# George F. Meacham

George Frederick Meacham (July 1, 1831 - December 4, 1917) was an architect in the Boston, Massachusetts, area in the 19th century. He is notable for designing Boston's Public Garden, the Massachusetts Bicycle Club, and churches, homes, and monuments in greater Boston and elsewhere in New England.

## Early life and career

George F. Meacham was born in 1831 in Watertown, Massachusetts to Giles A. and Jane A. Meacham. In 1849, after attending schools in Newton, Waltham and Cambridge, he entered Harvard College. He graduated in 1853. After college he trained and worked as a civil engineer, at one point working on the Water Works of Jersey City, New Jersey. In 1855 he entered the office of an unnamed architect in Boston. By 1857 he was associated with architect Shepard S. Woodcock, and by 1858 they had formed a partnership. Meacham established an independent firm in Boston in 1864.
Meacham was appointed architect of Boston's new Masonic Temple in 1866, after the health of the original architect, Merrill G. Wheelock, failed. Construction had begun in 1865, and Meacham completed the exterior of the building to Wheelock's design and was responsible for the design of the interior. The building was dedicated in 1867. It has been demolished. In 1867 a set of plans for an apartment house designed by Meacham was published in an overview of charity work in France, though it does not indicate whether it was intended to be built in France or Boston, where the book was printed. Meacham continued in Boston until 1891, when he retired from active practice. He continued to work on a few projects from his home in Newton in the following years.
Though most of Meacham's work was architectural, he did his best known work in the capacity of landscape architect. In 1859 his design was adopted for the reconstruction of the Public Garden, his plan for which has remained largely intact. He was also responsible, in 1865, for an extension to the Center Cemetery of Shirley, and for Farlow Park in Newton in 1882.

## Personal life

In 1859 Meacham married Mary J. Warren of New Boston, New Hampshire. In 1870 they moved from Watertown to Newton. They had two children together, who both died in their youth. Mary J. Meacham died in 1877. Meacham remarried in 1881, to Ellen Louisa Frost, who survived him. Meacham died on December 4, 1917. At the time of his death he was a resident of Boston.

## Legacy

Following his association with Woodcock, several architects who would become notable trained in his office. These include Henry M. Francis (1864-1865) and George R. Pyne (1870s).
Several of his works have been individually listed on the United States National Register of Historic Places.

