Personal Data

William Phillips Richards was born on February 1, 1855, in Cambridge, the son of Joseph Ruggles Richards and his wife, Mary Ann Phillips (daughter of Thomas Phillips).

He married on November 9, 1881, in Cambridge, to Alice S. Goodale (b. 2Jul1858 in Akron OH; d. 15Sep1945 in Cambridge), daughter of Justin P. Goodale and his wife, Sarah Ann (LNU).

William Richards died on April 9, 1925, in West Somerville.

Career

William Richards graduated from Harvard in 1876, after which he studied architecture in his father’s office and then with Peabody and Stearns.  In October of 1880, he went into partnership with his father in the firm of Richards and Richards.  After his father’s death, he continued to practice alone.

Among the works of Richards and Richards were the Jarvis and Stanstead apartment houses in Cambridge, the White apartments on Commonwealth in the Back Bay, the Boston Five Cents Savings Bank building in Woburn, the Royal Arcanum Building in Boston, and the Colored Odd Fellows Building in Boston.

Back Bay Work