Frank Miles Day (April 5, 1861 – June 15, 1918) was a Philadelphia-based architect who specialized in residences and academic buildings.

Early life and education

In 1883, Day graduated from the Towne School of the University of Pennsylvania, and traveled to Europe. In England, he apprenticed under two architects, and won the 1885 prize from the Architectural Association of London.

Career

After his apprenticing in England, Day returned to Philadelphia, where he worked with George T. Pearson and Addison Hutton prior to opening his own office in 1887. Day's first major commission was the Art Club of Philadelphia, which was built in 1889 and 1890 and was demolished in 1975 and 1776, on South Broad Street in Center City Philadelphia. His brother Henry joined the firm in 1893, forming Frank Miles Day & Brother, and Charles Zeller Klauder, Day's chief draftsman since 1900, became a partner in 1911, creating Day Brothers & Klauder. From 1912 to 1927, even after Day's 1918 death, the firm was known as Day & Klauder. Day was a lecturer in architecture at the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University, and taught perspective at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. He was a supervising architect for Yale University and Johns Hopkins University, and served as the supervising architect for present-day Penn State University, New York University, the University of Delaware, and the University of Colorado at Boulder. Day made major additions to the campuses of the University of Pennsylvania, Penn State University, and Wellesley College. Day & Klauder designed 18 buildings for Princeton University, although half were Klauder's work completed after Day's death. Day's 1917 master plan for the University of Delaware was inspired by Thomas Jefferson's plan for the University of Virginia. Following the firm's 1917 master plan for the University of Colorado Boulder campus, Klauder went on to design much of that university. Day was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1899. Day was national president of the American Institute of Architects from 1906 to 1907, a founding editor of House & Garden magazine, and author of American Country Houses of Today, published in 1915. In 1910, he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an associate academician.

Death

Day died June 15, 1918, and is interred at West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania.

Selected works

Philadelphia buildings

University of Pennsylvania

Princeton University

Pennsylvania State University

University of Delaware

Other buildings

Gallery