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Nathan Hale Middle School in Norwalk, completed in 1952.
New Canaan High School, completed in 1971.

Austin W. Mather FAIA (1904–1994) was an American architect in practice in Bridgeport, Connecticut from 1939 until the 1980s.

Life and career

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Austin Wheeler Mather was born December 13, 1904 in Norwalk, Connecticut to Harry Wakefield Mather and Maude (Wheeler) Mather. He was educated at the Pratt Institute (Pratt) in Brooklyn, graduating in 1927, with further instruction at the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design. He worked as a drafter for architects Lee & Hewitt and Starrett & van Vleck until 1931, when he returned to Connecticut. He taught at Pratt from 1927 to 1928, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1937 to 1938 and again at Pratt from 1938 to 1940. In between these teaching engagements he worked with his former Pratt classmate, Thomas J. Lyons, in his office in Bridgeport, and in 1939 they formed a partnership, Lyons & Mather. During World War II, from 1941 to 1944, Mather served on the ordnance staff of the United States Army. With the exception of another period of teaching at the University of Bridgeport from 1946 to 1948, Mather focused on the practice of architecture for the rest of his career.

Lyons & Mather developed a practice based chiefly on the design of schools and other institutional projects. In 1952 they formed an association with New London architect H. Eugene Grieshaber to open a branch office in that city, and the local office of Lyons, Mather & Grieshaber was active until Grieshaber's death in 1960. In 1966 the firm admitted George J. Lechner, an employee since 1955, as a junior partner. In 1969 he became an equal partner and the firm was renamed Lyons, Mather & Lechner. In 1970 an office was established in Nashua, New Hampshire with Lechner as local partner. Later the main office was moved to Stratford and a third office was established at Wendell, near Raleigh, North Carolina. In 1979 Lyons died, and in 1983 operations were consolidated in the Stratford office.

Architectural works

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Notes

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  1. ^ Originally intended as a joint venture between Lyons & Mather, Desmond & Lord and Paul Rudolph, the building was designed by Lyons & Mather alone after community backlash caused Rudolph to resign from the project.[7]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e "Mather, Austin Wheeler" in American Architects Directory (New York: R. R. Bowker Company, 1956): 371.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Lyons, Thomas Joseph" in American Architects Directory (New York: R. R. Bowker Company, 1970): 566.
  3. ^ Greens Farms School NRHP Registration Form (1991)
  4. ^ a b c d e f "Lyons, Thomas J." in American Architects Directory (New York: R. R. Bowker Company, 1962): 438.
  5. ^ a b c d "Mather, Austin Wheeler" in American Architects Directory (New York: R. R. Bowker Company, 1970): 605.
  6. ^ "Lechner, George John" in American Architects Directory (New York: R. R. Bowker Company, 1970): 530.
  7. ^ "New Canaan, Land of the Homely Bilk" in Progressive Architecture 48, no. 3 (March 1967): 56-57.
  8. ^ Engineering News-Record 180, no. 1 (January 4, 1968): 45.
  9. ^ Jonathan Kandell, "Arnold Bernhard Arts–Humanities Center Opens in Bridgeport," New York Times, April 6, 1972, 49.
  10. ^ Engineering News–Record 185 (1970): 38.
  11. ^ Engineering News–Record 188 (1972): 51.
  12. ^ Engineering News–Record 186 (1971): 58.
  13. ^ Claudette Durocher, "Architects Get Go-Ahead on Schematic Plans," Nashua Telegraph, November 20, 1970, 1.
  14. ^ D. K. Pinsonneault, "Architects Cite City's Losses In Planning New High School," Nashua Telegraph, December 17, 1973, 1 and 12.
  15. ^ Andy Bickford, "Thousands Attend NHS Dedication," Nashua Telegraph, October 27, 1975, 1 and 8.
  16. ^ Engineering News–Record 196 (1976): 774.
  17. ^ "Senior High Architects Picked for Amherst Street Renovations," Nashua Telegraph, December 23, 1977, 8..
  18. ^ Engineering News–Record 206 (1981): 125.
  19. ^ Engineering News–Record 204 (1980)
  20. ^ Engineering News–Record 214 (February 14, 1985): 80.