William Louis Ayres (1874–November 30, 1947), better known by his professional name Louis Ayres, was an American architect who was one of the most prominent designers of monuments, memorials, and buildings in the nation in the early part of the 20th century. His style is characterized as Medievalist, often emphasizing elements of Romanesque Revival and Italian Renaissance, and Byzantine Revival architecture. He is best known for designing the United States Memorial Chapel at the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery and Memorial and the Herbert C. Hoover U.S. Department of Commerce Building. Life and career He was born in 1874 in Bergen Point, New Jersey, to Mr. and Mrs. Chester D. Ayres. He graduated from Trinity School, a preparatory school located in New York City. He attended Rutgers University, graduating in 1896 with a degree in electrical engineering. After graduation, he spent three years with the firm of McKim, Mead, and White, but left (along with several other architects in the firm) to join the firm of York and Sawyer. He became a partner in the firm in 1910. By 1921, he was one of the most prominent architects in the nation. From 1921 to 1925, he served on the prestigious U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, the federal advisory panel which had statutory approval over all major building projects in Washington, D.C. His four-year term expired in 1925, and he did not seek reappointment. The same year, he was one of the three judges on a panel which awarded the commission for the Liberty Memorial in Kansas City, Missouri, to Harold Van Buren Magonigle. In 1935, Ayres was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate member, and became a full member in 1936. Meuse-Argonne Chapel One of Ayres' most prominent commissions came in 1925, when he was asked to design a chapel for an American military cemetery in Europe. Congress created the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) in 1923 in part to consolidate the United States Department of War's divisions for military cemeteries and for stone and bronze battlefield map memorials, and in part to build, operate, and maintain American military cemeteries overseas. The ABMC was deeply influenced by Charles Moore, the chair of the Commission of Fine Arts and whose agency had final approval over the design of the cemeteries and memorials. The ABMC's plans changed and changed again over the next several years, and by 1925 it was