Background
Edmund R. Willson was born in 1865 in Roxbury (now a part of Boston), Massachussets, United States.
Edmund R. Willson was born in 1865 in Roxbury (now a part of Boston), Massachussets, United States.
He received an academic education at Harvard, and following graduation in 1875, entered Boston tech as an architectural student, later studied in Paris at the Ecole des Beaux Arts.
Beginning a professional career in Providence, Mr. Willson established an independent office, and among his early works the Fleur de Lys Building (1886) was probably the most important. Later, in 1890, he joined the firm of Stone & Carpenter (established in 1873), and in the succeeding years assisted in designing the following buildings in Providence. Public Library, c.1900; Pendelton Museum; Provident Institute of Savings; Central Police Station and District Court; Pembroke Hall at Brown University, and in addition many private homes. At the time of his death he was a member of the firm of Stone, Carpenter & Wilson.