Gervase Wheeler (1815–1889) was a British architect, writer, and illustrator who designed homes in the United States.
Wheeler is best known for publishing influential architectural pattern books Rural Homes (1851) and Homes for the People in Suburb and Country (1855).GERVASE WHEELER: MID-NINETEENTH CENTURY BRITISH ARCHITECT IN AMERICA University of Pennsylvania thesis, 1988 These books include house plans as illustrations, while the prose focuses on architectural best practices and Wheeler's personal opinions about American culture and aesthetics. He promoted Italianate style as well as Carpenter Gothic.Guter, Robert P. The Willows at Fosterfields Historic Structure Report, "Architectural History Report", 1983. Written by Robert P. Guter of Acroterion Historic Preservation Consultants, available in the archives of the Morris County Park Commission.
Wheeler moved to the U.S. in 1846 or 1847 and stayed until the 1860s, after which he returned to London.
Personal life Wheeler's father, who was also named Gervase, worked as a manufacturer of gold, silver and gilded jewelry from 1832 to 1844. London directories indicate he worked at 28 Bartlett's Buildings in Holborn, then just outside London.
In 1855, he stated that "the desire to build, to have a home of one's own is implanted in the breast of every American, and I fancy statistics would show that the number of those who own homesteads in this country far exceeds England."
Selected architectural works Henry Boody House, Brunswick, Maine (1848–49)Tribert and O'Gorman, 24–25 Olmstead House, East Hartford, Connecticut (1849, the design of which inspired The Willows, Morristown, New Jersey) Edward Bartlett House, Rockwood Hall, Mount Pleasant, New York (1849)Tribert and O'Gorman, 40 Joshua Newton Perkins House, Norwich, Connecticut (1850–51)Tribert and O'Gorman, 61 Insurance Company of North America Building, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1850) Tribert and O'Gorman, 47 First Presbyterian Church, Owego, New York (1854)Tribert and O'Gorman, 72 Patrick Barry House, Rochester, New York (1856–58)Tribert and O'Gorman, 83 Chapel at Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts (1856–59) Tribert and O'Gorman, 76
References
Bibliography Home for the people, in suburb and country 1855 The choice of a dwelling 1871 Renée Tribert and James F. O’Gorman, Gervase Wheeler: A British Architect in America, 1847–1860 (Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2012).