William Rutherford Mead (
1846 –
1928) was an
American engineer, a part of the
McKim, Mead, and White firm.
He was born in
Brattleboro, Vermont. His sister, Elinor, later married novelist
William Dean Howells, and his younger brother
Larkin Goldsmith Mead became a sculptor. William graduated from
Amherst College in
1867, and later studied under
Russell Sturgis in
New York City.
In 1872 he collaborated with
Charles Follen McKim and in 1879 they were joined by
Stanford White to form
McKim, Mead, and White. In 1883, Mead married Olga Kilyeni (c1850-1936) in
Budapest, Hungary. In 1902, King
Victor Emmanuel conferred on Mead the decoration of
Knight Commander of the Crown of Italy for his pioneer work in introducing the Roman and Italian Renaissance architectural style in America. In 1902,
Amherst College conferred upon Mead the honorary degree of LL.D. In 1909, he received a degree of M.S. from
Norwich University in Vermont. William and Olga lived in
Rome, Italy, where he was the President of the
American Academy in Rome until his death in 1928.
Olga died in 1936 in
New York City, and she gave her estate to
Amherst College. The money was used to build the Mead Art Building, which was designed by
James Kellum Smith of
McKim, Mead and White. The building was completed in 1949.
rss feed