Walter Atherton (1863–1945)[1] was an architect and draftsman[2] born in Stoughton, Massachusetts, United States.
A Harvard alumnus,[3] he also studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology[4] in Cambridge and at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris for two years.
His stepmother, Mary, shares her grave at Evergreen Cemetery in Stoughton with her husband and his first wife.
His paternal uncle, Samuel Atherton (1815–1895),[11][12][13] is credited with having greatly improved the financial standing of the family, having established himself in business as a retail dealer in boots and shoes, first entering into partnership with Caleb Stetson, then admitting his two younger brothers, James (1819–1879)[14] and William, as partners in 1852.
[16] His paternal grandfather, Samuel Atherton [17] (1784–1877), was a founding member of the Stoughton Musical Society.
Atherton received a preparatory education at Phillips Academy in Andover and completed his academic studies at Harvard University in architecture in 1885.
[22] Their competitors William R. Walker & Son's design was chosen to build the Cranston Street Armory.
In 1908, as an Associate Architect for Hale he was successful in competing for the design of the Pawtucket YMCA in Rhode Island.
[24][25] He set up his own company, with the red brick Georgian Revival YMCA, at 207 Shurtleff Street being an early project.
[26] In 1909, The Harvard Graduates’ Magazine reported that he was responsible for the design of the new YMCA in Chelsea, Massachusetts.
Grace was a wealthy widow and the daughter of C. Hubbard Hackett, President of the Bank of the Metropolis in New York.
Having lost both his parents during his early years, he came under the guardianship of his uncle William and his aunt Mary Edwards Atherton; the later whom he travelled with to Liverpool, England, prior to commencing his architectural studies in Paris.