William Rutherford Mead

William Rutherford Mead (August 20, 1846 – June 19, 1928) was an American architect who was the "Center of the Office" of McKim, Mead, and White, a noted Gilded Age architectural firm. The firm's other founding partners were Charles Follen McKim (1847–1909) and Stanford White (1853–1906).

Early life Mead was born in Brattleboro, Vermont. He was a first cousin, once removed of President Rutherford B. Hayes, hence his middle name. His sister, Elinor, later married novelist William Dean Howells, and his younger brother Larkin Goldsmith Mead became a sculptor. Mead was handsome, authoritative and quiet. He later learned architecture under George Fletcher Babb in Russell Sturgis's In 1902, King Victor Emmanuel conferred on Mead the decoration of Knight Commander of the Crown of Italy for his pioneer work in introducing the Roman and Italian Renaissance architectural style in America. In 1902, Amherst College conferred upon Mead the honorary degree of LL.D. In 1909, he received a degree of M.S. from Norwich University in Vermont. In 1912 he received the gold medal of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and was an early member of the academy. In 1922 he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the Crown of Italy. Mead was the last of the firm's founding partners to die, as McKim died in 1909, after White in 1906. At his death, his estate of $250,000 went to his wife, Olga. Olga moved in with her sister in New York City, and died on April 10, 1936, in New York City in her apartment in the Sherry-Netherland Hotel. She left her entire estate to the trustees of Amherst College. The money was used to build the Mead Art Building, which was designed by James Kellum Smith of McKim, Mead and White. The building was completed in 1949 and houses the Mead Art Museum.