting architect to Puerto Rican Government 1924-26 (designed Ocean Boulevard and Muñoz Rivera Park and also prepared a general plan for extension of University of Puerto Rico); consulting architect 1929-37 to George Rogers Clark Memorial Commission in connection with memorial erected at Vincennes; reappointed consulting architect to Philippine Government 1939; his work in continental United States included plans for the United States Botanical Gardens (1927), plans for enlargement of Capitol grounds in Washington (1929), designing and building of Federal Trade Commission building (1937), as well as designs for public buildings and improvements in many large cities; during World War laid out Camp Knox, Kentucky, and other camps; member National Conference on City Planning, American Institute of Architects, Society of Beaux-Arts, and St. Chrysostom's Church (Episcopal), Chicago.
Married August 21, 1911, in New Boston, Mass., Myra Louise, daughter of Franklin and Mary (Crosby) Matthews. Children: Louise Kellogg (Yale School of the Fine Arts 1933-35), the wife of Francis Rew Stanton, B.A. 1932, B.F.A. 1935; and Seymour, '38 E.
Buried in Town Hill Cemetery, New Hartford, Conn. Survived by wife, children, and two sisters, Katherine Parsons Dean, the wife of Lee Maltbie Dean, '96, and Miss Harriet Day Parsons of New Hartford.
(Taken from Yale University Obituary Record, 1939-40, p. 67-68).
From the guide to the William E. and Myra L. Parsons papers, 1939, (Manuscripts and Archives)
