Education and Career
Richard like many early architects, learned building design as an apprentice. He studied mechanical engineering in New York City under John Ericsson, the inventor of the Civil War ironclad USS Monitor.
Waite returned to Buffalo in 1874 as a fully trained architect. His 1869 marriage to Sarah Holloway, daughter of local contractor Isaac Holloway, afforded him several public works commissions. In 1876, he made architectural history by hiring Louise Blanchard Bethune as a draftsman. She went on to become the first professional woman architect in the United States.
Although Waite built many homes in the Buffalo area, some of his best-known commissions were in Canada and Scotland.
A list of some of Waite's accomplishments:
- Pierce's Palace Hotel, Buffalo, New York, 1878 - on Porter Avenue; burned down 1881 now site of D'Youville College campus at Prospect Park
- Walden-Myer Mausoleum, Forest Lawn Cemetery, Buffalo, New York
- Buffalo German Insurance Company, Buffalo, New York, 1875 - located at Main and Lafayette Square; demolished ca. 1957 and replaced by Tishman Building
- Birk's Building Hamilton, Ontario 1883 - later as Canada Life Insurance Head Office, demolished 1972 (now part of Gore Park)
- Birks "Clock of the Charging Horsemen" restored nearby in 1986
- Canada Life Assurance Company Building, Montreal, Quebec 1898 - now St. Regis condos
- Grand Trunk Railway Company Limited Building, Montreal 1906 - 360 ru McGill now Édifice Gérald-Godin (home to Ministry of Immigration and Cultural Communities)
- Ontario Legislative Buildings, Toronto 1892
Mr. Waite also helped design the Oliver Opera House in South Bend, Indiana. This opera house was built by James and Joseph Doty Oliver, both founders of the Oliver Chilled Plow Works located in South Bend, Indiana. James Oliver was the inventor of the Chilled Plow.
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