Willard Thomas Sears
Illustration — The Pilgrim Monument in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Willard Thomas Sears (November 5, 1837 – May 21, 1920) was a prominent New England architect of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who worked primarily in the Gothic Revival and Renaissance Revival styles. In 1861, Sears opened an architectural studio with Charles Amos Cummings.
Also recorded as Willard T. Sears
Willard Thomas Sears
Rene Schwietzke · CC BY 2.0
- Born
- 1837 · New Bedford.
- Died
- 1920 · Boston.
- Nationality
- United States
- Occupation
- architect
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Illustration — The Pilgrim Monument in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Willard Thomas Sears (November 5, 1837 – May 21, 1920) was a prominent New England architect of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who worked primarily in the Gothic Revival and Renaissance Revival styles. In 1861, Sears opened an architectural studio with Charles Amos Cummings.
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Willard Thomas Sears (1837–1920) was an architect, of American nationality. The architect was born in New Bedford and died in Boston. Works are held at Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 01 October 2026
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wikidata · Q5481957 · wikipedia · Willard T. Sears
In this article
Identity and overview
Identity and overview
Together as Cummings and Sears, they designed many significant buildings, primarily ecclesiastical and academic, in and around Boston, including Brechin Hall and the Stone Chapel at Phillips Academy in Andover, the Old South Church on Copley Square (1875), and the Cyclorama (1884). The firm of Sears and Cummings was also capable of designing utilitarian projects and did the design of a number of aqueducts and railroad bridges. They formed a development company which intended to construct an elevated railway in Brooklyn, New York Kings County Elevated Railway but being out of towners were not able to get political co-operation and sold off the design and rights. The executive in charge was Judge Hiram Bond. In 1896, Sears was hired by Isabella Stewart Gardner to design her home, Fenway Court, in Boston's Fenway neighborhood. In 1897, he designed what would become the Roosevelt Cottage for Mrs. Hartman Kuhn at what would become (in 1964) the Roosevelt Campobello International Park in New Brunswick, Canada. In 1898, Sears was commissioned to design the Pilgrim Monument in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Upon his death his practice was succeeded by his grandson, architect Edward Sears Read.
The following is established of the heading itself.
Origins and background
Origins and background
On origins, the institutional record states the following. Born in 1837 at New Bedford. Institutional cataloguing adds that willard Thomas Sears died in 1920 at Boston.
Works and production
Works and production
The following works and productions are recorded by name or by count. Recorded with the occupation architect.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
New Bedford.
Birth place
Boston.
Death place
Primary material
Documents and archives
Institutional database
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q5481957: Willard Thomas Sears
Scholarly · Wikimedia Foundation
reference work
- “Willard T. Sears”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.The Boston Cyclorama.
- 2.gardnermuseum.org. ISGM Exhibitions: The Making of the Museum - Construction. 2003.
- 3.fdr.net. Roosevelt Campobello International Park. p. 6. 2003.
- 4.Harvard College, Class of 1921: Decennial Report, June, 1921. Boston: Four Seas Company, 1921.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
Institutional database
Wikidata, structured authority record Q5481957: Willard Thomas SearsWikimedia Foundation
Institutional witnessreference work
Secondary witness
Further particulars
Held on the record
Further particulars
Open the remaining particulars
This entry is compiled from 2 catalogued sources across 2 independent registers. The registers consulted are Wikipedia and Wikimedia Foundation. Every statement above is held against the register that stated it; where the registers are silent, the entry is silent.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 17 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Design
11,558 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
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- Willem BoyDesigner
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- Willem KoekkoekDesigner
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