George Meacham
George Frederick Meacham (July 1, 1831 - December 4, 1917) was an architect in the Boston, Massachusetts area active in the 19th century. He is notable for designing Boston's Public Garden; the Massachusetts Bicycle Club; and churches, homes, and monuments in greater Boston and elsewhere in New England.
Biography
Meacham was born in Watertown, Massachusetts, to Giles Meacham and Jane Meacham.[1][2][3] He graduated from Harvard College in 1853. After college he worked as a civil engineer for the Jersey City Water Works.[4]
By 1855 he returned to Boston and worked for an architecture firm there. He practiced as an architect from 1857 through 1891, and in that time produced numerous designs.[5] People associated with the office of G.F. Meacham included Henry Martyn Francis,[6] George Pyne,[7] and Shepherd S. Woodcock.[8]
Meacham married Mary Warren (d.1877) in 1859; they had two children who died very young.[9] Several years after the death of his first wife, he married Ellen Louisa Frost in 1881.[10]
Selected designs
- Public Garden, Boston, Massachusetts (1860)[11][12]
- Burial ground, Shirley, Massachusetts (ca.1864)[13]
- South Congregational Church, New Britain, Connecticut (1865-1868)[14]
- Workers' lodgings, France (ca.1866).[15]
- Soldiers' monument, Brighton, Massachusetts (1866)[16]
- Completion of Merrill G. Wheelock's design for the Masonic temple, Boston MA (1867)[17]
- Soldiers and Sailors Monument, Riverside Cemetery, Main Street, Fairhaven, Massachusetts (ca.1868)[18]
- Alterations to Charles Bowdoin Fillebrown house, Newton, Massachusetts (ca.1874-1910).
- Tremont-Street Mall curb and fence, Boston Common, Boston, Massachusetts (ca.1875)[19]
- Addition to Newton Public Library (ca.1880), Newton, Massachusetts[20]
- House, 10 Melville Ave., Dorchester, Boston, Massachusetts (1880)[21]
- Channing Church, 75 Vernon Street, Newton, Massachusetts (1881)[22]
- Massachusetts Bicycle Club, 152 Newbury St., Boston, Massachusetts (1884)[23][24]
- Hartley Lord house, Kennebunk, Maine (1884-1885)[25]
- Levi B. Gay house, 303 Franklin St., Newton, Massachusetts (1887)[26]
- Eliot Church, Newton, Massachusetts (ca.1888)[27][28]
References
- ^ George F. Meacham dead, was old-time architect. Boston Globe, Dec. 5, 1917; p.10.
- ^ Harvard graduates' magazine. 1918.
- ^ Harvard alumni bulletin. 1917.
- ^ Report of the Harvard Class of 1853. 1913.
- ^ Report of the Harvard Class of 1853. 1913.
- ^ Ellery Bicknell Crane. Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal memoirs of Worcester County, Massachusetts. Lewis Pub. Co., 1907; p.304.
- ^ Who's who in New England. A.N. Marquis, 1909.
- ^ Boston Directory 1862.
- ^ Report of the Harvard Class of 1853. 1913.
- ^ Report of the Harvard Class of 1853. 1913.
- ^ http://www.cityofboston.gov/parks/emerald/Public_Garden.asp
- ^ Landscape Architecture and Urban Design. Encyclopedia of Urban America: The Cities and Suburbs. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 1998.
- ^ Seth Chandler. History of the town of Shirley, Massachusetts: from its early settlement to A.D. 1882. S. Chandler, 1883.
- ^ The Congregational quarterly, 1871.
- ^ William Richards Lawrence. Charities of France in 1866. Gould and Lincoln, 1867. Includes illustrations.
- ^ New England Historical and Genealogical Register. 1867.
- ^ William D. Stratton. Dedication memorial of the new Masonic temple, Boston. Lee and Shepard, 1868.
- ^ http://www.millicentlibrary.org/cochran/page1.html
- ^ Boston (Mass.), Engineering Dept. Annual report, 1868.
- ^ http://www.ci.newton.ma.us/jackson/research/history/200-years-of-libraries.asp
- ^ Douglass Shand-Tucci. Built in Boston: city and suburb, 1800-2000, 2nd ed. Univ of Massachusetts Press, 2000; p.96.
- ^ King's handbook of Newton, Massachusetts. 1889.
- ^ S.H. Day. The new house of the Massachusetts Bicycle Club. Outing and the Wheelman: an illustrated monthly magazine of recreation. 1884-1885; p.429+
- ^ AIA guide to Boston, 3rd ed. 2008.
- ^ Kevin D. Murphy. The architecture of Summer Street, Kennebunk, Maine. The Magazine Antiques (1971) v. 168 no. 2; p. 54-63. Includes illustrations.
- ^ http://www.ci.newton.ma.us/cdbg/hist/Discover-Historic-Newton-Corner.pdf
- ^ Church building quarterly. American Congregational Union, 1888. Includes illustrations of the church.
- ^ King's handbook of Newton, Massachusetts. 1889.
Further reading
- Curb, stone or fence: what is the best plan for enclosing the Common? Hearing on the Subject in the City Hall, Yesterday. Boston Daily Globe, May 26, 1875. p.8.
- Roger G. Reed, George F. Meacham (1831-1917). A Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Maine, vol. 1, no. 5 (1984).
| Persondata |
| Name |
Meacham, George F |
| Alternative names |
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| Short description |
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| Date of birth |
July 1, 1831 |
| Place of birth |
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| Date of death |
December 4, 1917 |
| Place of death |
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