"William Graves Perry" - Snippet of Medfield History

Medfield MA

14 August, 2021

7:04 PM

Description

A Snippet of Medfield History... "William Graves Perry" By Claire Shaw "What could possibly connect the Medfield Public Library, the town of Newburyport and Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia? In a word, Perry, one of America's most famous and celebrated architects. Born in Boston in 1883, William Graves Perry grew up in Newburyport before attending Harvard. Following his graduation in 1905, he received his first degree in architecture from MIT and his second from L'École Des Beaux Arts in Paris. From 1914 to 1936 Perry lived in the old farmhouse he bought and restored at 190 North Street, Medfield. It was once owned by relatives of Lowell Mason. While living here, Perry designed our library. Perry taught briefly at Harvard, served in the American Expeditionary Force Air Corps from 1916 to 1919, and in 1923 founded the architectural firm of Perry, Shaw and Hepburn in Boston. This organization is still doing business as Perry Dean Rogers Enterprises in Boston. In Newburyport Perry designed a new St. Paul's Episcopal Church, to replace the one that had burned, and designed the American Yacht Club, which stands today. He was the lead architect on John D. Rockefeller's project, the creation of Colonial Williamsburg, and he designed the Georgian-styled section of today's Medfield Public Library, which was built in 1917."