William G. Preston

William G. (Gibbons) Preston (1842–1910) was an American architect. He was active in Boston, Ohio, and Georgia, where he designed the De Soto Hotel and the Savannah Volunteer Guards Armory. Many of his buildings were pictured as prints in American Architect and Building News.

He designed Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Rogers Building in 1864, located on Boylston Street near Boston's Copley Square, which housed the school's architecture department. Floor plans for the building show a large, centrally located space devoted to an architectural library and museum. Drawings from the Study Collection were hung on the studio walls and numerous casts and other artifacts also lined the walls and picture rails.^[1]

Gibbons died at his home in Boston in 1910.^[2]

Projects

• Rogers Building of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1864, on Boylston Street near Copley Square, Boston
• De Soto Hotel in Savannah Georgia, (razed, now the site of the Hilton DeSoto Hotel)^[3]
• Savannah Volunteer Guards Armory, 1893
• C.W. Russell Mansion in Massillon, Ohio (razed)
• Armory of the First Corps of Cadets of the Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, pictured in August 20, 1892, American Architect and Building News
• Central Station of West End Street Railway Company, Boston
• Chadwick Lead Works, Boston
• Mason Building, Liberty Square, Boston
• Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association building, Huntington Avenue and West Newton Streets, Boston
• Quincy Market Cold Storage Warehouse
• John Hancock Building (Devonshire) on Devonshire Street, Boston
• The Aubry on Dartmouth and Newbury Streets (W.G. Preston & A.C.)
• Boston Terra Cotta Company's "New Building"
• Claflin Building (1873), originally the Boston University School of Religious Education and Social Service building built by one of Boston University's founders. Alexander Graham Bell taught in the building. It has also held retail businesses and then became a residential apartment building.^[4]
• Jacob Sleeper Hall, Boston University
• Boston Transit Commission Building, 15 Beacon Street, Boston
• Walter E. Fernald State School, 200 Trapelo Road, Waltham, Massachusetts
• Templeton Farm Colony, 126 Royalston Road, Templeton, Massachusetts
• Thomas Webster Estate 238 Webster Street, Marshfield, Massachusetts

References

1. Architecture at MIT, accessed August 12, 2010, includes photos
2. American Art Annual, Volume 8. MacMillan Company. 1911. p. 400.
3. Multiple print spread including main entrance, dining room, and exterior May 2, 1896, American Architect and Building News
4. Boston Real Estate Observer: Claflin Building at 20 Beacon Street, accessed August 12, 2010

Further reading

• City of Boston, Landmarks Commission. International Trust Company Building (45 Milk Street) Study Report, 1977. (Building designed by Preston)

External links

• Boston Public Library. William G. Preston (1842-1910) Collection
• New York Public Library. View of the Coliseum, World's Peace Jubilee and International Musical Festival, 1872 (designed by Preston)
• http://communities.aia.org/sites/hdoaa/wiki/Wiki%20Pages/ahd1035887.aspx
• Hotel Vendome. Preston designed the corner building, 1871