Frank Miles Day

Frank Miles Day (April 5, 1861 – June 15, 1918) was an American architect who designed several buildings in Philadelphia, including the Art Club of Philadelphia, the American Baptist Publication Building, and the Wetherill mansion.

Outside of Philadelphia, he also designed several buildings for universities, including those at Cornell University, Johns Hopkins University, New York University, Pennsylvania State University, Princeton University, University of Colorado, University of Delaware, University of Pennsylvania, and Yale University. His university buildings were not designed in the Gothic Revival, Georgian Revival, and Collegiate Gothic, which were then frequently used.

He founded the architectural firm Frank Miles Day & Bro. with his brother and added Charles Zeller Klauder to create the firms Day Bros. & Klauder and Day & Klauder. He lectured on architecture at the University of Pennsylvania from 1890 to 1904. He taught at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art, and was a visiting lecturer at Harvard University. He served twice as the president of the American Institute of Architects and was the co-founding editor of House and Garden magazine.

Early life and education Day was born in Philadelphia, on April 5, 1861, to Charles Day and Anna Rebecca (Miles) Day. He attended the Rittenhouse Academy in Philadelphia but was mainly educated at home by his father. In 1883, he graduated from the Towne School of the University of Pennsylvania as valedictorian and class president. He traveled in Europe and took classes at the Royal College of Art and the Royal Academy of Arts in London. He apprenticed in the atelier of Walter Millard and worked with Basil Champneys.

He received an honorary masters of arts degree from Yale University in 1916 and an honorary doctorate degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1918. He designed numerous buildings for universities including at Cornell University, and Yale University. Day's 1917 master plan for the University of Delaware was inspired by Thomas Jefferson's plan for the University of Virginia.

Day was a lecturer in architecture at the University of Pennsylvania from 1890 to 1904. Day was national president of the American Institute of Architects twice and a member of the Imperial Society of Russian Architects, the National Academy of Design, the National Institute of Arts and Letters, and the Royal Institute of British Architects. He was a contributing author to American Country Houses of Today, published in 1917.

Day died June 15, 1918, and was interred at West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania.

Selected works Philadelphia buildings Tenth Presbyterian Church, 17th and Spruce Street, alterations to existing structure in 1893 Horticultural Hall, Broad & Spruce St., completed in 1896 American Baptist Publication Building, 1420-22 Chestnut St., built 1896–99 C. B. Newbold residence, Locust St. Cogslea, the residence of Violet Oakley, 615 St. Georges Rd., built 1904-1906 Vernon Park Branch, Free Library of Philadelphia, 5708 Germantown Ave., built 1906 Wetherill mansion, 220 S. Broad St., built 1909 University of Pennsylvania Museum, 3260 South St., designed with Wilson Eyre and Cope & Stewardson, built 1899 Franklin Field, built 1903-1905 Cuyler Hall Dormitories, built 1913 Madison Hall Dormitories, built 1911

Pennsylvania State University Stock Pavilion at Penn State University in State College, Pennsylvania, built in 1913 Liberal Arts Buildings at Penn State University in State College, Pennsylvania, built 1913–37 Chemical Building at Penn State University in State College, Pennsylvania, built in 1914 Dairy & Creamery Building, Penn State University in State College, Pennsylvania, built in 1914 Mining Building at Penn State University in State College, Pennsylvania, built in 1915 and later demolished

University of Delaware Harter Hall Dormitories, Delaware College, Newark, Delaware (1916) Wolf Hall Science Building, Delaware College, Newark, Delaware (1917) Sussex Hall Dormitories, Delaware College, Newark, Delaware (1917) Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, Delaware College, Newark, Delaware (1919)

Other buildings Francis W. Kennedy House, West Whiteland Township, Pennsylvania, built 1889 St. Paul's Church, Lynchburg, Virginia, built 1889-1895 Madison Public Library (Carnegie Library), 1249 Williamson St. in Madison, Wisconsin, built in 1904-1906, now Grieg Chorus Club Tuberculosis Hospital, 4600 Arkansas Ave. NW, Washington, D.C., built in 1908 Parish House & Rectory, Trinity Episcopal Church, Wilmington, Delaware, built in 1909–10 Gymnasium, Mercersburg Academy, Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, built in 1911 Dormitories, Mercersburg Academy, Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, built in 1912 New Haven Hospital, New Haven, Connecticut, built in 1912 and later expanded by Day & Klauder in 1914-26 Dormitories at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, built in 1912–19 Textile Building, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island, built in 1914 Charlton Yarnall residence at Crum Creek Farm (1914) 2600 Wayland Road Berwyn, Pennsylvania, now the offices of Melmark School Founders Hall, Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, built in 1915 Sigma Phi Fraternity at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, built in 1915–16 Hartford Theological Seminary, Hartford, Connecticut, built in 1915–16 Lapham Field House, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, built in 1917–23 McCormick Theological Seminary, Chicago, built in 1918 J. L. Ketterlinus summer home, Bar Harbor, Maine, built in 1896

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