William Adams Delano, FAIA

Year Awarded: 1953
Born: January 21, 1874; New York City, New York, USA
Died: 1960; New York,USA

Quote
There is as much that is new to be said in architecture today by a man of imagination who employs traditional motifs as there is in literature by an author, who, to express his thought, still employs the English language.


Projects
• 1940: Marine Art Terminal at La Guardia Airport, New York
• 1935: Ariel Rios Federal Building, Washington, D.C.
• 1933: Union Club, New York
• 1933: Pan American Airways System Terminal Building, Dinner Key in Miami
• 1931: Japanese Embassy, Washington, D.C.
• 1928: Chapin School, New York
• 1925: The Brook Club, New York
• 1924: Third Church of Christ, Scientist, New York
• 1924: 1040 Park Avenue, New York
• 1920: The Harold Pratt house, New York
• 1919: The Cutting Houses, New York
• 1916: Colony Club, New York
• 1915: Knickerbocker Club, New York
• 1913: Kykuit, for John D. Rockefeller, Sleepy Hollow, N.Y.
• 1910: Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore
• 1909: Barbey Building


Biography
William Delano spent his youth at the Lawrenceville Preparatory School and earned a bachelor's degree from Yale in 1895. He then studied architecture at Columbia University, graduating in 1899. He also studied at the School of Beaux-Arts in France, receiving his diploma there in 1902.

Delano met Chester Holmes Aldrich in the late 1890s and by 1903 formed a partnership that would last for the rest of Aldrich’s life. In their first year, they won commissions from a number of high-society families, including the Rockefellers. Together, they designed townhouses, country houses, clubs, and banks for New York’s elite.

From 1903 to 1910, Delano taught architecture at Columbia University. He was a member of the Commission on Fine Arts from 1924 to 1928, participating on the plan and design of Washington, D.C. From 1927 to 1929 he was the president of the American Society for Beaux-Arts Architects and from 1928 to 1930 he served as president of the AIA’s New York chapter.

During the late 1930s, as country house work slowed, Delano & Aldrich received commissions for other public works projects, such as LaGuardia Airport. In 1939, Delano joined the planning board for the 1939 World’s Fair in New York. That year, he also earned a master’s degree from Yale.

In 1940, Aldrich died, bringing an end to their illustrious partnership; Delano continued working nearly 20 more years. That year, he received the Gold Medal of the National Institute of Arts and Letters. In 1940, Delano also joined the Art Commission of the City of New York and served on the Commission for 14 years. From 1943 to 1947, he was the Art Commission’s vice president and from 1948 to 1952 he served as president.

From 1948, Delano consulted to the Commission of the Renovation of the White House, which was responsible for the White House restoration during President Truman’s term.

Delano and Aldrich were dedicated to classical architectural style, though expressed in creative and original manners; these attributes are reflected in their houses and public buildings.