William D. Austin (May 15, 1856 – May 25, 1944) was an American architect and author. Austin practiced architecture in Boston from until his retirement in 1930. From to 1892 he worked in partnership with William E. Chamberlin; from then until he worked with Frederick W. Stickney. Austin is best remembered for the work he completed for the Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston.
Early life and professional career William Downes Austin was born May 15, 1856, in Dorchester, Massachusetts, now annexed to Boston, to William Downes Austin Sr. and Catherine Downer Austin, née Austin.Charles Collyer Whitter, Genealogy of the Stimpson Family of Charlestown, Mass., and Allied Lines (Boston: David Clapp & Son, printers, 1907) He was educated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), studying with the class of 1876 from 1872 to 1875.Register of Former Students (Boston: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, May 1915) Listings in the Boston Directory indicate that Austin worked as a draftsman for Ware & Van Brunt from 1876 to 1880 and for Carl Fehmer in 1882 before beginning to practice independently . By 1886 he had located at 6 Beacon Street, a building occupied by many architects including Chamberlin & Whidden, the partnership of William E. Chamberlin and William M. Whidden.Boston Directories, 1876–1890 Both overlapped with Austin at MIT: Chamberlin graduated as a member of the class of 1877; Whidden studied with that class in 1873–75.
In 1889 Whidden, who had moved to Portland, Oregon, to handle work for the firm, separated from Chamberlin to establish the firm of Whidden & Lewis;Richard Marlitt, Matters of Proportion: The Portland Residential Architecture of Whidden & Lewis (Portland: Oregon Historical Society Press, 1989) by 1890 Austin had joined Chamberlin to form Chamberlin & Austin. Their works include the Malden home of furniture manufacturer Albert H. Davenport (1892), founder of A. H. Davenport and Company. In March 1892, after Chamberlin's retirement, Austin and Frederick W. Stickney announced the formation of the firm of Stickney & Austin."Personal" in Architecture and Building (March 19, 1892): 142. Stickney too had attended MIT, studying with the class of 1875 in 1874–75. Initially operating from a single office in Lowell's Hildreth Building, a second office in Boston was announced in January 1893.Architecture and Building (January 21, 1893): 35. The arrangement was such that Stickney managed the Lowell office while Austin managed the Boston office.Henry F. Withey and Elsie Rathburn Withey Biographical Dictionary of American Architects (Deceased) (Los Angeles: New Age Publishing Company, 1956) It is not clear how design responsibilities were divided, especially for work outside of those two cities.
In the 1890s the firm was hired as architect for the recently established Metropolitan Park Commission, later the Metropolitan District Commission and a predecessor to the Department of Conservation and Recreation. For some twenty years, Austin embellished the commission's parks with park headquarters, boathouses, public toilets, stables, shelters and other buildings.Richard M. Candee, Naomi Miller, Keith N. Morgan and Roger G. Reed, Buildings of Massachusetts: Metropolitan Boston, ed. Keith N. Morgan (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2009) Sometime after 1900 the partnership was dissolved, though Stickney and Austin kept both their names on their respective letterhead for years afterward. In addition to his work for the parks, during the 1920s Austin was responsible for the architectural work for stations of the Boston Elevated Railway, of these only Shawmut station (1928) is extant.Report of the Transit Department for the Year Ending December 31, 1927 (Boston: City of Boston, 1928) He concluded his career with an administration building (1930, demolished) for what is now Logan International Airport. He retired to his home in Cambridge in 1930.
Personal life Austin was married in 1887 to Emily Wilder Barker; they had five children, including two sons and three daughters.
Austin was a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and a member and president of the Boston Society of Architects (BSA). In his retirement Austin wrote a never-published history of the BSA. Austin died May 26, 1943, in Cambridge at the age of 87. He was buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery."William D. Austin," Boston Globe, May 29, 1943."Deaths" in Technology Review (July 1943): v.
Architectural works 1895: Peirce School, Newton, MassachusettsAmerican Architect and Building News (June 8, 1895): xiii. NRHP-listed 1897: Bathhouse, Revere Beach Reservation, Revere, MassachusettsEngineering News (March 25, 1897): 108. Demolished 1898: The Cambridge Homes, Cambridge, Massachusetts 1899: Administration building and police headquarters, Revere Beach Reservation, Revere, MassachusettsBrickbuilder (April 1899): xxxii. Contributes to the NRHP-listed Revere Beach Reservation Historic District 1899: Charles River Reservation (Speedway)-Upper Basin Headquarters, Charles River Reservation, Brighton, BostonReport of the Board of Metropolitan Park Commissioners, January, 1900 (Boston: Wright & Potter, printers, 1900) NRHP-listed 1899: Metropolitan District Commission Stable, Blue Hills Reservation, Milton, Massachusetts NRHP-listed 1901: Bathhouse, Nahant Beach Reservation, Nahant, MassachusettsReport of the Board of Metropolitan Park Commissioners, January, 1902 (Boston: Wright & Potter, printers, 1902) Demolished 1904: Blue Hills Headquarters, Blue Hills Reservation, Milton, Massachusetts"Historic Building Detail: MLT.396 (Blue Hills Headquarters), Massachusetts Cultural Resource Information System, no date. Accessed May 12, 2026. NRHP-listed 1904: Charles River Reservation headquarters, Newton, Massachusetts As of 2026, occpied by Paddle Boston 1904: Comfort Station, Blue Hills Reservation, Milton, Massachusetts"Historic Building Detail: MLT.399 (Blue Hills Reservation Comfort Station), Massachusetts Cultural Resource Information System, no date. Accessed May 12, 2026. NRHP-listed 1905: Arthur Holbrook Wellman house, Topsfield, Massachusetts"Historic Building Detail: TPF.339 (Wellman, Arthur H. House), Massachusetts Cultural Resource Information System, no date. Accessed May 12, 2026. 1907: Charlestown High School (former), Charlestown, Boston 1912: South Boston Aquarium, Marine Park, South Boston, Boston Demolished 1913: Bird's World, Franklin Park Zoo, Boston 1913: Boathouse, Jamaica Pond, Jamaica Plain, Boston 1916: Riverway Studios, BostonAmerican Contractor (July 10, 1915): 45. A studio building, tenants of which included William McGregor Paxton; then until 2022, the Wheelock College and Boston University Wheelock College of Education and Human Development library 1921: Feline House, Franklin Park Zoo, BostonEngineering and Contracting (March 10, 1920): 48. Demolished 1928: Shawmut station, Dorchester, Boston 1930: Administration building, Logan International Airport, East Boston, Boston"Administration Building to be Erected at Boston Port" in Air Transportation (June 22, 1929): 36. Demolished
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