Sweet Auburn: The Magazine of the Friends of Mount Auburn President Bill Clendaniel Retires | Page 26

People and Happenings
A Perfect Dovetail:
Bill Barry Appointed Vice President
of Preservation & Facilities)
B y Stephen H. Anable, Communications Coordinator & Writer
If a blueprint designating the “specs” require d
for the new post of Vice President of Preservation & Facili-
ties at Mount Auburn existed, it would dovetail perfectly
with the background and passions of William (Bill) Barry.
A preservation architect, Bill joined the Cemetery’s staff
on February 1, 2008. He had previously spent nearly a year
consulting with Mount Auburn, leading the Preservation
Initiative, a thirteen-month-long effort by Trustees, staff
and outside experts to articulate a preservation philosophy
and begin to create an inventory and planning tool for the
Cemetery’s preservation challenges. At the same time, Bill
was shepherding the Administration Building and its inhab-
itants through a complex HVAC upgrade project. Through
it all—the drop-cloths and tents, drilling and plaster dust,
the phalanx of workers and the protective plastic carpeting
squeaking underfoot—Bill remained his chipper, upbeat,
informative self.
Bill is excited to work at Mount Auburn—with both its
structures and its people. “Mount Auburn has a tremendous
collection of historic structures and works of art—and of
people, who are diverse in their expertise and their person-
alities.” He is enjoying working with staff in preservation,
historical collections, planning, and facilities maintenance.
Previously Bill worked at the renowned Boston firm of
Shepley Bulfinch Richardson & Abbott for 22 years. (The
firm was founded by H. H. Richardson, and Bill’s early
work there was under the guidance of one of his descen-
dents, Daniel Coolidge, who is buried at Mount Auburn.)
For much of his time at Shepley Bulfinch, Bill worked on
many historic public libraries, including the mammoth,
multi-year restoration of the 19th-century classic Beaux Arts
masterpiece, the Boston Public Library in Copley Square.
Highlights of the
effort included the res-
toration of the famous
murals by John Singer
Sargent and Edwin
Austin Abbey, among
others. “That was some
of the most exciting
work there, to accom-
modate fine art conser-
vation in the context
of a public bid con-
struction project,” Bill
remembers. “That was
particularly challenging.”
In some instances Bill
and his colleagues got
to develop new spaces
when obsolete building systems were removed or replaced.
Of course anything new they proposed had to harmonize
or echo the old.