William Graves Perry was born on November 8, 1883, in
Boston to Charles French Perry and Georgianna West (Graves) Perry. He was educated at
Harvard University and the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, graduating from the latter in 1907. After a few months with architects
Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge he traveled to
Paris, where he sat for and passed the entrance examinations for the
École des Beaux-Arts. He earned his
diplôme in 1913 and returned to the United States. In Boston he returned to Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge while also teaching design at the
Boston Architectural Club. In 1923 Perry merged his practice with that of
T. Mott Shaw and
Andrew Hopewell Hepburn, established in 1921, to form the new firm of
Perry, Shaw & Hepburn. In 1949 they were joined by partners Christopher M. Kehoe and
Robert C. Dean in the renamed Perry, Shaw & Hepburn, Kehoe & Dean. After Kehoe's sudden death in 1952, the firm became Perry, Shaw, Hepburn & Dean. Both Shaw and Hepburn retired in 1962, though it was not until 1968 that the firm was reorganized as Perry, Dean & Stewart with the addition of Clifford D. Stewart. Perry retired from practice in 1974, leaving his partners in charge. Other important works in the Colonial style include major buildings for
Brown University,
Furman University and
Harvard University and a major extension to the
Jordan Marsh building in Boston. After
World War II the firm began completing many
Modern buildings, the design of which were usually led by Robert C. Dean, though Perry also embraced, to a degree, the Modern movement. ==Personal life==