Horace Trumbauer

Horace Trumbauer (December 28, 1868 – September 18, 1938) was a prominent American architect of the Gilded Age, known for designing residential manors for the wealthy. Later in his career he also designed hotels, office buildings, and much of the campus of Duke University.

His work made him a wealthy man, but his buildings rarely received positive critical recognition. Today, however, he is hailed as one of America's premier architects, with his buildings drawing critical acclaim even to this day.

Early life and education Trumbauer was born in Philadelphia, the son of Josiah Blyler Trumbauer, a salesman, and Mary Malvina (Fable) Trumbauer. He lived in Jenkintown from 1881 until his marriage in 1903. He attended Jenkintown schools and completed a six-year apprenticeship with G. W. & W. D. Hewitt, and opened his own architectural office at age 21 in 1891. He did some work for developers Wendell and Smith, designing houses for middle-class planned communities, including the Overbrook Farms and Wayne Estate developments.

Career Grey Towers Castle (1893), Trumbauer's first major commission, is the centerpiece of Arcadia University in Glenside, Pennsylvania. Trumbauer's first major commission was Grey Towers Castle, constructed in 1893, and designed for sugar magnate William Welsh Harrison; its exterior was based on Alnwick Castle in Northumberland, England, but its interiors were French, ranging in style from the Renaissance to Louis XV eras. Harrison introduced him to the streetcar tycoon and real-estate developer Peter A. B. Widener, whose 110-room Georgian-revival palace, Lynnewood Hall (1897–1900), launched Trumbauer's successful career. When it opened in 1928, the building was criticized as being vastly overscaled and nicknamed "the great Greek garage". But, perched on Fairmount Hill and terminating the axis of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, it is now considered to be the most magnificently situated museum in the United States.

In 1923, Trumbauer was hired by the Reading Company to design the Jenkintown Train Station. A fine example of Queen Anne revival architecture, it still stands today as the Jenkintown-Wyncote station and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2014. His work was also part of the architecture event in the art competition at the 1928 Summer Olympics.

In 1933, Trumbauer was commissioned to build an ornate Ancien-Regime French style mansion for Herbert Nathan Straus, the youngest son of Macy's founder Isidor Straus. Built in limestone with intricate carvings on the façade, the Herbert N. Straus House is now the largest private residence in Manhattan. The mansion exemplifies the classic but opulent style requested of industry barons of that time.

Death

Despite tremendous success and his apparent ability to impress wealthy clients, Trumbauer suffered from overwhelming shyness and a sense of inferiority about his lack of formal education. He had a number of commissions until the Great Depression, but began to drink heavily, and died of cirrhosis of the liver in 1938. Lynnewood Hall (Peter A. B. Widener mansion), Elkins Park, Pennsylvania (1897–1900) J. Harper Smith Mansion, library, Somerville, New Jersey (1898) Elstowe Manor (William L. Elkins mansion), Elkins Park, Pennsylvania (1898) Edward C. Knight townhouse, 1629 Locust Street, Philadelphia (1902) Georgian Terrace (George F. Tyler mansion), Elkins Park, Pennsylvania (1905) (now Stella Elkins Tyler School of Art, Temple University) John C. Bell House, Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia (1906) Isle Field (mansion), Villanova, Pennsylvania (1911) (now offices of Agnes Irwin School) Ardrossan, Radnor, Pennsylvania (1913) Bloomfield, Villanova, Pennsylvania Whitemarsh Hall (Edward T. Stotesbury mansion), Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania (1916–21, demolished 1980) Ronaele Manor (Fitz Eugene Dixon mansion), Elkins Park, Pennsylvania (1923–26, demolished 1974). Mrs. Dixon was Eleanor Widener; the mansion's name is hers spelled backward. La Salle College Christian Brothers owned the mansion from 1950 to 1974, renaming it Anselm Hall. Woodcrest Mansion, 610 King of Prussia Rd. Radnor Township, Pennsylvania (1901 - 1907) 141 Pelham Rd., W. Mt. Airy, Philadelphia (source: Germantown Historical Society) 209 Pelham Rd., W. Mt. Airy, Philadelphia (source: Germantown Historical Society) Katherine Craig Wright Muckl Mansion, 11 Coopertown Rd, Haverford, Pennsylvania (1926) Woodburne Mansion (Edgar Thomson Scott Sr. mansion), Darby, Pennsylvania (1906)

