William A. Bates

The quiet, modest and retiring disposition of William A. Bates, his reticence in conversation, left even his professional associates sometimes puzzled at his professional success. It was unmistakably true that throughout his active career the public sought the architect, not the architect the public. He was a pioneer in directing the people’s attention, through his own designs, to the English cottage outlines which he successfully adapted to present day requirements. In his country houses, for which he was better known than for his larger works, his buildings were so admirably adjusted to their surroundings as perhaps to symbolize the grace and harmony of his own unspoken meditations.

Alexander Dana Noyes
1923 Century Association Yearbook