Writer, editor and architect, Herbert C. Wise was born in Philadelphia, the son of bookkeeper John Whittier Wise and Emma Lucretia (Thomas) Wise. He graduated from the Philadelphia Manual Training School in 1890 and undertook some classes at the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art (1890/91; 1891/92) while beginning a long association with several of the best-known Philadelphia architects, including Wilson Eyre, T. Roney Williamson, Cope & Stewardson, and Frank Miles Day. In 1901 he was one of three editors, along with Eyre and Day, of the original House and Garden and in 1905 moved to Boston, MA, in order to edit and publish another architectural magazine, Indoors and Out. From 1908 to 1916 he maintained his own architectural office in Philadelphia, but in 1916 returned to Frank Miles Day, working with the office of Day & Klauder. Following Day's death, he remained with Charles Z. Klauder through 1940, when he retired.

Although most of Wise's individual work concentrated on the design of residences and schools in the environs of Philadelphia, he was chiefly concerned with collegiate architecture during his time with Day & Klauder and worked with the firm on such projects as Wellesley College, Princeton University, and the University of Colorado.

Wise was elected secretary to the T-Square Club in 1898 and as a member of the AIA in 1918.

Written by Sandra L. Tatman.