Commercial

St. James Apartment House, 13th & Walnut Sts., Philadelphia (1901) Land Title Building, 100 S. Broad St., Philadelphia (1902) Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Philadelphia, SE corner Broad & Walnut Sts., Philadelphia (1911, altered beyond recognition) Widener Building, South Penn Square, Philadelphia (1914) Adelphia Hotel, 1229 Chestnut St., Philadelphia (1914) Beneficial Savings Fund Society Building, SW corner 12th & Chestnut Sts., Philadelphia (1916) Bankers' Trust Office Building, 12th & Chestnut Sts., Philadelphia (1922) Public Ledger Building, 6th & Chestnut Sts., Philadelphia (1923) Jenkintown Bank & Trust, (Old) York Road & West Avenue (1924 & 1925) Benjamin Franklin Hotel, 834 Chestnut St., Philadelphia (1925) Chateau Crillon Apartment House, Locust St. & Rittenhouse Square West, Philadelphia (1928) Jenkintown Train Station, Jenkintown, Pennsylvania (1932) Racquet Club of Philadelphia, Philadelphia (1906) Equitable Trust Building, 1405 Locust St., Philadelphia (1925) North Broad Street Station, Philadelphia (1929) Philadelphia Stock Exchange, 1409 1411 Walnut St., Philadelphia (1913)

Cultural, medical and educational

Music Pavilion at Willow Grove Park, Willow Grove, Pennsylvania (1895, demolished) Bandshell in West Park, Allentown, Pennsylvania (1908–1909) Union League of Philadelphia Annex, 15th & Sansom Sts., Philadelphia (1909) Elkins Memorial YMCA, Arch St., Philadelphia (1911) Philadelphia Racquet Club, 213–25 S. 16th St., Philadelphia (1912) Widener Memorial Training School for Crippled Children, 1450 W. Olney Ave., Philadelphia (1912–14) Philadelphia Museum of Art (with Zantzinger, Borie and Medary), Philadelphia (1916–28) Social Service Building, Philadelphia (1923–24) The Free Library of Philadelphia's Parkway Central Library, Logan Square, Philadelphia (1925–27) Pedestal for the Statue of Edgar Fahs Smith, Philadelphia (1926) Irvine Auditorium, University of Pennsylvania, 34th & Spruce Sts., Philadelphia (1926–32) Keswick Theatre, Glenside, Pennsylvania (1928) Hahnemann University Hospital South Tower, Philadelphia (1928) Jefferson Medical College, Main Building, Philadelphia (1929) Jefferson Medical College, Curtis Clinic, 1001–15 Walnut St., Philadelphia (1931) St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Old York and Ashbourne Rds., Elkins Park, Pennsylvania (1897-1924) West Laurel Hill Cemetery, 227 Belmont Ave., Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania

Buildings elsewhere Duke Chapel at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina (1934); Julian Abele is credited with the design. St. John's Episcopal Church, Somerville, New Jersey (1895) The Elms (Edward Julius Berwind mansion), Newport, Rhode Island (1899–1901) St. Catherine Church, Spring Lake, New Jersey (1901) The John R. Drexel Mansion, 1 East 62nd Street, New York City (1903) Clarendon Court (Edward C. Knight mansion), Newport, Rhode Island (1904) Perry Belmont House, 1618 New Hampshire Ave NW, Washington, D.C. (1906–1909) El Pomar Estate, Colorado Springs, Colorado (1909–1910) Consolidation Coal Company Office Building, Fairmont, West Virginia (1911) (now WesBanco Building) Adelaide L. T. Douglas House, New York City (1909–1911) James B. Duke House (now Institute of Fine Arts, New York University), New York City (1909–1912) High Gate (James E. Watson mansion), Fairmont, West Virginia (1910–1913) Miramar (Eleanor Elkins Widener mansion), Newport, Rhode Island (1914) Daniel B. Zimmerman Mansion, Somerset Township, Pennsylvania (1915) Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts (1915) New York Evening Post Building, New York City (1926) Pere Marquette Hotel, 501 Main St., Peoria, Illinois (1926) Shadow Lawn (Hubert Templeton Parson mansion), West Long Branch, New Jersey (1927) (now Woodrow Wilson Hall, Monmouth University) Wildenstein Art Gallery, 19-21 East 64th Street, New York City (1932) Herbert N. Straus House, 9 East 71st Street, New York City (1932) Rose Terrace (Anna Dodge mansion), Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan (1934, demolished 1976) Duke Chapel, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina (1934) (Julian Abele credited as the designer) El Mirasol, Palm Beach, Florida (1920) Stonybrook, Middletown, Rhode Island (1928)

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