Background
Mlton B. Medary was born in 1874 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.
Mlton B. Medary was born in 1874 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.
He studied architecture at the University of Pennsylvania.
After a few years of additional training in draftsmanship, 1894-98, he began practice as a member of the firm of Field & Medary, and after 1905, when the partnership was dissolved, carried on his work alone for a number of years. One of his early independent works which received very favorable comment was the Gothic Memorial Chapel at Valley Forge, 1905, while the beautiful Carillon Tower, built for the Edward Bok Bird Sanctuary at Mountain Lake, Florida, won national recognition with the award of the A. I. A. Gold Medal in 1929.
In 1910 Mr. Medary joined C. C. Zantzinger and the late Charles L. Borie in organizing the firm of which he continued a member the rest of his life. During this period the firm's work included several public buildings, notable examples of which were the Pennsylvania Athletic Club, Philadelphia: Fidelity Mutual Life Insurance Co., Philadelphia: Art Club and the Rittenhouse Club, Philadelphia; Cosmos Club, Washington, D. C.; Dormitory Buildings at Princeton University; Hospital Buildings in Philadelphia and Bryn Mawr.
Mr. Medary was also associated with Paul Cret on the Detroit Institute of Fine Arts, 1921, and during another period served as Consulting Architect to Columbia University, and to the Roosevelt Association on restoration of buildings at Mt. Vernon.
During the first World War Mr. Medary was appointed Chairman of the U. S. Housing Corporation, in charge of planning homes for industrial workers in Bethlehem and Pittsburgh. During President Coolidge's administration he served in 1926 on the National Park and Planning Commission at Washington, which subsequently led to his appointment on the Board of Architectural Consultants of the U. S. Treasury Department, engaged on problems relating to the development and improvement of the City of Washington. Later the Board named Mr. Medary's firm as architects for the new Justice Department Building in the capitol city, his last and most important commission on which he was engaged at the time of his decease.
From 1899 when he was elected to the A. I. A., Mr. Medary continued an active member of the Institute throughout his career, advanced to Fellowship in 1910, and after being chosen President in 1926 served two years in that high office. He also was a past-president of the Philadelphia Chapter, and a prominent member of the society.