Background
Frank Miles Day was born in 1861 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.
Frank Miles Day was born in 1861 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.
The youth studied architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, and after he graduated spent several years in European travel and supplementary study. While in London he attended the Royal Academy’s School of Architecture, and acquired professional experience in the office of Basil Champneys.
Returning to Philadelphia in 1887 Mr. Day established his own office in the city, and shortly after won recognition for his design of the Philadelphia Art Club, later called the Art Alliance. Through five years he carried on a general practice, his best known works comprising an Office Building for the American Baptist Publishing Company, other business and public structures and a number of residences
In the second phase of his career between 1892 and 1912 he was associated in partnership with his elder brother, H. Kent Day, and during that period designed Freshman Dormitories and the Dining Hall group at Princeton University, his initial success in the field of Collegiate Gothic, bringing added renown in subsequent years.
In 1912, following his brother's retirement from practice, Mr. Day joined Charles Z. Klauder in partnership, continuing under the firm name to specialize in designing academic and educational buildings. At Cornell University Day & Klauder were architects of Prudence Risley Hall, at Yale Sterling Hall of Medicine, at the University of Pennsylvania the Gymnasium, 1904 in free Collegiate style, and were co-architects with Walter Cope and Wilson Eyre on the Archaeological Museum at the University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Day also served as Consulting or Supervising Architect for other colleges, including the University of Chicago, Penn State and Delaware College.
In addition to professional practice Mr. Day in his later years wrote many articles of architectural interest, lectured at both Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania, and at one time was Professor of Perspective Drawing at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.
A prominent member and Fellow of the A.I.A., in 1906 elected to the office of President of the Institute.