Description

arcitect; editor

Ware graduated from Harvard in 1871 and subsequently took courses in architecture at MIT before traveling to Paris to study at the École des Beaux-Arts. After returning to Boston he became assistant editor for “American Architect and Building News” in 1877 under the editorship of William P. P. Longfellow (brother of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow). Ware became editor-in-chief in 1880—a position he held until 1908. Under his leadership the journal flourished and became the most respected architecture periodical in North America. In all of his publications Ware included clear, detailed drawings (produced by an in-house drawing office he maintained, for many years lead by the draftsman D. A. Gregg) and was an early adopter and proponent of photographic reproductions, making architectural journalism more widely accessible. In addition to “American Architect and Building News” Ware edited the series “Architectural Odds and Ends” (1892–1984), “The Georgian Period” (1898–1899), and “Topical Architecture” (1901–1905).

At the time of his death the Boston Society of Architects passed a resolution acknowledging Ware’s contributions: “When he began his career architecture was a little less professional than the occupation of the house carpenter. When he retired from editorship the architectural profession had grown to be one of the foremost in importance in the development of the country." Ralph Adams Cram, professor in the Architecture Department at MIT at the time of Ware's death wrote: “As the editor of ‘The American Architect’, he was not only the pioneer in professional journalism, but through this means he undoubtedly did more than any other toward bringing to the attention of the general public the architects of the new school and their work. . . . ‘The American Architect’, under the brilliant and constructive direction of Mr. Ware, immediately and enormously extended this field, and therefore the work of the great pioneers—Richardson, Congdon, Haight, Renwick, Sturgis, Cummings, Peabody and Stearns, etc.—received that general publicity that ensured its acceptance.”