Louis A. Simon

The Internal Revenue Service Building in Washington, D.C., designed under Simon's supervision and completed in 1931. The United States Post Office in Lancaster, New York, completed in 1938, is an example of a standard plan. The former United States Post Office in Mullins, South Carolina, completed in 1939, is an example of the same standard plan in a different style. The Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum in Hyde Park, New York, designed by Simon with consulting architect Toombs and completed in 1941. Louis A. Simon (1867–1958) was an American architect. He spent almost his entire career with the Office of the Supervising Architect for the U.S. Treasury. He served as the last supervising architect from 1934 to 1939 and thereafter of the Public Buildings Branch of the Federal Works Agency until 1941. He was also principal architect for the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum in Hyde Park, New York.

Life and career Louis Adolphe Simon was born May 1, 1867, in Baltimore. He was educated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a special student in architecture with the class of 1891, leaving the institute in 1889. Following a tour of Europe, he opened an architects office in Baltimore in 1894. In 1896 he joined the staff of the Office of the Supervising Architect of the United States Department of the Treasury in Washington. Then under the direction of William Martin Aiken, this office had charge of the design and construction of all federal buildings in the United States. Simon had been recruited by Edward A. Crane, a former classmate, and in 1905 he was promoted to chief of the drafting division by Aiken's successor, James Knox Taylor, succeeding Crane and Francis B. Wheaton. In this role Simon directed the work of a large number of drafters.

In 1915 James A. Wetmore, a lawyer who had worked with the office since 1896, was appointed acting supervising architect. As Wetmore was not an architect, Simon became the de facto director of design for all of the work produced by the office during Wetmore's administration. During this period Simon served on the board which planned the Federal Triangle, and obtained for the office the design of the Internal Revenue Service Building, construction of which began in 1928 and was completed in 1931. Other large projects designed by the office during this period include the Alaska State Capitol in Juneau, completed in 1931, the United States Post Office and Courthouse in Baltimore, completed in 1932 and the Federal Office Building in Seattle, completed in 1933. Wetmore retired in 1934, one year after a large scale reorganization of the Treasury Department by president Franklin D. Roosevelt, and was succeeded by Simon. Simon was credited by the AIA with raising the standard of design for federal buildings, especially since his appointment in 1934. For his efforts and for his long involvement with the AIA, Simon was elected a Fellow in 1937, the only supervising architect to be so honored.

In addition to his AIA involvement, Simon was a member and president of the Association of Federal Architects and a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters, now the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the American Planning and Civic Association.

Personal life Simon was a parishioner of All Souls Church and a member of the Cosmos Club. Simon was married to Theresa B. McConnor. They had three daughters, all of whom died young. Simon died May 11, 1958, in Washington.