Personal Data

Arthur Hunnewell Bowditch was born on May 12, 1870, in Boston, the son of Charles Albert Bowditch and his wife Emma Frances Hunnewell (daughter of Joseph W. Hunnewell).

He married on June 1, 1893, in Brookline, to Alice DeWitt Foster (b. 12Sep1868; d. after 1922), daughter of Charles O. Foster and his wife Caroline Blanchard Candler (daughter of John Candler).

Arthur Bowditch died on May 13, 1941, in Brookline.

Career

Arthur Bowditch worked as a draftsman in various Boston architectural firms, and began his own practice in about 1893. From about 1903 to 1907, he was in partnership with Edward Bowman Stratton in the firm of Bowditch and Stratton. For most of his career, however, he appears to have worked as a sole practitioner.

Arthur Bowditch worked in all styles and was noted for his terra-cotta work. His work spanned more than forty years and included the Hotel Somerset (1897) at Commonwealth and Charlesgate East, an apartment building at 1140 Boylston (1901) that now houses the Berklee College of Music, the Old South Building (1902) on Washington between Milk and Water Streets, The Stoneholm apartments (1907) at 1514 Beacon in Brookline (which Douglass Shand-Tucci’s Built in Boston calls “the most magnificent building of its type in Greater Boston — a splendid Baroque extravaganza that holds the high ground above Beacon Street with great distinction”), the Admiral Building for Noyes Buick at 855 Commonwealth (1919, now part of Boston University), the Myles Standish Apatments at 590-630 Beacon (30 Bay State Road), and the Art Deco-style Paramount Theater (1930-1932) at 549 Washington.

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