wrkon.] 326 [Dec. 21, 
Tt was in this close personal relation with Mr. Walter that the writer 
learned to know, to love and to respect him; to cement a friendship and 
té acquire an admiration for him which never were broken 
Mr. Walter continued his connection with the architectural department 
of the City Hall until his death, which took place at 7 A.M., on Sunday, 
October 30, 1887, at the ripe age of over eighty-three years. 
“The days of our age are three-score years and ten ; and though men be 
sq strong that they come to four-score years, yet is their strength then but 
labor and sorrow ; so soon passeth it away, and we are gone.” 
Providence was kind to him; and while his later years were full of 
labor and sorrow in one sense, yet the sorrow was tempered with his own 
habitual cheerfulness, the love of his family and friends, a house to cover 
his head, and provision for daily wants, if no more. 
Mr. Walter possessed naturally a vigorous and healthy constitution ; 
and although rejected at one time by a life insurance company on account 
of a supposed heart trouble, yet he told the writer once that he had never 
had an illness in his life that required the attendance of a physician. 
While in his later years, his powers gradually failed, still he held out, 
even to the end, and was up and about the house the day before he died. 
Mr. Walter was twice married ; and he had thirteen children, seven of 
whom still survive him. His descendants include thirty-four grandchil- 
dren and eleven great-grandchildren. 
Mr. Walter received the honorary degree of Master of Arts from the 
Madison University of New York, in 1849; that of Doctor of Philosophy 
from the University of Lewisburg, Pa., in 1853, and Doctor of Laws from 
Harvard University in 1857. In the year 1860, he delivered a course of 
lectures on ‘Architecture’ before the students of Columbia College, D. 
C.; and he also delivered from time to time many popular lectures on the 
same subject in Philadelphia and its vicinity. 
In 1836, he endeavored, with some others, to form an American Insti- , 
tution of Architects; but the efforts to make a permanent organization 
failed, on account of the members of the profession in this country, at that 
time, being few in number, and widely scattered. When a second effort 
was made in 1857, and the present American Institute of Architects was 
founded, Mr. Walter took an active part in the work, and continued it 
through his life. He was made a Fellow in that year, and, on the retire- 
ment of its first President, in 1876, he was elected President—an oflice he 
filled continuously from year to year until his death. Mr. Walter was 
elected a member of the Franklin Institute in 1829, and one of its Board 
of Managers in 1830. He took great interest in matters connected with 
that Institute, was a frequent contributor to the pages of its Journal, and 
was elected Professor of Architecture in 1840. The Report of the Boar 
of Managers for that year states that ‘“‘ Mr. Walter has just closed his 
series of lectures for the present season ; and the Board feel that, in bring- 
fng a mind like his, clothed with all the knowledge and experience which 
ptaces the resources of that art, both ancient and modern, tributary to the 
