Milton Bennett Medary Jr. (February 6, 1874 – August 7, 1929) was an American architect from

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, practicing with the firm Zantzinger, Borie and Medary from 1910 until his death.

Biography

Medary attended the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

for one year before joining the Philadelphia architecture firm of Frank Miles Day in 1891. While at the university, he entered a student competition and designed, (with Frank Miles Day and William C. Hays), the 1894 student union, Houston Hall. Credit for this design, however, was given to a faculty member, Frank Miles Day with Medary listed as an associate architect. Medary remained with Frank Miles Day until 1894, when he founded his own firm in Philadelphia, Field & Medary. That firm would become Zantzinger, Borie & Medary in 1910. He was employed in 1904 to rehabilitate Solitude Farm in West Whiteland Township, Pennsylvania. ''Note:'' This includes Medary began design work in 1908 on the Washington Memorial Chapel in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. Its exterior was completed in 1917 and its interior in 1921, under Zantzinger, Borie & Medary. He designed the Fiske Portal (1922–23), a new doorway for St. Mark's Episcopal Church in

. Sculptor and cabinetmaker Edward Maene, metalworker Samuel Yellin, and stained glass designer Nicola D'Ascenzo collaborated on the doors and the polychromed "Christ in Majesty" tableau above them. His firm designed the Fidelity Mutual Life Insurance Company Building (1926–28) in Philadelphia (now an annex of the

Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) is an List of art museums#North America, art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at ...

), and the Bok Singing Tower (1927–29), in Lake Wales, Florida. Medary was a design consultant to several universities, the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Association, and

Mount Vernon Mount Vernon is the former residence and plantation of George Washington, a Founding Father, commander of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War, and the first president of the United States, and his wife, Martha. An American landmar ...

. His buildings include the Pennsylvania Athletic Club, Bryn Mawr Hospital, and, with Paul Cret, the

Detroit Institute of Arts The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) is a museum institution located in Midtown Detroit, Michigan. It has list of largest art museums, one of the largest and most significant art collections in the United States. With over 100 galleries, it cove ...

. Medary served as chairman of the

United States Department of Labor The United States Department of Labor (DOL) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is responsible for the administration of federal laws governing occupational safety and health, wage and hour standards, unemp ...

's Housing Corporation during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and was selected in 1927 by Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon to serve on the Board of Architectural Consultants, which advised the department on the design of the Federal Triangle development. Medary served on the National Capital Park and Planning Commission and on the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts in Washington, D.C.; he was president of both the

American Institute of Architects The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C. AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach progr ...

(AIA) and its Philadelphia chapter, a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, and was affiliated with the Foundation for Architecture and Landscape Architecture and with the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Medary was honored by the AIA with a gold medal in 1929 and by the Art Club of Philadelphia with a gold medal in 1927, and was awarded an honorary doctorate by the

in 1927.Thomas E. Luebke, ed., ''Civic Art: A Centennial History of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts'' (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, 2013): Appendix B, p. 549.

Death

He died in 1929 of heart failure. With him was his wife, Hannah, and daughter Rachael. His sons, Richard Medary and Milton Bennett Medary III, then students at the University of Pennsylvania were traveling in Europe. Another daughter, Mrs. William Norris, lived in Rio de Janeiro.

Gallery

File:Houston Hall, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.jpg, Houston Hall (1894–96),

File:Washington Memorial Chapel T-Square Club Catalogue 1908 p.102.jpg, Perspective & plan of Washington Memorial Chapel (1908), Valley Forge, Pennsylvania File:T-Square Club Catalogue 1922 p.73.jpg, Washington Memorial Chapel, interior completed 1921. File:St Marks door, Locust St, Philly.JPG, Fiske Portal (1922–23), St. Mark's Episcopal Church, Philadelphia File:Philadelphia Museum Perelman Building.JPG, Fidelity Mutual Life Insurance Company Building (1926–28), Philadelphia. File:Bok Tower.png, Bok Singing Tower (1927–29), Lake Wales, Florida

References

External links

*
Short biography
from Architectural Archives, University of Pennsylvania.
Zantzinger, Borie and Medary
from Philadelphia Architects and Buildings. {{DEFAULTSORT:Medary, Milton Bennett 1874 births 1929 deaths University of Pennsylvania alumni Architects from Philadelphia Preservationist architects Fellows of the American Institute of Architects Presidents of the American Institute of Architects Recipients of the AIA Gold Medal