## Architectural works

| Year | Project | Address | City | State | Notes |
| 1864 | House for John A. Wiley | 93 Elm St | North Andover | Massachusetts | NRHP-listed as part of the Machine Shop Village District. |
| 1864 | South Congregational Church | 90 Main St | New Britain | Connecticut | Hammatt Billings may have been associated with Meacham in the earliest phases of the design. Meacham was also responsible for the addition of a parish house in 1889. NRHP-listed. |
| 1865 | Reformed Church of Utica | 276 Genesee St | Utica | New York | Demolished. |
| 1866 | Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument, Common Park | Purchase St | New Bedford | Massachusetts | |
| 1866 | Soldiers' Monument, Evergreen Cemetery | 2060 Commonwealth Ave | Brighton | Massachusetts | |
| 1867 | Silver Lake Mills | 320 Nevada St | Newton | Massachusetts | |
| 1867 | Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument, Riverside Cemetery | 274 Main St | Fairhaven | Massachusetts | |
| 1867 | Tabernacle Baptist Church | 8 Hopper St | Utica | New York | NRHP-listed. |
| 1868 | Melrose High School (former) | 69 W Emerson St | Melrose | Massachusetts | Demolished. |
| 1868 | Soldiers' Monument, Waltham Common | 610 Main St | Waltham | Massachusetts | |
| 1869 | Engine House No. 19 | 128 Babson St | Dorchester | Massachusetts | Demolished. |
| 1869 | First Baptist Church of Lewiston | 240 Bates St | Lewiston | Maine | Demolished. |
| 1869 | Gate, Newton Cemetery | 791 Walnut St | Newton | Massachusetts | Demolished. |
| 1870 | Green School (former) | 408 Merrimack St | Lowell | Massachusetts | |
| 1871 | Houses for Newton Talbot | 234-236 Clarendon St | Boston | Massachusetts | Extant but altered. |
| 1871 | Lewiston City Hall | 27 Pine St | Lewiston | Maine | Burned in 1890. |
| 1872 | Cary Avenue Baptist Church (former) | 60 Tudor St | Chelsea | Massachusetts | Later the First Methodist Church of Chelsea, and now Temple Emmanuel. |
| 1872 | House for Uriah H. Coffin | 232 Clarendon St | Boston | Massachusetts | |
| 1872 | Mechanics Savings Bank Building | 200 Merrimack St | Lowell | Massachusetts | Burned in 1962. |
| 1873 | House for James W. Tobey | 119 Marlborough St | Boston | Massachusetts | |
| 1873 | Mercantile building for Charles Duane | 91 Water St | Boston | Massachusetts | Demolished. |
| 1873 | Underwood School | 101 Vernon St | Newton | Massachusetts | Demolished. |
| 1873 | Walnut Avenue Congregational Church (former) | 120 Walnut Ave | Roxbury | Massachusetts | Now known as the Eliot Congregational Church. NRHP-listed. |
| 1874 | House for Charles B. Fillebrown | 219 Bellevue St | Newton | Massachusetts | |
| 1874 | Newton City Hall | Washington and Cherry Sts | Newton | Massachusetts | A smaller existing building was incorporated into the new City Hall. Demolished. |
| 1875 | Curb and fence, Tremont Mall, Boston Common | Tremont St | Boston | Massachusetts | Removed and replaced. |
| 1877 | Central Fire Station | 51 Main St | Plymouth | Massachusetts | Demolished. |
| 1877 | Hotel Huntington | 25 Commonwealth Ave | Boston | Massachusetts | Demolished. |
| 1877 | House for Edwin Morey | 338 Beacon St | Boston | Massachusetts | |
| 1877 | Whitford Block | 663 Main St | Waltham | Massachusetts | |
| 1878 | House for Daniel Chamberlin | 338 Commonwealth Ave | Boston | Massachusetts | |
| 1879 | House for Frank N. Thayer | 325 Commonwealth Ave | Boston | Massachusetts | |
| 1880 | House for John W. Field | 10 Melville Ave | Dorchester | Massachusetts | |
| 1881 | Channing Church (former) | 75 Vernon St | Newton | Massachusetts | Now the Newton Presbyterian Church. |
| 1881 | House for George C. Lord | 259 Waverley Ave | Newton | Massachusetts | |
| 1883 | Hollis Street Church | 28 Exeter St | Boston | Massachusetts | Later the South Congregational Church. Demolished. |
| 1884 | House for Hartley Lord | 26 Summer St | Kennebunk | Maine | |
| 1884 | Y. W. C. A. Building | 40 Berkeley St | Boston | Massachusetts | Demolished. |
| 1885 | Massachusetts Bicycle Club (former) | 152 Newbury St | Boston | Massachusetts | Incorporated into the former Boston Art Club building after the club was disbanded. |
| 1886 | Tomb for Hartley Lord, Hope Cemetery | Barnard Ln | Kennebunk | Maine | |
| 1887 | Eliot Church | 474 Centre St | Newton | Massachusetts | Burned. |
| 1887 | House for Levi B. Gay | 303 Franklin St | Newton | Massachusetts | |
| 1889 | Home for Little Wanderers | 202 W Newton St | Boston | Massachusetts | Demolished. |
| 1890 | "Irwinton" for Charles I. Travelli | Highland and Chestnut Sts | Newton | Massachusetts | Burned in 1898. The former stable still stands at 22 Burnham Rd. |
| 1893 | House for William F. Bacon | 52 Hyde Ave | Newton | Massachusetts | |
| 1894 | Dickson Memorial Chapel, Greenlawn Cemetery | 57 Orne St | Salem | Massachusetts | NRHP-listed as part of Greenlawn Cemetery. |