William H. McLean

William Herbert McLean was born in Newton, Massachusetts in 1871[2] to Henry and Elizabeth McLean, who had immigrated from Nova Scotia that year. His father was a carpenter and built a number of houses in the Newton area. McLean attended the Massachusetts Normal Art School, the present Massachusetts College of Art and Design,[2] graduating in 1888.[3] He was also a member of the Boston Architectural Club.[4]

McLean worked for the Providence and Boston firm of Gould, Angell & Swift and contributed to the design of the Richards Memorial Library, completed in 1894, in North Attleborough, Massachusetts.[5] After Gould, Angell & Swift was dissolved in 1897, McLean worked for the firm of Winslow & Wetherell. By 1899 McLean was practicing on his own account.[6] In 1901 he formed a partnership with Albert Hoffman Wright (1871–1919), known as McLean & Wright.[7] McLean and Wright worked in partnership until 1912.[6]

McLean's father had begun to practice as an architect in Newton beginning in the 1890s, and for ten years before 1912 worked in the McLean & Wright office.[6] After McLean and Wright dissolved their partnership, McLean and his father formed a new partnership, known as W. H. & Henry McLean. Henry McLean retired in 1917, and William H. continued to practice alone.[6] He retired in 1938.[8]

McLean married in 1907 to Fannie F. Ingram of Malden, Massachusetts. They lived in Cambridge.[9] She died in 1935.[10] After McLean retired in 1938 he moved to Middleborough, Massachusetts where he lived with his daughter and her husband.

McLean died January 10, 1943 in Middleborough at the age of 72.[2]

Many of the works of McLean and his associates were designed in an elaborate Beaux Arts style, though neither he nor them had much formal training.

McLean was an early adopter of the one-story plan for school buildings. Prior to the early twentieth century only very small schools were one-story. However, at this time the one-story plan was adopted as a safer, more economical option for schools outside of heavily urbanized areas.[11] His Newton Street School in Greenfield was the first school of this type in Western Massachusetts, and generated controversy over costs and aesthetics at the time.[12] Despite these controversies, this building type was supported by well-known school architects including Frank Irving Cooper[13] and Dwight Heald Perkins[14] on the grounds of economy and safety.

Many buildings designed by McLean and his associates have been listed on the United States National Register of Historic Places, and others contribute to listed historic districts. Additionally, the McLean & Wright-designed Calgary library has been designated a National Historic Site of Canada.

McLean, in partnership with Albert H. Wright and Henry McLean, was codesigner of thirteen Carnegie libraries, in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont.