Whitney Warren (1864-1943)
Whitney Phoenix Warren, Architect, of Warren & Wetmore, New York City
He was born in New York City, a great-grandson of Stephen Whitney who in 1830 was listed as one of New York's five millionaires. His brothers-in-law included Robert Goelet and William Starr Miller. He studied architecture privately and briefly attended Columbia University before continuing his studies at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris from 1885 to 1894. On returning to New York, he worked in the offices of McKim, Mead & White, when he was commissioned to design a country house for the lawyer and amateur architect Charles Delevan Wetmore. Impressed by his client’s architectural talent, Warren persuaded him to quit the law and in 1898 they established Warren & Wetmore which became one of the most renowned architectural firms of the Gilded Age. Warren was the principal designer of the firm and used his social connections to find clients while Wetmore was the legal and financial brain behind the business. With his eccentric brother, Lloyd, Warren was a co-founder of the Society of Beaux-Arts Architects and the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design, both in New York. He married Charlotte, daughter of Gabriel Mead Tooker, and they were the parents of three children.
