Through all ages men have found in architecture the permanent expression of the beauty of their character and of their spirit. The architect of today, so far as in his power lies, is expressing the beauty of his age. This beauty is the first measure of all architecture. It shall make our cities beloved; our colleges and schools inspiring; our homes charming and precious. Neither the complexity of modern demands nor the confusion of modern avenues of artisitc expression should lead the architect away from the ceaseless search for the beauty that is possible of attainment in each of his buildings. –Wm. Ward Watkin
William Ward Watkin was an influential architect, planner, educator and writer who left a distinctive mark on Houston in the first part of the 20th century. His legacy remains in a number of gracious public and private buildings that can be seen and enjoyed today. He was a devoted believer in the City Beautiful Movement, an effort begun in the 1890s to improve urban life through beautification of buildings, public planning, and landscaping.
Watkin was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on January 21, 1886. He grew up in Pennsylvania and entered the University of Pennsylvania, pursuing the study of architecture under Paul Phillipe Cret, an advocate of classical Beaux-Arts style. Following his graduation in 1908, Watkin spent one year traveling in Europe, principally in England.On his return from Europe, Watkin joined the Boston office of Cram, Goodhue & Ferguson, then one of the most prominent architectural firms in the United States. At the time of Watkin's employment, Ralph Adams Cram had received a commission to produce a campus plan and to design the initial buildings of Houston's fledgling Rice Institute. The future university was located on what was then a prairie at 6100 Main St. Watkin worked on the development of both the campus plan and the building plan in the office; when construction began, in the summer of 1910, he was sent to Houston to serve as representative supervisor. It proved to be a fateful move.
The Rice Institute Years
Watkin oversaw the construction of the initial Institute group - the Administration Building, the Mechanical Laboratory and Powerhouse, and the North and South residence halls. Over the next four decades, Watkin supervised most of the Institute's subsequent development: the Physics Laboratory (1913-1915), East Hall (1913-1914), West Hall (1915-1916), three proposed President's houses(1913, 1915, 1923-1924), the Field House (1920), a proposed Alumni Hall (1927), two proposed libraries (1927, 1940-1941), and the Founder 's Statue (1927-1930).
As supervising architect, Watkin worked closely with Dr. Edgar Odell Lovett, Rice Institute president. Lovett offered Watkin a faculty appointment and the Institute opened in the fall of 1912 with Watkin as the only instructor in architectural engineering. Named a full professor in 1922, he served as the first chairman of the Architecture Department and remained in that position until his death in 1952. Watkin's efforts to provide his students with a thorough course in architectural studies led him to organize a traveling fellowship for Rice scholars in 1928, which is now known as the William Ward Watkin Traveling Fellowship.
Along with Cram, Watkin designed the Chemistry Building (1925), whose style historian Stephen Fox has called "Lombard Romanesque," continuing a theme infusing the whole campus with Italianate design adapted to the Gulf Coast environment. Watkin himself drew up plans for the Faculty Club - Cohen House (1927), Rice Stadium (1938), and the Naval ROTC building (1941). He also served as consulting architect to Staub & Rather in the design and construction of the Fondren Library (1946-1949), M.D. Anderson Hall (1946-1947), and the Abercrombie Laboratory (1947-1948).
Other Commissions, Other Schools
As early as 1912, Watkin was accepting independent architectural commissions. His work falls into several categories including institutional (schools, social clubs, churches), commercial, and residential. Watkin's association with Rice brought commissions from other educational institutions in Texas: Sam Houston Normal Institute in Huntsville, Sul Ross Normal Institute in Alpine, Texas A&M College in College Station, Victoria Junior College in Victoria, and the College of Industrial Arts (now Texas Women's University) in Denton. Between 1913 and 1915 he entered into partnership with George Endress of Austin. This firm was dissolved at the end of 1919 and Watkin resumed practiced under his own name In 1924, in association with Sanguinet, Statts & Hedrick of Fort Worth, Watkin obtained the commission to develop a campus plan for the Texas Technological College in Lubbock, and to design the initial buildings - the Administration Building, the Textile Engineering Building, the Women's Building and the President's House. Commissions included a YMCA building in Beaumont and the YWCA in Galveston.
