William A[lciphron] Boring

An ar­chi­tect and Dean Eme­ri­tus of the Co­lum­bia Uni­ver­sity School of Ar­chi­tec­ture.

Bo­ring at­ten­ded Black­burn Col­lege in Car­lin­ville, the Uni­ver­sity of Il­li­nois, Co­lum­bia Uni­ver­sity, and Ecole des Beaux Arts. He prac­ticed in Los An­ge­les from 1883 to 1886 and in New York since 1890. He joi­ned the school at Co­lum­bia in 1915 as Pro­fes­sor of Ar­chi­tec­ture and head of the fa­culty. In 1919 he be­came di­rec­tor and in 1931, upon re­or­ga­niza­t­ion of the school, dean. On March 30, 1933, he re­cei­ved the title of Dean Eme­ri­tus. In 1929 he was made Ware Pro­fes­sor of Ar­chi­tec­ture, and in 1925 the Bo­ring Fel­lowship was es­ta­blis­hed in his honor, pro­vi­ding for sen­ding a gra­duate stu­dent ab­road every three years for study and tra­vel. He was a foun­der and first pre­si­dent of the So­ciety of Beaux Arts Ar­chi­tects and a foun­der and tre­a­su­rer of the Ame­ri­can Aca­demy in Rome, where he was a vi­sit­ing Pro­fes­sor of Fine Arts in 1930. He was a Fel­low of the Ame­ri­can In­sti­tute of Ar­chi­tects and a for­mer pre­si­dent of the New York Chap­ter whose medal of honor for in­di­vi­dual ser­vice he re­cei­ved in 1927. A for­mer mem­ber of both the Na­tio­nal and Mu­ni­ci­pal Art Com­mis­si­ons, Mr. Bo­ring was also a mem­ber of the first United Sta­tes Coun­cil of Fine Arts, a cor­re­spon­ding mem­ber of the So­ciety of Ar­chi­tects Ac­credi­ted by the French Go­vern­ment, a for­mer pre­si­dent of the Ar­chi­tec­tu­ral Le­ague of New York, and an As­so­ciate of the Na­tio­nal Aca­demy. He was a Che­va­lier of the Le­gion of Honor of France. He won the gold medal at the Paris Ex­po­si­tion of 1900 and me­dals at the Buf­falo Ex­po­si­tion in 1901 and the St. Louis Ex­po­si­tion in 1904. Among his better-known works are the United Sta­tes Im­mi­gra­tion Sta­tion at Ellis Is­land; the Jacob Tome In­sti­tute, Port De­po­sit, Ma­ry­land; In­sti­tute for Blind, West Hart­ford, Con­nec­ti­cut; Glen­wood Springs Hotel, Glen­wood Springs, Co­lo­rado, and many other pu­blic buil­dings in va­rious parts of the United Sta­tes.