William Weeks: Gentleman Builder
Reference librarian Anne Berryhill provides background on the history and contributions of William Weeks, the first Church architect. His work is highlighted in a temporary exhibit at the Church History Library.
A new exhibit now on display at the Church History Library highlights some early Latter-day Saint architectural designs. Some of these designs represent the work of William Weeks, the first Church architect. But how much do we know about William Weeks? This article will provide a little more information about him.
Who was William Weeks?
William Weeks was a carpenter and builder born in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, in April 1813. For a brief biography, see the Joseph Smith Papers website.
How did Weeks receive his architectural training?
Weeks was raised in a family of builders trained in local New England tradition. At the time, little formal training was available for those wanting to become architects, so builders like Weeks learned the trade through reading and hands-on training.
From what sources could builders learn the trade?
Asher Benjamin, Ionic volute, The Architect: Or Practical House Carpenter, 1843 edition. Image courtesy of Internet Archive.
Builders primarily learned the trade by studying the design of existing buildings or of those being constructed around them. The following example shows how builders often borrowed from others.
Ionic volutes by Asher Benjamin, William Weeks, and Edward Shaw.
B. H. Latrobe (1764–1820), designer of the first Roman Catholic cathedral built in the United States, was the first professionally trained U.S. architect. Latrobe has also been credited with bringing Greek Revival and Gothic Revival architecture to the United States. Both styles became quite popular. American architect and author Asher Benjamin incorporated elements from both styles into a number of his buildings in the Boston area. It is quite likely that Weeks would have been familiar with some of these buildings, such as Old West Church, built in Boston in 1806.
Buildings designed in these styles were constructed in most U.S. cities during the first half of the 19th century, and illustrations of the designs were included in widely distributed books of the period. These books were the other source from which young professionals learned the building trade. Architectural pattern books, as they were known, became popular, with many being published throughout the 19th century. These books provided fairly inexpensive ways to communicate new ideas about structure, plans, and ornamentation for buildings. Some of these books were created by the American architects and prolific authors Asher Benjamin and Edward Shaw.
How do we know that Weeks studied architectural pattern books?
The Church History Library has an architectural pattern book by Edward Shaw that was owned by William Weeks and his brother Arvin. Civil Architecture was printed in 1832. The notations and sketches throughout the book provide clues that the book was used by these brothers as they worked on their architectural designs. The drawings shown here are designs for the Ionic order by Asher Benjamin, Edward Shaw, and William Weeks. It is easy to see how design elements passed from books to those practicing the building trades.
As the first Church architect, William Weeks would have encountered the problem of designing different buildings to serve different functions in Nauvoo, Illinois. For example, the design of the temple would have been dramatically different from the design of a boardinghouse. To solve such problems, he turned to existing architecture and to architectural books, finding creative ways to meet the architectural needs in that area.
Some originals featured here are on display at the Church History Library until June 24, 2017. Find library hours and information here.