WALKER, FRANK RAY (29 Sept. 1877-9 July 1949), with HARRY E. WEEKS, founded the architectural firm Walker & Weeks. He was born in Pittsfield, Mass., son of Frank and Helen Theresa (Ranous) Walker, and graduated from MIT in 1900. He studied at the Atelier of Monsieur Redon in Paris and lived a year in Italy. Walker then practiced architecture in Boston, New York, and Pittsburgh before moving to Cleveland in 1905 to join the firm of J. MILTON DYER, which had been commissioned to design a city hall for Cleveland as part of the Group Plan. Both Walker and Weeks worked for Dyer; they established their own practice in 1911. They completed 60 bank buildings throughout Ohio. In Cleveland, they designed major commercial, public, and religious structures in classical revival styles, including Bingham Co. Warehouse (1915); Guardian Bldg. renovation (1915); PUBLIC AUDITORIUM (1922); FEDERAL RESERVE BANK (1923); CLEVELAND PUBLIC LIBRARY (1925); EPWORTH-EUCLID METHODIST CHURCH, with architect Bertram Goodhue (1928); First Baptist Church in Shaker Hts. (1929); ST. PAUL'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH in Cleveland Hts. (1929); Pearl St. Savings & Trust; and CLEVELAND MUNICIPAL STADIUM with OSBORN ENGINEERING CO. (1931). Walker also played a major role establishing design and planning standards for Cleveland as the first professional advisor to the City Planning Commission and a member of that body 10 years. He assisted the development of GATES MILLS as president of the Gates Mills Improvement Society (1917-19) and the village's first mayor (1920-24). He was a trustee of St. Christopher's Episcopal Church of Gates Mills.
Walker married Katharine Tollett Stone in 1915. They had two children: Richard Stone and Joan. He died in Cleveland and was buried in LAKE VIEW CEMETERY.
Walker & Weeks Records, WRHS.