Background
Henry W. Hartwell was born in 1833 in Boston, Massachusetts, United States.
Henry W. Hartwell was born in 1833 in Boston, Massachusetts, United States.
He attended the Lawrence Academy at Groton, Mass.
At an early age entered the Boston office of the Billings brothers for a basic training in architecture. After continuing in the employ of the firm until 1885 Mr. Hartwell opened his own office in the city, and in the years that followed was active in practice (except for the period, 1862-64 in the Union Army during the Civil War) until his retirement shortly before his death.
In 1895 he entered into partnership with James Driver and William S.Richardson and for many years maintained one of the leading archi¬tectural offices in Boston. The firm’s work included schools and public structures of various types in Boston and elsewhere in the state of which should be cited the following: Youth's Companion Building in Boston; Academy of Music, Fall River; Town Hall at Ware, c. 1885; Laboratory and Gymnasium at Thayer Academy, Braintree; Normal Art School, Boston; Latin High School, Cambridge; Dorchester High School; High School at Springfield; Central Congregational Church, Fall River; new Municipal Building at Northampton, and in Boston the Exeter Theatre at Newbury and Exeter Streets, built originally as a Spiritualist Temple.