Charles Wilson Killam
Charles Wilson Killam was an American architect, engineer, and professor at Harvard University. He was widely recognized for his technical knowledge, architectural theory, educational views, and publications. He was also known for his consulting work for the Harvard Business School and Baker Library as well as his extensive restoration work at Mount Vernon. He was a key contributor to the development of Harvard's School of Architecture and to collegiate architectural education throughout the United States. Killam also took an active role in the planning and development of Cambridge, Massachusetts and served on numerous boards and committees. Additionally, he was an advocate for low-cost and public housing as well as an early advocate for architectural education for women.
Early life and education
Charles Wilson Killam was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts on July 20, 1871, and grew up in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Boston. He was the son of Horace Wilson Killam from Wilton, New Hampshire and Georgianna Gage from Watertown, Massachusetts. Killam had three sisters and two brothers. Killam attended Hyde Park Grammar Schools at the Henry Grew School, where he completed the school's course of study and graduated in 1885. After graduating from the Grew School, he attended Hyde Park High School. In 1887, during his second year at the high school and at the age of 16, he dropped out to work.Killam's interest in architecture began at an early age and he pursued his studies at home and while traveling extensively through Europe. His father was a practical draftsman during this period and taught evening classes in elementary, mechanical, and architectural drawing at Hyde Park High School. After leaving high school, Killam furthered his architectural education by taking evening classes, but never graduated from high school.
Peabody and Stearns
After leaving high school in 1887, Killam went to work at the architectural firm of Peabody & Stearns in Boston where he became a draftsman. Robert Swain Peabody, the co-founder of the firm, was an encouraging mentor to Killam and his architectural career. During his 21 years with Peabody & Stearns, Killam advanced his architectural knowledge and furthered his technical expertise in the field. He eventually became the Chief Architectural Engineer for the firm.To further develop his skills, Killam noted how he visited numerous job sites because that was then "the only way to find out, for instance, how to support a terracotta cornice or how to do flashing." Since he was not on the payroll of these jobs, he was able to spend as much or as little time on various aspects of the construction as he wanted. He valued this experience and spent countless hours examining plans in architectural and engineering offices, copying details and specification provisions. Killam stated that his interest covered the whole field of architecture:
In 1900, Killam was awarded second prize in the Boston Society of Architects Rotch Travelling Scholarship, and traveled throughout Europe studying architecture. While at the firm, Killam also entered various design competitions such as for the new Young Men's Christian Association building in Hyde Park.
Harvard University
In 1908, Killam left Peabody & Stearns to begin his academic career as an instructor in architectural construction and engineering at Harvard University. He was appointed to strengthen a recognized weakness in architectural engineering at Harvard and first taught a course in the resistance of materials and elementary structural design to address this weakness. Within a year, Killam was appointed assistant professor of architectural construction and taught at Harvard's new School of Architecture when it was founded by Herbert Langford Warren in 1912. Killam became associate professor in 1915, associate professor of architecture in 1921, and professor in 1924.Killam taught his students the adaptation of modern construction techniques to the older styles of design. He was critical of designers of the time who misrepresented the structure of their buildings and gave too much power to engineers. He recognized the importance of integrating the teaching of design and construction and was one of the first to advocate for closer collaboration between the two fields. Killam continuously improved Harvard's department of architecture until it became one of the strongest in the United States. His well-known courses in fundamentals of engineering and construction were extremely thorough, complete, and well arranged to meet the needs of architecture students.
In 1917, following the death of Warren, Killam was appointed Acting Dean of the School of Architecture. Despite the challenges of the ongoing war and dwindling enrollment, Killam sought to carry forward Warren's principles while placing greater emphasis on construction. Although the curricula in architecture and landscape architecture remained largely unchanged with Killam as Acting Dean, there was a significant shift where landscape architecture students no longer studied the rudiments of architectural design in the same studios with architecture students. Killam held this position until 1922 when George Harold Edgell was appointed as new Dean of the school.
One of Killam's students, Edward Durell Stone, had failed Killam's "Theory of Building Construction" course as a freshman at Harvard. Stone's classmate Walter Harrington Kilham Jr. recalled that Stone "couldn't take it any longer and had decided to quit the school and go over to the rival MIT." Stone had asked Dean Edgell to be exempt from retaking Killam's course but was denied, and, in response, Stone transferred to MIT. John McAndrew, another classmate of Stone, commented that Killam's course was "a very 'tough and rough' course, the only one in which anyone learned anything at all."
