Frederick P. Dinkelberg

Edit links
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Frederick P. Dinkelberg
BornJune 30, 1858
Santa Fe Building
Heyworth Building
Wanamaker's
Land Title Building
Fourth & Walnut Center

Frederick Philip Dinkelberg (June 30, 1858 – February 10, 1935) was an American architect best known for being Daniel Burnham's associate for the design of the Flatiron Building in New York City. Other important projects he worked on include, Chicago's Railway Exchange and the Jewelers' Building, and Philadelphia and New York's Wanamaker's Department Stores.

Life and career

Dinkelberg was born on June 30, 1858, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, to Maria Imer (1832–1872), who was supposedly an Italian Countess, and well-to-do contractor Philip Dinkelberg (1832–1886) who was born at Ramsen in Rheinland-Pfalz. Frederick grew up in privileged surroundings, and studied architecture at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia.

In 1881, he began his career as a practicing architect in New York City, where he would remain for 10 years. While there, he designed a 26-story skyscraper in lower Manhattan, on

Saint Nicholas Avenue in Sugar Hill in Harlem, which are "among the finest" in the Hamilton Heights/Sugar Hill Historic District and Extension.[6] In 1898, Dinkelberg's submitted design for a new building for Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn was published in American Architect and Building News. The submission, which was not chosen for construction, was a tall French-inspired H-plan building topped by a mansard roof and cupola.[7]

While in New York, Dinkelberg met

Santa Fe Building, also known as Railway Exchange Building, a 17-story office building built in 1903–1904 and today part of the Historic Michigan Boulevard District,[8] and the Heyworth Building, a 19-story office building which is now a Chicago landmark
.

When Burnham was commissioned by

Madison Square in Manhattan, Burnham had numerous other projects he was already working on, and he assigned Dinkelberg to what was then called the "Fuller Building", but which would gain fame as the Flatiron Building. The extent of Dinkelberg's responsibility for the details of the design of the Flatiron Building is not known, and the design was credited at the time to "D.H. Burnham & Co."[3]

During his years with Burnham, Dinkelberg designed the

Railway Exchange, Heyworth Building, Edison Building[10][11] (originally known as Commercial National Bank Building until 1912),[12] and Conway buildings, Chicago.[13] Dinkelberg served as Daniel Burnham's chief designer for 7 years.[13] In 1898 Dinkelberg also designed and built a model aluminum streamlined train.[14]

Dinkelberg moved to Mill Valley, California (Marin County) in 1912, not returning to Evanston, IL until 1915.[15][16][17] He maintained an office at 1005 Chronicle Building, San Francisco and received a California certificate to practice architecture in early 1914.[18] He most likely was there to assist in the design of the Panama–Pacific International Exposition.

Later with Joachim Giæver, Dinkelberg was the co-designer of the 35 East Wacker Building in Chicago, built in 1925–1927 and a designated Chicago landmark since February 9, 1994.[19] Giæver and Dinkelberg were also involved in the design of Grand Park Centre, also known as the Michigan Mutual Building, in Detroit, Michigan in 1922.

Dinkelberg amassed a fortune during his career, which he invested in utility stocks, which lost all value in the Wall Street Crash of 1929. He and his wife, Emily Dunn Dinkelberg, sold their house in Evanston, Illinois. When Dinkelberg died in Chicago on February 10, 1935, at the age of 76, the couple was on relief and living in a small apartment. Dinkelberg's funeral was paid for by friends and colleagues at the Chicago branch of the American Institute of Architects.[20][14][21] p. 71

Dinkelberg's tombstone in Wunder's Cemetery reports Feb 10, 1934 as date of death, one year in error.[22] Dinkelberg's wife, Emily, destitute and living in an "old peoples' home" died 10 years later July 3, 1945. Her body remained unclaimed for over a week and was about to be donated to a medical school when a Chicago attorney brought the matter to the Tribune.[23] The following day her body was claimed by the A.I.A. and they paid for her burial next to Fred. Her grave is unmarked.

References

  1. ^ "American Architects' Biographies: Surnames beginning with letter D" Archived 2010-12-18 at the Wayback Machine Society of Architectural Historians website. Accessed: 2011-01-29
  2. ^ "The Builder" Tax Facts (February 1935)
  3. ^ a b Alexiou, pp. 47–48
  4. ^ "The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, February 14, 1892, Morning, Image 6". 14 February 1892. p. 6.
  5. ^ "Beautifying the Battery". Charleston News & Courier. January 9, 1893. p. 8. Retrieved October 1, 2012.
  6. ISBN 978-0-470-28963-1
    ., pp. 191–192
  7. ^ American Architect and Building News (February 5, 1898)
  8. ^ Clarke, Jane H., Saliga, Pauline A. and Zukowsky, John. The Sky's the Limit: A Century of Chicago Skyscrapers Archived 2010-12-18 at the Wayback Machine, New York: Rizzoli International, 1990
  9. ^ "18 East Fourth Street". Cincinnati City Wide. Retrieved November 4, 2021.
  10. hdl:2027/uc1.b2875452
    .
  11. ^ "Search Results - dinkelberg". Ryerson and Burnham Libraries and Archives. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
  12. ^ "Commercial National Bank Building". City of Chicago. Retrieved November 4, 2021.
  13. ^ a b "Who's who in Chicago; the book of Chicagoans, a biographical dictionary of leading living men and women of the city of Chicago and environs". Chicago, A. N. Marquis & company. 1905.
  14. ^ a b "Chicago Tribune - Historical Newspapers".
  15. ^ "Handbook for architects and builders". Chicago. 1898.
  16. ^ "Handbook for architects and builders". Chicago. 1898.
  17. ^ "Handbook for architects and builders". Chicago. 1898.
  18. ^ "The Pacific coast architect". 1911.
  19. ^ Commission on Chicago Landmarks Chicago Landmarks Archived 2008-02-27 at the Wayback Machine (2008) p. 16
  20. ^ Alexiou, p. 260
  21. ^ http://provincetownhistoryproject.com/PDF/pil_000_010-scrapbook-provincetown-and-cape-cod-book-4.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  22. ^ "Frederick Philip Dinkelberg (1858-1935) - Find A". Find a Grave.
  23. ^ Chicago Tribune, July 14, 1945, p.10

Further reading

  • Alexiou, Alice Sparberg (2010). The Flatiron: The New York Landmark and the Incomparable City that Arose With It. New York:
    ISBN 978-0-312-38468-5
    .
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Frederick_P._Dinkelberg&oldid=1185259090"