William Ward Watkin
| William Ward Watkin | |
|---|---|
| Born |
January 21, 1886 Boston, Massachusetts |
| Died | June 24, 1952 (aged 66) Houston, Texas |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Architect, Professor |
| Years active | 1910 – 1952 |
| Notable work | Founder and chair of Architecture Department at Rice University |
William Ward Watkin (January 21, 1886 – June 24, 1952) was an architect primarily practicing in Houston, Texas.
Watkin was born in Boston, Massachusetts on January 21, 1886, and grew up in Danville, Pennsylvania, where he graduated from high school in 1903. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania in 1908, he spent a year in Europe and then moved to Boston, Massachusetts to join the architecture firm of Cram, Goodhue & Ferguson. Watkin was then sent to Houston, TX to work on plans for Rice Institute (now named Rice University) and was the firm's representative supervisor there. Edgar Odell Lovett, the President of Rice Institute, offered Watkin a faculty position in architectural engineering when the Institute opened in 1912. He later became the head of the architecture department, a position he held until his death.
In addition to his duties at Rice, Watkin designed a large number of structures, many of which are architecturally significant. He died and was interred at Forest Park Cemetery in Houston .
William Ward Watkin's parents were Fred Ward and Mary Mathilda (née Hancock) Watkin. The family moved to Danville, Pennsylvania, where young William graduated from Danville High School in 1903. He entered the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied architecture with Paul Philippe Cret and earned a B.S. degree in architecture in 1908. In 1909, He joined the Boston architectural firm of Cram, Goodhue, and Ferguson. In 1910, the firm sent him to Houston, Texas to supervise construction of the newly created Rice Institute (now Rice University).
Watkin married Annie Ray Townsend in 1914. They had three children, two daughters and a son: Annie Ray Watkin (1914-2011), Rosemary Watkin (1917-1984) and William Ward Watkin, Jr. (1919-2001). His first wife died in 1928. His second wife was Josephine Cockerel, who died in 1987.
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