Male, US, born 1855-04-01, died 1908-12-07

Associated with the firm network

United States Government, Department of the Treasury, Office of the Supervising Architect, Aiken, William Martin


Professional History

Résumé

Draftsman, H. H. Richardson, Architect, Boston, MA, 1880-1882.

Draftsman, William Ralph Emerson, Architect, Boston, MA, 1882-1884.

Principal, William Martin Aiken, Architect, Cincinnati, OH, 1886-1895. In 1894, Aiken leased Rooms #80 and 81 in the Johnston Buildings in Downtown Cincinnati. (See Cincinnati, Ohio, City Directory, 1894, p. 1693.)

Supervising Architect, U.S. Department of the Treasury, Washington, D.C., 1895-06/30/1897. He was appointed by the former KY Senator John G. Carlisle (1834-1910), who served as Secretary of the Treasury between 1893 and 1897. A short biographical sketch published in Robert M. LaFollette's The Making of America (1906), said of Aiken's time as Supervising Architect of the US Treasury: "Some of his notable enterprises were connected with the design and erection of the government exposition buildings at Atlanta in 1895, those at Nashville in 1897, and those at Omaha in 1898; the mint buildings at Philadelphia and Denver and many post office and custom house buildings scattered throughout the country." (See William Martin Aiken, "The Architecture of Our Government Buildings," in The Making of America, vol. 1, Robert La Follette, ed., [Chicago: The Making of America Company, 1906], p. 279.)

Partner, [Bruce] Price and Aiken, Architects, New York, NY, 1897-1901.

Consulting Architect , Borough of Manhattan, New York City, NY, 1901-1902.

Member, American Institute of Architects, New York Chapter; Member, Architectural League of New York, NY; Century Association, New York, NY; with Russell Sturgis, he contributed to the Dictionary of Architects, (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1902);

Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, elected 1889;

Education

High School/College

Aiken attended primary and secondary schools in Charleston, SC.

Coursework, University of the South, Sewanee, TN, 1872-1874.

B.S., Arch., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA, 1877-1879.

Personal

Relocation

Born in Charleston, SC, Aiken spent his formative years in that state. Aiken was a famous name in SC, as a city and county were named for William Aiken, Sr., (1779-1831), the founder of the South Carolina Canal and Rail Road Company, chartered on 12/19/1827. The company had 136 miles of track operational between Charleston and Hamburg, SC, by 10/1833, some of it laid by enslaved African-American labor.

He died at New York Hospital, ten days after being stricken with illness.



Associated Locations

  • New York, NY (Architect's Death)
    New York, NY

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  • Charleston, SC (Architect's Birth)
    Charleston, SC

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PCAD id: 1413