Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the son of author William Dean Howells, he earned an undergraduate degree from Harvard University in 1891 and completed further architectural studies there in 1894 before studying at the École des Beaux-Arts, in Paris, where he earned a diploma in 1897.
Howells moved to New York City and founded the architectural firm Howells & Stokes with Isaac Newton Phelps Stokes, who had also studied at the École.
These projects include the prize-winning design of the Tribune Tower in Chicago and the Daily News Building in New York City. Howells also designed the Beekman (Panhellenic) Tower in New York and the plan for the University of Brussels in Belgium in 1922 at the request of United States. Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover. Howells"s institutional works include the Engineering Quadrangle at Pratt Institute, built in phases from 1909 to 1928.
Memorial Hall at Pratt Institute in 1927.
And Willoughby Hall at Pratt Institute in 1957. Howells served as president of the Society of Beaux-Arts Architects and the Society of Architects Diplômes.
Howells wrote several books on architectural history. In 1944 he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate Academician.
John Mead Howells has been listed as a notable architect by Marquis Who's Who.
Member National Fine Arts Commission, Washington. Sent to Belgium, 1922, by President Hoover’s relief organization as commissioner to lay out plans for University of Brussels. (Fellow) The American Institute of Architects.
Member National Institute Arts and Letters, Society Beaux-Arts Architects (ex-president), Society Architects Diplomes, by French Government (ex-president).
Clubs: Century, Harvard.
Married Abby McDougall White, December 21, 1907. Children: William White, John Noyes Mead.
