Background
David Knickerbocker Boyd was born in 1873 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.
David Knickerbocker Boyd was born in 1873 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.
David was educated at the Friends’ Central School and the Spring Garden Academy. Later in preparation for a career in architecture, he studied at the Fine Arts Academy School, and the Department of Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania.
In 1892, following a period of employment as a draftsman with a number of the city’s leading architects, Mr. Boyd joined his brother Lawrence in a partnership, and under the name of Boyd & Boyd maintained a joint office for five years. Then, after several subsequent years of independent practice, in 1920 he organized the firm of Boyd, Abel & Gogert, and continued that association until 1935 when he withdrew to carry on his work alone. Mr. Boyd's architectural works comprised a variety of buildings, among which should be named the Southwark Branch of the Philadelphia Public Library; Office Building and factory for the White Steamship Company, Philadelphia, the Central Baptist Church at Wayne, Pa., and Township Schools at Radnor, Pa. He also won wide recognition in the field of residential architecture as the designer of many distinctive homes for clients, notable examples of which were the buildings on the estate of C. S. Walton at St. Davids, Pa. During another and different phase of his career, Mr. Boyd made a name for himself as a writer and lecturer on "The Economics of Construction," and was sometimes referred to as the "Structural Standardise' At one time an Editor of the Structural Service Section of the Journal of the A. I. A., he later served as Architectural Advisor to the Structural Service Bureau.
A member of the Philadelphia Chapter, A. I.. A. since 1899, he was pro¬moted to Institute Fellowship in 1908, served a term as Vice-President of the Institute, and in 1914 was chosen Secretary. During his term in that important office Mr. Boyd devoted his efforts toward re-organization of the business administration of the Institute and the installation of a more modern system.