Background
William Ernest Walker was born in 1869 in Covington, Kentucky, United States.
William Ernest Walker was born in 1869 in Covington, Kentucky, United States.
He was educated in public and private schools in Kentucky, afterward entered Yale University, where in 1891 he graduated B.S. in Architecture.
Mr. Walker secured a position as draftsman in the Chicago office of Henry Ives Cobb and continued work there until 1897. Then after five subsequent years engaged as Supervisor of Construction for the Chicago City Board of Education, he established his own office, devoting his time to planning large commercial buildings and a number of fire-proof Apartment houses. Among the latter was the nine-story building at #136 Lake Shore Drive (believed the first in the city to be built with a Penthouse), and the Tower Apartments in Walton Place.