HARRY LESLIE WALKER Harry Leslie Walker was an architect who changed the face of central Bronxville during the formative boom years between 1913 and 1942. He began his life in 1877 in the small town of Oak Park, Illinois, nine miles west of Chicago where he was exposed to the work of some of the greatest American architects of the period. A series of teenage jobs in architectural offices, including a brief stint in Frank Lloyd Wright's, reinforced Walker's artistic talents. After training at the Armour Institute of Technology and the Chicago Art Institute, Walker received his BS degree in 1900 from M.I.T. The young architect spent almost a decade in Atlanta, Georgia, designing notable public buildings before moving his practice to New York and his home to Meadowdale in Bronxville in 1910. By 1914 he had built the Pondfield Court apartments and was soon to design private homes for his friend, horticulturist Herbert Durand, and for himself at 25 and 21 Sycamore Street, respectively. In 1918 he designed and built an English-style country house at 30 Elm Rock Road, set among gardens, where he resided for the rest of his life. Walker designed three of the four prominent structures enhancing the beauty of Bronxville's "Four Corners". First Bronxville's school, then the Reformed Church and finally the Library on the corners of Pondfield and Midland Roads, creating a significant civic square. For the Bronxville School, Walker designed two separate but similar brick buildings in a graceful collegiate-Gothic style in collaboration with the firm of Guilbert and Betelle. The elementary and high schools were completed in 1924, and by 1930, the two buildings were successfully linked with the majestic central section, also designed by Walker. Across Pondfield, Walker's designs for the Norman-Gothic stone Reformed Church edifice were executed during 1925-1926. When the 1906 village hall-library complex near the train station became outmoded, it was Walker who produced the handsome Georgian-style brick library across from architect Randloph Evan's stately new Village Hall both dedicated in 1942. Locally, Walker was an early member of the Planning Commission, which drew up the first Village zoning laws, and for years served as the advisory architect. From his New York City offices, Walker became nationally known for versatile plans for hospitals, schools, banks, clubs, offices and private homes. As a matter of fact Bronxville's original Gramatan National Bank building designed by Walker survives today as the Bank of New York on Kraft Avenue. <<Previous • Chapter List