Arthur Hunnewell Bowditch was born May 12, 1870, in
Boston to Charles A. Bowditch and Emma F. Bowditch, née Hunnewell. After working as a
drafter for several Boston architects he established a practice of his own . From to he worked in partnership with
Edward B. Stratton under the name Bowditch & Stratton, but otherwise practiced independently. Bowditch was successful as an architect of large buildings, especially office buildings, apartment buildings and hotels. His largest office building is the Old South Building (1903), an elaborate
Neoclassical building adjacent to the
Old South Meeting House. Others include the
Vermont Building (1904,
NRHP-listed), with Stratton, the
Blake Building (1908,
NRHP-listed), the
Publicity Building (1916,
NRHP-listed) and the
Transit Building (1919). His most distinctive apartment building is The Stoneholm (1907) in
Brookline, completed with Stratton. Architectural historian Douglass Shand-Tucci described it as "the most magnificent building of its type in Greater Boston–a splendid Baroque extravanganza that holds the high ground...with great distinction." Hotels included the Hotel Essex (1899), now the Plymouth Rock Building, the
Lenox Hotel (1900) and the former Fritz-Carlton Hotel (1903), now the main building of the
Berklee College of Music. He also designed
apartment hotels, including The Somerset (1899) and the former
Myles Standish Hotel (1926), now a
Boston University dormitory. Among his latest works was the
Paramount Theatre (1932), the last
movie palace built in Boston and a rare example of
Art Deco architecture in his portfolio. Bowditch was not known as an architect of homes, though he designed a few. Smaller examples are the
House at 12–16 Corey Road (1896,
NRHP-listed) in
Brookline and the
Mayall Bruner House (1923,
NRHP-listed) in
Newton. The largest was the
Loren Towle Estate (1923,
NRHP-listed) in Newton, a
Jacobethan mansion built for the developer of the Publicity Building. Towle died shortly before construction was completed and the house is now occupied, with additions, by the
Newton Country Day School. Bowditch worked primarily but not exclusively in
Greater Boston. Works elsewhere include the
Elton Hotel (1905), with Stratton in association with
Griggs & Hunt, in
Waterbury, Connecticut, the Woolworth Building (1921) in
Providence, Rhode Island, the former Towle High School (1925) in
Newport and the
Pleasant View Home (1927,
NRHP-listed) in
Concord, New Hampshire. Bowditch, like many of his contemporaries, was stylistically
eclectic, selecting
revival styles for his buildings according to his or his clients' wants. Only late in his career, in designing the Paramount Theatre, did he consider a more modern style such as
Art Deco. ==Personal life==