Houston Projects
In 1922 Watkin was called upon to prepare plans for the Museum of Fine Arts. It was the most prestigious building of its era, located in a triangle where Main St. and Montrose Blvd. converge. The stately entrance with Corinthian columns in white marble endures as a Houston landmark, and led to many other important commissions for Watkin. The museum was completed in two stages, 1924 and 1926, for which Cram and Ferguson acted as consultants. One of Watkin's notable public projects during that decade was the design and construction of the Houston Public Library. The library still stands as the Julia Ideson Building, beloved to Houston children of several generations. Watkin was particularly interested in church projects, several of which may be seen today. These include the Trinity Church (1917-1919); Edward Albert Palmer Memorial Chapel (1927); and the chancel reconstruction and Golding Chapel at Christ Church (1938-1939). From 1946-1951, Watkin was involved in the design and construction of the Methodist Hospital and Wiess Memorial Chapel. He also served as consultant to the Houston School Board from 1924-1926, in connection with the design and construction of seven secondary school buildings. He laid out the campus of Kinkaid School in 1924, designing the lower school (1925), the gymnasium (1937), and the upper school (1946).
Watkin produced many residential designs, particularly during the 1920's. Most of his houses were located in the South End suburbs near Rice Institute - Southmore, Montrose Place, Shady Side, Turner Addition, West Eleventh Place, Shadowlawn, Broadacres, Edgemont, Southampton Place and Riverside terrace. One of Watkin's prominent commissions was the design of the Cleveland Sewell House (1925). For a number of Houston subdivisions, Watkin served as landscape consultant, designing ornamental gateways and walls, and laying out plantings. Courtlandt Place (1913) was the earliest such commission; similar ones followed for Southampton Place and Broadacres (1923). During the thirties, Watkin did only a few houses, notably the Dr. James A. Hill house (1939), which - like other valued Watkins projects - has been rehabilitated and restored.
Full Circle
In 2004, new life came to one of William Ward Watkin's finest residential projects as Rice University christened Wiess House, at Sunset Blvd. and Main St. as the home of the Rice president and his family. Originally built by Harry Wiess, one of the leading early Texas oilmen, the home had been designed by Watkin after Wiess and his wife, Olga, became impressed by the architect's work for the Museum of Art across the street. With its gracious portico, use of tile and stucco, the Wiess home was a showpiece in the 1920s until its decline in the 1970s. A major bequest by Caroline Wiess Law, daughter of the original owners, allowed the complete renovation of the house some 90 years after its inception and its future life as part of Houston and Rice University.
Epilogue: Writings
During the teens and twenties, Watkin wrote articles for journals, primarily dealing with Houston, its growth and development, and the implications these held for the city's architecture. Watkin contributed descriptive pieces on the Rice Institute to Progressive Houston and the Southern Architectural Review, Houston's short-lived architectural magazine. In 1930 the Rice Institute Pamphlet published a series of lectures Watkin had given on the new architecture in Europe. Watkin's first book, The Church of Tomorrow, was published in 1936. In 1950, Watkin published "Architectural Traditions Appearing in the Earlier Buildings of the Rice Institute" in the journal the Slide Rule. In 1951 Watkin's second book, Planning and Building the Modern Church, was published. At the time of his death he was planning to write a book on architecture in Texas.
Watkin married Annie Ray Townsend Watkin in 1913. Their three children were Annie Ray Watkin Strange, Rosemary Watkin Barrick, and William Ward Watkin, Jr. After the death of his first wife in 1929, Watkin married Josephine C. Watkin in 1933.
William Ward Watkin died on June 24, 1952 from complications following surgery.
Source: Watkin Collection, Woodson Research Center, Fondren Library, Rice University.
Written by: Lee Pecht, Woodson Research Center, Fondren Library, Rice University