At the time of Killam's retirement from Harvard, Dean Joseph Hudnut stated that "Professor Killam has conducted the work in his field with great distinction. He has greatly augmented the efficiency of the instruction in architecture and his methods have been widely copied in other American schools of architecture."
Educational views
Killam held views on education and the field of architecture that were pioneering for the time. He "welcomed the new styles especially where unusual construction called for applying basic principles of engineering." He also strongly believed that modern materials and methods of construction should be integrated into styles from the past, particularly the classic and Renaissance forms. While serving as Acting Dean, Killam described Harvard's position on the necessity of courses in history and the fine arts, that the architects of the country should have a broad cultural training before they begin their technical studies.Killam had a curiosity for learning which sustained throughout his life. Whenever there was a new and interesting building or design, he made sure to visit it in person. In the early days of commercial flight, he flew to distant locations to examine various structures. He instilled this curiosity in his teaching by actively encouraged his students to explore their architectural interests and he supported these interests with his own research and materials from outside the classroom:
He demanded the same thoroughness of his students that he gave himself and never returned a student's unfinished problem "without his professional correction to the last detail, sharply noted in red ink and colored pencil so that the solution would be clear and direct." He defined the principal function of the architect of the time as "to plan and direct the execution of building projects so as to produce convenient, safe, economical and durable enclosures for our manifold activities." Killam was determined that each student be thoroughly grounded in all methods of building construction, both old and new. In his "Resistance of Materials and Elementary Structural Design" course, Killam demanded that his students gain a sound knowledge of construction by learning how to derive formulae from theory and how to create their own tables and handbooks. His architectural experience convinced him that "a student should not run errands, keep time, or check materials, and that a student does not have any possible time to waste in actual manual labor at the innumerable trades dealing with innumerable materials."
Killam was also an advocate and supporter for women's education, particularly in the field of architecture and construction. As early as 1916, Killam lectured at the Cambridge School of Architectural and Landscape Design for Women, which his colleagues Henry Atherton Frost and Bremer Whidden Pond had founded less than a year earlier. He lectured in architectural construction, landscape construction, and criticized graduate theses at the school from 1916 through the 1924 academic year.
Killam was dedicated to achieving honest and effective methods of building in architecture. His work helped to combine construction techniques with the art of design in architectural education. Although Killam retired from Harvard before modern architecture was introduced, his goals were eventually recognized within this new approach to teaching architecture. Even after his death, Killam's courses at Harvard were continued to be taught without alteration. His methods were fundamental in the work of the school and was considered one of the most persistent and valuable factors in Harvard's educational system.
Retirement from Harvard
In 1936, Harvard President James B. Conant was in search of a new chairman for the new Graduate School of Design and to lead the school into the era of modernism. Among the candidates, German architect and Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius was the most favored by Conant for the position. Conant sought the opinions of the school's faculty about the possible appointment of Gropius and received overwhelming approval and support. Killam, however, cast the lone outright objection to Gropius's appointment. The engineering aesthetic of the new and modern style of architecture represented by Gropius did not appeal to him. At an address to the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, Killam made his objection clear stating that the school's primary function was to train architects, not painters, sculptors, or commercial designers for machine-made products. He challenged the economic viability of teaching modern design and firmly rejected the expanded role of the architect that Gropius promoted.With the overwhelming approval of Gropius from the school's faculty, and despite Killam's objections, Conant proceeded to offer Gropius the position in December 1936 and he was commenced the following spring. Killam remained adamantly opposed to the appointment of Gropius as the school's new chairman and professor of design and disliked the prospect of Gropius bringing a new Bauhaus to Harvard. In protest to this new assignment, Killam decided to resign his professorship at Harvard University. In January 1937, after 29 years as Harvard faculty, Killam retired and became professor emeritus.
Being too active to accept full time retirement, Killam continued to serve the School of Design as an advisor while actively participating in the faculty councils. After his resignation in 1937, Killam returned to lecture at the Cambridge School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, which had formed a partnership with Smith College during his absence. He held this position until the school closed in 1942 and was absorbed by Harvard's Graduate School of Design, at which point he retired for a second time. Throughout his tenure as professor emeritus, Killam continued to work as consultant on architecture and played a key role in the drafting of building and zoning codes. His span as professor of architecture emeritus from 1937 to 1961 was, at the time, the longest in the history of Harvard's School of Architecture and Graduate School of Design.